|
Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 04, January 25, 2004: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATE Among recent new subscribers is NBS member Douglas Mudd. Welcome aboard! We now have 622 subscribers. NBS FUN PHOTO With the help of Fred Lake, Pete Smith and George Fitzgerald, we have identified all but one of the gentlemen in Fred Lake's photo taken at the NBS meeting at the 2004 Florida United Numismatists convention. From left to right they are: 1. [unknown] (wearing light green shirt) 2. George Fitzgerald (wearing a red shirt) 3. John Kraljevich (wearing a suit) 4. Wendell Wolka (behind sign) 5. Dan Hamelberg (wearing dark jacket) 6. John Reichenberger (wearing a yellow shirt) See the picture at: Picture FORD LIBRARY SALE UPDATE George Kolbe writes: "After processing the details of our November 29th auction sale, taking a little time to enjoy the holidays, and bouts with various pesky flu bugs, we are back to cataloguing the first John J. Ford, Jr. Library sale, which will take place at the Mission Inn (www.missioninn.com ) in Riverside, California on Tuesday June 1st, 2004. We have been able to secure special room rates at the Mission Inn for Sunday May 30th, Monday May 31st, and Tuesday June 1st. Reservations can be made by calling (800) 843-7755 or (909) 784-0300 ext. 850. Attendees must reference the GEORGE FREDERICK KOLBE FINE NUMISMATIC BOOKS group (what a mouthful) when making reservations. Those who have already reserved rooms should be able to obtain the special rate by calling one of the above telephone numbers and mentioning the magic words. There is also a wide variety of other lodging in the area. Those arriving by air for the sale may wish to choose Ontario International Airport, a new modern facility. It's about 10 minutes from the Mission Inn, 45 minutes from Crestline, and 45 minutes from the Long Beach Convention Center, where dealer setup for the coin show is on the day following the sale. Some of the more interesting items catalogued in the Ford Library since our last report include: The Chapmans' Bid Book of the 1906 Wetmore sale, with plates Two additional American Bond Detectors, bringing the total to seven copies, all different in one respect or another. One of these last two is inscribed by Ordway, and the other is the 1871 Second Edition. Five editions of Hodges' Bank Note Safeguard 1859-1863, and Dye's 1855 Bank Note Plate Delineator, generally in exceptionally fine condition A 1910 work by James Cannon on 1907 Clearing House Loan Certificates, with 21 plates of the currency, mostly printed in colors The author's copy of Reed's 1879 Sketch of the Early History of Banking in Vermont, with specimens of Vermont State Bank notes and other items A deluxe leatherbound edition of Dietz's 1929 Postal Service of the Confederate States of America Wayte Raymond's 1875 Crosby in the Nova Constellatio binding A very fine plated 1882 Bushnell sale David Proskey's Priced and Named auction room copy of the Chapmans' 1882 Bushnell sale, with plates David Proskey's Priced and Named auction room copy of the Chapmans' 1884 Warner sale A superb plated 1905 John G. Mills sale A superb plated 1906 H. P. Smith sale The Chapmans' Bid Book of the 1906 H. P. Smith sale, with plates An exceptionally fine Post-Sale Hardbound 1909 Zabriskie Sale with Plates A ?Mint? Plated 1909 Jewett Sale The Bid Book of the 1911 Julius Brown Sale William H. Woodin's superb leather-bound 1912 George H. Earle sale, with plates A "near new" plated 1916 Charley Gregory sale, in the original gilt-printed white paper covers A superb 1920 W. H. Hunter sale, with plates The Bid Book of the Hunter Sale A very fine copy of Marvin's 1880 Medals of the Masonic Fraternity; also the most complete example we have ever encountered of the Supplement. Wayte Raymond?s own copy of the 1925 W. W. C. Wilson Sale, With 56 Plates (the additional 11 plates depict Wilson's Bouquet Sous and all of the items depicted in the text as halftones) The Bid Book of the 1925 W. W. C. Wilson Sale The Bid Books of Parts II & III of the W. W. C. Wilson Sale By far the finest original set of Frossard's Numisma that we have ever encountered A 1792 French work comprising the documentary basis for the issuance of the Castorland Medal J. N. T. Levick?s Annotated Low on Hard Times Tokens, With Adams Plates The Chapmans' Bid Book of the 1882 Bushnell sale, with plates The Chapmans' Bid Book of the 1904 Mills sale, with plates S. H. Chapman?s Priced and Named 1909 Zabriskie Sale S. H. Chapman?s annotated sales room copy of the 1914 Parsons Sale Wayte Raymond?s Hardbound United States Coin Company Sales, Including a Plated Lardner Catalogue and a Number of Bid Books J. N. T. Levick?s own annotated 1884 Levick sale, with a remarkable comment on cataloguer Woodward: ?His one eye didn't see it - as I did have it? This doesn't bring us up to date. We'll send in another report in the next week or two." LAKE BOOKS SALE #72 PRL AVAILABLE Fred Lake writes: "The prices realized list for our sale #72 is now posted to our web site at lakebooks.com/archive.html Once on that page press the link marked "2004" (or scroll down) and you