It is of course sad to hear of the loss of Mr. Pennell who made outstanding contributions to the collecting of paper money. I met Mr. Pennell a couple of times in the 90s when I started my active collecting of counterfeit detector material.

While the July 7th article shares some of Mr. Pennell accomplishments, I thought it would be interesting for our bibliophile community to learn a bit more about the rarities of his works. You cited the reprints of two counterfeit detectors (Gwynne & Day, 1862 and Hodges …you left the date out ….1865).

You are correct that the “pedestrian copies” were published in green cloth. But how many of our readers have the ultra-elusive copies in white cloth? My good friend Bob Cochran informed me of white cloth publications of a few SPMC books in the late 90s. It took me another decade to secure the books.

I remember white, albeit leather, was a personal favorite of Armand Champa. The leather jacket story is a romantic memory of the pinnacle of American numismatic literature collecting. While Armand, like many other mavericks in this hobby, was a controversial person, I’ll always cherish the day he called me in Cincinnati, invited me to his home, and subsequently suggested I become and NBS officer. This eventually led to my NBS Presidency during which the E-Sylum commenced thanks to the passionate efforts of Mr. Homren.

Yes – both Pennell reprints of the Gwynne & Day Descriptive Register of Genuine Bank Notes (1862) and Hodges, Edward, Hodges' American Bank Note Safeguard (1865) were also made in white cloth and are ultra elusive. They have never appeared in an auction of any of the numismatic literature dealers, but reside in my collection ex: Heritage.