The prices realized list for our sale #94 of numismatic literature has been posted to our web site at: www.lakebooks.com/archive.html Our next sale will be held on November 4, 2008 and will feature selections from the library of John T. Hamilton III.

Holograph letter to Jeremiah Colburn, on Mint stationery, pertaining to "Washington National Medals." Philadelphia, February 27, 1861.

An evocative, most interesting document. Several weeks before standing down as Mint Director, Snowden writes,: "I have received your letter of the 25th inst with the enclosures stated. The book 'Washington and National Medals" will be sent to you by express according to your directions. I will, as requested, put your name on the list of those who desire copies a set of the National Medals, to be struck from the dies in the Mint. I thank you for the copper coins of Ferdinand II (King Bomba) and will place them in the Cabinet. As an honorarium for your gift I send you the "golden wedding" medal. See page 115, no. 47 in my book of medals."

Reflecting the ethos of the day, Snowden clearly had no reservations about restriking medals from Mint dies. In the closing portion of the chapter entitled "A Workshop for Their Gain" (pages 177-192 in The U. S. Mint and Coinage , New York, Arco Publishing Company, 1966), Don Taxay observes:

"The 'retirement' of Franklin Peale closed a chapter in the history of scandals which distinguish the second Philadelphia Mint. But that was all it did. Director Snowden, for example, was so intrigued by Peale's collection of coin and medal dies that he soon hatched a scheme of his own. Snowden wished to complete the collection of Washington medals in the Mint cabinet, and to augment the modest appropriation set aside for this purpose, he ordered the restriking of rare coins and patterns which had trade value."

While nowadays such practices are viewed with disdain in many numismatic quarters, one may ponder if the current striking of a plethora of United States coins for profit or pet fundraising efforts differs in any meaningful degree. At least in the old days no new dies need be engraved!

Snowden served as Director of the Mint from June 1863 until April 1861, and claimed authorship for two major 1861 American numismatic works: the one cited in the letter and his even more popular Mint Manual.

Newell, Robert & Son. PHOTOGRAPH OF YE OLDE MINT IN PHILADELPHIA, PA. Philadelphia, Pa. Sepia tone 197mm x 246mm {7 13/16 x 9 inches}. This is a photograph of monumental importance concerning the history of the first United States Mint in Philadelphia. The photograph is an original from the Newell negative, not a copy! The obverse exhibits editors cropping marks and lines at top and bottom. The reverse depicts a host of information.

The stamp of R. NEWELL & SONS, COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHY, STUDIO ON GROUND FLOOR, 255 South 6th Street, Entrance on Manning St., PHILADELPHIA. There is a line drawn through Newells name. Below the Newel stamp is the stamp of Culver Pictures, Inc. 150 West 22nd Street, Suite 300, New York, New York, 10011 (212) 645-1672 and below that is the statement:

This picture is loaned for one reproduction only. Must not be used for advertising without written permission. Original must be returned within 30 days. Obligatory Credit Line, Culver Pictures. Two numbers appear on the reverse also: 049334 and CH4737. Written in pencil toward the top in a circle is Oct. 1922. Culver Studios misattributed the photo to 1922. This photograph is the image that was used in Frank H. Stewarts work, History of the First United States Mint and appears on page 14. It is well documented that Mr. Stewart hired Newells firm to photograph both interior and exterior of the mint.

I read with interest that the SPPN meeting at the 2008 ANA resulted in the unanimous classification of the 1853 USAOG $20s and $50s as "transfer die forgeries". This is the only conclusion possible based on the physical evidence of the pieces, which first came to the marketplace in the spring of 1958.

I'm currently working on a book about John J. Ford, Jr., and the marketing of the "Franklin Hoard" materials. As many already know, Paul Franklin was the one who delivered most of these pieces to Ford, although he was not the source.

There are different versions (from Ford) as to how and when Franklin acquired these items, and it has been difficult trying to determine the truth. My work-in-progress book will provide valid source documents to help clarify this situation. Plans are to have it ready around the end of the year.

You ran a long item in October 2007 when I posted my e-book free on the Internet for the numismatic community. I thank you. Using print-on-demand and the Internet plus my experience with Adobe software, I have just printed my Encyclopedia Small Silver Coins in both hardcover and softcover editions with Lulu.com. I have pre-sold a dozen copies of the Hard Cover Edition to my club friends and presented the first good 'Proof' copy to my numismatic friend Steve Schor, who spent hundreds of hours editing this edition, after the 'first bad proof' showed them up. The experience of do-it-yourself publishing has been quite an adventure. I may write an article on the subject.

In our next number we intend to furnish Photographic Plates of a number of Types and Varieties of the Cents of 1793, to be accompanied by detailed descriptions; and in the meantime we earnestly solicit our subscribers and friends to send us good rubbings or copper-foil impressions of any specimens which they may chance to possess or, if possible, the cents themselves for a short time. Communications on this subject to be sent to J. N. T. Levick, P.O. Box 4318.

