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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 Kolbe & Fanning August 27, 2022 Workman October 22, 2022

 

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 JULY 31, 2022

We have one new subscriber this week. Welcome aboard!

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 an update from NBS, three new books, a new website, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, and more.

Other topics this week include cleaning ancient bronze coins, Operation Bernhard, Catholic medals, Fred Reinfeld, Fred Weinberg, auction previews, coin finds, artifacts from the SS Central America, French coins in America, Zimbabwe's gold coins, and the International Numismatic Congress.

To learn more about 1794 United States Large Cents, Charles III Large AL Merito medals, Jeno Juszko, the Victor Buono method, free government checks, Philippine numismatics, the missing $4 Stella, an off-center wreath cent, and The Currency by artist Damien Hirst, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

NBS 2022 ANA CONVENTION EVENT SCHEDULE

Here are a few highlights of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society's events at the upcoming ANA Convention in Rosemont the week of August 16th to 20th. Tuesday through Friday the NBS will host our club table (#730). We hope you will stop by to view a few highlights from Friday's charity auction, purchase a NBS commemorative coffee mug to support the NBS and, most of all, share your enthusiasm for the numismatic literature hobby.

Read more here

NEW BOOK: PRESBEUS: STUDIES IN ANCIENT COINAGE

Presbeus: Studies in Ancient Coinage Presented to Richard Ashton

Edited by Andrew Meadows and Ute Wartenberg, this Festschrift is presented to numismatic scholar Richard Ashton on the occasion of his 75th birthday. These 20 articles present new research into the numismatics of the Greek East and provide significant advances in archaeological, historical, and numismatic scholarship:

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NEW BOOK: CLEANING ANCIENT BRONZE COINS

A Method for Cleaning Ancient Bronze Coins: With a long introduction and much annoying detail, plus some commentaries on bronze disease, to which is ... followed by an Appendix of coin photographs
by Saúl Roll (Author), Maria Jacqueline Hauser (Editor)

This book is meant to accompany the "Ancient Coin Cleaning Kit" sold on my web store. What I explain here are all my personal opinions, based on my personal experience, and they are not meant to convince the reader of anything. You are welcome to try these techniques on your own coins at your own risk, as I cannot be responsible for accidents, damaged coins, personal injury, or any other catastrophes that may result from following these steps. Of course, I expect none of that will happen, but you never know when someone is going to poke their hand with a cleaning tool, bump the distilled water with the coins on the new rug, and react with a rapid movement that will knock down the microscope on the dog's head, who was distractedly licking the sodium sesquicarbonate spill, rendering him unconscious, all which would incite the coin cleaner to sue whoever suggested the cleaning method in the first place. So please be careful, as I am not liable for your mistakes, accidents, acts of Apollo, etc. Also, cleaning coins kills your back and your neck, so keep a good posture and take breaks often.

Read more here

 

NEW BOOK: FORGING SECRETS

Museum-quality book features never-before-seen accounts from numismatists, historians, descendants of Holocaust survivors, and the granddaughter of the Nazi who ran Operation Bernhard

A new book titled Forging Secrets: Faces and Facts Inside the Nazi Operation Bernhard Scheme will become available to the public at a special event at the Hyatt Regency Chicago O'Hare on Thursday, August 18, 2022. Collectors, students, and researchers of World War II and the Holocaust will be captivated by this unique publication by the Spungen Family Foundation in association with Coin and Currency Institute.

Operation Bernhard was a secret Nazi project during WWII that forced Jewish concentration camp prisoners to forge Bank of England notes. Initially intended to destroy the British economy, the forged notes ended up financing the German side of the war. With their lives hanging by a thread, 140-plus prisoners produced enough fake currency to equal the face value of all reserves in the vaults of the Bank of England—an astounding 6 or 7 billion dollars in today's money. This sensational true story has been treated by historians, survivors, Hollywood, and mainstream media, but never have all of these elements been combined into one volume.

Read more here

CHARLES III LARGE AL MERITO MEDALS

Read more here

DESERET NATIONAL BANK GOLD COIN BAG

Following up on the recent discussion on U.S. Mint bags, banks similarly produce bags for the purposes of storing and transporting coinage. The July issue of The Mint Master, published by the Utah Numismatic Society and edited by Doug Nyholm, included illustrations of a number of Utah bank bags.

The illustrated bag from the Deseret National Bank is labeled $5000 GOLD, and is presumably intended to contain 250 double eagles. This bank was incorporated in 1871, with the LDS leader Brigham Young as president, and ultimately consolidated into the Security National Bank of Salt Lake City in 1932.

