Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 23, June 6, 2004:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


EDITOR'S NOTE

  This week's E-Sylum is a day early due to business travel.
  I'll check my email later in the week - keep those replies and
  submissions coming!  Thanks.


"SCRIP POKER" AND THE LONGEST WAIT

  Today is the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the 6th of June,
  1944.  On that day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower issued a
  proclamation to the assembled Operation Overlord armada
  as it departed for the invasion of the beaches of Normandy,
  France. France was at the time occupied by Nazi forces and
  the collaborationist French Vichy government. The following
  are excepts from Eisenhower's short proclamation:

  "Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary
  Forces!  You are about to embark upon the great crusade,
  toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes
  of the world are upon you, the hopes and prayers of liberty-
  loving people everywhere march with you.  In company with
  our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts you will
  bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the
  elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of
  Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world."

  "I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, skill
  in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!"

  "Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God
  upon this great and noble undertaking."

  Gene Jannuzi of Beaver Falls, PA, a veteran of the invasion,
  wrote a remembrance in today's issue of the Pittsburgh
  Post-Gazette.   He calls the period leading up to Eisenhower's
  order "The Longest Wait".  He writes:

  "Among my memories of that English springtime before June 6,
  1944, one of the strongest is my recall of the strain of the long
  wait for the assault on the Nazi-held Normandy beaches of
  France."

  "D-Day at Normandy has been called, in novel and film, "The
  Longest Day."  The stretch of days from February to June 6,
  1944, I call "the longest wait."

  "During that part of the wait, the days passed swiftly. The troops
  boarded the ship on June 2. We held gas mask drills and church
  services -- Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. The troops passed
  their waiting time playing poker on a blanket on deck with scrip
  currency they had been issued for use on the far shore. We
  called it "scrip poker."

  "As we neared Point Zebra, my eyes were on the beach. German
  .88s sent up geysers of water and sand at the shoreline. I stopped
  engines and waited for a signal from the control vessel. It was the
  last wait. From the vessel came a one-word semaphore message:
  PROCEED.

  I looked at the commander and he nodded. I got my ship under
  way and headed toward the beach.

  "All engines ahead full," I said into the voice tube. "Steady as you
  go."

  To read the full article, see:Full Article
  
The invasion was the beginning of the end of WWII in
  Europe.  The war generated the creation of thousands of
  different numismatic items which serve as reminders of the
  great conflict.   The 1995 book,  World War II Remembered,
  by Fred Schwan and Joseph Boling, is a comprehensive
  864-page catalog of WWII numismatics.   Fred Schwan's
  "MPC Gram" is an email newsletter for devotees of
  military numismatics.  An archive of past issues is located
  at MPC Gram Archive


KOLBE FORD I SALE RESULTS

  George Kolbe forwarded the following Press Release for
  Tuesday's landmark sale of the first part of the Ford
  library.  I couldn't be there in person, but participated by
  phone.  We'd love to hear some first-hand reports from
  attendees at the sale - please send us your thoughts for
  the next E-Sylum.

  "Numismatic literature history was made when the 1,000 lot
  first part of the John J. Ford, Jr. American Numismatic Library
  was sold at public auction on June 1, 2004 at The Mission Inn
  in Riverside, California. It was the most important auction of
  rare American numismatic literature ever held, and the first part
  alone brought substantially more, at 1.66 million dollars, than
  the four Armand Champa library sales (approximately 1 million
  dollars), or the five Harry Bass library sales (1.25 million
dollars).
  The pre-sale estimates totaled just under a million dollars, but
  63 registered floor bidders, 16 telephone bidders, and 150
  absentee bidders combined to produce a plethora of record
  prices across the board.

  The prior record for a single day auction of numismatic literature,
  worldwide, is under a half million dollars, setting the sale of the
  Ford library in a class by itself. The auction was held by Kolbe
  in association with Stack's, and a limited number of well
  illustrated catalogues, including a prices realized list, may still
be
  ordered by sending $35.00 to George Frederick Kolbe, Fine
  Numismatic Books, P. O. Drawer 3100, Crestline, CA 92325.

