NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: OCTOBER 23, 2016

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The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 43, October 23, 2016, Article 10

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: OCTOBER 23, 2016

From the Family of Al Zaika
Ann Williams writes:

The family of Alexander Zaika would like to extend our gratefulness to David Gladfelter, who wrote the article about my father.

David met with me and we talked about my Dad.

I appreciate you putting this in The E-Sylum. He loved dealing with tokens, medals, scrip and coins. He loved going to the conventions and the shows, meeting with the dealers he has known for years.

When his eyesight was failing him, sadly he was no longer able to attend.

Again, thank you from the family for his recognition of his contribution to the coin world.

He is sadly missed.

Gratefully his daughter,
Ann Williams

I knew Al from the coin shows, though not very well. But he was knowledgeable, friendly and always eager to help. The shows weren't the same without him. We miss him, too. I was very glad to publish the article. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ALEXANDER ZAIKA (1919-2016) (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n37a15.html)

The E-Sylum's Interesting and Varied Numismatic Information
Duane Feisel writes:

I will have to say that I am in complete awe of how you put together such an interesting and varied collection of numismatic information week after week – and done in such a highly professional manner.

Thanks! It's always fun to put an issue together, despite the work involved. Our great community of readers and contributors keeps me going. -Editor

Diana Plattner Returns to Whitman
Diana Plattner writes:

I've been an E-Sylum subscriber since my years as editorial director at Whitman Publishing, and even when my path took me far from the world of numismatics, I enjoyed the newsletters so much I kept my subscription going. Thanks for the wonderful newsletter!

I shared a room with several other editors, and you could always tell it was E-Sylum day when all the keyboards went quiet. At some point someone would always say, "Hey, has anybody seen that thing in the E-Sylum where -- "

The last month or so I've been restored to the Whitman fold in the role of social-media editor, running the Coin Update, Mint News, and World Mint News blogs. It dawned on me that I should be a member of the NBS properly rather than lurking in the sidelines, and I joined up.

Welcome to NBS and back to the Whitman fold! Glad to have you aboard. Here are links to the Whitman blogs, which always have some great numismatic content, too. -Editor

http://news.coinupdate.com/
http://mintnewsblog.com/
http://world.mintnewsblog.com/

U.S. Mint Metal Changes?
Ginger Rapsus writes:

Enjoyed the latest issue. I must say, The E-Sylum has become bigger & better! Can't believe I forgot John Ross when I wrote of coin shops in downtown Chicago. Spotted many wonderful coins in his shop over the years.

A question...is the Mint still considering changes to coin metals? Perhaps steel? Haven't heard about this lately

Commodity prices go up and down, and talk of coin composition changes tends to flow in sync. Studies are ongoing and periodically the results and recommendations are published. But these changes require an Act of Congress, so don't hold your breath. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MORE COIN SHOP TALES (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n42a09.html)

On Digital Media
Ken Berger writes:

Back in the 1980s, I worked for a software company which primarily had U.S. Navy contracts. Once a year, the company had a "fire sale" for employees in order to dispose of equipment & furniture which they no longer needed. One year they were disposing of a paper tape reader, since they had not used it in approximately 10 years. A co-worker bought it for $10.00, borrowed a truck, loaded it up & carted it home.

The next week the company received a contract from the Navy to convert a huge amount of paper tape to another form of media. My co-worker, once again, borrowed a truck, loaded it up & brought it back for the company to use, free of charge! I would have rented it to them.

As a side note, I sometimes wonder what happened to the punch card machine I used for part of my doctoral research. I doubt if the younger generation could even identify one, let alone know how to use one.

Punch card machines were still around when I started my freshman year of college. Upperclassmen got to use the terminals, so it was a character-building exercise for me. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ON THE LIFESPAN OF DIGITAL MEDIA (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n42a11.html)

October 11, 1968
Last week I noted that the hosts of our monthly Nummis Nova dinner suggested "a space exploration theme, because on Oct 11, 1984, Astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan, part of the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger, became the first American woman to walk in space AND on the same day in the year 2000 NASA launched its 100th Space Shuttle mission." Chip Howell writes:

On 11 October, 1968, Apollo VII was launched, the first manned flight of the program which took us to the Moon.

Interesting. The first step is the often the hardest and most dangerous, but everybody remembers the date of the moon landing and forgets the start of the program. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: OCTOBER 16, 2016 (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n42a12.html)

Another Waffled French Indo-China Piastre
Bill Snyder writes:

I have a waffled coin similar to the Howard Daniel you sent in to The E-Sylum. I had titled the picture "French_Indo-China_Piastre 1931_Y-18._With_official_mint_cancellation_marks_demonetizing_the_coin." Note that the cancellation marks run in different directions on the 2 coins.

French_Indo-China_Piastre 1931_Y-18._With_official_mint_cancellation_marks_demonetizing_the_coin

Bill Snyder's coin

Howard Daniel's coin

Howard writes:

I was told by one French source that the waffling on this coin is NOT from the Paris Mint. One of my sources has only 13,288,273 of these coins being issued, so it is very possible the waffling was done in Hanoi during WWII. I am sure other coins were also waffled before being melted to make the bullion silver rounds, maybe even coins from outside of Cochinchina/Indochina.

Thanks! It's great to know others exist. Still a rare item in this format, though. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: OCTOBER 16, 2016 : Waffled 1931 French Indo-China Piastre (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n42a12.html)

Images of Dentistry on Paper Money Sought
Gosia Fort of the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System writes:

While searching for items for my next mini exhibit, I came across images of paper money portraying dentists. I was wondering if you ever came across something similar or know of someone who did. I am looking for a better image that the one I scanned from a pamphlet we have in the library or for any other dentistry related image on money.

Is this a proper term to call the advertising notes paper money?

Well, advertising notes aren't money but are collected that way. Robert Vlack published a nice book on them titled Early North American Advertising Notes in 2001. I'll be able to supply some scans from the book, but higher-resolution color images would be more suitable for Gosia's exhibit. Can anyone help supply images of dentistry-related paper money? The pamphlet she has also pictures German WWI Notgeld with images of dentists. -Editor

The Great Australian Poetry Hoax

It's not April Fools Day yet, but related to last week's item on the art world hoax is this one from the poetry world. -Editor

In 1943, fed up with modernist poetry, two Australian army officers invented a fake poet and submitted a collection of deliberately senseless verses to a Melbourne arts magazine. To their delight, the poems were published and their author was hailed as "one of the most remarkable and important poetic figures of this country." In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Ern Malley hoax, its perpetrators, and its surprising legacy in Australian literature.

To read the complete article, see:
The great Australian poetry hoax, in which deliberate nonsense was hailed as great art (http://boingboing.net/2016/10/20/the-great-australian-poetry-ho.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE BIGGEST ART HOAX IN HISTORY? (http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n42a20.html)

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@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

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