The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 11, March 18, 2007, Article 5

SATTERLEE 'ARRANGEMENT OF MEDALS OF THE PRESIDENTS' INFORMATION SOUGHT

Geoffrey Bell writes: "I acquired a book titled 'An Arrangement of 
Medals and Tokens Struck in Honor of the Presidents of the United States 
et al'. It is an original issue of 1862. It appears to have been in the 
possession of a Charles P. Britton and later owned by Richard H. 
Lawrence. It is hardbound with marbled covers in brown. Can anybody give 
me information on the book relating to its rarity, the two people 
mentioned, etc? Thank you. I can be reached at gbel@nb.sympatico.ca"

[The full-blown 19th-century title of the pamphlet by Alfred H. Satterlee 
is 'An Arrangement of Medals and Tokens Struck in Honor of the Presidents 
of the United States, and of the Presidential Candidates, from the 
Administration of John Adams to that of Abraham Lincoln, Inclusive, 
Described Chiefly from Originals in the Possession of the Compiler 
and of Robert Hewitt Jr., Esq.'

I could swear I have a copy of the original in my library, but darned if 
I can't put my finger on it right now. I did locate my copy of the 1962 
Leonard Babin reprint. An original copy sold in the first George Kolbe 
sale of the John J. Ford library (June 1, 2004, lot #835; est. $250, 
hammer $140). I asked George his opinion of the rarity of the original. 
He writes: "It is scarce but copies do turn up from time to time." 
Now only if mine would turn up... 

As Kolbe notes in his lot description, little is known of Satterlee. 
A search in the Numismatic Indexes Project (NIP) archive turned up a 
reference to an address on American Coins that a Robert Hewitt delivered 
before American Numismatic and Archeological Society, June 28th, 1866. 
So can anyone tell us more about either Satterlee or Hewitt? 

By the way, the buyer of that Ford sale lot got a great bargain, in my 
opinion. The lot included "a fine studio photograph of Satterlee taken 
in the year of publication", "A clipping announcing publication, and a 
April 10, 1862 newspaper clipping describing the book in detail." 
-Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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