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Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 34, August 22, 2004: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. SUBSCRIBER UPDATE Among recent new subscribers is are Steven Dippolito, Mark Ferguson of Coin World, David Lisot of Heritage Galleries and Sam Spiegel. Welcome aboard! We now have 684 subscribers. E-SYLUM WINS AWARDS For the second year running, The E-Sylum won the First Place in the American Numismatic Association's awards for the "2004 Outstanding Electronic Numismatic Publication." Thanks to Howard Daniel for accepting the award on our behalf. In a first for NBS, at the Numismatic Literary Guild bash Thursday night, we won an NLG Award. The plaque reads: NLG AWARD / BEST NON-COMMERCIAL WEB SITE / coinbooks.org / THE e-SYLUM / WAYNE K. HOMREN, EDITOR / PITTSBURGH, AUGUST 2004." NBS President Pete Smith accepted the award. I'm sorry my duties at the convention and home kept me from being present to accept. It's always nice to be recognized. Thanks, all. ANA NEWSFLASH: 1792 CENT FOUND The story is already on the newswires, although I was unable to grab an article to quote for this issue. A New York couple arrived at the show with what examiners believe to be a genuine 1792 silver center cent, sans silver plug. If authenticated this would be only the 9th known specimen. One estimate places a $400,000 value on the coin. ANA CONVENTION DIARY Tuesday was setup day for most exhibitors. Several NBS members were seen in and around the large exhibit area at the front of the hall. Dave Lange was one of the early birds, setting up his exhibit of coin boards in Class 22, Numismatic Literature. Joker Wendell Wolka came by to point out imaginary smudges on the exhibit case glass I was cleaning for the Carnegie Hero medal exhibit. NBS President Pete Smith stopped by later as well. Wednesday brought the opening ceremonies with Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy and other political and numismatic dignitaries. I was concerned that our Honorary Chairman was nowhere to be found, only to learn later he'd decided not to come up on stage and was watching from a seat nearby. I'd been scanning the crowd like a Secret Service agent and was unable to find him. It was all over in a flash for me, but I'm sure it seemed like an eternity to the throng waiting to get in the show. I had opened my day with a visit to the general meeting of the John Reich Collector's Society, where I was greeted by a lot of familiar faces. The officers helped promote The E-Sylum, and I'd like to thank them here for their kind words. The E-Sylum has grown to its present size largely by word-of- mouth, and I encourage readers to forward issues to people they think may enjoy it. After the opening ceremony my next order of business was the downtown Pittsburgh walking tour. Two docents from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation led two groups around the city. Despite a planning mixup at one of our stops, all went well. The highlight for our group was visiting Dollar Savings Bank, whose main branch was built in 1870 and has been in operation as bank branch with little architectural change continuously since that date. While waiting in line for lunch back at the convention I met Doug Mudd, the new curator of the American Numismatic Association. In a nearby line was Carl Feldman of New Jersey who told me he was counting the minutes until our library tour Friday morning. Next stop was the in-progress meeting of the NBS Board where various organization topics were discussed. At 2pm I left to get my car and run home to pick up my sons Christopher and Tyler. When we returned to the convention we looked at the 1804 Silver Dollars and bought Mint Passports. On the way to the mint booths we ran into John Adams and Denis Loring. After filling most of the passport holes it was time to head home again. Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home. The show had tired them out, but they had fun. So when do I get to take nap? All in all the day went well, and my main regret was not being able to attend Chuck Larson's presentation at the 10am Numismatic Theatre. Author of the new book on numismatic forgery discussed here in previous issues, he told me that he planned to announce the outcome of his investigation of the 1959 Wheat cent Mark Hofmann claimed to have fabricated. We'll probably see something in the numismatic press this week. Were any of our readers in attendance? Thursday morning I attended the Krause Publications Numismatic Ambassador breakfast. My table included Sam Deep, Al Johnbriar, David Alexander, and Tom DeLorey. At noon I listened to Michael S. Turrini's talk on the Carnegie Hero Medal, then went to a press conference on the medal with Michael and officials from Carnegie Museum and the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Unfortunately, this conflicted with Scott Rubin's Numismatic Theatre / NBS Literature Symposium talk. Anyone care to submit a report? Not having had time to grab lunch, I then hooked up with NBS Board member Joel Orosz and went down the street for a bite. Toward the end of our talk we heard a loud CLANG which turned out to be the sound of my new ANA Goodfellow medal hitting the floor. The clasp, which was too light for the weight of the medal, had given away. Clem Schettino and a group of fellow colonial coin collectors at the next table were as startled as we were. Luckily, just a few blocks away was The Coin Exchange, where resident jewelry expert Debbie Dechicchis and owner Kitty Litman came to the rescue, replacing the clasp with something sturdy, and even sewing together the other end of the ribbon where it too had already frayed from the weight of the medal. Note for post-convention suggestion box: Great