Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 37, September 12, 2004:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2004, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


SUBSCRIBER UPDATE

  Among recent new subscribers is Dick Gaetano, courtesy
  of Wayne Homren.  Welcome aboard!  We now have 688
  subscribers.


LAKE BOOKS UNSCATHED BY FRANCES

  After hunkering down for Hurricane Charley, numismatic
  literature dealer Fred Lake of Lake Books in Florida
  writes: "Hurricane Frances had little or no effect on our
  business. We never lost power, so emailed bids were
  probably received here.

  We were quite fortunate. There are many others on the
  Florida peninsula who were not quite so blessed and our
  thoughts go out to them.

  Our sale #76 closes on September 28, 2004 and you
  may view the sale at
  Current Lake Sale "

  [We're glad the Lakes are doing well, and wish them
  and their fellow Floridians the best as yet another
  hurricane, Ivan, follows a course that could take it to
  the Florida Keys and Gulf Coast.  -Editor]


THE PURPLE HEART BAND-AIDS

  Charles Davis  writes: "The purple heart band aids were a
  response to John Kerry's ad nauseum TV ads that he has
  three of them (or at least had three of them before he threw
  them away in the 1971 protest rally in Washington) for battle
  wounds that required only bandaids."

  George Vanca of Santa Clarita, CA writes: "A few delegates
  at the Republican National Convention were wearing
  band-aids with Purple Hearts on them.  They were doing it
  not as a mockery of the Purple Heart but in response to the
  three "questionable" Purple Hearts John Kerry received in
  Vietnam as reported by the Swiftboat Veterans.

  In fairness, it should be pointed out, that the President,
  Vice-president, and their Spokespersons have all spoken
  out against the Swiftboat Veterans stance and they have
  publicly said that they acknowledge and honor Senator
  Kerry's service in Vietnam.  They have also called for an
  end to the commercials."

  Denis Loring writes: "It was indeed intended as a mockery,
  of John Kerry.  The wearers indicate their belief in the
  reports -- proven false -- that Kerry did not deserve his
  Purple Hearts because of the triviality (or non-existence)
  of his wounds."

  [So another numismatic topic begins and ends in politics.
   Lest we stir up our earlier foes of political discussions
  within these pages, I'll let the topic drop now that we have
  an answer to the original question.  My apologies to the
  several other readers who sent replies as well.   -Editor]


RARE GOLD COIN OF  COENWULF FOUND

  From a Reuters account, September 10:
  "The coin was discovered on a public footpath beside the
  River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. It is the first new
  Anglo-Saxon gold penny to come to light in nearly a century
  and the only known gold coin with the name of Coenwulf --
  a king who ruled over the central English region of Mercia.

  London auctioneers Spink estimate the coin will sell for
  120,000-150,000 pounds ($214,100-267,700) when it goes
  under the hammer in October."

  "It's obviously going to be far in excess of anything that the
  average guy would expect to find when he's out walking his
  dog," said Bishop.    Full Story


RARE GOLD NOBLES STOLEN

  Arthur Shippee forwarded a link to this story about the
  theft of some rare coins on loan from the British Museum:

  "SECURITY has been reviewed at Manchester Museum
  after three rare coins were stolen from a display case.

  The coins, known as "Nobles", were taken from the coin
  room at the Oxford Road museum, where they were on
  display as part of a collection on a15-year loan from the
  British Museum in London.

  Two coins have since been recovered and police have
  appealed for help in tracing the one still missing.

  The Nobles, which had been in Manchester for a year,
  were minted between 1445 and 1485 as gold bullion to be
  used as army payment during the Wars of the Roses."

  "The coins, which were taken from the museum during
  opening hours on August 5, are from a collection unearthed
  in Nottinghamshire in 1966 and form part of the Fishpool
  Collection."    Full Story


SALE / FIXED PRICE LIST SOUGHT: E.H.A. 2/2/14

  Mike Hodder writes: "John Ford used to tell me that his
  collection of Wood's Hibernias included many coins
  pedigreed to Philip Nelson's own collection. Nelson's
  collection of Hibernias seems never to have been sold
  publicly. Harry Manville notes that Charles Watters
  bought part of it in the spring of 1917 and that the balance
  went to a Liverpool museum.

  In cataloguing Ford's Hibernias for sale I've found what is
  (to me) an enigmatic reference to a sale that Fred Boyd
  noted contained Hibernias he bought that were ex Nelson
  Collection. The sale is listed only as "E.H.A. 2/2/14". The
  name that comes to mind right away is Adams' but neither J.
  W. Adams nor Gengerke note an E.H. Adams sale that late.
  Davis does not list a sale citation for an E.H. Adams' fixed
  price list of that date.

