Both January 10, 2009 auction sale catalogues, illustrated in full color, are now accessible at my web site: www.numislit.com

Edward Cogan was the first full time coin dealer in the United States. However, he did not enter the profession until middle age. Thus, the Chapmans Samuel Hudson and Henry have the distinction of being this countrys first career numismatists.

Samuel Hudson, the elder by two years, was born in 1857. Both boys took up stamp collecting at a tender age, a hobby which doubtless influenced their seeking employment with Captain John Haseltine in 1876. After a brief apprenticeship, the firm of S. H. and H. Chapman, Numismatists and Antiquaries, was formed in June 1878. The principals were twenty-one and nineteen years of age at the time, a fact which did not stand in the way of their being aggressive buyers of coins from the very beginning.

Serious and scholarly, S. H. played the role of senior partner in the business. He possessed a strong interest in the classics and, even more fortuitously as matters were to turn out, considerable skills as a photographer. Henry was more the extrovert and, it may be inferred, shouldered the primary responsibility for administering the concerns affairs.

The Chapmans had been in business barely a year when they conducted their first auction. Sale one, which consisted of selections from stock, was notable for the quality of its content as well as the innovative introduction of phototype plates.

One of the major foundation works of modern scholarly numismatics. Eckhel is regarded as the "father of ancient numismatics..."

I'm pleased that my comments generated additional productive commentary. I do, however, want to clarify one point. It may have seemed that I don't offer any discount on my coin board book to wholesalers, and this is not true. I offer a substantial discount when the book is purchased in sealed boxes of ten. I simply can't drop down to the 60% discount demanded of most "coin supply" dealers, though actual numismatic booksellers typically find the terms more agreeable. Supply dealers set up at coin shows are expected to provide badge-wearing coin dealers at least a 30% discount from list price, and some suppliers simply won't stock items that they can't get 60% or more back of list.

Years ago, I went into a book shop on Rt. 1 in Portsmouth, NH. My presence was not welcome and I was informed not to remove any books from the shelves. I looked at the titles (I was looking for Alaska related books), found nothing of interest, at least nothing of enough interest, to bother with.

I was again home visiting my mother in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and was looking to find an issue of Yankee magazine. On other trips, I had noticed that his sign said he had magazines. So, I drove up to Portsmouth, to be greeted with a sign on his door: "This is a limited access store. There is a $5 admission." The $5 may not be correct. It may have been more! Needless to say, I turned around and drove back to Newburyport. Perhaps I should have paid the $5, and hung around for a few hours, but I didn't have the time.

I suspect that others have already made mention of the TAMS Journal, Volume 12, Number 4 (August 1973), Part II which is a 32-page "bonus issue" titled Alphonse A. Kolb, M. A., The Man and His Works authored by Charles Ricard -- meticulously researched and lavishly illustrated.

I really appreciated the submission by Mr. Watterson on Alphonse Kolb. Mr. Kolb was a very gifted sculptor, medallic artist, and family friend for many years. The most important of his works for me, from a very biased viewpoint, was my father's Rochester Numismatic Association Presidential Medal created in 1960. The three medal set is one of my prized possessions, and a very true likeness of my father as a young man.

I would also direct anyone who would like to learn more about Mr. Kolb and his works to the TAMS Journal, August 1973, Volume 13, #4, Part II. This special supplement was written by Charles J. Ricard, and includes many works from Mr. Kolb's private collection in his home, some of which had never been photographed and published before or since. Although Alphonse Kolb was well-known regionally, it is my sincere hope that medalists and collectors across the country will be able to admire and share his wonderful gift for generations to come.

I noted with interest the item in last week's E-Sylum about sculptor-medalist Alphonse Kolb. I was born and raised in Rochester, N.Y., Alphonse's adopted hometown, and was fortunate enough to meet, interview and photograph him at his home, where he maintained a studio and worked to the end of his long, productive life.

