WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM JULY 28, 2013

New subscribers this week include Tom Bilotta. Welcome aboard! We have 1,663 email subscribers, plus 241 followers on Facebook.

TAKE NOTE: Due to a family vacation, this week's issue is being published early, and next week's issue may be skipped or late, although I hope to publish an abbreviated one if time allows. Also note that Flickr (the web site which hosts our images) is down for maintenance tonight. If images aren't appearing in your issue, try again tomorrow. Sorry for any inconvenience.

This week we open with an update on NBS and other numismatic book events at the upcoming ANA convention. Next, a report from Fred Lake and word of a new book by Ken Rendell. Other topics include coins traceable to Ed Cogan's first sale, 1894-S Dimes and babies on coins.

To learn more about Mickey Turoff, the North West Company’s 1820 Beaver token, how to find out more about when and where the 1792 half dismes were struck, and the tavern-keeper who offered to mount a coin dealer's head behind his bar, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

SOME 2013 ANA CONVENTION BIBLIOPHILE EVENTS

The NBS Symposium will be held on Thursday, August 15, from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. in Room 6 of the Stephens Convention Center. Our special guest speaker will be Karl Moulton discussing his new book, "John J. Ford and the Franklin Hoard".

The NBS General Meeting will be held on Friday, August 16, from 11:30 to 1:00 p.m. in Room 24 of the Stephens Convention Center. We will have presentations from authors (including Bill Bugert) on their new books, reports from the ANS and ANA Librarians, presentations of the Joel Orosz and Jack Collins Literary Awards, installation of new officers, and an auction of important numismatic literary works that have been donated by our members.

We hope these events will be well attended by Young Numismatists, collectors, and bibliophiles, and if past conventions are any indication of future events, the meetings should be informative and spirited.

1792: Birth of a Nation's Coinage
Len Augsburger writes:

The Numismatourist
Howard Berlin, aka The Numismatourist, will give a “Money Talks” presentation at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Chicago at 4:00pm on Thursday (August15) in Room 13 of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. The topic is: When Traveling, Visit a Museum Having a Numismatic Exhibition. Much of the presentation is based on his soon to be released book, “The Numismatourist: The Only World-Wide Travel Guide to Museums, Mints, and Other Places of Interest for the Numismatist.” All E-Sylum readers are welcome to attend.

LAKE BOOKS 115TH MAIL-BID SALE RESULTS AVAILABLE

The prices realized list for our sale #115 which closed on Tuesday. July 23, 2013 is now available for viewing on our web site at www.lakebooks.com/current.html .

415 of the 481 lots contained in the catalog sold with many items picked up at bargain prices and very strong prices were also in evidence. Lot J42, the Evan Kopald Fixed Price List hard-covered in black leatherette and replete with notations by Kopald and letter regarding disposition of unsold lots sold for $450.00 on a $200.00 estimate. A copy of Dan Holmes' Early Date Large Cents in hard cover sold at $180.00 on a $75.00 estimate. The Sotheby's sale of the "Palace Collection" realized $125.00 on $75.00 estimate.

Our next sale will be held in October of this year and will feature fine reference material from the libraries of Chuck Heck, John Dirnbauer, and more from Dave Wnuck.

NEW BOOK: THE GREAT AMERICAN WEST

Whitman Publishing announces the release of The Great American West: Pursuing the American Dream, by award-winning historian Kenneth W. Rendell. The 224-page hardcover coffee-table book is available online (including at www.Whitman.com) and in bookstores nationwide. Its retail price is $29.95.

Rendell, a founding member of the Rittenhouse Society, has a long-standing connection to numismatics. “In the 1950s I traded my collection of English medieval coins to my friend Dave Bowers, for his collection of presidential letters,” Rendell said. “I immediately became enthralled by the feeling of intimacy with history that these letters gave me.” At the time Rendell was a specialist dealer in American colonial coinage, but this collection took him on a new path. His career since has focused on historical autographs, presidential memorabilia, royalty, militaria, politics, literature, and other collectible areas—including Western Americana.

