NEW BOOK: ABOUT CENTS II

The original ABOUT CENTS was the first attempt of variety classification for any denomination in the United States. That article, authored by Augustine Shurtleff, first appeared on the front page of the Boston Evening Transcript on March 1, 1859 and was reprinted in the Historical Magazine later that year. Particular attention was paid to the cents of 1793, where eleven varieties were described in detail. Three 1794s and four 1795s were described in lesser detail and a sentence or two described the rest of the early dates except for the years 1805 and 1806, which were ignored all together. Only eleven of the years from 1816 to 1857 are even mentioned.

I believe Dr. Shurtleff had help from his coin collecting friends such as William Sumner Appleton, Henry Brooks, Jeremiah Colburn, and the Rev. Joseph Finnotti. It is my theory they supplied cents from their collections and helped describe the varieties. These were some of the men who founded the Boston Numismatic Society in February 1860.

The pictures on the cover are of Dr. Shurtleff on the left and my favorite numismatist, Joseph N. T. Levick in his army uniform on the right. This is the earliest of the three known pictures of him. Sylvester Crosby used the descriptions of the 1793 cents in ABOUT CENTS as a starting point for his article in describing the 1793 cents that were on Levick’s famous plate in the April 1869 issue of the American Journal of Numismatics. Since Dr. Sheldon followed Crosby’s descriptions in his Early American Cents, it is possible to match up Sheldon’s numbers for 1793 cents to their descriptions in ABOUT CENTS.

The first several chapters in the ABOUT CENTS II anthology are stories from my favorite year of large cents – 1793: Emission sequence and die states, NCs (non collectables), a study on Smith Counterfeits (plus the man who wrongly named them counterfeits), and a mistake made by Sylvester Crosby in his monograph on 1793 cents that was written in 1897. Then comes the account of Joseph Levick, from his beginning in New Orleans, to his end in New York City eighty years later. Levick was one of the first great numismatic researchers this country has produced, and his Book of Rubbings of 1793 Cents is published in Appendix B.

The final chapter is about how S. H. Chapman turned his 1923 book The United States Cents of 1794 into one of the rarest works in American numismatics - with help from George Clapp and Howard Newcomb.

For more information, or to order, contact Jim at j_neiswinter@hotmail.com .

This is book is as "inside baseball" as it gets in American numismatics. So of course, I love it, and think every other bibliophile, researcher, and just plain collector will, too. Jim lays out in detail who likely did what when and with whom in the earliest days of coin collecting in this country. There are B&W and color illustrations thoughout, picturing source materials.

But as I noted, the book isn't just for those who happen to collect these early cents. It is a delightful romp though the development of numismatics in America, intertwined with the development of coin clubs, numismatic books and periodicals, coin dealing and auctions. Give it a read! -Editor

About Cents II is a delightful series of essays on any and all things early copper. I purchased my copy at the EAC convention in Philadelphia, and the flight home went quickly as I read this book cover to cover. My favorite chapter was “Smith of Ann Street,” in which Neiswinter explains once and for all who the engraver “Smith” was, unearths numerous contemporary references, and creates a census of extant Smith pieces.

The final chapter on Clapp’s deconstruction of the S. H. Chapman’s United States Cents of the Year 1794 is equally noteworthy, nicely revealing the characters involved. Auction catalogs and other sources merely recount facts - it takes a more critical eye to stare into the archival records and “see” what motivated the various players. The documentary trail of U.S. copper is without doubt the most extensive of any American specialty, but synthesizing the wide array of resources still requires careful thought.

While this self-published volume could have benefited from a professional book designer, the content more than compensates, and is highly recommended for anyone interested in U.S. large cents, or simply enjoys reading interesting and well-researched stories of coins and collectors in days gone by. The publication of About Cents and About Cents II spans 168 years – let’s hope we do not have to wait as long for About Cents III!