Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 21, May 22, 2005:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


AMERICAN STATE PAPERS "OVERWHELMING"

Last week I noted that the Library of Congress has placed
images of all pages of the "American State Papers" volumes
at American State Papers

In the Colonial Numismatics mailing list, Phil Mossman noted
that the "item appeared in this week's E-Sylum and is of great
importance to researchers. When I wrote my book, I had
access to the actual books which I pawed through cover to
cover. Now it is on line."

Roger Moore replied: "I went to the site and was overwhelmed.
I will need to digest this for weeks. I like the search engine
feature "coinage", "counterfeit", etc. give a lot of interesting
references."

[Mossman wrote "Money of the American Colonies and
Confederation: A Numismatic. Economic & Historical
Correlation" in 1993. -Editor]


BINION SILVER DOLLAR CASE CONTINUES

The saga of the Binion hoard of silver dollars continues
(see the October 3, 2004 E-Sylum, v7n40), as shown
by this May 16th Court TV article from Las Vegas:

"On Sunday, this city celebrated its hundred-year anniversary,
and it might see another centennial before there is an end to
the legal wrangling in the cases of Sandra Murphy and Rick
Tabish.

Six months after the pair was acquitted of murdering casino
mogul Ted Binion, but convicted of theft, his estate has entered
the fray in an attempt to reclaim the thousands of dollars of
antique silver coins used as evidence in the trials.

In a twist so unusual it could only happen in "Binion," as the
case is known here, Dennis Rehbein, the man to whom Rick
Tabish gave the coins as collateral for a $25,000 loan,
wants the silver back.

Binion's estate won a minor victory Monday morning when
Judge Joseph Bonaventure allowed the more than 100 pounds
of antique silver coins and Horseshoe Casino gaming pieces
to be released from an evidence vault in the Clark County
Courthouse, where it has gathered dust for about five years.
The collection will be handed over to the estate so its value
can be assessed."

To read the full story, see Full Story

The coins in question are not part of the hoard which had
been sold previously: BinionCoins.htm


ANA BADGE, MEDAL INFORMATION SOUGHT

Richard Crosby writes: "I collect American Numismatic
Association medals and am seeking additional information
on the Convention badges & medals and the 2 or 3 piece
medal sets issued in the last 25 years. I'm interested in
obtaining the mintage records, maker, designer, etc. I'm
also seeking information on ANA Ladies' Convention
badges issued from 1970 thru 1982. Please correspond
by email to rjcrosby at zbzoom.net Thanks."

[Former ANA Historian N. Neil Harris published a
catalog of ANA convention badges and medals in The
Numismatist from January 1970 through December 1973.

In the December 1979 issue he published a supplement
updating the catalog through 1979 and again in December
1989. Numismatist Editor Barbara Gregory wrote the last
update in the December 1999 issue.

ANA Historian David Sklow has done extensive research
on the medals and badges and has published information
on them in his regular "Historian's Diary" column in the same
publication. Contemporary issues of the Numismatist are
of course, good starting points for research, since medal
and badge order forms are published in advance of each
convention, along with information on the designer."

David adds: "The Ladies' badges were issued from 1969 to
1982, the large table medals (57mm & 63mm) were first
issued in 1979." -Editor]


INTERNATIONAL MONETARY PATTERN INFO SOUGHT

David Cassel writes: "Please ask if Jan Moens of Belgium
would respond to us concerning his comments in E-Sylum
v4#07, February 11, 2001 in response to Andy Lustig's
question concerning patterns made as a result of the
International Monetary Conference of 1867:

What source(s) support his statements, as follows:

"1) As far as I know, the only countries that have made
patterns are France, Great Britain, and the US...."

2) The French patterns of 25 Francs = 10 Florins and
25 Francs = 5 Dollars were originally struck on the
initiative of M. de Parieu, president of the conference
of 1867 (and also of the Conference of the Latin Monetary
Union of 1865). He first had 15 pieces struck of the 10
Florins pattern, of which six were given to the French
imperial family. Then he had 15 pieces struck of the five
dollars pattern of which some (6?) were also given to the
French imperial family. In the years 1870-1872, another
20 pieces (probably 10 pieces of each type) were restruck
by the Paris Mint with the approval of the Minister of
Finance, in order to satisfy the wishes of several collectors...."