“The American Dream is fundamentally about hope, and historically it was always connected to the West,” says Rendell. “The hope was that a better life awaits your initiative, your perseverance, your cleverness, your hard work. It’s about making your own future.”

The Great American West approaches the question, “Is the American Dream still alive?” In its collected narratives a reader can see the dream as it used to be—in early hand-drawn maps and adventure-promising posters, in letters sent home by lonesome gold miners, in newspaper clippings about famous explorers and frontier lawmen, in drawings and photographs from the Wild West. “Marveling at this rich and colorful past,” said Whitman publisher Dennis Tucker, “we can see where the American Dream is today.”

Rendell’s numismatic background is well represented in the richly illustrated book. Among the treasures pictured and discussed inside:

• A bar of silver cast from artifacts taken from natives during the conquest of Mexico, page 1. Recovered from a Spanish shipwreck off Grand Bahama Island, it contains two partial tax stamps of King Charles I of Spain.
• A receipt and payment order for 100 gold pesos signed by Hernando Cortéz (conqueror of the Aztecs and Mexico), August 18, 1534, in Mexico City, page 1.
• The 1652 New England shilling of Massachusetts—one of only 10 to 15 known to have survived, page 9.
• The 1652 Massachusetts Pine Tree shilling, minted sometime between 1667 and 1674 but dated 1652 to circumvent British royal laws, page 9.
• A Lord Baltimore silver sixpence, minted 1658/1659 for use in colonial Maryland, page 10.
• A London Elephant token from the late 1600s, believed to have been brought to Pennsylvania by the Quakers, page 10.
• An Indian Peace medal of King George II, dated 1757, showing an Indian and a Quaker sharing a peace pipe, page 11. (Other Indian Peace medals are shown dating from the presidencies of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, Franklin Pierce, James Monroe, and Abraham Lincoln; and from the reigns of kings George I, George III, and Louis XVI.)
• A Treaty of Greenville medal, 1795, given to the chiefs of 12 Indian tribes in an agreement negotiated by General Anthony Wayne, page 21.
• The Season medals given to the Indians by the Lewis and Clark expedition, page 36.
• Hudson’s Bay Company medals, made in the late 1700s and early 1800s, given as gifts to friendly Indians, page 42.
• Hudson’s Bay Company scrip, good for one pound sterling, issued at York Factory on Hudson Bay, 1821, page 43.
• An 1825 American Fur Company scrip note “Good to W. McGulpin for baking fifty loaves of bread,” page 46.
• John Jacob Astor’s early-1800s American Fur Company silver medal, page 46.
• The North West Company’s 1820 Beaver token—the only circulating currency in the Pacific Northwest, believed to represent one beaver skin; page 47.
• An 1858 Kentucky-issued stock certificate, “for colonizing certain land in Texas,” page 93.
• Receipts signed by ill-fated members of the Donner Party, page 107.
• A Fort Laramie sutler token, issued by a trading post on the Overland Trail, page 111.
• Mormon gold coins struck in Utah and Colorado, page 129.
• Currency and notes signed by Brigham Young and other early Mormon leaders, page 130.
• Gold bars, nuggets, and other treasure from the SS Central America, lost at sea in 1857, page 143.
• One of the 1,389 gold $2.50 coins of 1848, specially stamped CAL. by order of the military governor of California, marking the start of the nation’s greatest Gold Rush, page 143.
• Private and territorial gold coins, tokens, and bars struck by enterprising Americans for use in the West, page 144 and elsewhere.
• An 1860s receipt form for Ben Holladay’s Overland Stage Line, page 152.
• An 1855 stock certificate of the American Express Company, signed by its two founders, Henry Wells and William Fargo, page 155.

All of these numismatic items (and more) are joined by hundreds of other artifacts including rifles and six-shooters, gunpowder horns and beaver hats, voyageur contracts, tomahawks, Indian headdresses, gold-mining claims, maps, drawings, railroad posters, and other iconic memorabilia that help us define the American West. “This book illustrates the daily life of those who have defined America,” wrote Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming in the foreword. “It puts their letters in the reader’s hands, their lives in the reader’s mind, and their dreams in the reader’s heart.”