medal, but please don't skimp on the ribbon. The medal was not the last surprise of the day. My cell phone rang and it was my wife calling to tell me a rainstorm had just blasted thru our neighborhood damaging or uprooting several large trees, blowing our metal patio furniture into a neighbor's yard and sending the kids' wading pool far down the block. The sun was still shining downtown. Although a nearby neighbor couldn't open their front door because of a fallen tree, luckily there were no injuries or damage to homes or cars. Friday was the Big Day. After spending the morning til 10am with my family as they got ready to hightail it out of town, I ran around like crazy cleaning and setting up the house for the library tour. I made it to the NBS meeting late, where the fund-raising auction was about to begin. After the meeting I herded our tourgoers down to the bus and off we went. I gave a running commentary on some of the historical sites we passed along the way as everyone dug into their boxed lunches. Soon we were at Tom Fort's house and everyone poured into his library and nearby dining room where several choice books were displayed. All too soon it was time to pack up again and Pete Smith and I herded the group outside for a group photo before getting back on the bus. At my house we split into two groups. One group viewed the ephemera and pamphlet binders while another went in the house to see the main library. Other books were on tables and counters around the house, and the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society records were on a table in the living room. We stayed a little longer here, but in what seemed like a flash it was time to get back on the bus again for our return trip to the convention center. Everyone had a great time and I was grateful that history didn't repeat itself in one aspect: during the 1935 Pittsburgh ANA convention George Clapp invited a group to his home in Sewickley, and along the way the bus broke down, stuck in mud from a rainstorm. We did have another rainstorm, but only after we had made it back safely to the convention center. Thankfully, Friday's storm brought no new damage to our neighborhood. Thursday's dinner was a very pleasant affair at the Pittsburgh Fish Market with Barry Tayman, Joel Orosz, George Kolbe and Scott Rubin. It was nice to relax a bit after all the day's commotion. Calling my wife to check on her day, I learned that in one afternoon my father-in-law had managed to both trip and knock over the baby carriage, baby and all, and fish our four-year-old son Tyler out of the hotel pool just as he was getting into water too deep for him. Baby Hannah and brother Tyler were fine, but I downed an extra glass of wine to calm my nerves. Saturday morning brought the Goodfellows breakfast. The Goodfellows are former convention general chairs who advise the ANA on running future conventions. I learned I wasn't the only general chair to have a problem with the heavy Goodfellow medal. Mine took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. Luckily, Debbie's repairs held the rest of the convention. Thanks! Using my laptop I pulled to together a set of slides for Richard Crosby's 4pm talk on Pittsburgh Exonumia - he'd been having computer problems and was unable to create a disk to use. At the 5pm Numismatic Theatre I operated a computer slide show for Joel Orosz' talk, "Did George Washington Provide the Silver for the 1792 Half Dismes?". The talk included a discussion of the earliest appearances in print of the stories surrounding the half dismes, and many bibliophiles were in attendance. Soon it was time for the banquet. As planned, we had a magician entertaining the crowd at the 7pm reception. Back when the ANA convention was in Pittsburgh in 1935, a magician performed at the banquet, so I thought it would be fun for a reprise. He did a great job, delighting the kids (and adults!) in the crowd with close-up card and slight-of- hand tricks. The banquet held many highlights, but for the locals we were happy to learn that Sam Deep won the Rodger E. Hershey People's Choice award. Rodger was a close friend of Sam's, and he helped raise the funds to endow the award after Rodger's death. Chick Ambrass noted that if Rodger were here, in his typical fashion he'd say that getting the award was "better than getting a sharp stick in the eye!" Another highlight for the evening was the announcement of the Howland Wood Best-in-Show exhibit winner. Having just told E-Sylum contributor David Menchell at the reception how I was "blown away' by his "Medals of Conflict, Medals of Conquest: The Numismatic Legacy of the French and Indian War," I was delighted to hear he'd won the Howland Wood. Congratulations! Sunday was wrap-up time. Arriving at the show midmorning I made my first stop at a dealer table - nothing like waiting 'til the last minute. Three hundred dollars later I had added two Pittsburgh obsolete notes to my collection from the stock of Tom Denly. The next stop at Charlie Davis' table replenished my wallet, as he paid me for an old consignment I'd left with him. Not a bad trade. As I sat down for lunch later, exhausted, I was soon joined by George Cuhaj and John and Nancy Wilson. Afterwards I headed to Numismatic Theatre to introduce local Siege Coin expert Larry Korchnak. After his interesting talk I introduced John Frost, the last speaker of the convention. Attendance was sparse, but these two talks were wonderful, and made for a nice way to end the convention.... until my cell phone rang. You guessed it - my wife again. Her sister's husband had had a heart attack and was being flown by helicopter to a hospital. My plans for carefully repacking my exhibits went out the window. I was able to recruit Bill Cowburn, Eric Holcolmb and Eva Crosby to help take down my 22 cases of material. Amazing what you can do in a rush when you have to. Thanks one and all, also Gene Hynds for quickly responding to my pleas for opening the exhibit cases. My apologies to Dave Menchell for being unable to talk as he left the hall. Once packed I left my exhibits in the care of Eva and Richard Crosby and dashed off to the hospital, arriving at the emergency room just as my wife arrived with the rest of my family. A bit later her sister and kids arrived. The surgeons installed a stent in my brother-in-law's heart valve, and told us he was doing well. He'll spend the night in intensive care. By 8pm I was driving my sister-in-law and her daughters back to their home and by 9pm I was meeting Richard Crosby at a gas station off the interstate to pick up my exhibit. Now it's after midnight and time to finish off The E-Sylum. 