ROBERT BURNHAM AND COIN COLLECTING

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 24, June 13, 2021, Article 11

In 2014 Mike Marotta submitted a piece on coins referenced in the classic handbook for astronomers, Burnham's Celestial Handbook. Website visitor Robert Blake, founder of the Escambia Amateur Astronomers Association (EAAA) passed along this related article he published that year in the organization's publication, The Meteor Gallery . Thanks. -Editor

Enclosed are photographs of a coin used as an in illustration in BURNHAM'S CELESTIAL HANDBOOK. The obverse shows Athena while the reverse shows her wise old owl with the crescent moon shown over the owl's shoulder. This is said to be the phase of the moon when the battle of Salamis resulted in the defeat of the Persians---who fielded such a large force, partially naval and partially an army that it was said to drink rivers dry in passage. This was not only among the greatest upsets in history---but, had the first mention in history of a woman commander, an Ionian island queen, Artemisia, taking part in war---ramming and sinking a Persian naval ship

Bob Burnham collected ancient coins. If that was not so---I would not have gotten to know him beyond a nodding acquaintance. He was an overgrown child---very shy about getting to know fellow adults. But, I was hired as a masters student to give the public tours at Lowell Observatory and had a desk in the office also shared by Norm Thomas and Bob Burnham who were the asteroid search program. The one time I tried to engage Bob in conversation beyond just saying, "Hi!"---he acted hostile. But, one day I was asking Norm about adding some ancient coin photos to my program, such as Mars advancing in Roman armor, carrying a spear and shield, Neptune holding a dolphin, Janus, two faced, etc., Bob came right across the room asking, "You collect ancient coins?" I got to know him after that and could bring friends over to meet him to see his home museum---of which he was proud.

Years later, Bob was laid off from Lowell Observatory and was crashing financially in slow motion. I bought several of his coins---and told him that he could buy them back any time at the same price. The rest of his coins went to professional dealers at about 25c on the dollar. Bob never was able to buy back any of the coins. Here is the Athenian tetradrachm. Drachm is ancient/classical Greek. In modern Greek it is drachma with ch pronounced as "k".

To read the complete article, see:
Robert Burnham and Coin Collecting (http://www.gulfweb.net/rlwalker/astronomy/meteor/201409MeteorGallery.pdf)