Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 2, Number 39: September 26, 1999:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
SUBSCRIBER UPDATES
New subscribers this week are Kevin Donohue and Bill Swoger.
Welcome aboard! This brings our subscriber count to 237.
Ray Williams writes: "Just wanted to let you know that I
printed out and made 25 copies of a recent E-SYLUM and
distributed them as samples at the NJNS meeting last night -
about half the members had access to a computer. Hopefully
it will inspire a few members to e-mail you to join... "
(Note: NJNS = "New Jersey Numismatic Society").
Thanks for your recruiting efforts, Ray.
NBS MEETING PLANNED FOR F.U.N. SHOW
With the help of Fred Lake and Bill Murray, we will have an
NBS regional meeting at the upcoming F.U.N. show in
Orlando, FL. Fred writes: "We are definite at 11:00 AM on
Saturday, January 8, 2000.
My Gawd, it is hard to believe I am actually typing a date with
the year 2000 in it. When I was a little kid, we all wondered
if any of us would live to see the turn of the century. Being 70
was ancient back then and not as many people lived to that age.
So here I am, just about ready to see the century and millennium
change and I'm still lugging around heavy boxes of books."
Maybe lugging those books is what keeps you hale and hearty,
Fred. Recently I read an interview with a 100-year-old man,
and he attributed his longevity to a curious correlation. It seems
his years are directly proportional to the number of birthday
cakes he's eaten. Now that's a theory I can sink my teeth into.
BYRON REED PEDIGREE INFORMATION SOUGHT
Lawrence J. Lee of the Durham Western Heritage Museum
in Omaha, NE, home of the Byron Reed collection, writes:
"HELP WANTED: I am looking for help in determining
exactly what coins Omaha collector Byron Reed may have
purchased at various auctions he attended in the 1880s and
1890s. It is well known Mr. Reed purchased the Parmelee
specimen of the 1804 dollar at the Parmelee sale in 1890; it
is also believed he purchased at least 25 other coins at this
same auction, but a complete list for the Parmelee sale is still
needed.
It is also thought Reed attended other several major sales,
possibly including Newlin ('83), Levick ('84), Thian ('85),
Randall ('85), Athole ('85), Maris ('86), Haines ('86), Tilton
('86), Davis ('90) and Doughty ('90). Any person with auction
catalogs from these sales would be doing a great service if they
could check for Byron Reed's name in those catalogs with the
buyer's names listed.
If you have any information, please contact: Larry Lee, Curator,
Byron Reed Collection, Durham Western Heritage Museum,
801 S. 10th Street, Omaha, NE 68108 or call 402-444-5071.
Your help will be much appreciated and will be acknowledged
in a future article about the Reed library. "
WHERE DID AMAZONIAN PATTERN NAME FIRST APPEAR?
Speaking of the Parmelee Sale, Michael Marotta writes:
"I am working on a feature about the Amazonian patterns and I
understand from Saul Tiechman that these coins got their names
(as did others) at the Parmelee sale. Can you suggest a way for
me to validate that the term "Amazonian" comes from the 1890
New York Stamp & Coin company sale of Parmelee's coins?"
From my copy of the sale I verified that the term did appear
in the catalog, but I don't know how to prove it originated
there; does anyone know of a printed reference to the term
"Amazonian" in reference to these patterns prior to this sale?
From the description of lot 231, 1890 Parmelee sale:
"1872 Barber's set. Dollar, Half, and Quarter Dol.: Amazonian
figure of Liberty seated l. caressing an eagle, and resting on
shield and sword with her l. arm: stars around border. Rx
defiant eagle clasps three arrows and supports a shield labelled
IN GOD WE TRUST: values below: silver: proofs: very rare;
3 pcs." The lot realized $13.50. It is not plated.
JENISON'S MASON'S MONTHLY VOLUMES SOUGHT
Past President Michael J. Sullivan writes: "I thought this could
be a useful "hidden-and-seek" mission for the subscribers of the
E-Sylum. I recently acquired Mason's Monthly Coin & Stamp
Collectors' Magazine, Volume V, 1871, bound in contemporary
Navy or Black 1/2 leather with marbled boards. Inside is a
bookplate on orange paper reading "Library of O.A. Jenison,
No. ___, Lassing, Michigan" Handwritten on the bookplate is
"461" in pencil which might refer to a library reference number.
Does anyone know the whereabouts of the rest of the set? Is
one of our astute members lacking this volume to re-marry an
original set? I'm curious to see what our subscribers know."
Michael can provide a .jpeg illustration of the volume via email.
He can be reached at this address: numisbookmjs@earthlink.net
PARAMOUNT CATALOG INFO SOUGHT
Darryl Atchison is looking for an auction catalog to review
for his Canadian bibliography project: Paramount, Long Beach
1975. "Any assistance anyone can provide would be greatly
appreciated. Any details whatsoever may be passed along to
me on email at atchisondf@hotmail.com. Thank you for your
assistance."
CHAPMAN PRICES REALIZED SOUGHT
NBS Board member Bill Murray writes: "If someone has the prices
realized for the S. H. Chapman sale, '"The Collection of American
Historical Medals and Canadian Coins of W. H. Hunter, Esq.,
December 9 and 10, 1920, I would like a copy. Thanks.
Email: billmur13@aol.com or snail mail: 7400 Crestway # 1423,
San Antonio, Texas 78239-3097.
HORATIO BURCHARD
Bob Murphy, a visitor to our web site, writes: "I am
interested in finding a source for information about
Horatio Burchard, who was appointed Director of the Mint
on Feb. 22nd, 1879. Thank you for your assistance."
Former NBS Board Member Pete Smith, author of "American
Numismatic Biographies", provided the following information:
"Horatio Chapin Burchard was born on September 22, 1825,
at Marshall, New York. In 1850 he graduated from Hamilton
College in New York. He went on to study law and was
admitted to the bar in 1852. He married Jane Lawver in May
of 1860.
His interests turned to politics and he was elected to the
Illinois State House of Representatives, serving from 1863
to 1866. On December 6, 1869, he took the seat in Congress
vacated by Elihu B. Washburn. Burchard was re-elected and
served until March 3, 1879.
President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Burchard as Director
of the Mint and he served from February 1879 to June 1886.
He resigned to return to the practice of law.
Burchard was in charge of awards for mines and metallurgy
in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition. He was on the
Assay Commission in 1894, 1895, 1901 and 1903. He was a
census supervisor in 1900. Burchard died in Freeport,
Illinois, on May 14, 1908."
FEATURED WEB SITE
Stephen Searle writes: "After reading Michael E. Marotta's
comments in the last E-Sylum about not knowing John J. Ford, Jr.
nor Eric P. Newman, I thought I would submit a link to the Legacy
Magazine Archives.
While I was not active in numismatics at the time, from what I can
tell, Legacy was a (hardcopy) magazine published by Heritage or a
predecessor to that firm several times per year from 1988 to 1990.
In each issue, there is an interview with a prominent numismatist
of the day.
The articles appear to have been scanned and run through character
recognition software, so there are some errors in the text. Generally,
however, they are quite readable and definitely enjoyable (especially
the interviews of Walter Breen and John J. Ford, Jr.)!"
The Ford interview is in two parts, appearing in the Spring and
Summer 1990 issues.
http://www.heritagecoin.com/extras/LegacyArch.html
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 21701
(To be removed from this mailing list
write to me at whomren@coinlibrary.com)
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