  A few sale highlights follow: Hiram Deats? superb set of the
  first six volumes of The Numismatist, 1888-1993, estimated at
  $15,000, sold for $40,250;

  Adolphus Hart's 1851 History of the Issues of Paper Money in
  the American Colonies, one of only three copies known with the
  Historical Chart brought $34,500 on a $12,500 estimate;

  opening at $10,000, the original inventory of the legendary
  Waldo Newcomer Collection of American coins sold for
  $19,550;

  also opening at $10,000, the original F. C. C. Boyd appraisal
  and inventory of the massive coin collection formed by Col.
  E. H. R. Green brought $42,550 to an indefatigable telephone
  bidder;

  the most important assemblage of Chapman Brothers auction
  catalogues ever offered, including superb examples with original
  photographic plates, and many of the firm's unique Bid Books
  for their most important auctions, generally brought record prices;

  over twenty rare Thomas Elder auction catalogues with original
  photographic plates also sold very well;

  numerous Wayte Raymond catalogues with photographic plates
  and all four of the  firm's unique bid books of the monumental
  1920s W. W. C. Wilson sales were avidly sought after;

  important Americana, including a superb selection of early
  Western and other rare American Directories generally sold well
  above the estimates;

  two original copies of Attinelli?s 1876 Numisgraphics brought
  $4,025 and $6,325;

  a superb set of Milford Haven's classic work on Naval Medals
  realized $5,060; classic works on large cents, including deluxe
  editions and famous collectors? copies were in great demand;

  rare publications on fractional currency and Confederate
  currency were likewise avidly sought after, including perhaps
  the finest example known of Thian?s Register of the Confederate
  Debt, one of only five issued, which sold for $35,650 on a
  $12,500 estimate;

  classic works and unique manuscripts on American colonial
  coins were in demand, and the Dr. Hall/Hays manuscript on
  Connecticut coppers realized $23,000;

  several Eckfeldt and Du Bois works featured actual samples
  of  California ?49er gold and all sold for well over the estimates,
  particularly the 1842-1849 edition which brought $9,200 on a
  $3,500 estimate;

  Ed Frossard?s own set of his first 150 auction sale catalogues,
  handsomely bound in fifteen volumes, was one of the great
  highlights of the sale, opening for $6,000 on a $10,000 estimate,
  and ending up at $46,000;

  the 1861 private letter copy book of C. G. Memminger,
  Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederate States of America
  brought $24,150.

  Those interested in learning more about this landmark sale or in
  accessing the catalogue and prices realized list online may do so
  by visiting: www.numislit.com

  [note: all prices cited here, including the Champa and Bass library
  totals, include the buyer premium]"


"COIN OF COINS" ON DISPLAY IN JERUSALEM

  "Struck in Sicily in the mid-fifth century BCE, the unique
  Aitna tetradrachm is among the most splendid achievements
  of Greek art. This silver coin is rich with historical and
  iconographic significance, shedding light on the short-lived
  colony of Aitna and the symbols its inhabitants held dear.
  The masterwork of one of the finest die engravers of all
  times, the Aitna tetradrachm is also a coin of singular beauty,
  which has earned a place among the artistic wonders of the
  ancient world. The coin has not left the Bibliotheque royale
  in Brussels since its arrival there in 1899, and was only
  shown to scholars upon special request. Its exhibition at
  the Israel Museum, along with other coins attributed to the
  Aitna Master, constitutes its world premiere."

  On June 7, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, is to reopen the
  Shrine of the Book, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The
  museum's special exhibiti, "The Coin of Coins: A World
  Premiere," appears through Oct. 16.   Can any of our readers
  tell us more about the coin?   Has anyone seen it before?

  Coin Image


ANA EXHIBIT DEADLINE APPROACHES

  Once again, I would like to reminder everyone of the
  June 21st deadline for exhibit applications for the upcoming
  American Numismatic Association convention in Pittsburgh.
  In 1991, the Numismatic Bibliomania Society raised and
  donated $3,000 to the ANA to establish the Numismatic
  Literature exhibit category and endow the Aaron Feldman
  Award , to be given each year to the top numismatic literature
  exhibit.  The award is named in honor of literature dealer
  Aaron Feldman, who has been credited with "coining" the
  phrase, "Buy the book before the coin."

  For a nice example of a numismatic literature exhibit, see
  club_nbs_exhibit_amsmith.html
  for photos and text of NBS President Pete Smith's winning
  exhibit from 1996, "The Challenging Literature of A. M. Smith"

  Exhibiting information and applications are available at the
  ANA web site: ANA Exhibiting Information
 
  Perhaps some new owners of material from the Ford
  library will come forward to share some of their treasures
  via an exhibit.


BUY THE BOOK BEFORE THE COIN

  Phil Dodson column in the June 3, 2004 issue of The Telegraph
  of Macon, GA, echoes Feldman's sentiment:

  "Several days ago, my wife, in her usually thoughtful manner,
  inquired as to why I was screaming at the television.

  Like a child drawn to fire, I had flipped the channel to one
  of those coin-sales programs where they unload grossly
  overpriced silver dollars, gold-plated states' quarters or
  inexpensive proof sets for five to 10 times or more their fair
  retail value.

  I was talking back to an ethically challenged shyster who was
  lying about how rare the overpriced pieces of junk he was
  selling were going to be. His message: Buy now and next year
  your coins will be much more valuable.

  He was hawking common, made-for-circulation quarters that
  the U.S. Mint cranks out by the millions that some enterprising
  yahoo had coated with one-one/hundredth of a millimeter of
  gold (and that's not very much gold). This exceedingly poor
  example of truth in advertising was explaining in all seriousness
  how these quarters, which won't be rare a thousand years from
  now, would be much harder to find and would cost much more
  this time next year.

  If his name were Pinocchio, his nose would have been about
  eight feet long at that point."

  "One thing I learned the hard way about coin collecting is that
  even experienced hobbyists can get burned.  Cautious collectors
  spend years learning the fine points of numismatics, and they
  usually develop fairly extensive libraries on the subject.

  The best advice I have ever heard for those interested in coin
  collecting is, "Buy the book before you buy the coin."
  Knowledge will save the collector a lot of grief.

  To read the full column, see:Full Article


THE FICTIONALIZED HARVEY STACK

  David Gladfelter writes: "Readers of detective fiction among
  us will recognize Harvey Stack as the model for Linda
  Fairstein's numismatic character Bernard Stark in her novel
  The Kills (New York et al, Scribner, 2004) despite her standard
  disclaimer that "any resemblance to actual events or locales or
  persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

  The fictional Bernard, a minor character in the book, has the
  real Harvey's expertise but not his warm personality.  The
  story is woven around the Farouk specimen of the U.S. 1933
  double eagle, and others like it, following pretty closely the
  pattern of known facts with many tangled threads of intrigue
  filling in the historical gaps.  To be picky (and why not?), a
  partial image of a gold coin of St. Gaudens' obverse design
  is shown on the dust jacket, but the coin is not a 1930s $20
  piece but a modern look-alike $50 1-ounce bullion piece.
  The novel is a good read even for a non-numismatist (my wife)
  who finds most of numismatics strange and incomprehensible."


CASHLESS SOCIETY ARTICLE

  David Gladfelter adds: "Also in the non-numismatic press:
  Daniel Gross, "A Fare Exchange," U. S. Airways Attaché,
  June 2004, pages 13-14. This is a sentimental piece about
  the coming of the cashless society and the departure of coins
  and specifically, New York City transit tokens, five of which
  are illustrated in color."


NEW CLUB FOR COLLECTORS OF SO-CALLED DOLLARS

  Dick Johnson writes: "Sixty medal collectors throughout the
  country have already joined a club for those interested in
  collecting so-called dollars.  Jeffrey L. Shevlin of Carmichael,
  Calif. has launched the new specialized club, first meeting at
  the ANA National Money Show, March 27, in Portland,
  Oregon, where the first 23 charter members signed up.

  The So-Called Dollar Collectors Club planned to meet again
  at the Long Beach Show June 6th.  Further plans are underway
  for a meeting during the ANA Convention in Pittsburgh, August
  18 through 22 (date and time to be announced).

