NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V23 2020 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 23, Number 39, September 27, 2020, Article 13

Early last week, David Fanning emailed a layout proof of Kolbe & Fanning Sale 157, with the following admonition: "Just focus on big stuff at this point as we're going to the printer today." Finding nothing to critique, I nonetheless kept looking through the catalogue in the following days, bringing to mind Howard Carter's famous response to Lord Carnarvon's query about his impression of the first glimpse of the contents of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

In our own little world, Philip Scott Rubin's "Catalogue of Catalogues" is chock full of wonderful things, particularly among his earlier American numismatic auction sales. The library was formed over half a century. This first installment of Scott's extensive collection, numbering in excess of 10,000 catalogues, is limited to 500 lots, and includes many highlights. You will enjoy perusing it, regardless of your numismatic affinities.

It should be mentioned that this comprehensive library of American numismatic sale catalogues was plumbed to its depths in terms of groundbreaking numismatic research, and that the wealth of such invaluable information now regularly encountered in the current generation of American coin auction sale catalogues is, in significant part, the result of Scott's wide-ranging analyses. Freely shared, with little regard to attribution, it is the measure of the man.

I had the pleasure of visiting Scott many years ago, and his library was indeed a sight to behold. He not only had the material, he mined it extensively for numismatic research. Every cataloguer and researcher of any note beat a path to his door over the years, and generations of collectors now benefit from that groundbreaking work. Now the next generations will have a chance to acquire Scott's treasured research materials for their libraries and collections. We'll look forward to the catalogue. -Editor

"That Hawaii Quarter in last week's E-Sylum is just a damaged coin - there are at least two very bad rim dings/cuts, - - that coin did not leave the US Mint looking like that.

"I'd say 'spend it', but it might be rejected a few times by younger cashiers."

"Might I add my half cents' worth to the recent recognitions of the E & T Kointainer? I first encountered these wonderful things while I was a struggling young collector in Miami Beach, Florida; not the ideal climate for preservation of coins in any metal. I corresponded with Dr. Epps and bought a lot of his product with wonderful results. I also marvelled at their use in the Chase Manhattan Coins of the World display in Rockefeller Plaza, coins were exhibited "on the half shell" in the upright displays.

"When Chase brought in what one wag called an "inferior dreckerator" to totally revamp the display, other means were employed. As a fellow Past President of the Shelby County (Ohio) Coin Club, I applauded Bern Nagengast's heroic efforts to keep this marvelous product going."

Our Dutch colleague's question is an interesting one, as "penning" seems to cover a lot of ground in Dutch, and like most translation questions, the relationship is one-to-many (or many-to-many), and almost never one-to-one. My instinct in this case is to consider the "familie penningen" as private medals, but the expression "family medals" doesn't lend itself to Googling very readily, and even to a native English speaker's ear it could sound like a group of medals inherited from grandparents who saw military service, for example. Even "family-related medals" tends to describe medals awarded to different members of the same family, so a nice cover-all term is eluding me for the moment. I did notice an earlier edition of The E-Sylum carried an item on wedding or anniversary medals, which appear to be a subset of the same theme.

In the meantime, however, and this is kind of helping us stall for another week or so while we think about it some more, my wife's Dutch relations were planning a book tracing the family history in 2009 and one of the numerous members of the Twaalfhoven clan with an artistic bent created the "Twaalfhoven penning" - essentially a large-format art medal with symbols relating to the family and its spread around the world in recent generations. The large heart relates to the "green heart of the Netherlands" where the family has its origins, for example. I've never thought of trying to class it as anything other than a medal or an art medal, so I too will be interested in any further ideas readers may have.

Here's a longer description of the symbolism on the Twaalfhoven penning that I wrote for a numismatic forum in 2010:

"To mark the publication (still forthcoming, I believe) of a book tracing the history of the Twaalfhoven family (my wife's relations, mainly in the Netherlands, but now spread far and wide), artist Rieneke Twaalfhoven produced the following medal:

"The obverse shows a heart with the double-headed eagle from the Twaalfhoven family crest, with the number XII above ("twaalf" in Dutch). According to the artist, XII brings present and past together, as when a clock reaches XII it has completed its cycle and begins again. At left is the date 2009 and at right the artist's cypher R12h.

"The reverse represents the origins of the family in rural Holland, with a representation of the continents expanding out from the "globe" in the centre (it is a flattened sphere, rising some 5 mm from the field of the medal), which is a reference to the fact that the family has now spread out world-wide.

"The medal is in bronze, 67 mm, 211 g, and is artificially aged. Production total to December 2010: 42. Each medal is hand-finished."

"I find it interesting that Forrest Fenn's treasure has come up in the last couple of issues. By coincidence, I left the fires in California and headed out on my search for his treasure the day he died. I am 99% certain that I found where his treasure was, about 100' off of a forest service road in Montana in an amazingly beautiful place. However, I was not brave enough to become 100% certain. My location fits all of the clues, some of which are quite clever. Maybe on another trip, I will be braver. It is important to remember, that the purpose of Fenn placing his treasure was to get people outdoors and finding the beauty of all that is around us. For me, I found much treasure on my trip. I searched out all the local coin stores along my path and was most amazed by the store in Burley, Idaho on this trip. I also spent days in Yellowstone away from the crowds. I encourage others to search for their own treasure."

Great trip! Glad you stayed safe and made it back. Some got too caught up in the excitement of finding the treasure and weren't so lucky. The natural beauty of the outdoors is something many more of us should experience first hand. In my single days I did a lot of outdoor hiking in my area. It was delightful to be out in nature, and my most memorable excursions were when we were out in the snow or in a pouring rainstorm in the forest. A lot of people got out there following the treasure publicity, and most of them came back safely. That much is certainly a good thing. I hope people keep visiting, and in this Covid-19 era I understand a lot more people are out visiting the parks these days. Enjoy! -Editor