Link to The Mint Master on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/533919

VIDEO: HOUSTON MONEY SHOW

Greater Houston Coin Club Continues to Sponsor Houston Money Show 2022.
VIDEO: 3:38.

Jack Domurat, Dealer Relations, Houston Money Show,
David Lisot, Interviewer, CoinTelevision.com.
January 21, 2022.

The Houston Money Show continues to grow in importance as one of the first conventions held as the numismatic year begins every January. Jack Domurat handles dealer relations for the coin convention as well as being president of the Great Houston Coin Club. He shares how GHCC continues to be an important convention and why the Greater Houston Coin Club is so beneficial to collectors.

David adds:

An excerpt of the video is available for viewing on the Coin Television YouTube Channel at:
https://youtu.be/q-Fsn3T0sjc

 

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JULY 31, 2022

Novel vs. Noble Deeds

Martin Purdy writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
FOR EDEL DAAD: THE NOVEL DEEDS MEDAL (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n30a27.html)

Read more here

 

U.S. CATHOLIC MEDAL INFORMATION SOUGHT

Read more here

2022 PHILIPPINE COLLECTORS FORUM

Join us at the Summer ANA show in Rosemont, Illinois for the 20th annual meeting of the Philippine Collectors Forum! The meeting will convene at 1 pm Central Time on Friday, August 19 in Room 11 of the Donald Stephens Convention Center. The great door prize raffle will be back and ** WE ARE WELCOMING ANY NEW AND ALL SHOW & TELL PRESENTERS. Just let moderator John Riley know (johnrriley@yahoo.com).

While enjoying the bourse at the Worlds Fair of Money, be sure to check out and vote on member Floyd April's collector exhibit on medals and other issues commemorating establishment in 1935 of the Philippines Commonwealth.

Read more here

 

VOCABULARY TERM: LEGEND

Legend. The lettering following the contour, circumference or outer shape of a coin or medal; the wording near the edge, most often in a form of an arc just inside the border. Lettering in such an arc is called bowed (the letters have a bowed base line). The legend differs from inscription (virtually all other lettering on a numismatic or medallic piece, on a straight base line, most often horizontal); it also differs from the exergue (lettering in the area below a line across the bottom of the device). Legends on coins and medals reinforce the theme and concept of their design and occasionally are like the wider meaning of the word legend: repeating a statement from a previous generation. In England legends are called circumscriptions.

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FRED REINFELD (1910-1964)

Who was the most prolific author in numismatics? That may depend on how you count. One possibility was Fred Reinfeld. He is credited with writing more than 260 books with most of those about chess. I do not have an example in my library.

My father played chess, read chess books and owned a few chess books. I never paid attention to the author of those books. My father may have had a larger collection of Reinfeld books than I do.

Reinfeld was born in New York City on January 27, 1910, and lived within the boroughs for the rest of his life. His father was a carpenter, Barnett Reinfeld (1883-1959). His mother was the former Rose Pograzelsky (1886-1949). At one time, the family owned a candy store. Barnett remarried in 1950 after the death of Rose.

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FRED WEINBERG INTERVIEW, PART FOUR

Greg Bennick: This is great. Three more quick questions if I could?

Fred Weinberg: Sure!

Greg Bennick: I was talking to David McCarthy recently and he mentioned the $4 Stella story.

Fred Weinberg: [laughs] Yeah, I'm known for that.

Greg Bennick: Just so we have it in one place for history's sake: would you be willing to tell the $4 Stella story?

Fred Weinberg: Sure! So, PCGS started in June of 1986, I believe. And I was one of the original 31 dealers that David Hall invited to participate and be one of the market makers. That summer, I had a good friend and customer who collected proof gold. I submitted for him his matte proof $2.5 Indians. He had a matte proof St Gaudens and he had a $4 Stella. He had a gem proof $2.5 Liberty and a gem proof $10 Liberty. And a Pan Pacific set. I mean, this guy was a major player.

I got a batch of those coins back from PCGS one day and they were put into the safe. I had started my business the year before. This was maybe fall of 1986. The bank that I was the dealing with wanted to see my operation because we were running a lot of money through the company. We kept on getting bigger and bigger and making bigger deals and more money. So the banker came to the office, and he said, can you show me some coins? I said, Sure.