Also, does Jan Moens or anyone else have mintage information
of the French pattern One Franc = Ten Pence pattern coin VG
3704 (VG = "Monnaies Francaises * Colonies 1670 -1942 *
Métropole 1774 - 1942" Published Versailles, 1942 by Victor
Guilloteau.) Please also cite any recent sales if known.
Thank you."


J.T. STANTON SOUGHT

Carl Honore writes: "I would like to get in touch with
J.T. Stanton regarding a numismatic publishing project
we worked on before he exited the publishing business.
I can be reached at this address: chonor_57 at msn.com
Thank you."


KITTANNING ARTICLE AND NUMISMATIC SCRAPBOOK

Dave Ginsburg writes: "I'm pleased to be able to say that a
week ago I arrived at a small local coin show early enough
to relieve a fellow (but older) numismatist of a box of 115
issues of The Numismatic Scrapbook for a fairly nominal
sum. There are a few copies from the '40s, but most of them
are from the late-50s, mid-60s and mid-70s. I've only started
to go through them, but one relevant item came to my attention:
a three-page article in the July 25, 1966 issue by R.J. Hudson,
MD on the Kittanning Medal. He describes the battle in some
detail and then describes and comments on the medal. He
states that the original medal is known in silver, pewter and
copper; that the United States Mint Kittanning Medal is known
in bronze; that there are some counterfeits known in lead and
that there were a few medals in copper struck after the dies
cracked that show the impression of the broken die "beautifully."
He says that according to the Pennsylvania Historical Society,
the silver medals were presented to Lt. Col Armstrong and his
commissioned officers, while Dr. Hudson believes that the
copper and pewter medals were awarded to the
non-commissioned officers and enlisted men.

This is my first experience with The Numismatic Scrapbook
and I'm both surprised and pleased at the breadth of scholarship
in its pages. I'm really looking forward to reading my copies!
(On a side note, in a recent conversation, bookseller John Burns
assured me that he has "tons" of copies of the Scrapbook for
sale, should I wish to fill in any holes in my new holdings!)"

["Doc" Hudson was a member of my local club, the
Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society, although I
never had the chance to meet him. Exonumia trivia:
Hudson had a personal token made (in the 1960s or early
70s, I believe) which exists in two varieties - on the first his
nickname was misspelled "Dock" -Editor]


MORE PRESS ON OHIO COIN FUND

The Toledo Blade continued its coverage of the State of Ohio's
rare coin investments with an article published May 20, 2005:

"A Colorado coin dealer used insider information to skim profits
from Tom Noe’s $50 million state-funded coin venture, recently
released records from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
show.

An October, 2004, memo states that early last year Mr. Noe
“became aware of possible fraudulent activities” by Michael
Storeim, the former manager of Numismatic Professionals, the
Colorado-based subsidiary set up by Mr. Noe to buy and sell
rare coins for the state.

James McLean, the bureau’s chief investment officer, wrote in
the memo that Mr. Storeim bought state-owned coins and sold
them at a profit for himself.

State records show that bureau officials failed to heed warnings
from their own auditor almost five years ago about the potential
for insider trading within the Noe rare-coin funds."

"The Ohio inspector general and several other state agencies
are investigating the bureau’s rare-coin investments and Mr.
Noe’s campaign contributions to top state Republican
officeholders. And the FBI is investigating the local coin dealer
for possible violations of federal campaign contribution laws
concerning contributions to President Bush’s 2004 re-election"

“Mr. Storeim was sending coins to grading, and checking the
grading reports online prior to the coins actually arriving back
from grading,” Mr. McLean wrote in the memo. “If the value
went up, he was purchasing the coins himself or through a third
party at the original grade, thus saving significant amount of
money on coins which had been upgraded.”

"The October, 2004, memo references a transaction in which
Mr. Storeim purchased a coin from Numismatic Professionals
for $75,000, consigned the coin back to the firm at $140,000,
and then the company sold the coin for $150,000 to a third
party."

To read the full article, see: Full Story

The Denver Post published a related article on May 21: Full Story


GRESHAM'S LAW DEFINED

Another numismatic term appeared on the "A Word A Day"
Internet mailing list this week:

"Gresham's law (GRESH-ums law) noun

The theory that bad money drives good money out
of circulation.