Throughout the book, Rendell comments on the market for collectors and historians. For example, in chapter 2 (“The First Eastern Settlements”), he observes that “Collecting artifacts, manuscripts, and books from the period of the first Eastern settlements is less difficult than acquiring material from America’s early exploration, but the availability of such items is still very limited. Some early colonizers, such as William Penn, signed many land grants, but the material of others (for example, Roger Williams, the religious freedom leader who founded Rhode Island) is virtually unique in private ownership. John Smith’s books on Virginia and New England are very rare and expensive. Perhaps the least expensive artifacts are the coins of the British and French colonies; they offer a window into these early times for relatively modest sums.”

# # #

The Great American West: Pursuing the American Dream ∙ By Kenneth W. Rendell; foreword by Senator Alan Simpson ∙ ISBN 0794833594 ∙ Hardcover with dustjacket ∙ 11 x 9.5 inches ∙ Full color ∙ 224 pages ∙ Retail $29.95

QUERY: ARE ANY COINS TRACEABLE TO COGAN'S FIRST SALE?

Jim Neiswinter writes:

To read the complete article, see: QUERY: WHERE IS DR. ROPER'S 1793 CHAIN CENT TODAY? (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n30a11.html)

THE NOVA CONSTELLATIO MARK: 1,000 UNITS

Last week we published a PCGS press release about a set of important American colonial coins to be displayed at next month's convention of the American Numismatic Association. Regarding the following passage,

Bill Eckberg writes:

On May 1, 1784 Robert Morris sent a letter with specimens of his coinage to Thomas Jefferson. Ten days later on May 11, just before leaving Annapolis to travel to Boston where he would board a ship for a four and a half year trip to England and France, Jefferson recorded in his account book, "left with C. Thomson as specimen of coins 1.8 D." This is usually taken to mean Jefferson deposited 1.8 dollars (or 1,800 units) in Nova Constellatio patters with Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress. The denominations of the coins are thought to have been one 1,000 unit mark, one 500 unit quint and three 100 unit cents. At least two of the currently extant coins (the 1,000 and a 500 unit coin) can be traced back to this group.

The unique example of the 1,000 unit silver mark coin weighs 268.5 grains according to the Garrett catalog and 269.8 grains according to Breen with a diameter of 33 mm. The coin was passed from John Haseltine to Henry S. Adams, Lorin Parmelee, H.B. Smith, the Chapman Brothers, George Earle, James Ellsworth, John Garrett and then to the current owner John J. Ford, Jr. On the obverse there is a six petal rosette located in the space midway between the start of NOVA and the end of CONSTELLATIO. On the reverse the denomination is designated as 1.000; there is also a stop before and after the date. Excellent photographs are available in the first (November 1979) Garrett Auction catalog, where it is item 622.

There are three surviving examples of the 100 unit silver cent. Two examples have the twin olive leaf edge design while the third example has a plain edge. One of the leaf edge examples was acquired by John Ford from the Garrett sale. The Ford example weighs 27.7 grains according to the Garrett catalog and 27.75 according to Breen with a diameter of 18 mm; it is illustrated in the Garrett sale catalog as item 619. According to Breen this coin can be traced from the London pawnbroker T.F. Cloud to L.E. Shorthouse, Lorin Parmelee, Henry Chapman, James W. Ellsworth, Knoedler Galleries, Wayte Raymond and then to John W. Garrett. The other specimen is first recorded in an Edinburgh coin auction from October 21-22, 1884 conducted by T. Chapman of the collection of William Taap and several other cabinets, as is related by Richard Margolis in the Colonial Newsletter. Apparently the item was uncovered in a London pawn shop in the 1980's and most recently was sold at auction by Stack's (May 1, 1991, Richard Picker sale, lot 112).

According to Breen the unique plain edge 100 unit cent weighs 26 grains with a diameter of 18 mm. The early provenance of this item is unknown, during the late Ninteenth century it was owned by J.G. Murdoch, whose collection was sold by Sotheby's in 1903. It then passed to Robert Garrett as part of the family's collection. In the 1920's John Works Garrett sold it as a duplicate to Wayte Raymond. After passing through some dealers the coin is now in the collection of Eric P. Newman.