  Long considered somewhat of the collectible between coins
  and medals, so-called dollars are those struck items of
  silver-dollar size but bear no denomination. They became
  popular at expositions, particularly the American Centennial
  of 1876 in Philadelphia and the Columbian Exposition of
  1892-93 in Chicago.  The series was cataloged by Harold
  Hibler and Charles Kappen; in 1963 their catalog, "So-Called
  Dollars; An Illustrated Standard Catalog with Valuations" was
  published by The Coin and Currency Institute of New York
  City.

  In 1978 my partner, Chris Jensen, and I published a pamphlet
  "Current Valuations: A Price Supplement to So-Called Dollars,"
  bringing HK prices up to date. These were compiled by a
  panel of Chris, Joseph Levine and Hank Spangenberger, all
  well versed in market prices of the series. Later Chris and I
  bought all the remainders of the original book from Coin &
  Currency Institute. These copies have long since been sold
  and widely dispersed to collectors and numismatists interested
  in the series.

  Now 25 years later there is perhaps a demand for a revised
  catalog, and that is one of the goals of Jeff Shevlin and the
  new collectors' club.  Cost of a year's membership is $15 and
  collectors may write for an application blank, or send their
  check, name, mailing address, phone number and email
  address to:  So-Called Collectors Club, 7737 Fair Oaks
  Blvd, Suite 250, Carmichael, CA  95608."


THE NEVADA "FITZGERALD" HOARD

  The numismatic press has already covered Ron Gullio's
  recent purchase of a Nevada casino warehouse hoard
  of U.S. silver dollars and other material.  Here are a few
  excerpts from a June 3 Associated Press article about
  the find:

  "When coin dealer Ronald J. Gillio gazed in the musty
  warehouse on the outskirts of Reno last year, he could
  not believe his eyes: Inside were boxes and boxes of
  commemorative casino spoons, matches, key chains
  and coasters - gambling junk accumulated over decades.

  Locked in safes in the warehouse was what he really
  was after - bags and bags of silver dollars, more than
  100,000 in all. There were also thousands of casino
  chips in denominations from $1 to $100, old casino
  counting machines, a Seeburg jukebox and three
  vintage roulette wheels, including one with a rare
  single zero slot.

  Gillio, of Santa Barbara, Calif., bought it all - junk and
  treasure - for an undisclosed price. The property had
  been accumulated by the late Lincoln Fitzgerald, who
  at one time owned the Nevada Club in downtown
  Reno, the Nevada Lodge at Lake Tahoe and
  Fitzgeralds in Reno.

 Gillio dubbed the find "the Fitzgerald's hoard."

  "Some of the items were displayed in Las Vegas
  recently at an antique arms and coin show. Gillio
  figures the face value of the coins and chips is about
  $500,000.

  "It is amazing what some people keep," he said.
  "Things other people would throw away, Fitzgerald
  kept. I guess he had a sentimental attachment to them.
  It took us 60 days to clear out the warehouse."

  "In the Fitzgerald stash, he found empty bags from the
  Carson City Mint dating to the 1880s. While not
  particularly valuable, Gillio figures the bags and other
  gambling memorabilia have historical significance for
  Nevada.

  He plans to donate some items to the Nevada
  Historical Society in Reno and the Nevada State
  Museum in Carson City, which is in the same building
  that housed the mint."

  To read the full article, see the Las Vegas Sun web site:

Full Article



ANA MONEY MAIL DEBUTS

  Dave Perkins forwarded a copy of the introductory June, 2004
  issue of Money Mail, a new electronic newsletter from the
  American Numismatic Association.

  "We are pleased to bring you this introductory issue of the
  ANA's official e-newsletter. A free service for Association
  members and collectors of coins, tokens, medals and paper
  currency, Money Mail will keep you tuned in to what's going
  on in the hobby and your organization."

  The colorful, illustrated periodical is very nicely done, with
  short descriptions of organization news and links to more
  details on the official web site.  Under club news, this issue
  links to the history I wrote several years ago of the Western
  Pennsylvania Numismatic Society, one of the co-sponsor's
  of this summer's ANA convention.

