NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: DECEMBER 13, 2020

"Not every Monday morning does The E-Sylum toss up a gem for me, but when it does it's usually a stunner. A few weeks back Dick Johnson's entry of obsessive date was a big one. Original-dies Castorland jetons were minted from circa 1796 up to the "pointing hand" edge mark period of June 13, 1845-Oct. 31, 1860. And they all carry the date 1796. I cherish a copy of Dick's Encyclopedia and have run through it numerous times, but I've consistently overlooked that particular entry. Thanks for calling it to mind."

Gold Dust Avenue and Pistareen Mountain

Regarding our question about money and numismatic place names, Cole Hendrickson writes:

"There is a street near where I live named Gold Dust Avenue. I do not know the history behind the name but always found it interesting."

"I was exploring the Smithsonian web site and the exhibit "Advertising War". This WWI poster really caught my attention. I'm sure there is a great story behind it."

Zeichnet 7. Kriegsanleihe
(Subscribe to the 7th War Loan)
Austrian World War I poster by artist Alfred Offner for the Vienna Commercial Bank, 1917. Depicted are Austrian soldiers with guns drawn crouching behind a wall of gold Austrian coins.

To read the complete article, see:
A Global War (https://americanhistory.si.edu/advertising-war/global-war)

"This is cool. Numismatic book mural on the boring side of ANA headquarters? "

Known for his incredible street art illusions, Jan Is De Man has created a charming mural in Utrecht that's bringing together the community. In collaboration with graffiti writer and tattoo artist Deef Feed, he transformed the anonymous facade of a building into a marvelous bookcase. And the best part is that all the literary works featured were suggested by local residents.

The project began thanks to friends of Is De Man's, who live in the building. They'd been asking him to create a mural on their building for quite some time, but his original idea was quite different. Originally, he'd thought to paint a large smiley-face, as research shows that people's moods are lifted when they see a smile. However, after studying the shape of the building, he settled into the idea of transforming it into a bookcase. He then called in Deef Feed, who he's worked with in the past, to help make it happen.

"I was puzzled by a recent development and finally figured out what's happening. For a long time I've listed for sale my Whitman-published book History of the United States Mint and its Coinage, but there had been very few takers in the past few years. This didn't surprise me, since the book is 15 years old, and most sellers had new copies available at $10-15 for quite awhile. Then, last week I received five orders in as many days through Amazon at my list price of $24.95. Pleasantly surprised, I took a look to see what others were selling the book for on Amazon and discovered that new copies are listed at $65-75!

I checked both the Whitman website and Wizard Supply, and sure enough they no longer have any for sale. With just two copies left in my own inventory I took a bold step and raised the price $5, only to have a sale within the hour. By the time anyone reads this I'm confident that I, too, will be sold out of that title.

It reminds me of the old saying that's been applied by others in reference to numismatic literature, "When a book is in print you can't sell it any price, and when it's out of print you can't buy it at any price..." That's perhaps not as true today as it was in the pre-internet era, but I have proof that it still applies in some instances."

"The obvious "lesson learned" is to publish your new book as "Out of Print," then don't print any until the after market price goes through the roof! Another, but more painful option, is to publish the new book accompanied by an obituary of the author.

"Making a profit on coin books can be tough on the author!"