MORE ON THE MONEY MUSEUM

I read with great interest your intriguing article on the "Money Museum of the National Bank of Detroit" in the Nov. 19/23 issue of The E-Sylum, no. 26 no. 47, article 14. Many thanks for sharing it and bringing it to the attention of E-Sylum readers like yours truly. I happen to have a version of the booklet in my stock that is different from the two illustrated in the article.

I was dismayed to learn from your article that not only the museum no longer exists, no one seems to know what happened to its significant contents of "over 15,000 specimens of monies from around the world, including the curious, primitive articles of barter used in [the] search for a sound exchange medium" [p. 1] (as of October, 1966, according to the aforementioned booklet).

I find this more than a bit surprising and disconcerting since this money museum consisted of a "vast collection [of] coins, currency, medals and artifacts -- covering a span of 40 centuries. ... the largest collection [that was] on public display in the Midwest. It represent[ed] all countries from ancient Egypt to the United States, all kinds of people from Byzantine rulers to the chiefs of Yap Island, clay tablets from ancient Babylonia, Greek coins from the 7th century B.C., coins of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, coins of Roman and Chinese emperors, coins from medieval Europe and feudal Japan, and current coins of many nations." [p. 2]

I wonder if this means that the only record we have of this impressive money museum are surviving copies of these booklets and numerous articles or references in The Numismatist? Surely, there must be other evidence out there, even if it were reduced to auction lots representing the Museum's ultimate dissolution. At the very least, your article underlines the importance of numismatic literature as part of the historical record that helps to ensure the memory of such bygone collections are preserved for posterity.

It seems to me that the albeit partial story of this particular privately-held museum also serves as a kind of cautionary, if counter-intuitive, tale about well-intentioned plans to preserve significant collections in private, for-profit businesses. I have nothing against private enterprise nor profit, lest I bite the hand that feeds me (my current existence depends on the profit generated from the sale of a family business, to be sure). However, short of government-sponsored collections all-but-guaranteed to be preserved in perpetuity (the Bank of Canada Museum: https://www.bankofcanadamuseum.ca/ comes to my mind as a prime example), the desire to preserve significant private collections in this way may be tantamount to putting all one's eggs in one basket, so to speak. It certainly gives one who may own a significant numismatic collection pause to consider the wisdom and viability of hedging one's bets and rely more on reputable auction houses. They publish catalogues for private collectors to bid on their collections and thereby keep the memory and providence of such collections alive, both through the written/published record of the catalogues, besides the slabbed or otherwise labelled pieces themselves.

As has already been pointed out in a subsequent E-Sylum article, "Shapero, Dodson and their Money Museum" vol. 26 no. 48, Nov. 26/23, article 20. It is noteworthy that The Money Museum of the former National Bank of Detroit was derived from "the notable collection of the Nate S. and Ruth B. Shapero Foundation". [p. 1 of the aforementioned 1966 booklet).

Upon doing a bit of cursory research, the Hans M. F. Schulman auction house in New York sold off some of Nate S. Shapero's gold coin collection (that was not part of The Money Museum) in a Oct. 25, 1971 sale. A significant part of the Museum's collection was purchased from Shapero after the museum opened in 1960 (per Shapero's obit. in the Apr. 1980 issue of The Numismatist, p. 851).

In Nov. 1981, The Abner Kreisberg Corp. offered the award-winning Irving M. Moskovitz collection for the National Bank of Detroit (perhaps for the upkeep of its Money Museum?) according to a full page ad on p. 2226 of the Aug. 1981 issue of The Numismatist. A foreboding development occurred later that decade when the library of The Money Museum was dispersed in 1987, "with several shipments of valuable books donated to the ANA Library", The Numismatist, Aug. 1987, p. 1731.