  I wonder if any readers can help throw some light on the
  citation?  If it helps, the lots Boyd bought from the "E.H.A.
  2/2/14" sale were:

  Lot 2 (Nelson 2)
  Lot 3 (Nelson 3 in silver)
  Lot 5 (Nelson 3 in copper)
  Lot 6 (another copper Nelson 3)
  Lot 8 (Nelson 7 in silver)
  Lot 10 (Nelson 7 in copper)
  Lot 11 (another Nelson 7 in copper)
  Lot 12 (Nelson 6)
  Lot 13 (Nelson 5)
  Lot 14 (Nelson 8)
  Lot 15 (another Nelson 8)
  Lot 16 (another Nelson 8)
  Lot 18 (Nelson 12 in silver)
  Lot 19 (Nelson 12 in copper)
  Lot 20 (Nelson 17)
  Lot 21 (Nelson 10)
  Lot 23 (Nelson 11 in silver)
  Lot 24 (Nelson 13)
  Lot 26 (Nelson 11 in copper)
  Lot 27 (another Nelson 11 in copper)
  Lot 28 (another Nelson 11 in copper)."


COIN WORLD SUPPLY CATALOG

  Dick Johnson writes: "Coin World's "Coin Product Guide"
  (ie supply catalog) arrived in the mail this week.  The cover
  photo was outstanding!  Although the image of old man /
  young boy is a photo cliché, it still has charm -- complete
  with pitcher of lemonade and battered porch swing. Rustic!

  There are seven pages of numismatic books offered, 71
  different titles.  I would like to learn the comments of our
  book dealing brethren among our NBS members and
  E-Sylum readers.

  Do you consider this unfair competition?  "They take away
  my potential sales" to perhaps "the more numismatic books
  in collectors' hands the better." Your comments?"


PUBLISHING TIPS SOUGHT

  Dan Gosling writes: "In preparing a manuscript for publishing
  what are the advantages and disadvantages of the various
  software programs?

  I know that many shops are more likely to be able to print
  from a Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf). Acrobat
  can "distill" most files into a .pdf. Would it be better to create
  the manuscript using Acrobat as well?

  The CN Journal, the monthly publication of the Canadian
  Numismatic Association is prepared using Quark. Many in
  the publishing industry use Mac's and Quark.

  Most of us are familiar with Microsoft Word and would be
  better able to focus on the creation of the content instead of
  learning a new software package.  However, there is no
  guarantee that the printer will have the same version of Word.

  I would be interested to learn what others have used and
  what experiences they have had.  Thanks!"

  Coincidentally, Ron Abler writes: "I have been writing a
  reference/catalog on/of American Independence Centennial
  Medals.  I am at the point where publishing and formatting
  considerations suggest that I should be working with a
  publisher and/or editor.  How does a first-time author go
  about seeking a publisher?  I would appreciate any and all
  advice from you and the members.  Thank you."


NAMES ON THE OLD ANS BUILDING

  Dick Johnson writes: "Since I proposed the question of
  the numismatic biblio glitteraries whose names are forever
  emblazened on the facade of the old American Numismatic
  Society building, may I be the first to respond to last week's
  second plea for the list of names?  I respond from memory.

  The oldest name is Johann Joseph Hilarius Eckhel (but just
  "Eckhel" is inscribed). Another is Edward Theodore Newell
  (just 'Newell' please, Mister Stone Engraver).  I can
  understand why these two numismatic author luminaries are
  included, but for the life of me I cannot understand why they
  put Bing Crosby's name there as well!  (Ouch!, I bit my
  tongue!).

  I cannot remember the others, that's why I asked."

  Pete Smith had the correct answer as well.  He writes:
  "The numismatist who wrote "Doctrina Nummorum Veterum"
  has a funny name, Joseph Hilarius Eckhel."

  The next name on the building is that of the "Keeper of the
  Department of Coins and medals in the British Museum.
  His Historia Numorum, published in 1887, changed the study
  of Greek coins by studying them systematically."  Who is he?


DECIMAL COINAGE SYSTEMS

  Howard A. Daniel III writes:  "I do not believe the Russians
  were the first with a decimal coinage system.  I'm away from
  home when writing this item but think the Chinese (and
  Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese) cash-style coin system
  was decimal.

  The individual coins' full weight was divided into ten (10) units,
  then one hundred (100) of the coins was another unit, and one
  thousand (1000) was another unit.  There were other
  temporary units for 300, 600, etc., but the official system was
  the 10, 100, 1000, etc.

