PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 13, March 30, 2008, Article 29 AN UNUSUAL DEVICE FOUND ON AN UNDERTAKER'S STORECARD [This item is the first in what I hope will be a series of articles submitted by our readers as part of the Biblio-Battleship game discussed above. Peter Gaspar's number sequence {2,5,7} led me to bookcase 2, shelf number 5 in my numismatic library. A little past the halfway point on the shelf (7 out of 12) I found a set of Numismatic Gallery Monthly, complete from Volume 1, No, 1 through volume 5, no. 8). The house organ was published by Numismatic Gallery (dealers Abe Kosoff and Abner Kreisberg) beginning in May, 1948. The set came from dealer John Bergman and was given to me by NBS member Bob Wester when he stayed at my house in Pittsburgh during the 1989 ANA convention. I plucked an issue from the middle of the pack - September 1950. On page 10 I found a short article contributed to the publication by reader Edward C. Briggs titled "An Unusual Device" -Editor] On the majority of all coins, we see images of great leaders, devices representing our ideals or the scenes of some great historic event. The coin which I write about, however, is none such. The engraving which it bears is no great leader, no place where much history was made, and I hope it is not a symbol of our ideals! The main design is devoted to ... a coffin. This unusual item is one of the series of hard-times tokens issued by individual merchants during the Civil War period. This piece was issued by J. J. Diehl, an undertaker, of 133 Essex Street, New York City. It is dated 1863 and made from copper. It is truly one of my most interesting pieces. [It's interesting that the article refers to the civil war as a "hard-times" era. That's an apt description of the economic climate of the time, but today U.S. collectors think of only the 1830s/1840s tokens as "Hard Times Tokens." John Bergman passed away and I lost touch with Bob Wester some years ago. I met him at the legendary Invasion of Louisville trip to Armand Champa's home. It was Bob's visit during the 1989 ANA that spurred me into action to build my numismatic library. The phone rang one morning before the show. Larry Dziubek of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society knew that Bob was a big coin book collector and told me about a rare book he'd seen at dealer Hank Spangenberger's table the day before. I had a good numismatic library but was not a big spender on rare books yet, so (like an idiot!) I passed the word to Bob. When we arrived at the show, Bob went to Spangenberger's table and bought the book for about $300. It was a copy of the Newlin work on half dimes. Within an hour or so Bob turned around and sold it to George Kolbe for $1,000. To this day my library still lacks an original Newlin, but I vowed that my library shelves wouldn't remain bare for lack of trying. Right after the convention I put out my shingle as a numismatic book dealer. I remember showing John Burns my new business cards and he said, "Since when are you a book dealer?" I said, "Since I printed these cards." I placed ads in various publications and began purchasing numismatic literature from book and ephemera dealers across the country. I also purchased several complete libraries which I incorporated into my own, consigning the duplicates to various sales. So - does anyone know what became of Bob Wester? George Kolbe writes: "I knew Bob from seeing him at a few ANA's and his participation in my sales for a short period. I lost touch years ago. His enthusiasm, though brief, was certainly infectious and I expect he spurred others on to expand their numismatic libraries." And who was Edward C. Briggs? Isn't this fun? Another Biblio-Battleship item from the same Numismatic Gallery Monthly issue follows. -Editor] Wayne Homren, Editor 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 | |
PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
V11 2008 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
Copyright © 1998 - 2024
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
All Rights Reserved.
NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster