A copy of 1792: Birth of a Nation’s Coinage will be available for viewing at Rich Uhrich’s table (#1017) at the American Numismatic Association National Money Show in Orlando (March 9-11, 2017). Written by Pete Smith, Joel Orosz, and Len Augsburger, this book presents an in-depth examination of the United States coinage of 1792, including a comprehensive census of all known examples. Ordering details will be released by Heritage in the near future.

Gene's note makes it sound as if the Orloff printing method originated with De la Rue Giori. As I recall, the Orloff method of gravure/intaglio was used by Russia for banknotes. I researched the printing method with Alberto Albinati, Giori's top salesman. We discussed whether it would enhance their presses. I have forgotten just about everything I knew about the Orloff method, so my comments are not a criticism. Perhaps, Gene could enlighten me. I retired from the BEP 29 years ago, so there..

Regarding the Orloff press, I know it was registered in 1897, but interpreted Prof. Hellmann's comment about this press as being a hybrid. Prof. Hellmann was in his last years when he provided this information.

By the way, my U.S. Essay Proof & Specimen Notes that was illustrated is the 2nd edition.

I own all the catalogs of the Barker sales. Barker consigned to three different Chapman sales, Two with the brothers, the last with Henry. For some reason all three of these sales are scarce, and are rarely offered.

My catalog of the sale 08/13/1902 is a prize. It is Barker's personal copy. It has the lots of his consignment priced. Totals show with a 25% commission deducted. The next sale was on 07/07/1904. and the last 11/28/1913, held after Barker's death. I just obtained that one in the recent Charles Davis sale.

There was found on the bank of the Ohio river, and is now in the possession of the Doctor A.D. Keith of this place, an old Roman coin, made of copper, bearing a Latin in- scription with the title of Nova Caesarae and purporting to have been coined as early as the year 787. It is something remarkable that it has not wasted more than appears; the impression of a horse's head with a plough and shield is quite plain; the letters appear to be well formed.

This attribution of Arabic numerals to a period before they were in use in the West reminds me a little of an item that was on display in a private museum here in New Zealand some years ago. Supposedly a Roman coin from "A.D. 515" , its date caught my eye as being both a little too late and a little too precise. I asked for a closer look and it turned out to be a Constantinian copper of a couple of centuries earlier, with the mintmark SIS (= Siscia, now Sisak in Croatia) in the exergue! Close, but no cigar.

As far as I can tell, they started in India (so not really "Arabic" at all) around the 4th century, then reached the Arab world around the 8th century, from where we picked them up around the 12th - but it took another couple of hundred years for them to get into any form of widespread use and for their shapes to become standardized, and probably another couple of hundred years again for them to start supplanting Roman numerals - quite a fascinating field for study in itself!

I'm reluctant to show anyone my library, because it has (1) sideways books on top of shelved books and (2) books in piles. And I have no room to add anything else!

In a way it is reassuring to discover that I am not alone. (I trust that these books are not double shelved, i.e., that there is not a second row of books behind the visible ones. In the 1980s I visited Leroy ["Jim"] Kaczor in Champaign, a wonderful person, and I noticed that his car was parked in the driveway, though he had a garage. I was looking to buy a copy of an ANS publication and thought he might have one, since he was a long-time member of the ANS. We went out to the garage, and I found that the walls were covered with bookshelves and there were library tables in the middle. The tables were heaped with numismatic books. Checking the shelves, I found that there were books behind those in front. And he lacked the book I wanted!)

I have been working to fill gaps in American Numismatic Biographies for the listing on the Newman Numismatic Portal. One early numismatist has been known only by his first initial and last name. This made him hard to identify. His address was known from an early publication.

I found a city directory of a clerk with that last name living at that address. I learned that he moved to a new city and got involved selling stomach bitters. One of his bitters bottles would be a treasure to a bottle collector.

Can any E-Sylum reader identify this numismatist?

Can any E-Sylum reader identify another numismatist that crosses into the field of bottle collecting?

I was interested to read the piece on Shakespeare medals in the latest E-Sylum. Amongst a group of metal-detected finds bought to me last week was this copper alloy token (19mm, 1.71g), with WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE on the obverse and BORN ON SAINT GEORGE’S DAY 1564 DIED ON HIS BIRTHDAY 1616 on the reverse. There is a somewhat similar obverse on a much heavier pewter medal at https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/606993, issued in 1916, which provides the only parallel I have been able to find on the web.

It could be that this token is local to Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, where it was discovered, but I’ve found no mention of such an object in the standard numismatic sources for the islands, and we have no comparable items in our museum collection. Any observations or suggestions of origin would of course be welcome…

The British Royal Mint started minting sixpences again last year.

Of course, these new sixpences aren't intended for circulation but are designed for collectors, and to be given as gifts. They sell them for £30.00.

According to the Royal Mint, "The silver sixpence has long been a token of good luck, popped into Christmas puddings and the shoes of brides fulfilling the traditional rhyme ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe’."

Has anyone mentioned the television show “Timeless”? It is a show about time travel. Briefly, there are two time machines – one is piloted by a man who wants to change historic events in an attempt to erase the recent death of his wife and daughter. The other is piloted by a team dedicated to stopping him from screwing up history. But here’s the kicker/slight numismatic nugget, they are both being manipulated by an evil entity known as ‘Rittenhouse’, and yes, this evil empire was founded by David Rittenhouse, who incidentally, is depicted as a psychopathic monster who covertly controls the country. They never mention his pulling the strings at the U.S. Mint, and he is shot to death in episode 10, but his maniacal followers are still ‘controlling’ us presently! Hmm, isn’t there a group of numismatists who call themselves “The Rittenhouse Society”? Just what are you folks up to??

I find the program somewhat entertaining, though redundant.

I've always been oddly curious about odd & curious money. Can these crude items ever be truly authenticated as having been used as money?

Check your copy of Curious Currency, or Quiggin, who I quoted.

Curious Currency, p. 82, footnote 37, citing Quiggin, A Survey of Primitive Money, pp. 77-79. A couple of citations from Quiggin: "Cameron, crossing over lake Tanganyika ...in 1874, found that his trade-beads...were of no further value and he had to use the Urua crosses, here called handa. These were larger than the average type, 15 to 16 inches..." (Quiggin, p. 78, citing Cameron, 1877, I, p. 319). Quiggin mentions some prices in terms of Katanga crosses: a gun, 10, and 4 fowls or a fathom of cloth, 5. In 1924 bride-price was 14 large crosses, a large she-goat, a piece of indigo drill (a kind of cloth), and a female slave (yes, slavery had not yet been abolished in Africa then). On p. 79 is the divorce anecdote I quoted, though I switched the order of items returned for better effect.

I reckon he's most likely shaving - note the white patch on his face, and the fact that the guy at rear top right is holding a mirror in the right position for him! See attached detail, with brightness/contrast slightly tweaked.