I opened up the safe, and on a black rectangular tray, like a foot and a half long and 8 deep I probably had six or seven, just back from PCGS, proof gold coins from my customer. I opened up the safe, with the banker in my office. I took the tray to go walk into my office to show him these expensive coins, because you know, that will impress him. And as I moved, my arm hit something in this vault room which served also as our shipping room. The tray fell down on one of the shipping counters and I grabbed all the coins, put them back on the tray, walked into the office and I showed him all these coins. This is a Saint worth $50,000, and this one's worth $10,000, and he was fascinated with all of it.

So that was a Friday afternoon. I did my dog and pony show and he left. I come back on Monday, open up the safe a couple hours later, and I go to tell the customer who submitted the coins that his coins came back and these are the PCGS grades. And as I'm looking at the tray there's all the coins except the Stella. I think, Wait. Where the hell is the Stella?

So I had to strip the safe. We stripped the vault room. We checked the trash cans. We checked everywhere. The problem was, the trash gets picked up Friday night, and then Saturday morning it gets delivered to the Simi Valley trash dump, about 25, 30 miles north of my office where I am now. By the time we figured out what had happened - by Monday afternoon - and we called the building main office, and they called the trash people, it turns out that the trash that they had picked up Friday night was indeed delivered Saturday, but a lot of trash was dumped on Saturday. And there was Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

There was basically three days worth of trash. They said it's impossible. You'll never find the coin. And I actually talked to somebody that worked there and they said, It's impossible, you'll never find it.

So that's basically the story. I lost it. I lost the Stella. At the time, the coin was worth fifty grand. So I owed my customer fifty grand, which I paid him. And that coin today as a 64 would probably be worth 150 grand. But it's probably a 65 or a 66, which means it would probably be worth about 200 or 250 grand today.

Greg Bennick: Wow. This is like the story of the guy who threw out the hard drive a year or two ago with all the Bitcoin information on it.

Fred Weinberg: Yes! Thank God for him, because until he did that, I was the biggest idiot for throwing away a $50,000 coin. [laughs] I'm happy that he lost $27 trillion dollars or something. That makes me look like I'm sane compared to him.

Greg Bennick: So you mentioned that learning the minting process was instrumental for the hobby to grow, and probably speaks directly to a huge influx of people today saying, Hey, I've got this coin that is for sure an error. But they don't know the minting process, therefore they have no idea that their coin is or is not an error. With the changes in minting techniques in the last 20 years, what's the best way for people – and for collectors - to find out about new minting processes? I mean, do you think Arnie's ETCM and the magazines that he put out decades ago are still relevant today?

Fred Weinberg: Yes, I think they are. Because if you think about it, the Schuler horizontal presses from 2000, give or take a year, every coin struck before that are struck on the older vertical presses. So Arnie's books or any deep information on the minting process, including, I think Amex did a couple of guidebooks, and I think the ANA did a couple of books for their summer seminars. That information is still valid because they were striking coins that way for 200 years before we went to these horizontal Schuler presses. So the minting process information is still very accurate. And I encourage people to get books, to read something online, to acquire a concept of how coins are struck. You still need to see real pictures, you still need to see real coins, you still need to go to your local coin shop and show them what you have and see what they have, and learn the difference between a scratch and a lamination, and a die crack and a scratch, and this and that, and gold plating. You need some hands-on experience. But there's a ton of information that's available today that was not available to me, or anybody 40 or 50 years ago. It's all out there.

Greg Bennick: What do you think the best way is for people readers, say, of this interview, to inspire a new generation of collectors? I remember asking Arnie this many years ago and him telling me it was an uphill battle because he felt that young people today were more interested in dating than they were interested in hobbies!

Fred Weinberg: What I try to do is this. I always keep a few coins at home or I keep a few coins in my briefcase when I go to coin shows. I'm constantly giving, whether it's an off-center penny or just some cheap regular coin that's worth a couple of dollars, something to any kid that comes up to me and expresses an interest in errors.

At the ANA last August for example, kids would come up and would look at my showcase of dramatic errors. They'd say, Oh! Look at that! They weren't quite sure what they were looking at. But I would ask them, Do you collect coins? And, How long have you collected coins? If they replied that it was more than a day, I had a little box, and I would say, You can pick two or three out of here for free. And again, these coins had little value, but the fact that you could give something to an 8 year old, or a 12 or a 15 year old kid for free….that's how I like to motivate kids. And to tell them an interesting story or of course to answer their questions about coins.

Greg Bennick: Is there anything that we missed talking about?