As a recent new member to your newsletter I want to say it is great and I learn so much from it each week even on things I didn't even know existed in numismatics. I can see why others are addicted to their subscription - it's worth its weight in gold in my opinion.

Congratulations on the Burnett Anderson Award! Even when you like what you are doing (as you obviously do), recognition from your peers is wonderful. They couldn't have found a more deserving recipient. We all enjoy The E-Sylum every week. It helps to keep everyone connected.

The convention was great, but now that I am at the Message Center, I do miss attending the meetings.

I have to tell you that first thing I do on Mondays is go to the archives on www.coinbooks.org to look for and read the latest newsletter! For some reason I don't get the e-mails....probably because of changes in our spam filtering, but perhaps this is a good thing because I think your new HTML layout is terrific. The E-Sylum, Bank Note Reporter and Paper Money are the publications that when they arrive, everything else waits...

I wondered if you'd ever looked into providing a Google-Search into the archives to help locate topics/etc?

I found a silver dollar sized French coin dated 1821 stamped with J.L Polhemus druggist 190 J St. cor. Sacramento Cal today while metal detecting in the hills near Coloma, CA. Can anyone tell me anything about it? It's a great addition to my collection. I read an article by Bob Evans about this counter stamp on some ship wreck coins. (S.S.Central America).

J.L. Polhemus, a colorful character from the early days of the California Gold Rush, was born in New York City in 1825. A prolific producer of counterstampsit is said a coin never passed through his drug store in Sacramento without being counterstampedPolhemus arrived in California at the very height of the "Days of '49." By 1850 he had opened his apothecary, living and working in Sacramento until his death in 1866.

It cannot be a coincidence that the publication of Ira Reed's 1907 Jamestown Exposition reference comes on top of a flood of superb Jamestown Expo exonumia and related "smalls" suddenly on the marketplace. I first became aware of quite a number of really choice Jamestown Expo material for sale at the recent Baltimore ANA at California dealer John Heleva's bourse table: badges, reverse painting on glass items, enameled badges and spoons. I wondered where John had gathered such an impressive array.

Then, less than a week later, at the American Political Items (APIC) national convention in Las Vegas, dealer/collector Tom Morton of Northridge California had hundreds of superb condition pinbacks, enameled badges and coins, and other exonumia related to the Expo, all attributed to the Ira Reed estate by Tom.

And just yesterday I noted a Delaware exonumia dealer was offering a unique bronze U.S. Mint medal awarded for a Jamestown exhibit, also attributed to the Ira Reed estate.

So it seems the publication of the book comes on the heels of the acquisition of the Ira Reed Jamestown Expo collection which had laid intact and unknown for many decades. I'm told it turned up on the East Coast. Quite a find!

Reed, Ira S. Dealer (ca. 1893 d. 10/20/1954)

Married Mary E. Scarborough. They had two daughters. He served on the board of trustees of the Bethany Orphans Home for 35 years. In 1930 he contributed the Reed Baby Cottage to the home.

Dealer in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He conducted 31 auction sales 1935 to 1946 including the 1941 ANA convention sale. Reed is believed to be responsible for 1937 cents and nickels with reeded edges distributed at the 1941 ANA convention. The reeding was applied after the coins left the mint and may have been a "play on words" by Reed. In 1946 he sold out to David Bullowa. He died at home in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

obit: NUM 67 Dec 1954 page 1298

Copper Electrotype, 134.7mm. By Benedetto Pistrucci. BHM 870 (RR), Eimer 1067. Obv. Laureate draped busts of the Allied sovereigns who defeated Napoleon: Britain's Prince Regent (later King George IV), Emperors Franz I of Austria, and Alexander I of Russia and King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.

A competition was to be held among artists of the Royal Academy to choose a design, and a work of English artist John Flaxman was chosen. Italian engraver Pistrucci had just been appointed to the Royal Mint and refused to copy the work of another artist. He was then given the total responsibility for the Waterloo Medal, and prepared his first wax model within 24 hours for approval by the Prince Regent, who planned to present gold examples to the Allied sovereigns and the two Marshals.

Pistrucci received the then-enormous sum of 3,500 for this medal, equivalent to some $350,000 in present-day money. He then devoted the next 30 years to incessant squabbling with the Royal Mint administration over his titles and salary. King George IV objected to his florid laureate head on his first coins, but Pistrucci's 1817 Saint George and the Dragon is still employed today on Royal Mint Gold Sovereigns.

Pistrucci finally completed the massive Waterloo dies in late 1849. By now virtually all the recipients had died and the artist soon followed them. The mint was unwilling to risk hardening the long-delayed dies and instead ordered 20 Electrotypes prepared by Mr. Johnson of Bayswater along some in Gutta Percha, a natural resinous material. No struck medals in the original diameter were ever struck.

Most of the coins were French crowns, half-crowns, and quarters, all of the reigns of Louis XIII. And Louis XIV., and bore various dates, from 1642 to 1682. With a few exceptions they were bright and but little worn, and when placed where they were found could not have been long in circulation. Their excellent workmanship, compared with that of English or Spanish coins of a similar date, shows the superiority of the French in the arts, even at the period.