Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 5, Number 32, August 5, 2002: 
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 
Copyright (c) 2002, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

SUBSCRIBER UPDATES

 	We have some new subscribers, but we'll introduce them next 
week. For now, our subscriber count holds at 477. Your 
Editor is back in the E-Sylum War Room after returning from 
the ANA Convention. It was great to see so many of you 
there.

 	Advance notice: vacation travel will force an E-Sylum 
hiatus for two consecutive Sundays: August 25, and 
September 1. I'll attempt to get the next issue out as soon 
as possible thereafter.

YOUNG NUMISMATIST PUBLICATION REVIVED

 	Ben Keele writes: "Some young collectors, including myself, 
are trying to get the Young Numismatists of America started 
up again. The organization is just over ten years old, but 
most of the time it has been dormant. Our official publication 
is the third generation of YNA publishing. First was the 
"YN Digest," then "YNA News," and finally "The Young 
Numismatist." Perhaps some readers know of other 
publications that have undergone frequent changes.

 	Speaking of serial numbering, should we start "The Young 
Numismatist" at number one or count the previous 
publications that preceded it?

 	Also included is an essay I wrote for "The Young 
Numismatist" on numismatic publishing. Feel free to reprint 
any excerpts you think the readers might find interesting. 
Keep up the great work!"

 	A section of Ben's article is devoted to electronic 
publications like ours:

 	"Numismatic publishing has become even easier as the 
Internet has opened up new avenues of communication. 
Electronic publications, like the Numismatic Bibliomania 
Society's "E-Sylum" and the American Numismatic 
Association's "Your Newsletter", have thrived in this age 
of online numismatics. Electronic periodicals are just as 
effective as their print counterparts and are extremely 
economical since they require no paper. Email transmission 
is instantaneous, allowing information to be spread out as 
soon as it is ready. The only major disadvantages of 
e-publications are the fact that not as many numismatists 
are computer-literate as those that can read magazines 
and that files on computers can be destroyed more easily 
than paper documents. While many copies of a journal 
would have to be incinerated to completely annihilate the 
information, a click of a mouse can trash a file and give the 
collective knowledge of mankind an instant case of amnesia."

AJN PLATE QUESTION

 	John Merz writes: "I'm back from the ANA convention in 
New York, where I saw the Numismatic Literature competitive 
exhibit. Two Levick photo plates of 1793 cents were part of the 
exhibit. These photo plates are contained in the whole number 
36 issue of the American Journal of Numismatics. I also have 
two copies of whole number 36.

 	The first photo plate in the ANA exhibit has ?JNT Levick 
1868? in a box in the lower right corner of the photo. My first 
photo plate is the same. The second photo plate in the ANA 
exhibit has (if my scribbled notes are correct) ?Compiled by JT 
Levick? in the lower right corner, along with an embossed logo 
in the lower middle of the photo for ?Rockwood? printing. 
My second photo has no embossed logo for Rockwood printing, 
and in the lower right corner has ?Compiled by Joseph N T 
Levick?. (Note that the name ?Joseph? is spelled out).

 	Are my scribbled notes correct? Are there at least three 
variations of the Levick photo plate? Does anyone care?"

PARIS MINT CREATES NEW MINTMARK.

 	Dick Johnson writes: "Not only did the Monnaie de Paris 
(Americans call this the Paris Mint) announce their new 
mintmark at the ANA convention (August 1), show it on 
the screen during the slide portion of their press briefing, 
but they also gave out nickel-silver coin-relief medals 
displaying the new mark to all those in attendance. The Paris 
Mint always has the best press briefings at the ANA 
conventions as evidenced by the perpetual shortage of seats. 
(You've got to get there early - Cliff Mishler from Krause 
got the last seat this year!)