Fred Weinberg: Well, something that just popped in my head. I've been lucky enough to remember when we had the 1977 ANA in Atlanta, and Arnie pushed - and I did a little bit too, though it was mostly Arnie - we pushed to get the ANA to accept errors as its own exhibit category. That was a first in 1977. So, I'm happy that I participated in that. And I've seen the evolution of the error hobby over the decades, both with the clubs, the minting process itself, and the value of coins themselves.

I feel very happy and proud that I've been able to participate in this 50 year -- it's actually probably more -- it's probably about 62 years total that I've been doing this, since I was 9 or 10. I've just been thrilled that I've been able to see how the hobby has evolved and changed and expanded so much in the last 60 plus years.

Greg Bennick: Thank you so much for everything Fred. I really appreciate it. The whole hobby does as well.

Fred Weinberg: My pleasure!

Greg Bennick has been a wildly obsessed error collector since age twelve. He is the CONECA State Representative for Washington. He splits his time between Seattle and Portland and this is the first of many articles and interviews he has planned to share with Errorscope readers.

For more information about CONECA, see:
https://conecaonline.org/

To read the earlier articles in this series, see:
Fred Weinberg Interview, Part One (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n28a15.html)
Fred Weinberg Interview, Part Two (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n29a17.html)
Fred Weinberg Interview, Part Three (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n30a15.html)

 

U.S. PAPER IN WORLD BANKNOTE AUCTIONS SALE 29

World Banknote Auctions has now launched Live Sale 29 at www.worldbanknoteauctions.com.

Live Sale 29 starts on August 4, 2022, with live bidding that day at 1 PM Eastern / 10 AM Pacific. Please note that Sale 29 is divided in two parts, each selling on a different day. The first live sale with 547 lots takes place on August 4 at 10 AM PST. The second timed sale with 471 lots opens on July 12 at 10 AM PST and closes on August 7 at 3 PM PST (special bidding rules apply for the timed sale, please see our website for details).

Below, you will find highlights from the American series, which includes a very nice selection of Confederate and Fractional currency, including very scarce varieties, and select high grade large size type notes.

Read more here

STACK'S BOWERS PHYSICAL CRYPTOCURRENCY

Stack's Bowers Galleries is thrilled to announce another unprecedented selection of Bitcoins and physical cryptocurrency in their Summer 2022 Global Showcase Auction. This offering comes on the heels of the firm's record-setting sales of Bitcoins in their April and June 2022 auctions, where strong premiums of up to 5000% were realized. Collector demand for physical cryptocurrency continues to grow among both crypto enthusiasts and traditional numismatists, and Stack's Bowers Galleries has positioned themselves as the clear leader in this new and exciting category. Their Summer 2022 sale features the popular Casascius, Satori, BTCC, and MoonBits series in a range of denominations from 0.001 Bitcoin to 5 Bitcoin, as well as several Fresh LTC 0.5 Litecoin pieces for collectors to pursue.

Read more here

STEPHEN ALBUM INTERNET AUCTION 17

Stephen Album Rare Coins will hold its Internet Auction 17 at its offices in Santa Rosa, California on August 8, 2022. Internet pre-bidding has already begun and can be accessed through their website. The Auction is made up of 675 lots of world coins, all certified by PCGS, including Chinese and Indian coins. Featured coins include a 1911(b) British India rupee in MS65 and a 1764-G Guatemala 2 reales in VF20. Estimates range from $35 to $1800. Sample lots from the sale follow:

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DAVISSON'S E-AUCTION 44

E-Auction 44, closing Wednesday, August 31st 2022, is online now! Print copies are being sent today, if you are not on our mailing list and would like a copy please let us know.

Exchange, making change, storing value—if one wants a simple definition of what coins are for, this comes close. In ancient times gold was highly valued and sought after and was an important metal for trade. But trading with gold was a complex process. Traders in gold had to have balance scales when calculating payment. But weight alone was not adequate. Purity was a critical issue too. Traders had to have a touchstone—a black stone like jasper—as well as sets of touch needles. The bit of gold offered in trade was rubbed on the touchstone and the scrape was compared to a needle from a set. A ring of needles typically had 24 needles ranging from one part gold to 23 parts of the alloy all the way to a needle of pure gold. Traders had three sets of needles—gold and copper, gold and silver and gold combined with the other two metals.

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S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA ARTIFACTS EXHIBITED

A mysterious daguerreotype of a woman and a pair of jeans possibly made by Levi Strauss himself are among nearly 1,000 Gold Rush-era treasures recovered from the fabled "Ship of Gold" that will be on display in Reno this week.

