The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 9, February 29, 2004, Article 3

BETTS MEDALS STILL RIPE FOR RESEARCH

Granvyl G. Hulse, Jr., Librarian, Numismatics International
writes: "John Adams is correct and therein lies a lesson to
all of us. Having had published a fair amount of material in my
life time, I have learned the hard way that "the first liar doesn't
stand a chance." My introduction to Roy Hawkins was through
a letter he sent to the Spinks Numismatic Circular, after they
had published something of mine purporting to be the last word
on modern Greek coins, pointing out that I had left out the
entire coinage of Otto I. We became good friends after that,
but it pointed out a lesson in that the first book on any subject,
no matter how thoroughly the author tries to make it accurate,
will never hold up under the light of later research.

Betts medals are a good example. Looking for something to
do, and being in the right spot at the right time, I set out to do
additional research on the medals he listed as awarded to
British soldiers in the American Revolution. My four articles
covering five medals were published over the years in ANA's
The Numismatist. While I was able to expand on his brief
explanations I would never be so bold as to say that what I
had done was even then the last word. Where we go wrong
is to hold any work in veneration as the final authority.
Marginal notes on books received by the NI Library are
indicative of the knowledge brought by others who happened
to have access to material the author did not have. I applaud
the work on updating Betts' work and look with anticipation
to the publishing of a revised edition."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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