PETE SMITH'S ART GALLERY

The Summer issue of The Asylum was posted on-line on Friday, May 15, 2020. This includes "Evolution of a Numismatic Library Part I."

One of the contributors is the ruggedly handsome Dr. Joel J. Orosz. He includes photos of cherished artwork on his walls including a 1947 oil painting by Frank Joseph Reilly titled "A Specimen of the Work of America's First Mint Examined by it Director in 1792." He also proudly shows Carlton Eddy's 2017 oil painting showing Thomas Jefferson recording in his Memorandum Book on July 13, 1792. Orosz clearly prefers this artwork to that which was unfortunately chosen as the cover illustration for a soon forgotten book.

This prompted me to grab a camera and record items displayed in my art gallery. The photo shows a box marked, "This Box" in white. This label was added to the photo and does not appear on the actual box.

The box includes nine original oil paintings related to the First United States Mint. Two appeared in The Secret History of the First United States Mint and four appear in 1792: Birth of a Nation's Coinage. The remaining three are rejected early versions of the published paintings.

Great art hangs on the walls of museums and private collections. Then there is the other stuff that gets packed away in boxes never to appear again in public.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web