By then, our roles were reversed: Whereas Alphonse, the native German, had put down deep roots in "The Flower City," I, the native Rochesterian, had resettled in New Jersey. But we shared a German heritage and a zest for numismatics -- particularly numismatic art.

As I recall, I visited Alphonse twice during trips back to Rochester. The first time, I interviewed him for "Who's Who in the Hobby," a feature I wrote for Numismatic News profiling interesting coin hobbyists. The second time, I photographed him at work for an article in COINage. The COINage article appeared in the May 1983 issue.

Sadly, however, Alphonse had died March 30, shortly before the issue reached readers. (As those who have written for magazines know, monthly publications use cover dates weeks ahead of their release dates in order to extend their potential newsstand shelf life.)

I also wrote a posthumous tribute to Alphonse in my weekly "Numismatics" column in The New York Times. This appeared on Sunday, May 15, 1983.

Through the years the Rochester Numismatic Association has been one of the most successful local or regional coin clubs in the nation. Much of its success can be traced to the dedication of a self-effacing sculptor, the late Alphonse A. Kolb.

Recently, Mr. Kolb contributed $10,000 to the Rochester Museum and Science Center with the proviso that the museum continue to provide facilities for the club's twice-monthly meetings and its library.

Mr. Kolb, who died March 30 at the age of 89, designed the annual medals issued by the club to honor its outgoing presidents. One of these was a self-portrait which the sculptor made in 1931 while serving as the club's president. He also designed medals for special occasions including the club's 500th, 700th and 1,000th meetings and its 25th, 35th, 50th, 60th and 70th anniversaries. For the most part, this work was a labor of love done without compensation.

''Alphonse has been a unifying force and an irreplaceable person,'' said John Jay Pittman, a past president of the club who also has been president of the American Numismatic Association and the Canadian Numismatic Association.

Alphonse Kolb was born in Gmund, Germany and learned the basics of engraving during his teens when he was apprenticed to the owner of a jewelry manufacturing establishment in that town. ''I kept improving and going into finer work until finally I got into sculpture,'' he once recalled.

At 19, he left home to seek a position in Hamburg, but wanderlust impelled him to board a ship for New York. A year later he settled in Rochester, a city with a strong German heritage. It was also a center for artisans. There Mr. Kolb took a position as a designer and diecutter for Bastian Brothers, a well-known producer of medals. He held that post for a number of years while accepting private commissions.

Mr. Kolb did much to capture Rochester's history in medallic art. His work includes medals, sculptures, historical tablets and other works of art chronicling the city's development and its leaders. His finest single work was the Rochester Civic Medal, a silver three-inch medal given each year by the city museum to outstanding civic leaders.

The first steam press is actually inside the American Numisamtic Association museum. The press in the "plastic cube" outside the museum is a later one, by Morgan and Orr.

Cuba has had two currencies since the collapse of the Soviet Union wrecked its economy and spurred its turn to tourism. Cuban tourist businesses took US dollars and charged US prices, while the Cuban peso was maintained for everyday transactions. Under the country's dual currency system, most things Cubans want and need are not available in the money they earn. The regular Cuban peso, in coins or paper money, is worth a little more than four cents. Virtually all upscale businesses across the island are priced for foreigners in so-called "convertible pesos" worth US$1.08 each, 24 times as much. This is the currency the tourists must spend.

How this works in practice is spelled out in an article in a Jamaican newspaper, Jamaica Gleaner, published Sunday, November 9th. It reveals how one tourist town plays the Cuban Currency Caper game.

I just got back from a bibliophilic/numismatic tour of a piece of Europe, including a book fair in Amsterdam, a book and paper show in Paris, and a quiet appointment with Alexandre Vattemare's U.S. collection at the Bibliotheque Nationale. It was a really, really fun time.

A number of top numismatists (all E-Sylum readers, of course) commented on the coin and debated its origin and provenance. -Editor

While checking some things out regarding a "Knights of the Globe" aluminum medal we had this site came up in our search. It lists the Chronological Establishment of Fraternal Organizations of America. As we know many of us have medals from organizations that are listed here, and have no date of when they started.