will see the two options for viewing the PRL. Thanks to all of our bidders and consignors for making this a most successful and interesting sale." ANS DONATION AUCTION The Winter 2003 issue of American Numismatic Society magazine includes a progress report on fundraising for the Francis D. Campbell Library Chair by Library Committee Chairman John W. Adams. Much progress has been made toward the $2 million goal. "We are also driving toward broad participation with a goal of 500 individual contributions. In coming months, our Library Chair brochures will be distributed in the catalogues of all the major auction houses. Articles will appear in several of the numismatic journals published by the leading specialty groups. And, we will climax our drive with a fun-packed (we promise) auction of donated books to be held at the ANA convention in Pittsburgh in August 2004." Actually, the auction will be off-site, a few blocks from the ANA convention itself. "What we need now are your donations of suitable auction lots. We seek books and related material with a minimum value of $300 per item, with all donations being tax deductible to the full extent of the law." For more information on the auction, contact George Kolbe at gfk at numislit.com. I've already sent my check, and I hope many of our subscribers will support the drive as well. I've also shipped a few items to George for the auction. To whet the appetites of potential bidders, here are my clumsy descriptions of two of them (I'm sure George will do a far better job of writing them up in the catalogue): Catalogue of John W. Haseltine's Type Table of U.S. Dollars, Half Dollars & Quarter Dollars, 1881. Handwritten in ink on front endpaper is "M. L. Beistle / Shippensburg Pa / July 1 1922. Penciled notations (probably Beistle numbers) on many of the half dollar entries (lots 654-740). Occasional additional notes. After lot 664 (1795 half) is written "Gies" (probably A. C. Gies). Remainder of catalog is clean. Prices realized bound in back. 3/4 black leather and brown cloth boards. 8vo, 130pp. Application for Federal Employment (Standard Form 57, Revised May 1954, U.S. Civil Service Commission). Position: Curator of Numismatics Place: Washington, D.C. Applicant: Hans Maurits F. Schulman, New York, NY. Four-page application filled out in ink. Signed and dated by Hans Schulman on April 15, 1956. Lists as references Clyde Trees, Director of Medallic Art Co., The Hon. Nellie Tayloe Ross, former U.S. Mint Director, and The Hon. R. Henry Norweb, Former Ambassador of the USA. Answered "No" to question 23, "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Communist Party, U.S.A., or any other Communist organization? 4pp. BOOK ON COUNTERFEIT HOLOCAUST ARTIFACTS Michael J. Sullivan submitted the following review of a new book by Alec Tulkoff on the modern counterfeiting of artifacts relating to the Holocaust. He writes: "While counterfeiting is a sad reality, particularly in the context of the Holocaust, it is admirable for someone to have dedicated 25 years to research this material to prevent modern day exploitation of one of the worst chapters in modern history. The book includes some information on banknotes which may be of interest to our E-Sylum readers. I found this book to be well written, with great illustrations and images. It was very informative regarding this interesting area that is ripe with forgeries. It covers everything from stamps and currency, to uniforms and markings. Below is an excerpt from the press release. This book is a reference and resource guide to help determine the authenticity of these artifacts, and provides a detailed look at various Holocaust- related artifacts in a manner that follows the experiences of the survivors and victims. As an example; the Germans identified some individuals with outward markings, forced them to register, pressed them into forced labor, ghettoized, and eventually deported them to concentration camps or labor facilities, and due to the different times that these activities took place in conquered and occupied countries, they are distinguished here by the action rather than by a general timeline (for example, Jews in occupied Poland were forced to wear "Jewish badges" in 1939, while this did not occur in Germany until 1941). The Holocaust is a difficult period of history to examine, and although some of the photographs contained in this book are horrific in nature, this book in no way trivializes the magnitude of the Holocaust by discussing the collection and identification of Holocaust-related artifacts. The issue at hand is the callous disregard by those who profit from the Holocaust by manufacturing and selling counterfeit and fake items. Alec Tulkoff has been a collector of World War II militaria for the past twenty-five years. Over the past seven years he has taken an interest in Holocaust history and artifacts. During the past two years, while working at the SHOAH Visual History Foundation as a cataloguer, he compiled the information and materials contained in this book. As a cataloguer in the Foundation, he had the opportunity to hear hundreds of first hand Holocaust survivor