Read more here

NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: JULY 31, 2022

1793 Off-Center Wreath Cent

PCGS 1793 wreath cent vine & bars edge S-11a. The coin is struck 10% off-center. A lot of planchet is visible and also portions of the rim detail and lettering is missing, making this a visually obvious off center strike.

The first year for striking cents at a U.S. Mint, the coin is special in this regard and also because off-center struck 1793 cents are rare, with an estimated 2-4 known. This is only the 2nd example we have actually seen. The coin can be traced back to the Neiswinter Collection.

An opportunity to buy the first U.S. Mint issued cent and an error--proof they've been making mistakes since the first year they began minting cents!

VF details with some damage. There are some old, toned over nicks on the obverse, and the surfaces show some porosity. Overall a nice coin for its age.

To read the complete lot description, see:
pcgs 1c 1793 flowing hair wreath cent struck 10% off-center vf (https://www.sullivannumismatics.com/coin/pcgs-1c-1793-flowing-hair-wreath-cent-struck-10-center-vf?v=8201)

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ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND RARE ZODIAC COIN

A beautiful bronze coin almost 2,000 years old has been rescued from the depths of the Mediterranean off Israel during an underwater archaeological survey, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday. The coin shows the emperor on one side, as befits coinage of the time, and Cancer, the crab sign of the zodiac and a lady on the other – interpreted as the moon goddess Luna.

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SPANISH GALLEON MARAVILLAS FOUND

It was a Spanish galleon laden with treasures so sumptuous that its sinking in the Bahamas in 1656 sparked repeated salvage attempts over the next 350 years. So when another expedition was launched recently, few thought that there could be anything left – but exquisite, jewel-encrusted pendants and gold chains are among spectacular finds that have now been recovered, having lain untouched on the seabed for hundreds of years.

The Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas (Our Lady of Wonders) went down on the western side of the Little Bahama Bank, over 70km offshore, but the newly discovered treasures were found across a vast debris trail spanning more than 13km.

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FRENCH COINS IN AMERICA

As American numismatists and collectors of the colonial period know, it is difficult to differentiate coins of the Kingdom of France sent to America from those produced specifically for this region. It is equally difficult to name these coins, to determine their value, and to attribute them to a specific place. There are two reasons for this: the difficult access of Americans to archives written in French, scattered throughout the country; and the little interest shown by the French people, a large part of whom have forgotten their history in the New World. However, the cross-referencing of available data is necessary to understand these coins and reclassify them, as Sydney F. Martin began (Martin 2015) one hundred years after Ernest Zay (Zay 1892).

A couple of examples can illustrate this problem. First, for more than 300 years, French, Canadian, and American numismatists gave the 5- and 15-sol Gloriam Regni coins (Fig. 1), struck in 1670, to New France (and particularly to Canada) because of an error of attribution by Le Blanc in 1690, always repeated without being interrogated. Although some of these coins had effectively circulated in this area, we are today sure due to the recent discovery of unpublished French documents, that they were created specifically for the French West Indies (Jambu 2021).

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ZIMBABWE INTRODUCES GOLD COINS

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya on Monday unveiled gold coins that are expected to act as a store of value and reduce the demand for U.S. dollars as the country battles to control soaring inflation. "The Bank has today released the first batch of 2,000 Mosi-oa-Tunya (The Smoke Which Thunders) gold coins to the market. Local agencies commenced selling the gold coins on an agency basis at the initial price of 1,823.83 U.S. dollars per gold coin or 805,745.35 Zimbabwean dollars using the willing buyer willing seller selling rate as at Friday," Mangudya told a press conference in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

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ONE POUND BULLION COINS

Canada and Australia have issued huge sized bullion coins with diameters similar in size to 100 pound weight plates for barbells, and as big as tires for some farming equipment.

That is a lot of bullion to be put in one place and something the average person couldn't afford.

And there were musings about issuing a trillion dollar platinum coin.

Read more here

THE INC 2022 CONGRESS MEDAL

Struck, silver plated with some gilding (as noted below), diameter 70 mm.

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UPDATE: THE CURRENCY BY DAMIEN HIRST

Damien Hirst's NFT project The Currency has come to an end, an experiment that explored the dynamics of art in Web3. As a result, collectors were left with a decision of whether they wanted to burn the NFT for a physical work of art or have the physical art burned and maintain ownership of the digital asset.

The decision by collectors came down to nearly a 50% split, meaning Hirst will have to burn close to 5,000 physical works of art — this includes 1,000 pieces owned by the artist himself, in a decision to burn 100% of his own physical works and keep all as NFTs.

Read more here