Bill adds:

To read the complete article, see: The Nova Constellatio Patterns of 1783: Introduction (www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/NovaPatterns.intro.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: THE NOVA CONSTELLATIO PATTERN SET DISPLAY AT THE 2013 ANA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n30a15.html)

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JULY 28, 2013

The Discount Grocers Sign
An E-Sylum reader writes:

More on the Mickley 1804 Dollar
Dave Stone (U.S. Coin Cataloguer at Heritage Auctions) writes:

6. Mickley Specimen, the Present Example
PR62 NGC. Chief Coiner Adam Eckfeldt; unknown intermediaries; Henry C. Young, a teller at the Bank of Pennsylvania (circa 1850); Joseph J. Mickley (circa 1858); Mickley Collection (W. Elliot Woodward, 10/1867), lot 1676, realized $750; William A. Lilliendahl; Edward Cogan (1868); William Sumner Appleton (1868); Massachusetts Historical Society (1905); Massachusetts Historical Society-Maryland Collector Auction (Stack's, 10/1970), lot 625, realized $77,500; Chicago collection; Reed Hawn, in a private treaty transaction via Stack’s in 1974; Hawn Collection (Stack's, 10/1993), lot 735, realized $475,000; David Queller; Queller Family Collection (Heritage, 4/2008), lot 2089, realized $3,737,500; the present consignor.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: THE MICKLEY 1804 DOLLAR (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n30a17.html)

Mickey Turoff
Paul Bosco writes:

The Last Books Signed by Don Taxay?
Tom DeLorey writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: QUERY: INSCRIBED TAXAY BOOKS ON COUNTERFEITS SOUGHT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n28a12.html)

MORE READER REACTIONS ON JOHN J. FORD

Harold Levi writes:

Paul Bosco writes:

Dick Johnson writes:

Bob Julian writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: READER REACTIONS TO BOWERS' THOUGHTS ON JOHN J. FORD (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n30a14.html)

VAN RYZIN'S TAKE ON J. V. MCDERMOTT

Fred Michaelson writes:

The most colorful and endearing owner of a 1913 Liberty Head was J.V. McDermott, a hard-drinking, vest-pocket dealer from Milwaukee who was known for sliding “MacNickel” down the bar for the curious to see. McDermott purchased his specimen of the 1913 Liberty Head nickel from Jim Kelly in the early 1940s for $900 and quickly made himself and the nickel famous.

Even today, many numismatists have cherished stories to tell of their meetings with McDermott and of his rare nickel. Such is the case with collector Tom Fruit, who as a child became a friend and sometimes caretaker of the famous coin. Fruit, 14 at the time, met McDermott in 1949 after Fruit’s family moved to the south part of Milwaukee. A coin collector, Fruit became intrigued when he learned that a famous coin dealer lived not too far from his house. He went right over and knocked on the back door, where he was greeted by McDermott, clad in a sleeveless T-shirt.

“He was really nice,” Fruit said. “I told him I was interested in collecting coins, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pine Tree Shilling and his 1913 nickel.”

Fruit became a regular patron of McDermott’s, going back to make purchases from the dealer whenever a spare $5 or $10 earned from an odd job allowed. For a young collector, the association was a dream come true — a wealth of coins only a few feet from his family’s home. The two became friends. When Fruit turned 16 and was able to drive, he often drove McDermott to coin club meetings and coin shows.

“He would drive there and I’d drive back, because he did most of his business at the bar,” Fruit said of McDermott. “He never had a table that I remember. His table was the bar.”

McDermott made no secret of his passion for drinking, and often made reference to it at the beginning of his advertisements in Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine. In the February 1950 issue he said: “Had a bad cold last month. Doc says, ‘Go to bed for a couple of days.’ But I didn’t[,] as long as I can lift my arm and bend an elbow. I[’ll] never give up.”

From the February 1954 issue came: “That Dan Brown guy out in Denver told me of a rumor that’s goin’ around to whit that they’re goin’ to make us eat our corn instead of drink it — it’s very disturbing.”

