NBS E-Sylum: Volume 06

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 10, March 9, 2003: an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Copyright (c) 2002, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society. COLONIAL NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED Gary Trudgen, Editor of The Colonial Newsletter, writes: "The April 2003 issue of The Colonial Newsletter (CNL) has been published. The entire issue is dedicated to an important study on the enigmatic and rare 1694 Carolina Elephant Token. One of the goals of the author, Neil Fulghum, "keeper" of the North Carolina Collection Gallery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was to place the token into its proper historical context. In this effort, Neil has investigated the agents who represented the lords proprietors' interests and who personally promoted the Carolina colony in London. From this study, he has suggested who might have been responsible for the tokens' production and distribution. Plus, Neil has studied the potential connection of the token to the Carolina Coffee-House along with its possible ties to like establishments in Cornhill and to the Merchants' Walks inside the Royal Exchange. For the collectors of Elephant tokens, Neil has identified the earliest published American references. He has provided an overview of Elephant Token reproductions and called attention to a high-quality electrotype that is often mistaken as genuine. His paper also initiates a project to compile a full census of Carolina Elephant tokens. CNL is published three times a year by The American Numismatic Society, Broadway at 155th Street, New York, NY 10032. For inquires concerning CNL, please contact Juliette Pelletier at the preceding postal address or e-mail pelletier@amnumsoc.org or telephone (212) 234-3130 ext. 243." NEWSPAPER ROBBERY Dave Bowers forwarded the following message from newspaper dealer Jim Lyons, who suffered a robbery. Bibliophiles are encouraged to keep a look out for offerings of the listed missing material. "This is to inform you that I was subject to a newspaper robbery sometime between May and September, 2002. I didn't notice it until some time later and still haven't been able to determine the extent of the robbery. But here's a list of what I have found so far: Bound Volumes: Daily Evening Bulletin, San Francisco: Oct 8 (vol. 1 #1) to ca. Apr 7, 1856, may be marked withdrawn from the California Historical Society, early 1970s. A second volume, from Stanford Library. Apr 8, 1856 probably to Oct 7, 1856. Jan to June 1857. Jan to June, 1858. Jan to June, 1860. Apr 9 to Oct 6, 1860. Oct 8, 1860 to Apr 9, 1861. Apr 10 to Oct 7, 1861. Oct 8, 1861 to Apr 7, 1862. Apr 8 to Oct 7, 1862. July to Dec 1862. 1863 complete 1864 complete 1865 complete (lacks Apr 15) Many of the above will be stamped Stanford Library. Daily California Chronicle, San Francisco: July to Dec 1854. July to Dec 1855. Jan to June 1856. Daily Alta California, San Francisco: July to Dec 1851, in nice white cloth binding stamped Stanford Library. July to Dec 1853. Jan to June 1857 in pretty red leather binding stamped Stanford Library. July to Dec 1859 in great near-new black cloth binding. Probably stamped Stanford Library. Sacramento Daily Union: March 19 to Sept 17, 1858. March 19 to Sept 18, 1860. June to Nov 1860. 1861 complete (two sets). July to Nov 1863. July to Dec 1865. Jan to June 8, 1866. Jan to June 1867. Other Civil War volumes of uncertain date. May be stamped Stanford Library. Loose Issues: Pacific News, San Francisco, 1850 to May 1851, estimated 25 or 30 issues. Most or all in very clean white near new condition. California of Civil War date, estimated 75 to 150 issues. Tombstone Epitaph, 1880 to 1882, estimated 75 issues, all in custom cut polyester folders with my notice of deacidification at the bottom right corner. In typical brittle and chipping condition of the run I got about 1984. Some may have tiny Bancroft Library rubber stamp on dateline. Of course the notice may have been cut off or the whole polyester folder may be gone. About 50 to 100 single sports pages, all in custom cut polyester folders. Dates between 1907 and early 1950s; titles may include: Chicago Record or Record-Herald, S. F. Bulletin, N. Y. American, Stockton (Cal.) Record, San Diego Tribune, New York Daily News, S. F. Daily News, N. Y. World, N. Y. Sun, N. Y. Herald Tribune, Boston American, and the Boston Globe. As I said, this is all I've found missing so far. Whoever took the papers had a key to the office and found my storage locker keys in the office desk. Whoever took the papers had a good knowledge of what I had. I ask you to please keep your eyes open for any of this material and to contact me (phone (650) 949-1525, mailing address: P. O. Box 580, Los Altos, CA 94023) if anybody offers you any of it, if you hear about it, if you see it on a list somewhere, or if it should appear on eBay. Thank you. Jim Lyons jim@jimlyons.com