  The newsletter is free and membership is not required.  To
  subscribe. write to:  moneymail at money.org


OCLC AND BANKING IN MAINE

  Michael J. Sullivan writes: "In response to Dave Bowers'
  inquiry to loan/borrow a copy of BANKING IN MAINE
  by A.H. Chadbourne ....my personal copy sold as part of my
  collection of over 800 bank histories sold by Currency
  Auctions of America, September 22-23, 2000.  The work
  originally appeared in THE MAINE BULLETIN (XXXIX,
  August,  1936).  It is included in my ANNOTATED
  BIBLIOGRAPHY OF U.S. STATE AND INDIVIDUAL
  BANK HISTORIES as item 365.  I am only aware of 2-3
  copies changing hands in the last 15 years.

  The most efficient way to borrow a copy is via OCLC or
  WORLDCAT.  This is a free service offered by public libraries
  to exchange books between public libraries and universities.
  I have borrowed hundreds of books using OCLC."


YALE CATALOG CORRECTION

  Bill Burd writes: "You do such a great job every week on
  The E-Sylum!!!!  I look forward to receiving it.

  As information, I have a copy of "Catalogue of the Greek and
  Roman Coins in the Numismatic Collection of Yale College"
  by Jonathan Edwards printed in 1880.  It is 236 pages long,
  not 23 as listed in the E-Sylum.   It was printed by the same
  company that did some of Woodward's auction catalogs.  It
  looks the same with its paper cover, same style printed
  heading, etc."


OLD WORLD COINS IN THE NEW WORLD

  In the American Numismatic Society's research mailing list,
  Cheryl Simani writes: "We are in need of assistance in a
  research project.  If anyone has information on ?Old? World
  coins discovered in the ?New? World, please contact me..

  I am a student in the History Department of the University
  of Houston.  Professor Frank Holt is my grant supervisor.
  The project is to document as many as possible of the more
  than 60 Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Islamic coins purportedly
  found predominately in the US.

  We need quality, digital images of both sides of the coins
  e-mailed in a JPEG file.  In a Word-document, please provide
  a brief description of the circumstance of the find, including
  names and contact information."

  [If you'd like to get in touch with Cheryl Simani, I will forward
  messages to her. -Editor]


HOFMANN BOOK: THE POET AND THE MURDERER

  John Eshbach writes: "Another book about Mark Hofmann,
  by Simon Worrall, titled "The Poet and the Murderer," Penguin
  Books (ISBN 0-525-94596-20.    The book relates the story
  of a forged Emily Dickinson poem bought at a Sotheby's May
  1997 auction by the Jones Library in Amherst, MA.  A modern
  day who-done-it about the poem's provenance."

  Ralf W. Bopple of Stuttgart, Germany also noted the omission.
  He writes: "Did I miss something, or was the book 'The Poet
  and the Murderer' by Simon Worrall (2002) not mentioned
  in the discussion of books on Mark Hofmann?  If not, this seems
  a little odd to me, because it was discussed in an earlier E-Sylum
  issue. Maybe it was missed because the connection there is not
  related to coins, but rather to Hofmann's falsifications of Emily
  Dickinson handwritings.  While I immediately bought the book
  due to its link to Amherst / Massachusetts, hometown of my
  alma mater UMass, I can recommend it to anybody for the
  insight it provides into the world of counterfeiting of
collectibles."

  David F. Fanning also points this book out: "Meant to note
  last week, but here's another Hofmann book:

  "The Poet and the Murderer: A True Story of Literary Crime
  and the Art of Forgery," by Simon Worrall (New York: Dutton,
  2002).

  It's written in that awful style of crime thrillers, but it's worth
  noting for its emphasis on Hofmann's forgery of an Emily
  Dickenson poem (actually--and this makes it all the more
  interesting--Hofmann had the audacity to not simply fake a
  manuscript of a known poem, but to write the poem himself
  in her style).

  The Salamander book (previously mentioned by someone else)
  is by far the best I've read on Hofmann, though it's still rather
  lurid for those of us more used to reading about coins.

  Have any E-Sylum subscribers attempted to correspond with
  Hofmann?"

  [Well, Hofmann has tried to correspond with one numismatic
   bibliophile, Armand Champa.  In his library Champ had a
  letter from Hofmann who'd written him about purchasing a
  coin, perhaps as fodder for one of his counterfeiting schemes.

  The controversy over publishing Larson's book on numismatic
  forgery, and David's note of the lurid aspects of the Salamander
  book remind me of my horror to find in print, in the transcripts
  of Mark Hofmann's jury trial, detailed information on how he
  made the pipe bombs that killed his unsuspecting victims.
  -Editor]


HUDSON'S BAY MADE BEAVER TOKENS

  The particular numismatic item I had in mind for last week's
  QUICK QUIZ  was the Hudson Bay Company's Made
  Beaver tokens.  Jess Gaylor was the first to guess the
  answer.  But there were several possible answers, as
  David Gladfelter points out: "Not sure what specific
  numismatic item HBC is known for. The late Larry Gingras,
  fellow of the Royal Numismatic and Canadian Numismatic
  Research Societies, published a 117-page study, Medals,
  Tokens and Paper Money of the Hudson's Bay Company,
  in 1975, which lists a large variety of these items, almost all
  from the 19th and early 20th centuries."

  From the Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada web site:

  "In 1670 Charles II of Britain granted a charter to the "Governor
  and Company of Adventurers of England Tradeing [sic] into
  Hudson's Bay" giving the company absolute control over the
  territory drained by the rivers flowing into Hudson Bay. This
  charter marked the founding of the Hudson's Bay Company, a
  venture that was to figure importantly in the history of Canada
  and the fur trade.

  Initially, trading posts were built in the Hudson Bay region,
  but by 1821 the powerful trading company had extended its
  interests all the way to the Pacific coast. Most of the furs traded
  at these posts were trapped by Aboriginals who bartered the
  pelts for goods at Company stores. In order to facilitate this
  exchange, the "made beaver" - the value of a prime beaver
  pelt-was established as the unit of account. When a trapper
  brought his furs to the trading post he would receive in return a
  pile of tokens valued in made beavers.  He was then able to
  select goods from the Company store until his supply of tokens
  was exhausted.

  Before metal tokens came into use, locally produced tokens
  of ivory, stone, bone and wood were used at some Hudson's
  Bay Company posts. The brass token is the size of a Canadian
  25-cent piece and is one of a set of four denominations valued
  at 1, 1/2 and 1/8 made beaver.  These tokens, which were
  used in the East Main District east and south of Hudson Bay,
  do not bear a date but were struck sometime after 1857. The
  letters on the token have the following meanings: HB (Hudson
  Bay), EM (East Main), NB (made beaver) - the N is a
  die-cutter's error for M. This token is part of the National
  Currency Collection, Bank of Canada."
  National Currency Collection

  See also the Hudson's Bay company web site:  Hudson's Bay
 
 The web site describes the company's "amazing archives":
  "In London, England, during Hudson's Bay Company's 1928
  Annual Meeting Governor Charles Sale announced the
  establishment of an Archives Department. He told the
  shareholders "We have, as you probably know, an immense
  collection of records relating to the earliest days of our history;
  to the wars and fighting; to the explorations by land and sea;
  to the customs and life of the Indians and Eskimo; to the
  struggle for the occupation of the Pacific Coast; to the peaceful
  retention of the Great West; and finally, to the general conduct
  of the Company and its affairs during the two centuries in which
  it was responsible for the government of the territory of Rupert's
  Land."

  "The Hudson's Bay Company Archives were opened to
  students of history in May, 1931. The records were moved to
  Canada in 1974 and placed on long term loan with the Provincial
  Archives of Manitoba. The Provincial Archives would become
  the permanent home of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives on
  January 27, 1994 through donation."

  Hudson's Bay Company Archives


COLORADO GOLD RUSH LEGACY

  On May 29, The Rocky Mountain News in Denver
  published and interesting story about the Cripple Creek
  and Victor Gold Mining Co.

  "In a dimly lit room the size of a living room, a thick graphite
  caldron sits atop a blazing furnace.

  It cooks gold. About 850 ounces daily, worth approximately
  $300,000.

  It belongs to the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mining Co. -
  the last remaining miners from the area's gold rush that began
  more than 100 years ago.