testimonies. Tulkoff has worked hard in combating the vast amount of Holocaust artifact fraud that has spread in the collecting community and has posted a website dealing with this fraud and also publishes a quarterly newsletter on this topic. Size:8 1/2" x 11" Illustrations: over 160 color and b/w photographs Pages: 88 NEW" [Michael was unable to locate the author's web site. Perhaps we'll have more information next week. Can any of our readers provide more information on the book? Thanks. -Editor] HIGLEY COPPER INFO SOUGHT Barb Anwari of San Diego CA writes: "I am writing in reference to the online issue of "E-sylum" from November 1999, which mentions the Higley Coppers ... It's my understanding that there is no documentation that incontestably links John Higley to these coins (other than the fact he was Samuel Higley's older brother). I am doing some research on this point, and wonder if you might give me a leg up on finding sources. Any help, and your thoughts, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!" DAMON DOUGLAS MANUSCRIPT Ray Williams writes: "I saw the press release about "The Copper Coinage of the State of New Jersey: Annotated Manuscript of Damon G. Douglas, Edited by Gary A. Trudgen" in this Sunday's E-Sylum. I received my copy of the manuscript on Friday (actually 3 copies). I understand that the print run was limited to 500 copies. I think it nice that a researcher's work can be honored and published in such a way, decades after he's gone. Mr. Douglas seemed to be decades ahead of his time and did a lot of original research, contacting libraries, museums, historical societies and families across the country. He located many original documents to work from. I wish I could have met the man!" NORTH WEST COMPANY TOKEN HOARD INFO SOUGHT Darryl Atchison writes: "Walter Breen states in his "Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins" (1988) that approximately two dozen North West Company tokens were discovered in the "Umpqua River Valley hoard" in Oregon around 1976. I have searched for hours online and cannot find anything which can point me to a reference on this hoard. I would be interested in learning more about the site including: what was the site used for (i.e. was there a trading post on this site or was it an Indian habitation or graveyard perhaps); what other objects were found on the site; who excavated the site; and is there an official report on file. I was hoping to obtain some of these answers so that we can possibly investigate the circumstances in which these pieces were issued. For years, many people have believed that these pieces were used like the Hudson's Bay Company "made beaver" pieces. However, some of us now believe that these pieces were more likely used as private Indian Chief pieces such as those issued by Astor for use in Astoria. Any information on this hoard may help us to shed more light on the debate. If anyone can tell me any more information on this hoard or can possibly direct me to any possible source of more information I would be very grateful. My email address is atchisondf at hotmail.com. Thanks again." NUREMBERG JETON REFERENCES Last week we discussed "...a review by Russ Rulau of a new book by L. B. Fauver titled "Nuremberg and Nuremberg Style Jetons." The 300-page hardbound catalog "will almost certainly replace the works of Eklund, Barnard, Berry, Drewing, Gebert, Levinson, Mitchiner and others insofar as their Nuremberg coverage overlaps the current volume." Jørgen Sømod writes: "I see Josef Neumann is not mentioned among the works, which now is replaced. Wonderful, because I do still use Nemann." MINT TOKENS Last week we asked, "Do many mints around the world use ... tokens or scrip within their walls? David Lange writes: "I have a collection of three brass tokens denominated at 5, 10 and 25 cents that formerly were used by employees of the San Francisco Mint. They date from the 1980s and are no longer used, the mint having since switched to a debit-card system to avoid any stray metal finding its way into coin presses. Unfortunately, the tokens don't indicate that they were intended for the mint. In fact, they're completely generic and were probably used at other facilities, too. I know they were ex San Francisco Mint only because they were given to me by an employee at the time." Scott Semans writes: I've handled metal canteen (cafeteria) tokens for Shanghai (China) and both Calcutta and Bombay (India) Mints. In fact, there are at least two series for Calcutta. The India are guesstimated at 1960s-80s while the Shanghai are probably 1980s-90s. The Indian tokens carry denominations while the Chinese seem to be good-fors as one has a legend translating as "vegetable". EXHIBITING AT THE 2004 ANA Now that we're in to the new year, I thought I'd again encourage our readers who will be attending the convention of the American Numismatic Association this summer to consider exhibiting some of their numismatic literature. Exhibit applications for the Pittsburgh convention are online at ANA Exhibit Applications The deadline is June 21, 2004. The 2004 Exhibit Chairman, John Eshbach writes: "Exhibitors should also go to the ANA web