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About Us The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit association devoted to the study and enjoyment of numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at coinbooks.org Subscriptions Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page link Membership There is a membership application available on the web site Membership Application To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Print/Digital membership is $40 to addresses in the U.S., and $60 elsewhere. A digital-only membership is available for $25. For those without web access, write to: Charles Heck, Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society P. O. Box 2058, Bluffton, SC 29910-2058 Asylum For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership questions, contact Chuck at this email address: treasurer@coinbooks.org Submissions To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com BUY THE BOOK BEFORE THE COIN Sale Calendar April 30, 2022 KOLBE & FANNING Watch here for updates!

 

Content presented in The E-Sylum is not necessarily researched or independently fact-checked, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM APRIL 10, 2022

New subscribers this week include: Nancy Jones and Larry Grinstead. Welcome aboard! We now have 6,985 subscribers.

Thank you for reading The E-Sylum. If you enjoy it, please send me the email addresses of friends you think may enjoy it as well and I'll send them a subscription. Contact me at whomren@gmail.com anytime regarding your subscription, or questions, comments or suggestions about our content.

This week we open with Syd Martin library selections, six new books, two periodicals, an obituary, and a new numismatic exhibit at the Smithsonian.

Other topics this week include Barnaby Faull, Noonans, the NNP Symposium, the Civil War Showcase, notes from readers, auction reviews, coins of medieval Serbia, and the first coins struck from California gold.

To learn more about the Peter Gschwend collection, Half Cents, Indian Peace Medals, the coins of Nepal, Swedish Plate Money, the Hansen collection, Woman's Relief Corps medals, impressed errors, the Anguilla Liberty Dollar, the Congress of the C. S. A. medal, Royal Maundy coins, and Sotheby's, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

KOLBE & FANNING SYD MARTIN LIBRARY SELECTIONS

On April 30, 2022, Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers will be selling the outstanding library formed by Sydney F. Martin. The Martin Library is one of the finest formed on the subject of early American coinage, and includes many titles on related areas of European numismatics as well. We are honored to have been asked to sell the library at auction, having worked closely with Syd as he built it.

Some highlights of the sale include:

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NEW BOOKS: HALF CENT HANDBOOK VOLS 2-3

Vol 2: The Half Cent Handbook - Classic Head and Braided Hair Varieties
Vol 3: The Half Cent Handbook - Liberty Cap Varieties 1793-1797

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NEW BOOK: PEACE MEDALS AT THE DENVER MUSEUM

Indian Peace Medals and Other Medals at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, DMNS Annals Journal, No. 9, March 25, 2022, by Lawrence J. Lee and Stephen E. Nash.

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NEW BOOK: MALLA ERA COINS OF NEPAL

Writer and coin collector Shankar Shrestha has released his latest book "Malla Era Coins Of Nepal" amid a special function organized at Agarwal Bhawan, Kamalpokhari on Saturday.

The newly-published book attempts to cover the medieval & the Malla history of about 900 years. A simple presentation of coins with various artifacts and its cultural, religious themes, scripts, yantras, years, dates etc are included in the book.

"I believe that this book will be especially useful and enlightening for all the readers interested in history as well as all the collectors of the Malla period coins," Shrestha said.

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NEW BOOK: MONEY AND EMPIRE

WANG Chunfa:Huobi yu wangchao: guoji shiyexia qianbi de yingxiang yu gaibian. Beijing shidai huawen shuju. ISBN 978-5699-3724-4. [WANG Chunfa (ed.-in-chief). Money and Empire: coin influence and change from a world perspective. Beijing: Beijing Shidai Huawen shuju, 2020. 325 pp. In Chinese]

This volume is the proceedings of the international conference held at the National Museum of China, 13-14 November 2019. It contains the 32 papers listed below (my translations are approximate) and foreword by the Director of the National Museum of China. A total of 42 papers were presented at the conference and are listed at the back of the book.

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NEW BOOK: SILVER IN CHINESE CURRENCY

Shanghai Museum (ed.), Yiyi qian nian: Zhongguo huobi shi zhong de baiyin. Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2019. ISBN ISBN 978-7-5479-1987-3. 187 pp.