  The company will pour its 2 millionth ounce of gold from the
  Cresson mine and celebrate its 10th anniversary June 10."

  "Spread out over more than 4,000 acres, Cresson is a hard
  mine to work, most observers say.

  Most of its rich ore was pulled out by miners a hundred years
  ago. What remains are faint, almost invisible, traces of gold
  in hard rock.

  It's estimated 3.97 million ounces in reserves will be mined
  through 2012.

  "The old-timers got all higher-grade ore from Cresson,"
  Hampton explained. "We are sort of mining the halo around it."

  Some 320 full-time workers and about 40 contractors work
  round-the-clock shifts at the mine."

  "To the uninitiated, the Cresson mine in Teller County west of
  Colorado Springs might resemble a moonscape: a barren,
  rocky surface scarred with holes from underground mine
  shafts dug during the early 1890s.

  It started when Bob Womack, originally from Kentucky,
  discovered a gold vein in the area - then called Poverty
  Gulch - in 1891. One of the richest gold finds in America,
  it triggered a gold rush in Colorado that lasted for many
  decades.

  "Free gold sticks out of the rock like raisins out of a
  fruitcake," a local newspaper reported."

  To read the full story, see:

Full Article

  See also the American Numismatic Association online exhibit
  of Colorado Pioneer gold coins from the earlier 1860's
  gold rush:
  ANA Colorado Pioneer Gold Coins


ABOLISH THE CENT, YOU MEAN

  Tom Fort sent us the following article by William Safire titled
  "Abolish the Penny", which was published in the June 2 issue
  of The New York Times.  He writes:  "Here is something for
  The E-Sylum. It has been discussed many times before, but
  as long as there is a congressional delegation from Illinois it
  will never happen."  Arthur Shippee forwarded it to us a well.
  Here's an excerpt:

  "The time has come to abolish the outdated, almost
  worthless, bothersome and wasteful penny. Even President
  Lincoln, who distrusted the notion of paper money because
  he thought he would have to sign each greenback, would be
  ashamed to have his face on this specious specie.

  That's because you can't buy anything with a penny any
  more. Penny candy? Not for sale at the five-and-dime
  (which is now a "dollar store"). Penny-ante poker? Pass
  the buck.  Any vending machine? Put a penny in and it will
  sound an alarm.

  There is no escaping economic history: it takes nearly a
  dime today to buy what a penny bought back in 1950.
  Despite this, the U.S. Mint keeps churning out a billion
  pennies a month.

  Where do they go? Two-thirds of them immediately drop
  out of circulation, into piggy banks or - as The Times's
  John Tierney noted five years ago - behind chair cushions
  or at the back of sock drawers next to your old tin-foil ball.
  Quarters and dimes circulate; pennies disappear because
  they are literally more trouble than they are worth. "

  To read the full article, see: Full Article



THE LATEST STUPID COUNTERFEITERS

  "News of the Weird" brings us another installment in the
  "Stupid Counterfeiters" vein:  ""John Parker and Rick
  Owens were arrested in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart
  in Athens, Texas, in April, after they were allegedly spotted
  by several people sitting in their car carefully cutting out
  individual counterfeit bills from larger sheet they had just
  printed."

  [I understand cutting notes out of sheets of GENUINE
  uncut U.S. notes was a pastime of some collectors years
  ago.  They loved to see the looks on the faces of waiters
  and shopkeepers, but as word of the practice got back
  to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, sales of the
  uncut sheets to the public were stopped, never to resume
  for decades.    Can anyone corroborate this story?
  Has anyone ever tried it?  -Editor]


FEATURED WEB SITE

  This week's featured web site is all about WWII Philippine
  numismatics.  "The purpose of this site is to illustrate the
  indominable will of the human spirit, and to show the many
  sides of conflict.  This will be accomplished through the use
  of the currency which was made for use during, and
  immediately following, WWII in the Philippines.  The
  Guerrilla money, which is the main focus of this web site,
  was accepted out of both national pride as much as necessity.
  To be caught by the Japanese with this money was often
  punishable by public execution."

     WWII Philippine Numismatics

  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society