'Night all. It was an amazing week, but I'll be happy to get back to my sedate everyday routine tomorrow. Meanwhile, keep those emails coming. CORRECTIONS Gar Travis was kind enough to point out the typo in one of last week's headlines. It should have read "ANS Olympic COIN and Medal Exhibit Catalog." Joel Orosz writes: "I just noticed that both the August 8 and August 15 issues of the E-Sylum are headed "v7#32." [Oops - it takes a sharp-eyed reader to catch an error like that. Thanks, Joel. The number of this week's issue has been corrected to #34. Mistakes like these can compound themselves. Those of you who have been reading The E-Sylum for a while might remember this item from the v3#1 issue (January 2, 2000): "... mishaps aren't limited to numismatic publications. An Associated Press article published today reports, "Normally punctilious about correcting its own errors, The New York Times used the new millennium to fess up to a mistake that had appeared on its front page every day for more than a century. Saturday's Times is actually issue No. 51,254 - not 51,754. You hadn't noticed? - Neither had anyone else, according to the paper, until 24-year-old news assistant Aaron Donovan recently "became curious about the numbering" ... and "wondered about the potential for self-perpetuating error." Using a spreadsheet program, Donovan ran the numbers back to issue No. 1 on Sept. 18, 1851, and discovered they added up to 500 fewer than had been thought. Then, doing further research, he homed in on Feb. 6, 1898, as the date of infamy. On that day, he found, a now-anonymous predecessor ... added 1 to 14,499 and came up with 15,000 rather than 14,500." AUTHOR FOUND Fred Reed reported a successful conclusion to his request in last week's issue. He writes: "I just heard from Mark Rabinowitz. Nancy Green at ANA put him in touch with me. Thanks for the boost up." CARSON CITY COIN FOUND Last week we published an item about how E-Sylum subscriber Rusty Goe spent a valuable Carson City mint coin to promote a local coin show. The coin has been found "A Carson City man with a tendency to check his pocket change has come up with a big find. Richard Labahn got a curious looking coin in his change last Saturday at a Carson City Albertsons store. It turned out to be an 1877-CC Liberty Seated quarter minted in Carson City and spent there, intentionally, by a Reno coin collector. Rusty Goe spent the quarter at the Albertsons, then announced it, to generate interest in the August 28th-29th Carson City Mint coin show. Goe offered 300 dollars for the person who redeemed the coin. It's worth about 200 to 250 dollars. Labahn, a 75-year-old retired Carson City salesman received the historic coin just after Goe spent it." To read the full article, see: Full Article MORE HESSLER BOOKS Robert J. Galiette writes: "I also think that Gene Hessler's prior work to produce the book "A History of U.S. Loans: 1775 - 1898" will be appreciated all the more as time goes by. It's a very challenging subject to research and illustrate. It's not surprising that it was fifteen years in the making, and that it needed the seasoned experience of a curator of a major financial museum in order to accomplish it. Many collectors enjoy currency, and a five or ten dollar bill is not on its face a difficult item to understand and appreciate. However, stocks, bonds convertible securities, loan agreements and other documents produced by the same engravers in more elaborate fashion, and often signed by the persons who shaped U.S. finance, have a lot of depth still to be studied in reconstructing and understanding the financial history that underlies this country." MENORAH COIN PROJECT Arthur Shippee forwarded the following from the Explorator newsletter about a web site on ancient Israelite coinage by Jean-Philippe Fontanille:. "First of all, I am pleased to announce you that I won the 2004 Norman W. Wagner Award, yearly awarded by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies for my works on the Menorah Coin Project website. Wagner Award Canadian Society of Biblical Studies There are 3 new items added on MCP this month. They are magnificent and extremely rare coins minted under Agrippa I: H546. As you will remark, the pictures are larger than the usual size pictures used on MCP because the letters are small and the patterns are showing many fine details. 1st Image 2nd Image 3rd Image. Also, a very large number of specimens has been added in all the categories." JOHNSON'S STILL READING THE READER'S DIGEST Dick Johnson writes: "Page 98 (September 2004): How many quarters does it take to play the new Lord of the Rings pinball game? None. It only takes Tolkiens." FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is our very own: the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Numismatic Bibliomania Society 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. |
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