And from the September 1960 issue: “Had to miss the Boston show — my neck looked like a hunk of raw meat (reaction from those x-ray treatments I guess). Looks like I’ll have some surgery. Oh! Me! Some of my pals want to get a pool going and one tavern-keeper has offered to mount my head behind his bar. (He says — as a warning to others.) Another one says he thinks it would be better if they shrink it. Anyway, I may fool them if lucky.”

Fruit remembers taking the famous coin to school to have pictures taken for McDermott.

“I used to carry that nickel around for days at a time,” he said. “I’d carry it around in my pocket. He wasn’t afraid to give it to anybody.

“A lot of times, at a coin show, he didn’t know where it was. It would be circulated up and down the bar and somebody would have it. Anytime I wanted the nickel, he would just give it to me. He didn’t ask any questions.”

McDermott also freely loaned the coin to clubs to promote their coin shows. Some believe, however, that with the number of venues at which the coin appeared, McDermott must have had a duplicate made. Fruit discounts such stories.

“There was a lot of talk that Mac had the real nickel and then a replica of it, and that is not true,” he said. “There has never been any substantiation to that. “In fact, I know it is not true, because I could recognize that nickel today. It had a little dent or flake missing right underneath the [Liberty’s] jaw. So I could recognize that nickel anytime, and it was always the same nickel.

“I think the reason for that is, people thought that he would never let a coin that expensive out of his sight. But that didn’t bother him because, he said, ‘What good is it to anybody. Everybody knows where the five nickels are and everybody knows that there are only five. Any one that would turn up, if it was stolen, nobody could sell it, because they would know whose it was.’ So that is why he really wasn’t concerned about anybody swiping it, and nobody ever did.”

Even after Fruit moved away from Milwaukee, he found that McDermott was willing to loan him the coin (at that point valued at nearly $12,500) for display at coin shows.

McDermott’s attitude toward loaning his valuable coin out for others to enjoy can be seen in an article he wrote for Coins magazine shortly before his death. “I don’t believe this coin, or any rarity, should be perpetually consigned to the concealing darkness of a bank vault,” McDermott said. “Legally one man may ‘own’ this 1913 Liberty head nickel, but in a very real sense it belongs to numismatics; for should the collecting fraternity lose interest in it the 1913 would fall by the wayside — all five would be required to buy a handi-pack of not-so-good five cent cigars.”

McDermott died on Sept. 29, 1966. The obituary notice in The Numismatist said, “He had myriad friends but few, if any, intimates,” but he “will live long in the memory of many who saw him and ‘it’ from coast to coast.”

Following her husband’s death, McDermott’s wife, Elizabeth, consigned the coin to a sale held Aug. 8, 1967, during the ANA convention in Miami, where it sold for a then amazing price of $46,000 to Nebraska dealer Aubrey Bebee, who later donated it to the ANA Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo.

By 2007, the fame and value of the 1913 Liberty Head nickels had grown to the point where the finest-known specimen was sold for a reported $5 million — a big price for a small coin with an uncertain past but a million-dollar-plus future.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: MCDERMOTT 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL DONATION TO THE ANA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n30a16.html)

SECURITY FOR THE ANA'S 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL

This brings back some fond memories. I was involved in the room for the Bebees. The nickel was secure in the ANA vault. I made arrangements with police sergeant and ANA member John Anderson to transport the nickel and Robert Hoge from ANA's vault to the designated room in the Broadmoor Hotel. It was the only room in the whole hotel complex that had an operating fireplace. It was on the third floor if my memory serves me properly.

I had a guard on the ground outside the window and balcony of the room in case some smart aleck decided to grab it and throw it out the window. I also had the doors to the room guarded and locked while the nickel was in the room. I also recall Paul Whitnah had an audio tape of the actual auction where the Bebees bought the nickel for $46,000 - a fabulous price at the time.

After the nickel was passed around and people got to Ooooo and Ahaaa, John and Bob returned it to the ANA vault. It was a very special moment for those of us there, and especially me, since I was responsible for the arrangements. Whew! We got through that.

John Anderson later became sheriff of our El Paso county for two terms. He did a fine job and introduced a controversial situation where anyone 26 of age or older with a squeaky clean record could apply for and get a concealed carry weapons permit. This caused a big deal of controversy around the country. But there have been no bad incidents as a result of this. John Anderson continues in the security field and has written one or more articles for The Numismatist concerning security.

John and Nancy Wilson add:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: MCDERMOTT 1913 LIBERTY NICKEL DONATION TO THE ANA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n30a16.html)

ARTICLE PROFILES AUTHOR BETH DEISHER

As a child, Beth Deisher enjoyed helping her aunt Etta Turner sort through the cash register of her small North Carolina grocery for rare or valuable coins, but she never imagined she would make a career of it and become known as a national expert on numismatics.

But today, the longtime Logan County resident has become just that and she will be on hand at Peach Tree Books and Gifts signing her latest book on coin collecting from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday.

“When I was growing up I would help my aunt find coins for her Whitman Folders, but I didn’t collect coins myself,” Mrs. Deisher said.

“I’ve collected books since I was 10 or 11 years old and my aunt was an influence on that. I understood the collector mentality. Either you have the collecting gene or you don’t.

To read the complete article, see: NUMISMATICS 101 (www.examiner.org/news/25914-numismatics-101)

QUICK QUIZ: BABY COINS

Following the birth of His Royal Highness, the Prince of Cambridge, Pobjoy Mint has announced the release of three coins which have had a special privy mark added to them to congratulate the Royal Couple and to commemorate the historic occasion. The coins will be released on behalf of British Virgin Islands and South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands.

The announcement was made July 22nd in the traditional way that Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge had given birth to a baby boy who will be third in line to the throne of the United Kingdom. After the Prince was born, a proclamation signed by the doctors who delivered the Royal Baby was rushed from the ward, and displayed on an historic easel at the gates of Buckingham Palace, the same way the Duke of Cambridge’s birth was announced in 1982. This is the first time since Queen Victoria’s era that there have been three living male heirs.

Two coins will be issued from the British Virgin Islands. First released in 2012, one coin depicts the Duchess of Cambridge and the other the Duke of Cambridge both shown in their evening attire following their Wedding in 2011. A Privy Mark has been added to each coin showing baby footprints and the new Royal arrival’s date of birth. The footprints are coloured blue to represent the baby’s sex.

The third coin, which will be issued on behalf of South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, is a coin which was first issued in 2012, showing the most anticipated moment of their Wedding Day, when the newly married couple displayed their love with a kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to the delight of the millions spectators. The Privy Mark which has been added to this coin shows a stork delivering its precious bundle with the date of the birth. The stork is coloured blue to represent the baby boy.

To read the complete article, see: South Georgia coin with privy mark to congratulate the Royal Couple (en.mercopress.com/2013/07/24/south-georgia-coin-with-privy-mark-to-congratulate-the-royal-couple)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: ROYAL MINT TO ISSUE SILVER PENNY FOR ROYAL BIRTH (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n28a30.html)

CONDITION RANKING OF 1894-S DIMES

As two to four different 1894-S dimes are said to be traceable to the family of former San Francisco Mint Superintendent John Daggett, it is not very helpful to name any one as “The Daggett” 1894-S dime. Supposedly, two or three Daggett family 1894-S dimes were sold to a dealer in California in 1954. It is further supposed that John Daggett’s daughter, Hallie, spent one for ice cream shortly after receiving it in 1894 and that the Good grade 1894-S is the one that she spent, the “Ice Cream” 1894-S dime, #8 in my condition ranking.

The pre-1985 ownership histories and backstories are not being discussed here. I am focusing on the histories of 1894-S dimes over the last thirty years and their respective grades.

While other researchers have presented rosters, I am updating my condition ranking, which was first published in July 2007. None of the living authors of rosters have seen many 1894-S dimes and the other researchers tend to emphasize material that was previously published in 1988 by Breen or in 1991 by David Lawrence Feigenbaum. Earlier, James Johnson compiled a roster, which was published in a coin newspaper in 1972.