  I have also read many articles about the "first" coins of the
  world being from the area of the Mediterranean Sea.  This
  may be true for the "Western" world, but the actual first coins
  of the entire world were made in the "Eastern" world.


AUCTION ETIQUETTE

  On the topic of bidder etiquette, Steve Pellegrini writes:
  "In his December1999 Sale #21 auction catalogue of the
  Dr.Otto Kallir Collection of German Airship Medals
  (i.e. Zeppelin medals) Paul Bosco writes under 'Bidding
  Advice' on his TERMS OF SALE page:

  "If you are consistently using the Minimum Bids as a
  bidding guide, you are either ignorant, which is curable, or
  a horrible customer, which usually is not and I will insult you
  to the death."

  I would add that Paul is getting more curmudgeonly as he
  goes along but I think more is impossible.  However as a
  fellow proud liberal lefty we cherish and guard him always."


ENGRAVER G. W. DURFEE INFORMATION SOUGHT

  The following note came to us at the suggestion of Rich
  Hartzog: "My name is Kathy Cunningham and I am
  researching a person named "G. W. Durfee" who was a
  passenger on the S.S. Republic.  I have not as yet been
  able to learn much about the person.  However, I
  believe that "G. W." may be George Washington Durfee,
  the engraver.  Additionally, if our Durfee is in fact the
  engraver, if you could direct me to information linking
  him to the SS Republic or point me to to any other relevant
  information (images or photos of him, spouse or family
  life, etc.) I would be quite grateful.  My email address is
  she_is_now at yahoo.com.  Thank you."

  Dick Johnson was also contacted, and his response
  was: "There are six American artists with the last name
  Durfee. One has the name "George H. Durfee" (who was,
  incidentally, active in Civil War times).  [Perhaps our source
  had misread the middle initial.]  This artist did a sketch of
  a CW soldier which is in the Abby Rockefeller Folk Art
  Center in Williamsburg VA. He is also mentioned in
  McMahan "Artists of Washington DC."

  There are no American coin or medal engravers with the
  last name Durfee. The nearest name is "C. W. Dury (or
  Druy) but there are no records of his vita.

  If you are certain of the spelling the person was probably
  not an engraver, but of some other profession."


FRANK STEWART COLLECTION 1792 PLANCHETS

  Saul Teichman writes: "With regard to the Judd 2 1792 silver
  center cent without the silver plug, the 2 blank planchets were
  part of Frank Stewart's collection given to the city of
  Philadelphia in 1914 and displayed at Independence Hall.

  One of the blank planchets is missing, the other is quite
  corroded.  I had it imaged along with examples of their
  J10 and J21 but I seem have misplaced it.  The image was
  not good enough to use on the uspatterns.com website.
  Patterns Web Site

  By the way, Frank Stewart's collection has nice date run of
  early coinage, especially of Cents, half cents and dollars."


JUDGE TO COUNTERFEITER: YEAH, SURE...

  Len Augsberger forwarded the following counterfeiting
  story from the Reuters newswire:

  "A Danish man was sentenced to 25 days in jail after
  trying to buy a pizza with fake banknotes he said his
  grandchildren had made for a game of Monopoly.

  The 57-year-old said he had rented two color photocopiers
  to make extra fake money for the regular family games of
  Finans, a Danish version of the popular board game, the
  news agency Ritzau reported on Monday.

  He said he had simply made a mistake when he tried to
  pay for pizza and ice cream with a fake 500 crown ($80) note.

  But the court, hearing that he had been carrying 57,000
  crowns worth of forged notes when he was arrested, followed
  one of the Monopoly game's instructions and told him to
  "Go to Jail."    Full Story



BUT OFFICER, HE SAID THEY WERE *REAL* FAKES...

  Then there's this report from Zhengzhou, China:  "A
  businessman in China's Henan province complained to police
  after fake currency he had purchased for business purposes
  turned out to be waste paper.

  The man, who was from Shandong province, told police he
  had paid 130,000 yuan ($15,000) to buy 560,000 yuan in
  counterfeit currency f rom a man in Zhengzhou, the provincial
  capital.

  He said that only two notes in each bundle was real fake
  currency, the South China Morning Post reported. The rest was
  only waste paper."  Full Story


FEATURED WEB PAGES

  This week's featured web pages are recommended by Dan
  Gosling - they feature images of the 2004 Canadian Numismatic
  Association Annual Convention held in Toronto:

     Featured Web Site
     

	 
	 
  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society