The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 46, November 17, 2002, Article 5

CHILEAN NUMISMATIC REFERENCES IN THE WORKS

  Alan Luedeking writes: "Sometime in the near future, hopefully
  by the end of December, there will be published in Santiago
  four important new works on Chilean numismatics.  Three of
  these are by the great numismatist Carlos Jara, son of the late
  collector Dr. Carlos Jara. They are:

  1) "Chile's Coquimbo Mint: a Documented History", 130 pp.,
   on "couché" paper, bound in sewn (not glued) hardcovers,
   extensively illustrated (in black & white). This is a fleshed-out
   English translation of Carlos Jara's original groundbreaking
   article on the mint of Coquimbo in Spanish, with appendices
   of the original documents. This one I have personally studied,
   and I can assure all that it is a fascinating work which is worth
   every bit of the time it took to research.  Yes, there were
   Coquimbo minors!!

  2) "Las Emisiones Provinciales de Valdivia: 1822-1844", 230
    pp., likewise hardbound and very extensively illustrated. This
   will detail the various emissions of the provincial coins and
   "vales" (heretofore unknown except for the last emission) of
   Vadivia and explains the meaning and significance of the
   famous but misunderstood APDEVA counterstamp. How to
   distinguish genuine from fake examples is also covered.  This
   work will so far only be available in Spanish.

  3) "Las Primeras Acuñaciones de la Casa de Moneda de
   Santiago: 1749-1772", 100 pages, in English and Spanish,
   likewise hardbound.  This work is of inestimable value: for
   the first time a complete and true picture of the early coinage
   of Santiago emerges, revealing the mintage figures for the
   silver pillars & waves issues as well as the gold coinage.
   Documentary evidence and historical background is provided.
   This work expands on the paper Mr. Jara presented at the
   first international Central American numismatic congress held
   in San José, Costa Rica in September of this year.  (He also
   presented there an excellent paper exposing the recent
   counterfeits of the 1894 Guatemala half real counterstamp
   on Chilean host coins.)

  4) Exact title unknown.  This work, by noted collector Alvaro
   Orellana, will be the most comprehensive catalogue of the
   nitrate mine and other tokens of Chile ever published (over
   400 pp.), greatly expanding the body of known pieces since
   the publication of the work by Espinoza. This will also be in
   English and Spanish

  What makes these works so special, in my opinion, is the
  great depth of research, attention to detail and historical fact
  that went into their creation.  Mr. Jara has carefully examined
  countless original documents and contemporary
  correspondence archived in the Sala Medina of the national
  library of Chile and in the mint of Santiago.  Much of the
  information here is new and provides greater understanding
  not only of the coins themselves, but of the entire historical
  context. Several unintentional errors originally committed
  by Medina are corrected.

  Having personally met Mr. Jara and studied his earlier
  works on counterstamps on Chilean gold coins and the
  controversial cast issues of Chiloé, I can attest to his
  unwavering commitment to historical accuracy.  In the
  process, I have come to respect him as one of the great
  Latin American numismatists, right up there with Fosalba,
  Medina, Prober, Mitchell, Burzio and a few others. What
  is astounding is the fact that he is still only in his twenties!
  Whoever wishes to contact Mr. Jara is welcome to do so
  at  clejara at yahoo.com."

  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