Recounts of pre-1985 histories of individual 1894-S dimes largely come from the Johnson, Breen and/or Lawrence-Feigenbaum rosters. No one researcher, however, could have compiled a thorough listing solely on his own. It is my aim to productively build upon research that was earlier done by others and to contribute to the overall knowledge about 1894-S dimes in the coin collecting community. I believe that I am the only one to compile a condition ranking.

To read the complete article, see: Condition Ranking of 1894-S Dimes, with Recent Histories (www.coinweek.com/expert-columns/greg-reynolds-classic-rarities/condition-ranking-of-1894-s-dimes-with-recent-histories/)

JANE AUSTEN TO APPEAR ON BANK OF ENGLAND £10 NOTE

Jane Austen is to become the face of the new £10 note after a public outcry that every banknote featured a man.

New Bank of England governor Mark Carney today unveiled the new design as a tribute to ‘one of the greatest writers in English literature’ which will appear from 2017.

The move comes after the Bank faced criticism that a plan for Winston Churchill to feature on the new fiver meant there would not be a woman on any English note.

After a public clamour to ensure a female face continued to appear on banknotes, former Bank of England governor Lord King hinted that Miss Austen was ‘waiting in the wings’ the next time a slot became available.

His successor Mr Carney said the inclusion of the Pride and Prejudice author would complete a line-up of ‘diverse’ individuals honoured on notes.

Austen will be only the third woman to appear on banknotes, following prison reformer Elizabeth Fry who is being replaced by Winston Churchill on £5 notes and pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale, who was previously on £10 notes.

The Austen £10 note will be issued within a year of the Churchill £5 note, which is expected to be available from 2016, the Bank of England said.

It will include the quote from Pride and Prejudice: ‘I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!’

To read the complete article, see: Revealed: First look at how Jane Austen will appear on the new tenner after outcry over men dominating every bank note (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2376432/How-Jane-Austen-appear-new-10-bank-note-outcry-men-dominating.html)

To read a related BBC news article, see: Jane Austen to be face of the Bank of England £10 note (www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23424289)

GOODREADS QUOTES ABOUT BOOKS

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
― Jorge Luis Borges

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”
― Oscar Wilde

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
― Charles William Eliot

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.”
― Abraham Lincoln

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Toni Morrison

“I cannot live without books.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
― Joseph Brodsky

“The covers of this book are too far apart.”
― Ambrose Bierce

“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

“Be awesome! Be a book nut!”
― Dr. Seuss

To read the complete article, see: Quotes About Books (www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/books)

1890 BET PAYS OFF AGAIN AS FARTHINGS COME TO MARKET

A bet on two raindrops on a window pane that was made 123 years ago has now netted the family of the winner almost £65,000.

The wager was made between an aristocrat and his friend during a rainy day at a Dorset stately home in 1890.

The two men bet £5 on which one of two drops would reach the bottom of the window first.

Bitter at losing, the disgruntled friend marched straight to the bank to withdraw the money owed in the lowest denomination possible at the time - 4,800 farthings.

But now the descendants of the winner have had the last laugh after the existing 2,794 farthings, dated 1890 and still in mint condition, sold at auction for £63,440.

The cache of unused bronze coins, wrapped in tissue paper, represents two pounds, 18 shillings, one penny and two farthings - the equivalent of £220 today.

The huge sale price means each coin is worth almost £23, around 22,000 times its original value.

Experts had tipped the collection to fetch £14,000, but were astounded when it sold for more than four times the amount to a UK coin collector.

The coins had been stored in boxes at Crichel House, near Wimborne, Dorset, home of the Alington family and where the original bet was made.

The picturesque 18th century manor house was featured in the 1996 film Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow.

Daniel Fearon, a coin expert who valued the collection, added: 'Every now and then odd things crop up and this collection was one of them.

'The best way to describe the coins was 'extraordinary cache'.

To read the complete article, see: Playing the long game: Bet on raindrops at stately home that was paid in 5,000 farthings 123 years ago bears fruit for descendants when coins are sold for £65,000 (www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2373474/Bet-raindrops-stately-home-paid-5-000-farthings-123-years-ago-bears-fruit-descendants-coins-sold-65-000.html)

FEATURED WEB PAGE: A VISIT TO RON LANDIS' WORKSHOP

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