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PERIODICAL: OCCASIONAL NUMISMATIC PAPERS

We are pleased to announce the forthcoming release of Occasional Numismatic Papers, a new online publication devoted to original Canadian numismatic research. The idea behind these Papers is simply to create a fresh venue for interesting research on numismatic topics along with a forum for numismatic notes and queries. The first number will appear April 18, 2022. Articles include Chasing Joseph Moreau and The St. Amant Mystery and McLachlan's Hoard of Canadian Coppers.

The Papers are privately published by the editors and are not the publication of any numismatic association, organization, society, or club. There are no subscription fees or membership dues. The Papers are not supported financially by a third party.

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PERIODICAL: NUMISMATIQUE ASIATIQUE MARCH 2022

Editorial

Numismatique, Russie et Ukraine

Numismatics, Russia and Ukraine

CHINA

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PAUL A. KRAEMER (1933-2022)

RNA member Nick Graver writes:

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NEW SMITHSONIAN GALLERY: REALLY BIG MONEY

National Numismatic Collection Curator Dr. Ellen Feingold writes:

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BARNABY FAULL JOINS DIX NOONAN WEBB

International Coin and Banknote Auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb are extremely pleased to announce that leading Banknote expert Barnaby Faull will be joining the Mayfair saleroom from Friday, April 1, 2022 as Senior Specialist.

Barnaby Faull said I am delighted to be able to come out of what has proved to be a very short retirement to join the Banknote Department at Dix Noonan Webb, where I will be working alongside an already established team of experts, all of whom I have known for many years. I am very much looking forward to doing all that I can to accelerate the momentum that they have achieved and to reconnect with the many friends that I have made over the years in the banknote world.

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DIX NOONAN WEBB BECOMES NOONANS

From the end of April 2022, auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb (DNW) will be shortening its name to NOONANS. The internationally renowned auctioneers who have specialised in Medals and Coins for many years, and since 2015, Banknotes and Jewellery as well will continue to be based at their Mayfair saleroom (16 Bolton Street, London W1J 8BQ).

Nimrod Dix, Deputy Chairman of Noonans said: When I first founded the business back in 1990 the Internet was barely a thing, customers viewed their lots in person and on sale days the saleroom was packed with eager bidders. Now, more than thirty years later our audience is spread across the globe and many of our customers interact with us solely via online technology without ever attending a sale. As a result of this seismic shift in the way that much of our business is transacted there has never been a better time for us to strengthen our company's corporate branding.

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NEWMAN PORTAL SYMPOSIUM HOLDS 4TH EVENT

Newman Portal Symposium Holds 4th Event

The Newman Portal Symposium, launched in fall 2020 in response to the pandemic, and now held twice per year, recently presented its fourth such event, which took place April 8-10. Video from all Symposium sessions will be available in 2-3 weeks, with notice published on the NNP Symposium website.

Our feature presentation profiled the collector Dell Loy Hansen, who, in a few short years, has nearly duplicated Louis Eliasberg's goal of assembling a complete set of U.S. coins. This video, produced by Lianna Spurrier of Numismatic Marketing, includes footage of the Hansen vault in addition to comments from Hansen himself on the formation of this significant collection.

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VIDEO: VIDEO GAME GRADING

Long Beach Expo Helps You Find Out that Video Games Can Be Valuable!
VIDEO: 5:06

Heather Boyd, PCGS Marketing Director,
Deniz Kahn, Founder/President, WATA,
David Lisot, Video Producer, CoinTelevision.com.
February 17-19, 2022.

Video games are one of the newest collectibles trading at the Long Beach Expo. Find out what makes a video game collectable and how to participate in this new market.

David adds:

An excerpt of the video is available for viewing on the Coin Television YouTube Channel at:
https://youtu.be/DiHapL0Z8dk

USING COINS TO STUDY ANCIENT HISTORY

Using Coins to Study the Context of Ancient History

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WOMEN'S RELIEF CORPS AT CIVIL WAR SHOWCASE

The Inaugural Civil War Money & Memorabilia Showcase™ welcomes The Woman's Relief Corps.

The nationally chartered Auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) served Union Veterans, their Families and Caregivers for Generations….. At their National Museum in Springfield, IL, they are Curators of Civil War Currency, Medals and Memorabilia.

A Special Ten Minute Talk by Rebecca Rush, National Board member of the Women's Relief Corps (WRC), will be announced for Friday and Saturday at the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) Coin Show May 19-21, 2022.

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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 10, 2022

Remembering David Gotkin
Ed Cohen writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
DAVID R. GOTKIN (1944-2022) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n13a11.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 3, 2022 : More on Dealer David Gotkin (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n14a08.html)

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KENNEDY HALF DOLLAR DESIGN PROPOSAL

Once upon a time the half dollar coin circulated as everyday commerce.

Not so much anymore.

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VOCABULARY TERM: IMPRESSED ERROR

Impressed Error. A striking error in which foreign matter is lodged on and impressed into the surface of a struck piece. The foreign matter comes between the die and the blank before striking; and after striking it is retained below the surface but later may or may not flake off or dislodge. Thus an unusual shaped depression on a struck surface may be evidence that some object had indeed lodged there during striking. As a collector's item it is far more interesting if the impressed object is still intact.

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NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: APRIL 2022

Hamburg America Line Medal

101921 | UNITED STATES & GERMANY. Hamburg America Line silver Award Medal. Engraved 1928 and presented to Max Meisner for 25 years of service (37mm, 20.16 g, 12h). By J. Lanca. Personifications of navigation (female and resting hand upon anchor) and commerce (male and holding caduceus over shoulder) standing to left and right of altar bearing both halves of the globe unified by ribbon reading MEIR FELD IST DER WELT (my field is the world) and set upon base reading IM ZEICHEN / DES VERKEHRS (dedicated to shipping); in background, two ships upon the sea / Cartouche with inscription "MAX MEISNER 1903–1928"; legend reading IN ANERKENNUNG / TREUER DIENSTE / HAMBURG– / AMERIKA– / LINIE in five lines; company logo and oak branch curling to left. Edge: HM. SILBER 990; loop attached at the top. Choice Mint State. Attractively toned, with some rose-gold highlights in the reverse field. $175.

The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG) was a transatlantic shipping enterprise that was based in Hamburg, Germany and routinely serviced ports in America, establishing a close connection between the two nations. It eventually became one of the world's largest shipping operations, and served the growing number of German immigrants in the United States. It ceased as an entity in its own right with its merger with North German Lloyd in 1970.

To read the complete item description, see:
101921 | UNITED STATES & GERMANY. Hamburg America Line silver Award Medal. (https://www.numismagram.com/product-page/101921)

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DIX NOONAN WEBB APRIL 12, 2022 SALE

Mayfair-based Auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb, who specialise in coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery will be holding an auction of British and World Coins, and Historical Medals on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 10am. The 770-lot sale will feature coins and medals dating from the first millennium BC to the present day and from as far afield as Thailand and Korea.

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STEPHEN ALBUM INTERNET AUCTION 15

Stephen Album Rare Coins will hold its Internet Auction 15 at its offices in Santa Rosa, California on April 11, 2022. Internet pre-bidding has begun and can be accessed through their website. The auction is made up of an even 600 lots from many categories, including 400 world lots, 173 of which are choice pieces from The Joe Sedillot Collection, over 100 Chinese coin lots, including many better varieties, and 60 lots of Indian coins, including many high-grade British India coins. Estimates range from $30 to $250. Sample lots from the sale follow:

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NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 10, 2022

Trajan Gold Aureus

Trajan AV Aureus. Rome, AD 111. IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V DES VI, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Emperor standing to left, extending hand to two children, standing to right; ALIM ITAL in exergue. RIC II 230 corr. (also cuirassed); C. 16; BMCRE pg. 88, *; Woytek 376f (same dies); Calicó 985 corr. (same - same dies); Künker 168, lot 7735 (same dies). 7.19g, 19mm, 7h.

Very Fine; lustrous metal. Exceptionally Rare; seemingly one of just seven known specimens, only two other examples on CoinArchives and the first to come to auction since 2010.

From a private European collection.

To read the complete lot description, see:
Trajan AV Aureus. (https://www.romanumismatics.com/259-lot-985-trajan-av-aureus)

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STUDY EXAMINES DEBASEMENT OF ROMAN DENARII

New scientific analysis of the composition of Roman denarii has brought fresh understanding to a financial crisis briefly mentioned by the Roman statesman and writer Marcus Tullius Cicero in his essay on moral leadership, De Officiis, and solved a longstanding historical debate.

Researchers at the University of Warwick and the University of Liverpool have analyzed coins of the period and revealed a debasement of the currency far greater than historians had thought, with coins that had been pure silver before 90BC cut with up to 10 percent copper five years later.

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COINS OF MEDIEVAL SERBIA

THE SLAVS BEGAN migrating into southeastern Europe during the chaotic sixth century, interacting – sometimes as adversaries, sometimes as subjects or allies – with the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. By the time of Prince Mutimir (ruled c. 850-891), many Serbs had converted to Orthodox Christianity. In 1219, under the leadership of Archbishop St. Sava, the Serbian Orthodox Church became independent from Constantinople.

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FIRST COINS STRUCK FROM CALIFORNIA GOLD

Unofficially the 1848 CAL Quarter Eagle gold coin was the first commemorative coin issued by the U.S. Mint. Obviously this coin came about due to the discovery of gold in California in 1848. On January 24, 1848 James Marshall, while working at Sutter's Mill on the American River spotted gold flakes in the streambed. From there the rest is history.

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QUEEN WITHDRAWS FROM THE MAUNDY SERVICE

From Wikipedia:

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COPPERHEADS BY MOYRA DAVEY

Featuring works by 35 contemporary artists, Working Thought examines the role art can play in considering and questioning the many ways economic disparity and labor have shaped American life past and present.

Working Thought showcases artwork across media and generations, highlighting connections between diverse artistic practices. In this exhibition, a combination of new commissions and loans are presented alongside works from the museum's collection, positioning the collection in a new light and within the context of the history of Pittsburgh as a center of industry.

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HERITAGE FACES WORLD SERIES RING LAWSUIT

The manufacturer of the Chicago Cubs' 2016 World Series championship rings filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against an auction house and collector over a replica ring bearing Ben Zobrist's name that the lawsuit says was stolen.The manufacturing company, Jostens, said the duplicate ring is worth more than $75,000. Jostens is seeking monetary damages to be determined at trial.Jostens contends in the lawsuit Heritage Auctions has not returned the stolen sample ring that was slated to be auctioned off last year and its collector will not release his claim to the title to the stolen sample.

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SAVING UKRAINE'S DIGITAL HISTORY

Dennis writes:

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LOOSE CHANGE: APRIL 10, 2022

Lead Ingots Reveal Mediterranean Trade Routes

Four 3,200-year-old lead ingots found in a shipwreck off the coast of Israel point to the existence of previously unknown Bronze Age trade links in the Mediterranean Sea, reports Judith Sudilovsky for the Jerusalem Post.

It was a bit of a detective story, study co-author Naama Yahalom-Mack, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, tells the Times of Israel's Amanda Borschel-Dan. We started from the markings and went on to the metal itself to understand where it comes from. First of all what it is, then to see in isotopic analysis that the lead's ‘fingerprint' points us to Sardinia.

Divers discovered the ingots in a shipwreck near the ancient city (and modern town) of Caesarea in the late 1980s. How the metal made its way from Sardinia to Cyprus, which is located more than 1,550 miles away, is unclear. The ingots' existence doesn't have to mean direct trade between the two countries, [but] it might, writes Ruth Schuster for Haaretz.

During the Bronze Age, Cyprus had access to a steady supply of copper. But it lacked lead and tin, both of which were needed to smelt bronze. The team's analysis suggests that the Cypriots traded copper for lead ore or smelted metal from Sardinia. Once in Cyprus, the lead was stamped with Cypro-Minoan markings—rebranded, as co-author Assaf Yasur-Landau, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa, describes it to Haaretz—before being shipped further afield to Caesarea and other ports across the Levant.

To read the complete article, see:
Imported Lead Ingots Offer Evidence of Complex Bronze Age Trade Networks (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bronze-age-metal-trade-extended-for-thousands-of-miles-across-the-mediterranean-180979642/)

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