Here are some additional items in the media this week that may be of interest.
-Editor
A Money Art Interaction
Elsewhere in this issue Pete Smith's biography article discusses Otis Kaye's money-based art. Last month a new article was published online about money artist J.S.G. Boggs. See the complete well-illustrated article online. Also found via News & Notes from the Society of Paper Money Collectors (Volume VIII, Number 9, August 16, 2022)
-Editor
There was an argument to define if Boggs processes and creations were, in fact, art. As much as art dealers and collectors recognised him as an authentic artist, the Secret Service and other government bodies went after him as a fraud, a deceiver.
"They said I was a counterfeiter. They don't understand the difference between art and crime."
Boggs made art to critique money as a social construct, money being an idea created and accepted by people in societies, battling against money's established notion of value.
To read the complete article, see:
The Boggs Performance: A Money Art Interaction
(https://banknoteartconcept.com/the-boggs-performance-a-money-art-interaction/)
To read an earlier E-Sylum article, see:
J.S.G. BOGGS (1955-2017)
(https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n05a04.html)
Congressman Criticizes U.S. Mint Silver Eagle Program
A West Virginia Congressman is criticizing the U.S. Mint over handling of the Silver Eagle bullion program. I haven't been following this and don't know the backstory - what's really going on here?
-Editor
Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV) is calling out U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Mint Director Ventris Gibson for the "long-running production slowdown" in the Silver American Eagle bullion coin program that has caused "shortages and dramatically higher market prices for this iconic silver coin as compared to its peers worldwide."
In a letter dated August 25, Mooney cited 31 U.S. Code § 5112(e) which states, "the [Treasury] Secretary shall mint and issue, in qualities and quantities that the Secretary determines are sufficient to meet public demand coins which- (1) are 40.6 millimeters in diameter and weight 31.103 grams; (2) contain .999 fine silver; (3) have a design- (A) symbolic of Liberty on the obverse side; and (B) of an eagle on the reverse side."
But, as Mooney pointed out, the U.S. Mint has only made 11.6 million ounces of the silver bullion coin available to the public through July 2022 - barely half of what has been supplied through the first seven months of prior years when demand has been similarly strong.
"This shortage in U.S. Mint production has apparently led to extremely high market-based premiums on Silver Eagles (as high as 70% over the silver melt value)
To read the complete article, see:
Congressman Criticizes U.S. Mint's Management of Silver American Eagle Program, Demands Answers
(https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/congressman-criticizes-u-mint-management-000000118.html)
The ‘Hotel California' Lyric Sheet Saga
It's not numismatic in any way, shape or form, but bibliophiles, ephemera collectors and music history fans should enjoy this Los Angeles Times article on rare book dealers and the infamous stolen ‘Hotel California' lyric sheet.
-Editor
I'm like, is that the Glenn Horowitz? said Travis McDade, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law specializing in rare manuscript theft, describing his first impression of the case. Because he's a big deal, especially when it comes to archive stuff. He sells high-profile archives to big institutions. He's at the top of the game when it comes to that sort of thing.
Horowitz, 66, has been a big shot in the rare book world for many decades, but really separated himself through his work arranging and placing, at various institutions for vast amounts of money, the literary archives of household names: Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Gabriel García Márquez. His brokerage of Vladimir Nabokov's estate in 1992 is said to have been the first of its kind to surpass $1 million, and, in 2016, he placed Bob Dylan's archive for approximately $20 million. More recently, Horowitz was the dealer behind Eve Babitz's archives landing at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.
To read the complete article, see:
Welcome to the ‘Hotel California' saga: Missing lyric sheets, rare book dealers and a relentless Don Henley
(https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-08-25/hotel-california-eagles-lyrics-alleged-stolen-don-henley)
See also:
DECEMBER 1976: EAGLES RELEASE "HOTEL CALIFORNIA" THE ALBUM
(https://weareclassicrockers.com/article/december-1976-eagles-release-hotel-california-album)
Wayne Homren, Editor
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