site (ANA), click on Education Programs and pull up "How to Prepare a Winning Exhibit." I put this on the ANA site last year and it follows closely the course Jerry Kochel and I teach at the ANA Summer Seminar. The course will be offered again next year." Here's the direct link to the article: Art of Exhibiting ARCHITECTURAL MEDAL REFERENCES SOUGHT Tom Leib writes: "I am searching for books about architectural medals. Other than the Eidlitz "Medals and Medallions" and Taylor's "The Architectural Medal," are you aware of any other books, periodicals, pamphlets, papers, etc. dealing with architectural medals?" With the encouragement of Dick Johnson, I've been doing research on AIA (American Institute of Architects) medals and Architectural Award, Society and School medals (as opposed to medals commemorating architects or building). Any help you can give related to published info about such medals will be greatly appreciated." METAL DETECTORIST A term I hadn't seen used before turned up in two articles in the February 2nd issue of COIN WORLD. "A metal detectorist hunting in the ruins of a building in Texas reportedly found an unusual "base bar" purportedly manufactured by a 19th century California Assayer." (unattributed article, p34) "A metal detectorist who searched several acres of rolling woodland in western Massachusetts has unearthed a well-preserved piece tentatively identified as a peace medal of King George II, circa 1760, which has just sold at auction for $805, including 15% buyer's fee." (article by Eric von Klinger, p72) The von Klinger article goes on to note "The detectorist," as he wishes to be known anonymously..." A web search found many references to the term, so it is in common use among enthusiasts. There is even a web site, Metaldetectorist,com for "News of Interest to Metal Detectorists." The site contains links to articles about finds all around the world. RELIVE THE 1857 BANK PANIC Len Augsberger writes: "Students of economic history should enjoy this: Kelly Contagion The authors have uncovered an interesting facet of market panics - this in relation to the Panic of 1857 - the contagion spread geographically in New York City, and not only that, but it spread among the Irish immigrants in relation to what parts of Ireland they had come from. The effect demonstrates how social relationships in Ireland were preserved on the west side of the pond, and furthermore how those relationships divided "panickers" and "stayers". Computer geeks will appreciate their use of a "decision matrix" in isolating demographic criteria. That the raw data required to write this paper even exists is amazing - a single bank in New York collected large amounts of demographic data on their customers and today the data can now be analyzed with nearly 150 years of hindsight along with the aids of modern technology. BECKER COUNTERFEITS Gene Anderson writes: "I appreciate the interest shown by Eric Newman on the topic of Bay Area counterfeits (BAC). I am unfamiliar with the litigation he mentioned and cannot throw any light on the name he is trying to remember. I own two BACs. They are an 1803 S260 large cent and an 1852 N6 large cent. I have written an article for Penny-Wise to be published probably in the March issue. The goal of my recent inquiries has been to flush out any information source that I may have over looked. My article lists 13 different dates counterfeited in this way, and it also lists sources that contain photos of some of these counterfeits. There is a bibliography containing my sources. [A copy of Gene's draft has been forwarded to Eric. -Editor] ANTI-COUNTERFEITING SOFTWARE Some more more thoughts on the anti-counterfeiting features being built into software were published in the January 19, 2004 issue of Network World: "At first blush this seems to be a reasonable way to slow the rush of teenagers using color computer printers to print their own money, but there are a number of troubling aspects to the story." "I did some experiments with my copy of PhotoShop CS. The software recognized the new U.S. $20 bills, 10 and 20 Euro notes, Canadian $20, $50 and $100 bills, and English 20 pound notes. It did not recognize U.S. $1, $10, $50 or $100 bills or $20 bills with the old design, nor did it recognize English 5 or 10 pound notes. (That was all the money I had around the house.) In case any law enforcement folk are reading this, I followed the rules and deleted the scanned images as soon as my test was done. Because U.S. law allows one-sided color reproductions of U.S. currency as long as the image is less than three-fourths or more then 1.5 times the size of the actual bill..., PhotoShop CS actually stops the user from doing completely legal things. Other countries have similar laws (see www.rulesforuse.org). In fact, the U.S. Secret Service could not have used PhotoShop CS to produce its Web page if it used a current rather than an old $20 bill as the sample currency." To read the full article, see: Anti-counterfeiting software [So ... if software is outlawed, only outlaws will have software to manipulate images of currency. -Editor] ONE IS NOT ENOUGH (CONTINUED) Howard A. Daniel