The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

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Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 3, Number 9, February 27, 2000: 
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 
Copyright (c) 2000, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. 
  

SUBSCRIBER UPDATES 

   We have three new subscribers this week:  Chuck Rizzo, 
   Barent Springsted of Bangkok, and Prof. R. Balasubramaniam 
   of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. 
   Welcome aboard!   This brings our subscriber count to 284. 
  

THE ASYLUM IS BACK 

   After a week's delay due to mechanical problems with 
   the printing equipment, the 1999 No. 4 issue of The 
   Asylum should be arriving in members' mailboxes soon. 
   The No. 1 issue of the year 2000 is already in preparation. 
   The officers of NBS wish to thank our members for 
   their patience during this transitional period. 
  

SUBSCRIBER PROFILE 

   New subscriber Barent Springsted notes: "I heard about 
   NBS from Howard A. Daniel III in the US.  I am located in 
   Bangkok, Thailand, permanently.  Howard and I communicate 
   often about Southeast Asia coins and bank notes.  My 
   numismatic interests are focused on Thailand, Laos, 
   Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and French Indochina." 
  

BINDING PROPOSITION 

   Ben Keele writes: "I have a question I was hoping you would 
   present to the E-Sylum readership for me:  how does binding 
   affect the value of numismatic literature, especially numismatic 
   periodicals and newsletters?  I have a fair number of coin 
   magazines and journals, which I am considering getting bound 
   into hardbound books.  Is this worth the expense or a waste of 
   money?  And finally, how should I store my books and 
   magazines to ensure that they are preserved in their present 
   condition?" 
  

WHOLE NUMBERS 

   George Kolbe writes: "Another very interesting issue. Have 
   you ever thought of abandoning the "volume" numbering 
   sequence or at least also incorporating an "whole" issue 
   number?  I, and many of your loyal readers, I would bet, do 
   not know how many issues equal a volume, nor the time 
   period a volume covers." 

   Actually, I have entertained the thought of adding whole 
   numbers to the numbering scheme, and will probably do so 
   soon.  And I would also bet that few can tell us how many 
   issues have been published so far. 
  

ED FROSSARD WRITING SAMPLE SOUGHT 

   Tom O'Mara writes: "I was wondering if anyone has any 
   samples of Ed Frossard's handwriting... I have some notes 
   which I believe are from one of his auctions and on the reverse 
   is some handwriting which I wanted to determine if it might be 
   his... "   Tom can be reached at   TFXILOM@aol.com 
  

ROYAL MINT REPORT SOUGHT 

   After searching for some needed research material in the 
   ANS catalog, Ed Krivoniak wrote: "The site itself works very 
   well and very quickly. However, the ANS does not seem to 
   have a copy of the Royal Mint Report for 1945. Would you 
   please make an announcement in The E-Sylum stating that I 
   am looking for a copy? I don't need the original, a Xerox will 
   do.  I will reimburse anyone who has this report for their time 
   and materials." 

   Ed is researching the 1945 New Zealand darkened pennies. 
   When he contacted the Royal Mint "they only answered the 
   specific question I asked. They left out all mintage statistics 
   for the year 1945 in relation to which coins were produced 
   for which country during which month. Not knowing this 
   information isn't critical but it is something that I have become 
   curious about." 
  

MARCELLA SHELDON, 1911-1999 

   In all of our excitement surrounding the the availability 
   of new online indexes to numismatic reference material, 
   we should not forget the debt we owe those who 
   laid the groundwork with both monetary donations and 
   painstaking manual efforts. 

   An obituary published in the March 6, 2000 issue of 
   COIN World honors Marcella Sheldon, widow of 
   M. Vernon Sheldon and active collector in her own 
   right.  Her "personal card index for the first 40 years 
   of The Numismatist later became the core of the 
   published 50-year index for that American Numismatic 
   Association journal....  Through a series of donations, 
   she put up nearly $25,000 to update the library and its 
   index." 
  

CRITIC'S CORNER:  BREEN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA 

   ANA Museum Curator R.W. Hoge writes: "Walter Breen's 
   Encyclopedia is another good choice.  We use it quite 
   frequently here in the ANA Museum.  The analyses of 
   individual coin listings are of course very helpful, and 
   Breen is outstanding in providing historical context.  His 
   footnoting and indexing are not very straightforward, 
   however, and even after all these years I find the 
   inclusion of the coin photos AFTER their descriptions 
   a bit disconcerting.  The book is much more fragile, in 
   terms of its binding, than it would at first appear, and I 
   urge users to handle it carefully.  (At least it's not as bad 
   as Mitchiner's ORIENTAL COINS AND THEIR 
   VALUES series, for example, to cite another example 
   of an important and popular work with this kind of 
   problem.)" 

   In response to D.Wayne Johnson's question about 
   Breen's secret code, George Kolbe says: "By the way, I 
   have the answer: 297B = bumptious!"    Actually, I was 
   thinking 297B = "mendacious" ... 
  

CRITIC'S CORNER: FORRER'S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY 

   Next week, let's review Leonard Forrer's eight-volume 
   Biographical Dictionary of Medallists.   Remember, our 
   intention is not to discuss content, but to take the 
   bibliophile's perspective. 

   What are the book's best and worst features?  What could 
   have been done to improve it?   What features could have 
   improved its usability, readability, or reference value? 
   Be as open minded and creative as you can.  What would 
   you like to have seen done differently?   Send your 
   thoughts to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com 
  

FEATURED WEB SITE 

   This week's featured web site is the History of Japanese 
   Currencies hosted by the Bank of Japan.  The illustrations 
   and text are excellent.   If you're a collector of U.S. 
   currency, particularly National Bank Notes, be sure to 
   visit section 19, "National Banknotes":   "Banknotes were 
   issued by the 153 national banks. The forms and designs 
   of all the national banks' notes were the same except for 
   the banks' names."  The similarity to U.S. nationals is 
   striking. 

      http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/cm/english_htmls/history.htm 
  

  Wayne Homren 
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society 
  

  The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a 
  non-profit organization promoting numismatic 
  literature.   For more information please see 
  our web site at http://www.coinbooks.org/ 
  There is a membership application available on 
  the web site.  To join, print the application and 
  return it with your check to the address printed 
  on the application.   For those without web access, 
  contact Dave Hirt, NBS Secretary-Treasurer, 
  5911 Quinn Orchard Road, Frederick, MD 21704 

  (To be removed from this mailing list 
   write to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com)   

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