JEAN-PAUL DIVO: PAPER MONEY CONVERT

I have a treasured recollection of Jean-Paul Divo which E-Sylum readers might enjoy. While on active service at "Coin World" In Spring 1977, Courtney L. Coffing and I toured 11 European countries for CW, from Spain to Hungary, back westward to Ireland. Greeting us in Zurich, Switzerland, was John-Paul Divo, then one of Europe's best-known professional numismatists.

Courtney will be remembered by many for his numismatic writing career that began in the late 1930's, and as a pioneer in world paper money and especially as the "patron saint" of Notgeld. Paper was starting to take off thanks to publication of the Pick world paper money reference. (We later had an audience with Pick himself in his office in the Bayerische Hypobank in Munich).

Courtney had landed us a tour of an historic private paper money printer of Zurich, Orel Fuessli, a firm that had printed notes for several European countries as well as for the Swiss Confederation itself. Jean-Paul joined us for the tour, delivering an seemingly endless monologue AGAINST paper money collecting as we walked to the firm's offices! This great classical numismatist demanded to know "How can anyone collect these things, it's like collecting cigarette labels! It's ridiculous, I would never do this, what's the sense..." and on and on.

Our tour guide was a very sharp young woman staffer who entranced not only Courtney and me, but "Doubting Thomas" Jean-Paul Divo, who emerged from the Orel Fuessli headquarters as an outspoken ADVOCATE of paper money collecting, "I never guessed, I never knew, this is really wonderful!!!" And on and on!

Speaking of dividing by three, there is the old Irish tale of the three children who wanted to buy their father a birthday gift around 1914. They found a splendid watch fob but it cost 19 shillings! The oldest child told the jeweler, "Make it 21 shillings and we'll take it!!!" 21, of course, is divisible by three!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: MORE ON JEAN-PAUL DIVO (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n11a03.html)

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