The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 31, July 28, 2002, Article 8

EXOGRAPHICA?

  Neil Shafer  writes: "Your discussion about various terms for
  paper money collectors, etc. caught my attention.  As you are
  probably aware, the Professional Currency Dealers Association
  (Pcda) has published a series of introductory booklets starting
  about 10 or 11 years ago.  One of their earliest was mine titled
  '"The Wonderful World of Paper Money."  They allowed me
  to try to bring into play a new word for the Great Paper
  Periphery, so on page 44 of that booklet I introduced a word
  I had "coined" to correspond exactly with the "exonumia"
  word- it was "exographica" and I explained it this way:

  "There are literally thousands of paper items of interest
  generally to paper money collectors.  Many of these pieces
  are not money or were never intended to resemble any kind
  of currency.  Instead, they fill in much of the sidelines and help
  tell the fuller story of money through what they depict.

  "A new term is being introduced which encompasses all this
  paper periphery, including many issues of paper tokens and
  good-fors of all sorts: exographica.  This word was chosen
  to bring some cohesion to the many and varied aspects of
  those pieces of paper which are obliquely related to some
  aspect of numismatic collecting.   Kinds of items which
  generally fit into this exographic category include but are
  not limited to:  checks and other fiscal documents,  stagecoach,
  horsecar and trolley tickets, railroad passes and tickets, food
  stamp change, receipts of all kinds, most engraved items of
  paper, lottery tickets, labels, coupons of all sorts, military
  passes, pictorial advertising, letterheads, souvenir cards,
  diplomas, announcements, autographs, insurance policy forms,
  various awards, and the like."

  Looking back on it 10 years later, it strikes me that my new
  word is too broad in its scope, but that can easily be rectified.
  I still think it is as useful as its exonumia brother, can be broken
  down into the same kinds of descriptive terms: exographist
  (the collector), and the other 2 forms used above for the
  collective noun and adjective.  Is this idea worth backing at
  all from anyone else besides Pcda?"

  [Non-numismatic bibliophiles would probably call that stuff
  "ephemera", but a term specific to numismatic paper could
  be useful.   What does the E-Sylum readership think?
  -Editor]

  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