The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 5, February 1, 2004, Article 20

HOLOCAUST ARTIFACTS BOOK WEB SITE

  Chris Fuccione reports that the address of the web site
  for the book by Alec S. Tulkoff which Michael Sullivan
  discussed last week is holocaust artifacts.
  The book was published in 2000.

  Michael J. Sullivan adds: "To clarify, I didn't write the
  summary.  It came from an E-Bay Listing !     The book
  is for sale at Amazon as well."

  Ron Haller-Williams found the web site, too. He writes:
  "There is a link to the author's description of the book at
  holocaustartifacts.com/book.htm

  BTW, the bibliographic data was incomplete.  So I quote
  in full:  "Counterfeiting The Holocaust: A Historical And
  Archival Examination Of Holocaust Artifacts  ISBN:
  0-7643-1109-3    Size: 8 1/2" x 11"  88 Pages
  $19.95 + S/H  Illustrations: over 160 color and b/w
  photographs and maps.  Copyright © [July] 2000 Alec S.
  Tulkoff     [softbound]  Schiffer Publishing Ltd
  (http://www.schifferbooks.com)"

  On the site are links to pictures and explanatory background
  of several  fake items, and to an essay entitled "Who Is
  Selling This Stuff And Why?"  Also an e-mail link if you
  want to buy the book."

  [The author also publishes an email newsletter on the topic:
  "After completing the manuscript for my book, I continued
  to monitor the counterfeits and fakes being sold on the Internet.
  The large number of such items continuously appearing for
  sale and auction led me to start a Newsletter dealing with
  the topic.

  I felt it necessary to keep on top of the ever changing
  counterfeit material showing up on the market. With each
  new discovery or display of original artifacts brought
  about the quick manufacture and distribution of
  counterfeits. "
  -Editor]

  Bill Rosenblum adds: "However please be aware the site
  was last updated in January of 2002, two years ago.

  I have not read the book although I know it should be in
  my library. I  spoke with the author sometime before he
  wrote the book and I was not  impressed with his
  numismatic knowledge. At one time his website had a
  well known fake Buchenwald note shown under the genuine
  items. I tried to find some coins on the website, I saw the
  word once but could not  find it again.

  From others I have spoken with I have been told that the
  author is a well meaning and serious collector who was
  "burnt" badly a few times on some Holocaust artifacts he
  purchased. This led him to write his book and his newsletter.
  However, at times he has accused well known and
  knowledgeable dealers who have handled this material for
  30 years with selling fakes (mostly non numismatic).
  Anyone can write a book.

  My thoughts about the book and the website are not
  meant to denigrate the book or the idea behind it. In the
  early 1970's when I first started to handle this material there
  was very little written about it. Most of what I learned about
  the field was through reading the few works available,
  talking with the few people who handled it and collected it
  and speaking with the few survivors who would speak
  about their experiences.

  Arlie Slabaugh had a small section in his POW money
  pamphlet and there were some articles in the notgeld
  newsletter by (I believe) David Atsimony. I'm writing this
  note off the top of my head so some of the titles and
  authors may be wrong. Those were in the 1960's. In 1973
  Sam Simon published Handbook of the mail in the
  concentration camps 1933-1945 which was mainly a postal
  history but did have some numismatic information. In the
  1970's more information started to appear in the first
  book by Albert Pick and Carl Siemsen as well as in The
  Shekel, the International Bank Not Society Journal. Also,
  some articles appeared in both the newsletter of the very
  short-lived Judaic Syngraphic Collectors Association and
  one or two in my own house organ, the Judaic Numismatic
  Newsletter. In the early 80's, two issues of The Shekel were
  devoted to Numismatics of the Holocaust.  Since then many
  other works have appeared including, but not limited to books
  by Campbell, Schwan & Boling, Franquinent, Stahl and
  Burke. I'm sure I left some out.

  This is a very serious and important field in numismatics
  as paper money (and a few metal tokens) were used in
  both Ghettos and concentration camps. The Nazis did not
  just murder millions of Jews (and many others) but they
  used them up first. The use of money and the accompanying
  financial documents show just how depraved they were and
  also show the determination of the inmates and residents of
  the camps and Ghettos to try to survive.  Like all fields of
  numismatics there are unscrupulous people who try to exploit
  the novice collector. Know your source and learn for yourself.
  For those of you who see me at the few shows I still set up
  at, I usually have a small group of counterfeit concentration
  camp notes which I do not sell but I will show any or are
  interested. Unfortunately some of the more common examples
  still show up at flea markets in the mid-west.

  Please excuse any rambling that went on above. This is an
  area that I feel very strongly about. About 50 years ago I met
  my cousin "Willie" at a family function. He just sat in a corner,
  looking slightly out of it and never spoke a word. I remember
  that and the numbers tattooed on his wrist. I was about 8 years
  old but I still recall those details and I never saw him again.
  And nobody said a word about him."

  [My only encounter with a survivor was Mr. Steiner, a man in
  the neighborhood where I grew up.  I delivered newspapers to
  his home, where he lived with his wife.  I noticed the number
  tattooed on his arm. I was about 13, but knew immediately
  what it meant.  I could never bring myself to ask him about it.
   -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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