The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 5, February 4, 2007, Article 8

HIBLER-KAPPEN'S SO-CALLED DOLLARS TO BE REVISED

Dick Johnson writes: "The authors of a long-needed revision of a
standard work for medal collectors announced this week they should
have a book ready for publication by mid-year. The book is a revision
of "So-Called Dollars," by Hibler and Kappen, originally published by
Coin & Currency Institute in 1963. C&C will also publish the revision.

"The authors are Tom Hoffman of Crystal Lake, Illinois and Jonathan
Brecher of Cambridge, Massachusetts, both enthusiastic so-called dollar
collectors. I talked to both authors this week to learn the status of
their venture. Collectors who want a major comprehensive revision will
have to wait a while longer, however.

"'We are setting realistic goals,' said Jonathan Brecher, 'this will
not be a carbon copy of the original, things obviously need changing
and updating without expanding the existing book.' 'It's a stepping
stone,' said Tom Hoffman. They will concentrate on adding new
compositions of existing medals, listing known mules, and correcting
some of the original authors' errors (like the misspelling of Greenduck,
a Chicago medalmaker).

"They plan to essentially keep Hibler-Kappen's original numbering
system while recognizing it needs to be changed in the future, but
will change designations of sizes from HK's sixteenths of an inch to
millimeters. For this edition they do not plan to add additional items
that meet the criteria of a so-called dollar, nor carry forward medals
issued after 1961 that was the cutoff date in the original book. The
book will carry new illustrations, however, and they hope to have a
color illustration section. No decision yet to carry prices.

"Recent activity in the numismatic field indicates accelerated interest
in this medal collecting specialty. In March 2004 a group of collectors
met at the suggestion of Jeffrey L. Shevlin, of Carmichael California
to organize a new club (reported here in E-Sylum, vol 7, no 23, art 9).
Jeff Shevlin is working on a major revision with new listings and
carrying forward from 1961. He will assist in this present revision
while working on his book of greater comprehensive scope.

"In June 2006 NGC announced they added so-called dollars to their
grading service and began a Census Report of these medals. They noted
off-metal strikes not listed in HK and other varieties. These will be
included in the new revision according to Hoffman and Brecher. Other
collector interest has been reported by auction houses when they sell
these items, notably Heritage's September 2006 sale of the Troy Wiseman
collection and Joseph Levine's yearly Presidential auctions.

"The pair of authors have created a website, www.So-CalledDollars.com,
basically a dump of all the current content with new color illustrations.
Already, the authors state, ten collectors have assisted them by
contributing to the website. They seek other collectors' input for
this and the bound book. They can be contacted through the website."

To view the So-Called Dollars book web site, see:
So-CalledDollars.com

NEW CLUB FOR COLLECTORS OF SO-CALLED DOLLARS
esylum_v07n23a09.html

FIRST ISSUE OF JOURNAL FOR SO-CALLED DOLLAR COLLECTORS
esylum_v09n06a08.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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