[Coined by economist Henry Dunning Macleod in 1858
after Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), financier and
founder of the Royal Exchange in London. Gresham, a
financial adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, wrote to her
"good and bad coin cannot circulate together."]

Gresham's law says that when both are required to be
accepted as legal tender, inferior money remains in
circulation while the good money tends to be hoarded
or exported.

Examples of bad money could be counterfeit notes,
coins that have their edges scraped off to siphon
precious metal, or two legal tenders where one is
intrinsically superior (e.g. a gold coin vs. a paper note
of the same face value)."

greshams_law.html


COLLECTOR HAS 1.3 TONS OF COINS

A Vietnamese collector has 1.3 tons of coins.
according to a news story published May 17th:

"Starting his collection ten years ago by accidentally
purchasing a big box of ancient coins, Lam Zu Xenh,
a physician in Chau O town, Binh Son district of central
Quang Ngai province, now possesses over 1.3 tonnes
of coins.

His collection includes more than 200 types of bronze
coins and 50 types of zinc coins. Most of these coins
belong to feudal dynasties in Viet Nam, China, Korea,
Japan and France."

Full Story

[Just how does one accidentally buy a big box of
ancient coins? And how does one store 1.3 tons of
them?

I asked our Vietnamese coinage expert, Howard A.
Daniel III, who writes: "With the many large and small
construction projects going on in Viet Nam, large hoards
of cash coins are being uncovered that are in the tons.
The coins are often so common, they cannot be sold to
collectors beyond a few kilo, so they are sold to metal
processing firms that melt them and make them into useful
products. It is a shame, but they are just so many of them
being found, the numismatic marketplace cannot take them
all in, and even the museums in Viet Nam are turning
them down." -Editor]


AUGUST KELLY INFORMATION SOUGHT

Dave Ginsburg writes: "Is anyone familiar with 'August M.
Kelly, Publishers'? They seem to have been active in the
late-1960s and early 1970s, reprinting banking, financial
history and economics books of the 19th and early 20th
centuries, including "Fractional Money" by Carothers,
"Financial History of the United States" by Bolles, "Gold,
Prices and Wages under the Greenback Standard" by
Mitchell and many others. I'd be interested to know who
they were, why they reprinted these books and how long
the company was active."


THE ORIGIN OF GOLD?

Dick Johnson writes: "Want to see what your gold coins looked
like 4.5 billion years ago? Gold was created, apparently, when
our solar system was formed. An astronomy website illustrates
the instant gold was formed.

Full Story


FEATURED WEB SITE

This week's featured web site is recommended by Roger
deWardt Lane:

"With a view to preserve, protect and project Indian Art
and Numismatic Treasure in a proper perspective, Thakkar
Numismatic and Art Foundation has been established by
Mr. Praful K. Thakkar.

Here, Thakkar Foundation has made a humble attempt by
way of this website to share and spread the knowledge of
Indian Coins, Medals, Tokens and all metallic objects of
numismatic interest. Valued assistance from collectors and
scholars to enrich the site will be highly appreciated."

"The founder, Praful K. Thakkar, an Indian Administrative
Service Officer, was with the Government of Gujarat, India
for more than thirty years. He has worked in various capacities
as Collector, Commissioner and Secretary to the Government
of Gujarat in various departments. He voluntarily retired in
1995 at the age of 55 years."

"He has been an ardent numismatic collector for more than
40 years and has collected Indian coins, medals, tokens
and other collectibles like weights and match labels. He has
also tried to enhance his ancestral collection of medals of
Indian Princely States-British India-Republic India and
tokens of Indian banks, treasuries, personalities, religions
and advertisements. He has a collection of Passes of Indian
Railways, Ports, Princely Palaces and Viceroy Residencies
along with badge plates and membership badges."

Featured Web Site

[The site's scope is very broad, encompassing badges, cash
coupons, coins, medals, monograms, passes, seals & dies,
tokens and weights. Each category has many subcategories.
Most are not yet populated, but the ones which are have
nice images and fairly comprehensive cataloging information,
such as size, weight, metal and inscription This seems like a
site worth revisiting in the future as more meat is added to
a fine skeleton. -Editor]


  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society