The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 45, November 7, 2004, Article 11

BLIND NUMISMATISTS

  Len Harsel writes: "Although I can't remember his name,
  the Alexandria, Virginia Coin Club had a blind member for
  several years before he died.  I heard that he was blinded in
  a ski accident; that would account for his knowledge.  In
  the club's auctions, he would only bid on silver dollars (I
  have always wondered if he was concerned about the
  grading since I sometimes disagreed with the grader/
  auctioneer).  So, you can never say never. "

  Tom DeLorey writes: "We do have one blind collector at
  Berk's. He picks through our foreign junk boxes by feel,
  and when he finds one he likes we put it in an envelope
  with a description on it his kids can read back to him later."

  Allan Davisson writes: "When John Barton (Owl) was alive,
  he had as a client a very active collector in the midwest who
  was blind. The man bought important coins. John explained
  that he had an assistant who worked for him but he himself
  enjoyed handling the coins. Apparently his assistant was
  knowledgeable as well--the quality and price level of
  material he purchased was not insubstantial. I recall selling
  him a set of Dalton & Hamer  tokens at one time but he
  was still primarily John's customer.  After John's untimely
  death, I did no more business with the collector."

  Gar Travis writes: "It was my understanding and perhaps
  not unknown to others that the large plaster galvanos that
  were once featured in the opening foyer of the ANA
  museum were offered as a way for those who were sight
  impaired to feel the images of coins.

  I have met several sight impaired / blind collectors - both
  as I recall who had mentioned that the "hooey" about the
  Susan B. Anthony dollar and the Washington quarter
  dollar being confusing to those with sight was surely not
  possible, all they had to do was look; as they could simply
  by feel - tell the difference.

  It's the paper money with which they had the most
  difficulty and suggested that currency perhaps be made in
  varying sizes as in Europe (at the time) and as some with
  braille, though the braille was often inadequate."

  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