QUERY: BUSHNELL'S NUMISMATIC NOTES SOUGHT

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V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 13, March 30, 2014, Article 10

I was recently asked of the whereabouts of Charles I. Bushnell's "Numismatic Notes in manuscript" as referenced by Sylvester Crosby in his Early Coins of America. I see the same question was published by the Colonial Newsletter in April 1973 as technical note RF-47 and in September 1974 Charles Funk posted a reply as RF-47A, but was unable to identify where the manuscript was. In the 1995 American Numismatic Society Coinages of the Americas Conference, Phlip Mossman referred to "... the handwritten numismatic notes of Charlies I. Bushnell of New York, which Crosby quoted and which are lost."

Has anyone ever located the Charles Bushnell handwritten numismatic notes related to colonial and confederation era coinages? There is a handwritten Bushnell notebook in the ANS manuscript library, but it addresses a time period mostly in the 17th century, and possibly may be part of a series of manuscripts written by Bushnell on early numismatics.

The chief point that I want to make here is to suggest that someone look into the library of the New York Historical Society. Since the manuscript is not in ANS, this would seem to be a likely alternative repository for it.

But further, Bushnell's coins were sold at auction, by the Chapman brothers, soon after his death. I have been able to examine the catalog of the sale, and can report (in case this is not known to the inquirer) that the sale included 3000 lots, of which 2847 lots were of coins and related artifacts, 152 lots were of books and catalogs that made up his numismatic library, and the one remaining lot was his coin cabinet. None of the 152 lots of library material included his manuscript.

Still further, Bushnell's historical library was also sold at auction, by the Messrs. Bangs & Co. I have not seen the catalog of this auction, but I have seen the entry for the catalog in the National Union Catalog, and can report that its title is: Catalogue of the library, etc., of the late Charles Ira Bushnell, to be sold at auction Monday April 2d and four following days, by Messrs. Bangs & amp; Co. It contains 286 pages, and there were 3,452 lots in the sale. Copies of this catalog are reportedly held in: Library of Congress, Philadelphia Union Library, Duke University Library, Cornell University Library, American Philosophical Society Library (Phila.), University of Michigan library and the University of Virginia Library. Possibly a reader nearby one of these sources can check the catalog to see whether or not the missing manuscript was among the items in this sale.

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