In terms of what was in The Money Museum's collection, one of the more curious pieces was an 800-pound Yapese limestone cartwheel coin, per the article, "Yap Money in Detroit", The Numismatist, Aug. 1963, p. 1106. A Nov. 1968 Numismatist article (p. 1478-1479) reported that the Museum, for the first time up to that point, put on public display platinum coins from Russia and Germany, "one of the eleven twelve-ruble coins from 1836, a three-ruble piece of the same year and a six-ruble coin of 1830. A platinum medal commemorating Paul Von Hindenburg's first term as President from 1925 to 1932 [was] featured beside a 2-mark pattern piece dated 1926."

The Money Museum of the museum officially opened on Apr. 28 1960 and closed in circa 1992. The Numismatist introduced the museum to its readership with a full-page article "Money Museum of National Bank of Detroit" in its June 1960 issue, p. 714. At the time of opening it consisted of 12,500 items. By the fall of 1966 this had grown to over 15,000 items.

 

Perhaps the best-known publication of the Museum's first Director (and former ANA President from 1957-1961), Rear Admiral Oscar H. Dodson, U.S. Navy (Retired) is his Money Tells the Story of which I have the following signed copy in my stock:

 

I also have a edition of this book from the collection of prominent Canadian numismatist and numismatic researcher and author, Ted Banning (a.k.a. Dr. Edward B. Banning, archaeologist and professor at the University of Toronto known to the numismatic world especially for his ongoing series "The World of Money" about prominent pioneer Canadian numismatists published in Canadian Coin News):

The Dodson book could be viewed as a handy guide featuring some 25 of the more significant pieces in the Money Museum of the National Bank of Detroit, as the illustrations are of actual specimens in the collection. In his foreword, Dodson writes, "The numismatic material described and illustrated may be viewed in the Money Museum of the National Bank of Detroit. This Museum displays the notable collection of Mr. Nate S. Shapero, Detroit merchant and philanthropist." (p. [5]). To be more specific, these pieces include the following, per the list of illustrations on p. 64:

• Lydia, electrum 1/2 stater of King Alyattes, 610-561 B.C.
• Aegina, silver stater, 600-550 B.C.
• Athens, silver tetradrachm, 450-406 B.C.
• Syracuse, silver victory dekadrachm, after 413 B.C.
• Macedonia, silver tetradrachm of Alexander III, the Great, 336-323 B.C.
• Thrace, silver tetradrachm of Lysimachus, 297-281 B.C.
• Egypt, bronze coin of Cleopatra, 51-30 B.C.
• Roman Empire, silver denarius of Tiberius, 14-37 A.D.
• Moslem Empire, gold dinar of Harum al-Rashid A.H. 180 (796-7 A.D.)
• Florence, gold florin, 1252-1422
• Venice, gold ducat or zecchino of Doga Francis Dona, 1545-1553
• Bohemia, silver Joachimsthaler, "the first dollar", 1518-1525
• Austria, silver taler of Maria Theresa (1780)
• Spanish American Coinage (silver pieces of eight: the cob, eight reales (1734), two reales (1746)
• Massachusetts silver Pine-Tree Shilling (1652)
• North American Indian, wampum belt
• United States, first silver dollar (1794)
• California, private gold issue (Wass, Moliter and Company), fifty-dollar gold piece (1855)
• United States, Saint-Gaudens "double eagle" twenty-dollar gold piece (1907)
• China and Siberia, brick tea money (19th century)
• China, sycee silver ingot (19th century)
• Republic of the Congo, ceremonial axe or "zappozap" that "serves as a symbol of wealth and authority"
• Polynesia, sperm whale tooth necklace (20th century)
• Yap Island, stone money

Finally, for the budget-conscious collector for whom provenance is not a priority, I have this plain copy of the Dodson work:

Howard adds:

John adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
MONEY MUSEUM OF THE NATIONAL BANK OF DETROIT (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n47a14.html)
SHAPERO, DODSON AND THEIR MONEY MUSEUM (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n48a20.html)
MONEY MUSEUMS IN THE U.S., PART ONE (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n49a16.html)

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