III writes: "Alan V. Weinberg raised the hair on the back of my neck, when he wrote about "duplicates" and the Smithsonian Institution's Numismatic Department. I've been writing to my two Senators (Warner & Allen) and two Representatives (Tom Davis & Joann Davis (I have homes in two Virginia districts)) for many years about creating a separate National Numismatic Museum (NNM) like the National Postal Museum. This would bring numismatics out from under a very big umbrella and make it visible to ordinary citizens and numismatists. And new exhibits might be created every few years instead of basically the same one for the past 25+ years. Another one of my projects with my Senators and Representatives is to create a bill that will allow the Smithsonian (or new NNM) to keep triplicates (I'm generous) of a particular piece. One for obverse exhibiting, a second for reverse exhibiting and a third for research purposes. All of the others could be sold or traded (to other museums to acquire missing pieces). There are over 1 million pieces in the National Numismatic Collection and probably less than one-tenth of one percent have ever been seen by the public. The rarest pieces would best be sold through prominent auction houses but the NNM could list online the more common pieces and/or sell them within the new NNM. The monies from such sales could fund the operation of the museum and new exhibits. The US Mints, Bureau of Printing and Engraving and US Treasury could also sell their products within the museum and pay it a percentage of their sales for more sources of funds. Exhibits of banks, credit unions, private mints, financial paper printing firms, etc., could be created with their funds and any of their products could also be sold for additional monies. I hopes that NBSers will also pick a date every year (or term) to write to their Representatives and Senators about the creation of a NNM and the selling of "duplicates" in the National Numismatic Collection. You might not like my exact ideas, so I suggest that you please write your own version. If you want to correspond with me about this subject, send your emails to Howard at SEAsianTreasury.com." SMITHSONIAN DUPLICATE POLICIES Chris Fuccione writes: "Here is some info I had saved on Elvira Clain-Stefanelli. This might shed a different light on the Josiah K. Lilly story. This is from http://www.ece.iit.edu/~prh/coins/PiN/dds.html "This great collection came to our Museum in a very unusual way. Since Mr. Lilly did not leave in his will any provisions for its disposal, it was decided by the executors of the estate to donate it "intact" to the National Numismatic Collection: the Indiana Congressional delegation with the Honorable William Bray and Congressman Andrew Jacobs, Jr., initiated legislation in Congress which ultimately resulted in the delivery of the collection to the Smithsonian. In exchange the Lilly estate received a credit of $5,534,808 on its federal estate tax. This amount was determined by expert appraisors, and jointly agreed upon by the estate and the appropriate federal authorities. It would seem like the collection cost the United States tax payers over five million dollars, in fact, the actual cost was considerably lower, since the estate had to pay on the above amount federal estate and Indiana inheritance taxes which reduced the price to less than half its initial estimated amount. In "recognition for the successful acquisition and display of the Josiah K. Lilly collection" in 1973 Dr. V. Clain-Stefanelli and myself were given the Smithsonian's gold medal for Exceptional Service." This comes from an interview of hers. Interview "LEGACY: How much did the Lilly collection expand the Smithsonian's holdings of U.S. coins? CLAIN- STEFANELLI: Lilly is virtually complete. Only one or two coins are missing. But, it duplicates many areas of the collection and it could still undergo an improvement in condition. LEGACY: So Lilly was not the finest known in many cases? CLAIN- STEFANELLI: Correct. But there are many great rarities including a large number of unique territorial and private gold pieces in his collection. Where he tremendously increased our collection was in Latin American. It's almost as complete as the U.S. portion. Brazil might have a better collection than we have of their coins, but they don't have the other Latin American countries. It is fantastic, and was a great addition to our collection." This comes further down in the interview. "LEGACY: I have heard that Vladimir did quite a bit of trading in order to get certain coins. CLAIN- STEFANELLI: No. We were not allowed to trade. Up to this day, we haven't traded one single coin from the collection. We traded a large group of Mexican silver dollars which came in a block. Those we could trade. That was the only trade, and that was after the death of my husband. LEGACY: I had heard a story about a 1794 dollar that had been here since the 1850s and it was apparently traded. I was curious for what. CLAIN-STEFANELLI: Not under his time and not under my time. And I will tell you, up to about three or four years ago, it was forbidden to trade any objects. It started with the art museums of the Smithsonian. They made some bad trades about 15 years ago and after that, it was an absolute no-no. LEGACY: Do you see that as a possibility in the future, as one way to get rid of duplicates and get new acquisitions? CLAIN-STEFANELLI: Yes, it could be. But it's with many "ifs." It would have to get the approval of our legal office and it would have to be something that can be proven as 100-percent fair. An unfair trade is what they're afraid of. So, auctions would be the only way for us to go. LEGACY: It sounds like an outright trade would be virtually impossible. CLAIN- STEFANELLI: As long as I am here, if I can avoid it, I would, because it's a lot of headaches. If I take this coin and want to trade it, I have to go through all the records and make absolutely certain that there is no possibility of there being some strings attached to it. Now, no one in their right mind would trade rarities, so trading is only for the common coins where you would have duplicates. But you have to do a lot of research for coins that might be worth $20, maybe $50. 1 might have to spend days for one single coin to make certain it's completely free. LEGACY: What do you mean by "strings attached?" CLAIN- STEFANELLI: So many things were donated over the past hundred or so years that our collection has existed, that there might be some hidden document, something that says the coins cannot be traded. If you give me something, a donation, and say, "It has to stay here in perpetuity," I cannot touch it." LINCOLN CENT TEST Dick Johnson writes: "The March 2004 issue of "Games Magazine" for those with high IQs (needless to say, I don't subscribe, but I do skim my daughter's issue every month) has an interesting test. Draw both sides of the Lincoln cent from memory without looking. Drawing skill doesn't count. (Hint: wording does!) Then it will tell you how "psychologists' test subjects performed." After you have done this see the comments at the end of this E-Sylum." UNITED STATESIANS Regarding Chick Ambrass' comments from last week, Ray Williams writes: "Although I agree with Chick's points in his article, I think he actually meant to say British Colonies instead of American colonies." Doug Andrews writes: "I had to re-read Chick Ambrass's comments several times to make sure I wasn't seeing things! He asserts: "In 1688 when the letters in reference were written... Canada was part of the American colonies." Nice try, but his account of Canadian history is a little off to say the least. In 1688, in fact, what is now Canada was governed as four separate entities. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland were colonies directly under the British Crown, New France (comprised of much of central Canada) was a French colony and remained so until 1759, and the areas around Hudson's Bay were in fact the exclusive property of a private company, The Hudson's Bay Trading Company. The last was by far the largest, covering most of present day northern Ontario and Quebec, as well as Manitoba and the Territories, and it wasn't a colony of any country. The remainder of present day Canada was either a British settlement governed separately from the "Thirteen Colonies," or a French overseas possession. Their relationship with the British colonies stretching from New Hampshire to Georgia thus was tenuous at best. If his inference was that Canada somehow fell into the orbit of the Thirteen Colonies, he is mistaken. Mr. Ambrass's reference to whether inhabitants of North or South America outside of the US are "Americans" raises a valid point, however. The issue is resolved by clarifying that Canadians and Mexicans are "North Americans;" Brazilians, for example, are "South Americans." The more difficult question of the day is whether the British consider themselves "Europeans." Ted Buttrey replies: To put the thing in its geographical and its historical context: All of the Americas (that name itself is an accident), North and South, were infested with colonies from various European nations; and all of those nations, as far as I'm aware, referred to their colonists as "Americans", regardless of where they came from or where they settled. The colonies themselves bore names that were either European in origin (New Galicia) or indigenous (Guatemala). When 13 separate British colonies got out from under British rule they were each an independent nation -- "state" --, and each had its own name -- Massachusetts, Rhode Island, etc. When they subsequently agreed to form a federate union they had no common name for the federation and had to make one up. So "United States" must have been obvious, though personally I would have preferred "States United" or "States in Union", emphasizing that each was still maintaining its own sovereignty. But I wonder whether the term "United States" wasn't modeled on the "United Provinces" of the Lowlands. As to "of America", it's clear from all the sources that the separation from Britain was more than political. Over the decades the people of the British Colonies came to feel that they were their own kind of people, no longer just Europeans who had moved elsewhere. (And of course it