 	The mark is a lowercase alpha superimposed on the year 
2002; "20" falls within the open loop of the letter, "02" 
following. Their intent, according to the Paris Mint officials, 
is to progress through the Greek alphabet for each new year. 
This is a dramatic departure for the Paris Mint, whose heritage 
of mintmarking goes back to ordinance of March 24, 1832 
promulgated by Louis Philippe.

 	The new mark came about because of the new coinage, the 
new monetary unit, and new coin designs. It was only natural 
to create a new mintmark. Well done! However, the effect 
of the euro continues its influence on coins of European 
countries.

 	Previously the cornucopia had been in use since January 1, 
1880. Somewhere in the 1960s the mint added the year of 
manufacture to the cornucopia edgemark for medals. [Note 
to future numismatists: do you really want to catalog EVERY 
year of issue for every time they restocked their shelf supply 
for all medals with a new date in all these edgemarkings?]

 	The full list of Paris Mint marks are described and illustrated 
in Emile Beuque, Dictionnaire des Poincons officils français 
& étrangers, anciens & modernes. For an abbreviated list 
in English, see Sara Elizabeth Freeman, Medals Relating to 
Medicine and Allied Sciences in the Numismatic Collection 
of The Johns Hopkins University, page xii.

 	Next week I'll report on some new coin and medal technology 
I observed at the New York ANA show."

WANTED - MELVIN HOYOS BOOK

 	Ralf W. Boepple of Stuttgart, Germany, writes: "Sometimes it 
seems to be more difficult to get recently published numismatic 
works than rare older items! I am currently looking for a book 
that was mentioned by Stewart Westdal in the introduction of 
the Ponterio catalog No. 120 (June 8, 2002). I was wondering 
if one of the E-Sylum readers would be able to tell me where I 
could acquire a copy of Melvin Hoyos - La Moneda Ecuatoriana 
a Traves de Los Tiempos (1998, 173 pp) Thanks in advance for 
any help!"


SEABY ANA HONOR


 	Regarding the discussion of U.S. impressions of Seaby and 
Spink, Henry Bergos writes: "Sorry to be late, but it seems 
to be my middle name. Spink was the "patrician" company. 
They didn't welcome walk in traffic and were "less than 
hospitable". Seaby had a retail area and were always cordial.

 	Mr. Seaby, Sr. came here for the ANA convention in 1976. 
He was honored at the banquet. It was HORRIBLE. He 
"wasn't young" and couldn't find his way to the front. All 
were embarrassed by this and didn't know what to do. Finally 
someone got up and lead him by the elbow to the front to 
get his award from Abe Kosoff. If I remember it right it was 
his 50 year membership award."

MONASTERY TOKENS?

 	Ed Krivoniak writes: "I like the term exographics so much that 
I am going to use it at coin shows from now on.

 	On another topic, I'd like to ask the readership if they know 
of any references on monastery tokens. We recently acquired 
three square cardboard tokens that were in an envelope marked 
'monastery tokens?'. I had never heard of these I don't know 
where to look them up."

 	[Well, they're probably not for use in a jukebox or cigarette 
machine. Can anyone help? -Editor]

FANCY TERMS

 	Bob Cochran writes: "I enjoyed the latest "E-Sylum," as usual, 
especially the comments by the folks who keep trying to nail 
down the "proper" name for us poor unfortunates who collect 
"paper." I've been collecting currency and related items for 
about 30 years now, and I've come to the conclusion that the 
"fancy" (and probably CORRECT) terms are RARELY IF 
EVER used in the "real world." I still think Gene Hessler's 
"Syngraphist" is probably the most etymologically correct 
word to describe someone who "collects paper money," but 
it's not heard that often.

 	Neil Shafer's impressive "Exographica" certainly SOUNDS 
correct, but I'm afraid if I described myself using that word 
in THIS part of the country, I might wind up in a couple of 
photos (attractive front AND side views) with numbers 
under my chin.

 	So I just tell folks that "I collect paper money and stuff like 
that." It usually gets the point across, and the dealers pull 
out their stack of "stuff" and away we go."