http://www.jimlyons.com SCOTT'S "COINS OF THE BIBLE ILLUSTRATED" My question about Scott's "Coins of the Bible" brought this response from Bob Leonard: "My copy was purchased from Marlcourt Books of Canada (now out of business) about five years ago, but lacks the facsimiles of coins. It is an attractive little book, based (as the anonymous author says) on Coins of the Jews by Madden, Recherches sur la Numismatique Judaique by de Saulcy, and has "many extracts from Rev. Geo. D. Mathew's papers on Jewish Coins in the Coin Collector's Journal." The introduction explains that the silver coin facsimiles were struck, not cast, in "fine white metal," and the mite in copper." MILLION POUND NOTES Regarding last week's excerpt from Mark Twain's story, "The Million Pound Note," George Kolbe writes: "C'mon Wayne, don't tease. What happened to the honest intelligent electee? And "gorgeous flunkey"? (sounds like a Mickey Spillane novel)" [Well, to be honest, I haven't read the whole story yet myself. But it's all available at the listed web reference. Read on to learn about the Hollywood versions of the tale. -Editor] Bob Lyall writes: "00,000 note! I believe I was told many years ago that there were several million pound notes produced for banks to use them for inter-bank settlements - they were not for use by the public. But someone may know better of course. Oh, and there was a classic British film made of the same (similar) story, cleverly entitled "The Million Pound Note" or something similar. I seem to recall Alec Guiness was in it, but again someone may know better." David Klinger writes: "There are may fantasy versions of the Million Pound Note, and some highly collectable stage money. This is a from a description of a Million Pound Bank Note currently offered on eBay: "In 1893, Mark Twain published the story. In 1954, J.Arthur Rank Film Studios made this delightful story into a movie "The Million Pound Bank-Note" with Gregory Peck and a large cast of British character actors. A single banknote in the amount of one million pounds was created to "star" in this movie. (The note is dated 1903). In 1989, this note was sold at auction by Sotheby's for nearly 2,000 pounds (then about $3,500 US). From that original, a Limited Edition of only 1,000 of these unique banknotes have been re-issued. Another adaptation of the "Million Pound Bank Note" was released in 1994, and was titled "A Million to Juan", produced by Trimark Pictures and directed by Paul Rodriguez who also stars in the title role. I do not known if there was a Bank Note produced for that movie." Peter Gaspar (Esylum subscriber #1) writes: "1. The Twain story may be found, along with more than a hundred other stories and books in the 1997 annotated bibliography "Numismatics in Fiction" published by Chris Carlisle and me in the print version Asylum. 2. Genuine "giant notes" including million pound denominations are described in Byatt's (sp?) beautifully illustrated history of the Bank of England note "Promises to Pay" published in 1994 as part of the Old Lady's tercentenary celebration. I believe that I reviewed the book for the Spink Circular. The photographs of notes from the Bank archives are really spectacular, including several of the "giant notes." A canceled one was sold at auction in 1997 and I have a photograph with permission from Sotheby's to publish it. It arrived just too late for the 1997 Gaspar, Carlisle Asylum publication, but we will use it in a forthcoming addendum. I hope that friends will continue to send me suggestions of additional items of "Numismatics in Fiction." We have about 40 items not included in 1997, but there must be hundreds more. Thanks much!" Len Augsburger writes: "I don't know anything about a million pound bank note, but there was once a "trillion dollar bill" on an episode of The Simpsons, which, by some contrived path, ended up in the hands of Fidel Castro. Perhaps E-Sylum readers could cite other numismatic allusions from this most perspicacious font of modern American culture." Ron Haller-Williams of the U.K. writes: "First, I think a quick trip to "across the pond" is required, to the USA. Apparently, the highest denomination ever produced by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank was $100,000 (with the portrait of President Woodrow Wilson). These notes were used only for transactions between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department. The highest denomination issued for public circulation was $10,000 (with the portrait of 19th-century U S Supreme Court Judge Salmon P Close). The highest denomination currently in circulation is $100, as per a 1969 decision, and only 200 of the $10,000 bills remain in circulation (or "unretired"). Although my sources ( http://tomchao.com/trivia.html and http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Floor/5282/trivia.html ) state that the $100,000 notes were "issued", I have my doubts about this. A film was made of Mark Twain's story in 1953, starring Gregory Peck as the "victim", with Ronald Squire and Wilfrid Hyde White as the brothers. Script adapt.: Jill Craigie. Director: Ronald Neame. Also known as "Man with a Million" (1954, USA). Runtime: 90 min. See http://us.imdb.com/Title?0046072 The "Guinness Book of Records", c1980, confirmed the existence of at least one of these notes. I no longer have this volume, but (if I remember correctly) the account is something like: One such note (or was it two?) was "adapted" by hand from a 0 note in order to use it for internal accounting purposes, and (of course!!) it was never issued. But I regarded the date as a problem: I was sure it was between 1904 and 1910 !!! (By the way, by this date all our notes were 100% printed; prior to 1870, some parts were written, dated and/or signed by hand.) Update on the Guinness Book of Records, as dictated by a cousin of mine: 1974 ed: "Two Bank of England notes for 00,000 still exist, dated before 1812. These were used only for internal accounting. The highest notes issued were for 0, issued from 1725 and discontinued on 22nd April 1943, being withdrawn on 30th April 1945. As of May 1973 (the latest date for which statistics are available), 62 of these 0 notes are unretired, but only 3 of these are in the hands of collectors." Discontinued 22-April-1943? But Pick shows last issue date as Aug '43! 1979 ed. is exactly as above, except that * Now "4 of these [0 notes] are in the hands of collectors", not 3. * "In November 1977 the existence of a Treasury 00,000 note dated 30th August 1948 came to light, and it was sold by private treaty for $A18,500, then the equivalent of 300 in Australia." Working mainly from Pick but also from other numismatic sources: The Bank of England's highest denomination issued for public circulation was 00 (which, like those of and, was last issued August 1943). The was last issued in 1929. Our highest denomination currently in circulation is There was a ten-shilling note from 1928 to 1970; emergency notes of half-a-crown and five shillings were produced in 1941 but never issued. Meanwhile, the Treasury issued "currency notes" of ten shillings and rom 1914 to 1928, plus (in 1919 only) notes for one shilling, half-a-crown (two shillings and six pence), and five shillings. The signature on the Treasury Notes of 1914 to 1917 was that of John Bradbury, hence the enigmatic name at the end of some versions of this song: "Abe, Abe, Abe my boy - what are you waiting for now? You promised to marry me some day in June: It's never too late and it's never too soon. All the family they keep on asking me, which day? what day? I don't know what to say! Abe, Abe, Abe my boy - what are you waiting for now?" "John Bradbury!" e.g. with unnamed artiste/s, on Ariel Records # 4068 (78rpm). "Can you tame wild Wimmen" and "Abe Abe Abe my Boy" ( see for example http://www.guysrugby.com/songs.asp although this site gives a "rude" parody for the 5th line: "which day? what day? I'm in the fam'ly way!" ) For anybody who doesn't quite get it, the young man presumably thought he did not have enough money available to undertake such a commitment. The Bank of England's home page is at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/ BTW, you can see a promo at http://www.radifyordie.com/millionpounds with order form at http://www.radifyordie.com/millionpounds/Campaign%202.htm TEN million pounds? Well, the Turkish "lira" has also been called "pound" (check derivation of our "ymbol!), and there are details of a ?10M note at http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/duyuru/10Meng.html Fiction, of course, goes higher than this - but not as high as fact! In an episode of The Simpsons, variously called "The Trillion Dollar Bill" or "The Trouble With Trillions", a unique specimen of the eponymous bill had been printed with the intention of relieving depression in Europe in the immediate aftermath of World War II. [It would, of course, have been even more impractical than was expected by one of the brothers in Mark Twain's "Million-Pound Note".] However, the avaricious C. Montgomery Burns stole it while it was en route, and ended up with it hanging framed on a wall in his house, where Homer Simpson happened to spot it ... This of course would have been US$ 1 000 000 000 000. However, owing to a different system of numbering, we "ungrateful" Europeans would not have reckoned it as being worth more than a billion! Meanwhile, in various parts of Europe at that time we had higher notes: Greece - 100 000 000 000 000 drachmai (03-Nov-1944, Pick#135) [Pick's interpretation of "dis-ekatom-myria" as a milliard is wrong.] Hungary - 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 pengos (03-Jun-1946, Pick#136) and 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 pengos (03-Jun-1946, Pick#137, not issued) At other times: Germany - 100 000 000 000 000 mark (15-Feb-1924, Pick#140) Yugoslavia - 500 000 000 000 dinara (1993, Pick#137) - half-way there! Although this last is claimed to be "the most zeros actually printed (11)", including by the current (2003) edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, one counter-example is the uniface Mengen (Stadtgemeinde) K-3517d locally-issued note of 1 Billion mark (1923), visible at http://www.milliondollarbabies.com/Images/Germany/GermanRegional/Mengen1Bil.jpg where you can see the value in numbers and hence showing 12 zeros. 