was that growing feeling that the British tried to suppress, e.g. by requiring the trade of each colony to move via the motherland, and restricting trade among the several colonies.) So "of America" made clear both where this was happening, geographically, and politically the severance from Europe. Remember too that at the time the USA was the only independent nation of the Western Hemisphere. Everybody else inhabited a colony that was an arm of some European nation. So in that sense the inhabitants of the USA were the only people that could be described politically, nationally, as Americans. The problem that bugs Chick, and indeed continues to annoy many south of the Rio Grande, is our habit of referring to ourselves, exclusively, as "Americans", as against "Mexicans", "Guatemalans", etc. But really this is a problem that grows out of language -- as he notices -- not out of a superior cultural or historical or political attitude. "United States of America" is more a label, a description, than a name, and the fact is that the English language does not lend itself to "United Statser". The adjectives derived from place names are various in form yet can be very specific. I remember a political cartoon of years ago when Bobby Kennedy moved his legal residence from Massachusetts to New York so that he could run for the Senate from there: he was sketched addressing his new political audience, "Fellow New Yorkites..." That makes its point: there are proper and improper ways of doing this. But there is simply no way to derive a proper adjective from "United States of America". It can be done in other languages: in Spanish each of us is an "Estadounidense", in Italian, "Statunitese". We're stuck with "American", I'm afraid. It was never intended to be offensive, but it has come to be so with some folks, and you can only try to get them to understand." THROWING COINS AWAY Regarding the "throwing coins away" discussion relating to the Ancient Coins for Education project, Gar Travis writes: "I have, in the past encountered some of this "talk" regarding the ill disposition by archeologists of coins on site. I have attached a rather lengthy grouping of e-mails between numismatists about a certain archeologist. Somewhere in all this is mention of discarding coins, I'm sure you'll enjoy the read... Also - here is a related link: http://www.people.memphis.edu/~tjbuggey/ethics.html [The exchange was far too lengthy to even to attempt to excerpt. The first salvo came from an archeologist speaking against the ACE project, followed by others rebutting his position. As with any emotional discussion, both sides waxed eloquent and presented what they felt were ironclad arguments. -Editor] LINCOLN CENT ANSWER Dick Johnson writes: "There are four features on each side of a Lincoln cent, counting images and lettering (they say). Hopefully you put the correct lettering in the right space for both sides. (I blew it, I switched two. But I added a bonus, I added the engravers' initials on both sides. As a numismatist, I bet you did too!) It shouldn't count if you had Lincoln facing the wrong direction. Games Magazine quoted a book "How The Mind Works" by Steven Pinker (1997): "Only five percent of the subjects drew all eight. The median number remembered was three, and half [of the items drawn] were in the wrong place." A SWALLOWED COIN LONGEVITY RECORD? From a North Queensland, Australia newspaper comes this item, which I wonder may constitute a record for the length of time a swallowed coin remains in a human. "A TOWNSVILLE girl who has been living with a $1 coin in her throat for more than six years is relieved to be finally rid of the small change which has caused her and her family so much grief. Ten-year-old Onnalisa Taylor, of Pimlico, had a habit of swallowing coins when she was younger. But little did she know her habit would lead to almost a lifetime of medical problems. Her mum Sharlene Taylor said the coin went undetected in her throat for more than six years while doctors treated her for asthma because of her breathing difficulties." "Onnalisa told the Bulletin she would always keep the coin in a safe place. She agreed it would make a great "show and tell'' item but wasn't too sure if she would be game enough to touch the coin in front of her classmates. For the compete article, see Complete Article FEATURED WEB PAGE This week's featured web page is Tom Chao's Paper Money Gallery of world banknotes. "My hobby is collecting paper money from different countries of the world. I dedicate this web site exclusively to paper money so that you too can share the joy of my collection. My entire collection is now on display for your viewing pleasure. There are 1434 notes, over 2600 scans front and back." http://www.tomchao.com/ Wayne Homren Numismatic Bibliomania Society Content presented in The E-Sylum is not necessarily researched or independently fact-checked, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/ There is a membership application available on the web site. To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Visit the Membership page. Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page link. |
|