INTEL MICROSCOPE

 	Harold Fears writes: "I too have been using the Intel Microscope 
for various coin images. Here are a couple of examples: 
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~hfears/pen13/Intel/13/1861/letters.htm 
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~hfears/pen13/Intel/13/1861/letters.htm

 	A complete list of coins that I have placed under the scope is at: 
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~hfears/misc/repunched.htm.

 	This low price item has probably been the best numismatic 
investment I ever made. It will certainly give anyone hours of fun."

 	Ed Krivoniak adds "I just finished an internet search for the
QX3+ microscope and found that it can be purchased for $35
 to $45. You should advise the readers to add the "+" sign to 
their search because the microscope comes in two models. The
QX3 does not support Windows 2000 or Windows XP. The 
QX3+ version supports these newer versions of Windows.

 	Both models of the microscope support Windows 98, 98 SE , 
and ME. If the QX3 was purchased by mistake an update is 
available from Intel free on the internet."

TANTALUM COINAGE?

 	Alan Luedeking writes: "I noted with interest Andy Lustig's 
tongue-in-cheek suggestion of using tantalum for coins. A 
few years ago I did a laser alignment training for Cabot Corp 
in Pennsylvania where tantalum is 'manufactured' and was 
gifted with a small piece as a keepsake.

 	It was then 50 times the price of silver. Tantalum, which 
sounds like something out of Star Trek, is a very interesting 
metal. It was first isolated in 1802. It is much harder than 
the hardest steel while still malleable, more stainless by 
several orders of magnitude than the most stainless of 
stainless steels, is non-magnetic, and superconductive when 
supercooled. It is more conductive than silver (but less than 
gold) and is very heavy, just a few places left of gold on 
the periodic table. It also has an incredibly high melting point, 
just about 3000 degrees Celsius.

 	It is scarce-- mined only in the United States, South Africa, 
Germany and Russia as far as I know, and is used to make 
the jacket on the head of anti-tank missiles. The cone-shaped 
head of the missile has a tiny inverted cone in the tantalum tip 
which "implodes" outward upon hitting the tank, concentrating 
a massive force on a tiny area, thereby opening a small hole 
in the tank's armor plating. The rest of the missile body then 
squeezes on through and explodes inside the tank -- simple!

 	Now this would make some cool coins, but I'm afraid the 
dies to strike tantalum planchets would have to be ultra hard 
and be exceedingly expensive! But, I believe I heard once 
that somebody did make a medal in tantalum, I think in 
Britain, but I may be wrong."

COUNTERFEIT QUIZ ANSWER

 	Last week we published a coin quiz taken from Bowers and 
Merena's Coin Collector Issue 98, November 21, 2000:

 	"Francis Leroy Henning of New Jersey chose what 
denomination to counterfeit in large quantities during the 
mid-1950s?"

 	Ray Williams and Michael Schmidt came through with 
correct replies. Michael writes: "Why, Jefferson Nickels, 
of course. He was most famous for his 1944 dated pieces 
that lacked a mintmark above the dome of Monticello on 
the reverse, but he also produced several other dates as well. 
When the first of the non-mintmarked 1944's were examined 
by the US Mint they were declared genuine!"

 	One web page discussing Henning's nickels is on the PNG 
web site: http://www.pngdealers.com/coin/coin-0601.htm

SOME KIND OF DINOSAUR

 	Dave Bowers writes: "About 20 years ago a lady, Mary M., 
joined the Bowers and Merena staff. I dictated a letter mentioning 
a "numismatic bibliophile," and, uncertain about meaning or spelling, 
she asked: "Is this some kind of dinosaur?"

FEATURED WEB SITE

 	This week's featured web site belongs to subscriber Harold 
Fears, who writes: "If you have the time, visit take a numismatic 
cruise to Jersey by visiting my site at

 	http://fly.hiwaay.net/~hfears/coins.htm.
	
	
Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society