BOOK REVIEW: MEDALLIC WASHINGTON

NUMISMATIC BOOK OF THE YEAR

I would like to nominate Neil Musante's book on Washington medals as the book of the year for 2016. No, that's not true. It should be by acclamation. No other book -- my own included -- can surpass the two volumes on this paramount medallic subject in American numismatics..

The book reigns supreme in every way. This is evident in its scholarship, in its text, it the collector lore it reveals, in the arrangement of the items, in its numbering system, in its color photographs, in its typography, and in its cover of significant medals illustrated in color.

Particularly in its photography. Author Musante traveled the country and photographed every major collection of Washington medals he was aware. The results are stunning, And what can be more important to readers and collectors than the numismatic documentation of our first president?

John Kraljevich wrote an excellent review on examining the manuscript, published in E-Sylum (October 16th, vol 19, no 42, art 3), John wrote of Neil's exhaustive research method, contacting every Washington specialists and considered every theory of a medal’s creation. John wrote he "flipped every stone and photographed every collection."

This intense pursuit and extraordinary curiosity on the subject, coupled with a rare numismatic scholarship acumen of the author is evident in this book. Neil Musante should be acknowledged for his contribution to American numismatics for creating such a worthwhile book. Kudos to Spinks in London which published the book and to Charles Davis who aided in its publication and is distributing it here in America.

While Medallic Washington can serve as a model for all numismatic authors for their own subjects, it will remain the Standard Work on Washington medals for a very long time.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW BOOK: MEDALLIC WASHINGTON (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n32a05.html)
BOOK REVIEW: MEDALLIC WASHINGTON (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n42a03.html)
BOOK REVIEW: MEDALLIC WASHINGTON (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n48a04.html)

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