The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 4, January 27, 2002, Article 6

NEW YORK TRIP REPORT

  Alan Luedeking writes: "Just got back from the New York
  International coin show and  thought I'd share a bit of the
  experience. The Waldorf Astoria hotel was nice, but seems
  a far cry in opulence and service from its heyday way back
  when.   It was very nice to be back in the heart of Manhattan
  instead of downtown at the World Trade Center.

  The show was spread across three small rooms and one big
  one, interconnected via a labyrinthine network of passages.
  There was a lot of grumbling amongst dealers set up in the
  less favored rooms.  The only literature dealer present was
  John Burns (in the littlest room of all), whose stock consisted
  90% of material on ancient coinage.  He took a page out of
  Art Rubino's book and set up the wooden packing cases
  into a bank of bookshelves.  I'm sorry to say, his cases did
  not appear substantially denuded by show's end, despite
  what seemed to me reasonable prices.   Dealer Del Parker
  also had lots of books, 95% on ancients as well.  His stock
  likewise appeared far from depleted at show's end. Jan Lis
  of London had an original Medina on proclamations in a
  modern cloth binding with front (but not rear) cover bound
  in; with an initial asking price of £850, needless to say it went
  back home with him.  I'm quite sure he would have sold it for
  less had anyone dared ask, but I know he turned down an
  offer of US$500.

  I also took a hike up to the Grolier book club, very mindful
  of E. Tomlinson Fort 's missive in E-Sylum v4n46. Upon
  arrival, a solitary lobby attendant took time to help me and
  confirm that the fabulous "Numismatics in the Age of Grolier"
  exhibit had been dismantled and the books dispersed back
  to their owners.  I then asked for the exhibit catalog, and
  purchased mine for cash on the barrelhead.   Only four are left.
  I later asked a friend of mine (a strong collector of world gold
  coins and respected Manhattanite) how to become a member
  of the Grolier book club. I was surprised to hear that
  membership is extremely hard to obtain, as it is by invitation
  only. I'm told these invitations are very rare indeed, being
  restricted to only the most serious book collectors in the world,
  having a certain social and economic standing.  I'm told that
  member meetings are very formal dinner gatherings followed
  by brandy and cigars and erudite discussions on books where
  everyone present can quote from their 1500's tomes without
  an instant's hesitation.   Oh, how I'd like to experience that...
  then again, maybe better not!"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum