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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 24, 2022

New subscribers this week include: Roger Mulvaney, courtesy of Tom Mulvaney; and Yawei Zhang. Welcome aboard! We now have 7,001 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 was a busy week for me, and a LOT of potential content didn't make it into this issue. If you sent me something and don't see it here, stay tuned - I hope to catch up in the next week or two.

This week we open with more Syd Martin numismatic library selections, two new books, a great acquisition for the ANS library, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, and notes from E-Sylum readers.

Other topics this week include Polish banknotes, Bob Shalowitz, David Rittenhouse, War Bonds, dies for early U.S. coinage, more coin sculptures on buildings, the Mitchelson collection, Inaugural medals, auction previews, the Tuesday Club medal, Indian Peace medals, the John Fritz Medal, and North Korean vouchers.

To learn more about the Henry Miller collection, Australian coin values, Charles Bushnell, coin savings books for children, the Netherlands Paper Money Fair, Louis Golino and Dave Wnuck, Kurt Vonnegut's Beer Heritage, the Chase Architrave, the Bank of Danzig, the Great Americans medal, and the 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

SOME MORE SYD MARTIN LIBRARY SELECTIONS

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers will be selling the outstanding library formed by Sydney F. Martin on April 30, 2022. 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. The sale has been generating considerable interest and promises to be an exciting event.

Some highlights of the sale include:

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NEW BOOK: 2022 RENNIKS AUSTRALIAN VALUES

Renniks Australian Coin & Banknote Values 31st Edition
Australia's leading numismatic guide.
Pre-Order Now.
Available 1st June 2022, in Hardcover ($54.95) and Softcover ($44.95)

This comprehensive guide to Australian Coin & Banknote Values contains over 3,850 images and countless thousands of valuations.

A must for all collectors, whether you are just beginning or an advanced collector.

Latest information compiled using weighted averages where possible to ensure the accuracy of pricing.

Quality reproduction of photos makes it easy to identify items. Covered are copper, silver, gold, nickel and allow coins and notes used in Australia from 1800 to present.

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NEW BOOK: CATALOG OF POLISH BANKNOTES

Janusz Parchimowicz:
Catalog banknotów polskich iz Polska zwiazanych + polskie banknote 0 Euro 2022

385 pages, each note shown on the front and back,
Format 12 x 18.5 cm, hardcover,
17th completely revised and supplemented edition, Szczecin 2022,
Price 29.90 euros
ISBN No. 978-83-87355-00-5

The 17th edition of the catalog of Polish banknotes, which is usually revised and supplemented every two years, was published at the end of March 2022. Polish collectors are eagerly awaiting this, because experts estimate that the market prices for paper money have risen even more than those for coins. For banknotes in good condition, prices are already being achieved today that are 100% and far more than those paid around 2020.

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ANS LIBRARY ACQUIRES RARE BUSHNELL VOLUMES

Charles Ira Bushnell had one of the top two or three coin collections in the United States in the nineteenth century. He famously sparred with Augustus Sage, the teenage co-founder of the American Numismatic Society, in the pages of the New-York Dispatch, and Sage later put him on the first token in his Numismatic Gallery series. It was the sale of Bushnell's collection that supercharged the careers of the Chapman brothers of Philadelphia. And now it appears that Bushnell was at the center of what may have been the first numismatic society formed in the United States.

And yet, Bushnell remains a tough figure to pin down when it comes to the facts and details of his life. Apparently, this was even true in his own day. When he died, the editors of the American Journal of Numismatics had hoped to honor him, one of its first subscribers, with a lengthy writeup but were only able to scrape together a few sentences. Even today, with all of the modern research and genealogical records at our fingertips, it can be hard to extract the facts from over a century's worth of repeated errors concerning his life. A little time spent on FamilySearch seems to at least confirm that Bushnell was a New York lawyer and that he and his wife Abby (Little) had a son, Giles, who died in 1906 at 53, and a daughter, Annie, whose death at 17 in 1872, according to Édouard Frossard, caused Bushnell to abandon numismatics. He died 8 years later, aged 59, on September 17, 1880.

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DR. ROBERT JEFFREY SHALOWITZ (1951-2022)

Dr. Robert Jeffrey Shalowitz a.k.a. "Bobby/Poppa Bob/Doc Shal" passed away peacefully Saturday, April 16th, 2022 surrounded by family in his longtime home of Akron, Ohio.

Doc was born March 28, 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland to Florence Guggenheimer and Danny "Sheelds" Shalowitz. He graduated from Northwestern High School in 1969. He attended college at The University of Maryland in College Park and went on to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, completing his medical residency in OB/GYN at the York Hospital in York, Pennsylvania. While in medical school, he met the love of his life and wife who he was married to for over 35 years, Maureen Anne Shalowitz.

Doctor Shalowitz was an OB/GYN for over 40 years and served the Akron, Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia communities, among others. He loved working with students and residents and was a teacher and mentor for NEOUCOM and the West Virginia School of Medicine.

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LOOSE CHANGE FOR WAR BONDS

The Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 induced a patriotic fervor to support the government in any way possible. For ordinary citizens, one way to do this was to purchase war bonds. The Treasury Secretary Press Releases series, noted in last week's E-Sylum, contains several accounts of this activity. Nellie Tayloe Ross, Mint Director, issued a press release on April 22, 1942, noting that 97% of the Mint workforce was acquiring war bonds via the voluntary payroll deduction plan. The investment was substantial – at the San Francisco Mint employees committed more than one-tenth of their salaries. The Treasury Department suggested that all citizens do likewise.

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COIN SAVINGS BOOKS FOR CHILDREN

I spotted the "Young America Serves" book in the latest issue. I have several of these, and they're not particularly rare. I was given one quite a few years ago by someone who believed that it qualified for my collection of coin collecting albums. It's a common mistake made by well meaning individuals, and I've found myself with a wide variety of not-quite-there items.

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VIDEO: NETHERLANDS PAPER MONEY FAIR

CDN Publishing Sponsors MIF Paper Money Fair Netherlands
VIDEO: 2:23.

Patrick Perez, VP Development, CDN Publishing,

David Lisot, Interviewer, CoinTelevision.com. April 1, 2022.

The Greysheet goes international reaching out to sponsor MIF Paper Money taking place April 23-24, 2022. Patrick Perez states he wants to get more in touch with the international paper money market.

David adds:

An excerpt of the video is available for viewing on the Coin Television YouTube Channel at:
https://youtu.be/Tcr6knbo9Cs

DIES FOR U.S. COINAGE ABOARD FRENCH SHIP IN 1782

Dies Meant to Strike the Morris's First Nova Constellatio Patterns Taken by the British in 1782?

I'm finalizing my article Benjamin Dudley Maker of the Nova Constellatio Patterns, which will appear in the June issue of the Journal of Early American Numismatics (JEAN). In conducting research on the topic, I came across what I think could be new information from the fall of 1782 regarding the capture of the French frigate l'Aigle.

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DAVID RITTENHOUSE PAPERS DIGITIZED

The David Rittenhouse Papers are now digitized in their entirety and available to view in the APS's Digital Library. The collection contains around 30 objects ranging from correspondence, to receipts for taxes paid, to Rittenhouse memorial material from the early 20th century.

The David Rittenhouse papers cover from 1774 to 1932. The collection consists of 61 items and spans 0.25 linear feet. The items from the 20th century are memorial materials commemorating various members of the Rittenhouse, Abbot, and Sergeant families. A majority of the collection consists of correspondence, mainly between Rittenhouse and his family members, but also correspondence between Rittenhouse and various politicians and men of science. Also included are receipts, broadsides, and two genealogies: the Rittenhouse family's, and the family of Rittenhouse's son-in-law, Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant. The bulk of the collection was acquired in 1970, with one additional letter purchased in 2008.

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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 24, 2022

Stock Photo of Maundy Coins
Regarding the photo of Maundy coins published last week, James O'Connell III writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
PRINCE CHARLES PERFORMS MAUNDY CEREMONY (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n16a24.html)

Read more here

OLD COLONY TRUST BUILDING COIN SCULPTURES

The images of the Philadelphia bank building in the past two issues of The E-Sylum reminded me of an old bank building here in Boston that I pass on my commute to work every day. It is the former Old Colony Trust building which is now the New England Center and Home for Veterans. It is located at 17 Court Street and it backs up to Government Center plaza across from City Hall. The address also happens to be the location where Ben Franklin apprenticed on the New England Courant and later where the Boston Gazette was published. The Massachusetts Chapter of the Sons of Revolution placed a plaque about it on the front of the building in 1913.

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THE CHASE ARCHITRAVE COIN SCULPTURES

I think the Holy Grail of Bank Building Coin Sculptures was The Chase Architrave. It was built around 1928 as the entrance of the Chase Bank Building which housed the newly founded Museum of Moneys of the World. Chase National Bank had purchased Farran Zerbe's Money of the World educational exhibit which became the core of the new museum's collection. Mr. Zerbe was its resident numismatist and curator until 1939. Most of the museum's contents were donated to the Smithsonian in 1977.

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THE MITCHELSON COLLECTION

Sometimes I find an item in my library that makes me wonder where I got it from. Such is the case with this item. It is a 13 page list of the items in the Joseph C Mitchelson collection. It has an original cover letter from the Connecticut State Library, signed by the Assistant Director.

Read more here

 

PAN CIVIL WAR MONEY & MEMORABILIA SHOWCASE

The Civil War Money & Memorabilia Showcase is launched to honor the 160th Anniversary of the Civil War including how money changed the war...and how the Civil War changed our money, including lasting legacies we see today. The Showcase will be hosted at the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) Coin Show. The Showcase will include exhibits, talks, and show and tell-type presentations suitable for all ages. Topics and exhibits include minting, printing and counterfeiting matters of the Civil War.

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VOCABULARY TERM: INAUGURAL MEDAL

Inaugural Medal. A medallic item issued on the occasion of a new administration, era or term. Inaugural medals are issued in the United States for inaugurations of presidents (infrequently for governors) and are an outgrowth of coronation medals issued for the coronation of newly crowned royalty. The issuing of such a medal is recognition of the installation of the new official; they imply a new beginning, and are an important part of the celebration. The United States event occurs on Inauguration Day (January 20th after a president election, it was March 4th prior to 1934).

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STEPHEN ALBUM INTERNET AUCTION 15 RESULTS

Stephen Album Rare Coins held its Internet Auction 15 on April 11, 2022 at its offices in Santa Rosa, California. This auction surpassed all expectations, with total prices realized of $112,500 (including buyer's fees) on a middle estimate of $51,000. The auction comprised 600 lots of A-Z world, Chinese, and Indian coins and had a sell-through of 95.5%.

The success of the auction was helped greatly by many high-quality coins from the Joe Sedillot Collection. Many items went for multiples of their estimates.

Some highlights follow (prices exclude buyer's fees):

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ATLAS NUMISMATICS APRIL 24, 2022 UPDATE

Prooflike Danish West Indies 10 Daler

1067642 | DANISH WEST INDIES. Christian IX. 1904-P GJ AV 10 Daler, 50 Francs. PCGS MS64PL (Prooflike). Copenhagen. Head left / Seated liberty figure divides denominations, date below. KM 73; Friedberg 1.

Superb prooflike surfaces; very rare in this quality.

$36,500

To read the complete item description, see:
1067642 | DANISH WEST INDIES. Christian IX. 1904-P GJ AV 10 Daler, 50 Francs. (https://atlasnumismatics.com/1067642/)

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WORLD BANKNOTE AUCTIONS SALE 25

Recently World Banknote Auctions listed Live Sale 25 on its website, which closes in two different segments. The first segment, the traditional live sale, closes on May 5th, 2022, with live bidding that day at 1 PM Eastern / 10 AM Pacific. The following day, on May 6th at 1 PM Eastern / 10 AM Pacific an additional segment closes in a timed auction (no live bidding, although lots may be extended if a bid is received 10 minutes before closing). Live Sale 25 offers a total of 1043 lots from around the world, with highlights including a wide variety of items, from classic British Commonwealth to modern notes that are the finest in the PMG population report. Some highlights are selected below but the entire catalog can be viewed on the company's website, www.worldbanknoteauctions.com.

Read more here

 

ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL AUCTION 76

ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL AUCTIONS OFFERS HISTORIC U.S., CHINESE & WORLD BANKNOTE COLLECTION ON MAY 4, 2022

The auction will be held by Archives International Auctions at their offices in River Edge, N.J.

Read more here

 

NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: APRIL 24, 2022

Constantine Roma Commemorative Bronze

This is one of a handful of very interesting commemorative issues struck by Constantine the Great. The type offered here is the other of the more affordable types and was made to reaffirm Rome as the centre of the empire in A.D. 330. They are made from bronze and show the Goddess of the city, ‘Roma', in a helmet and war gear on the obverse. The reverse shows the She-Wolf suckling the babies Romulus and Remus. This is to symbolise the origin story of the founding of Rome. But what makes these coins so interesting is how well they have survived! At this time bronze coins would circulate so heavily that it is very hard to find them in a good grade. We have a small collection of this commemorative from 1400 years ago in this exceptional About Extremely Fine grade.

To read the complete item description, see:
Rome Commemorative AEF (https://coincraft.com/rome-commemorative-aef?utm_source=Subscribers+to+Coincraft.com)

Read more here

 

COINS OF THE FAMILY OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT

Constantinus I (The Great) is a pivotal figure in Western history because of his role in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Like so many historic rulers, however, his family relations were… troubled. Coins issued in the names of Constantine's relatives offer a vivid picture of the turbulent middle decades of the fourth century. These coins include some of the most common and affordable surviving ancients, as well as many spectacular rarities.

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THE 2022 MAUNDY COINAGE PACKAGE

Prince Charles has presented four Norfolk people with pouches full of specially-minted coins in recognition of their Christian community service.

Lyn Fairchild, 75 and from Cawston, Betty Hastings from Cromer, Eric Swann from Dereham and Alan Riches from Bradwell were among 96 men and 96 women from across the country who were invited to Windsor Castle to receive the Maundy Money.

As 96 is the Queen's age, each recipient was given two sets of coins - in one set the coins amounted to 96 pence.

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THE ANNAPOLIS TUESDAY CLUB MEDAL

Recognized as a great rarity today is the membership medal of the Tuesday Club, a piece that revives the memory of life in the beautiful port city of Annapolis at the middle of the 18th century. On the Severn River near its entrance to the Chesapeake, the small village first settled in 1649 became the colonial capital in 1694. By the time the Tuesday Club formed in 1746, the city had become an economic hub of Maryland with a population surpassing 25,000. An 1886 essay by F.B. Mayer in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly recalls the era:

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INDIAN PEACE MEDALS AT THE ANS

The Dead Zone was a popular science fiction thriller written by Stephen King in 1979 that was made into a movie starring Christopher Walken in 1983. It tells the story of a man who discovers that he has the ability to see visions of the future when he touches objects that belong to another person. The Indian Peace Medal collection of the American Numismatic Society is kind of like that. When you work with these medals, look at them on a frequent basis, and have the opportunity to hold them in your hand, they never fail to call up visions of their original owners and of the specific pasts that they experienced.

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THE JOHN FRITZ MEDAL

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THE GREAT AMERICANS MEDAL

She was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who, at least for the last decade of her life, did not need an introduction. The diminutive—5' 1—Ruth Bader Ginsburg was regaled with standing ovations wherever she went, often to her bewilderment. But she was much more than just the Notorious RBG. The fullness of her achievements is being recognized by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, which has posthumously given her its Great Americans Award.

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NORTH KOREAN 50,000 WON MONEY VOUCHERS

North Korea's Central Bank has printed a 50,000 won (U.S. $8.30) money voucher worth 10 times its highest currency denomination, photo evidence obtained exclusively by RFA has revealed.

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MORE DETAILS ABOUT NORTH KOREAN VOUCHERS

According to recent reports from North Korea these "donpyo" or "tonypo" vouchers are being issued because the Central Bank lacks security paper and ink to print currency as a consequence of current sanctionns.

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MONTANA BAR FEATURES 80,000+ DOLLARS

You've probably seen the 50,000 Silver Dollar billboards on Interstate-90.

They're hard to miss.

The signs advertise what is certainly one of Montana's most extensive collections of silver dollars.

Located about 16-miles from the Idaho border, Lincoln's 50,000 Silver $, has long been a stop off for travelers, tourists and truckers.

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