2 different types of $1M promos (though there are others!) can be found at: http://www.millbill.com/Security_Features.htm and at http://www.milliondollarbill.com/mdbpaper.html The American Bank Note Company is responsible for the design and production of the latter of these, which apparently was commissioned by and at first exclusive to the "Institute of Millionaires", and its design has been copied onto a 4-ounce .999 silver ingot, details of which are at http://www.jakesmp.net/Silver_Bars/Million_Dollar_Note_M.html At http://www.development.psu.edu/News/2002/00135800.htm there's a write-up of the 1 million Euros "banknote art" to be found at http://www.banknotables.com/onemillioneuro.asp I feel that this is the type of thing which maybe should be dealt with by an item in the "ANA Money Talks" series. WHY IS IT that some of the E-Sylum's questions open the door to what might almost be called "research papers"? MORE CHIT CHAT Nancy Green, ANA Librarian writes: "I think Bill Spengler gets the prize for best definition of chits. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), 2nd edition; chitty or chit is an Indian word which means "a letter or note; also, a certificate given to a servant or the like; a pass." Just my 2 cents worth for the discussion. NEW LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA NBS Board member Joel Orosz spotted an interesting article in The New York Times of March 1, 2003. The article by Robert F. Woth is titled, "Online Library Wants It All, Every Book" "The legendary library of Alexandria boasted that it had a copy of virtually every known manuscript in the ancient world. This bibliophile's fantasy in Egypt's largest port city vanished, probably in a fire, more than a thousand years ago. But the dream of collecting every one of the world's books has been revived in a new arena: online. The directors of the new Alexandria Library, which christened a steel and glass structure with 250,000 books in October, have joined forces with an American artist and software engineers in an ambitious effort to make virtually all of the world's books available at a mouse click. Much as the ancient library nurtured Archimedes and Euclid, the new Web venture also hopes to connect scholars and students around the world. Of course, many libraries already provide access to hundreds or even thousands of electronic books. But the ambitions of the Alexandria Library appear to surpass those of its rivals. Its directors hope to link the world's other major digital archives and to make the books more accessible than ever with new software." "The library has scanned only about 100,000 pages of its own material, mostly medieval Arabic texts, Mr. Serageldin said. But it has embarked on a plan to digitize thousands of books over the next several years, most of them Arabic texts, with French and English translations, he said. Other works are scheduled to be scanned elsewhere in Africa, including a whole library of crumbling medieval manuscripts in a monastery in Timbuktu in Mali, Mr. Serageldin said. The library will also have access to one million books that are now being scanned by Carnegie Mellon University, which is creating its own vast digital archive and is one of Alexandria's partners." "And putting everything in one place is no longer as risky as it was in the predigital era, said Brewster Kahle, the founder of the Internet Archive. "One lesson of the original Library of Alexandria," he said, "is don't just have one copy." For the full text of the article, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/01ALEX.html?ex=1047785767&ei=1&en=c091ce1307d5404d KLEEBERG COMMENTS ON W. H. SHELDON John M. Kleeberg writes: "In a recent posting, John W. Adams comes to the defense of William Herbert Sheldon and asks us "not to be glib with the truth." Actually, if we examine the truth more carefully, we can understand Sheldon's life of crime better. Sheldon made many extensive thefts of large cents: in the course of ten years of litigation and many more of research, I have found that he stole not only from the American Numismatic Society, but also from many of the leading dealers of the day - Abe Kosoff, Stack's, New Netherlands, Celina Stamp & Coin - and from collectors (the T. James Clarke Estate, the Gaskill estate, and Ted Naftzger) through coin switches. Yet many have been puzzled, asking "Why would a tenured professor at an Ivy League university do this?" One answer is that he didn't have tenure at an Ivy League or any other university. We can understand the motive for these crimes by reading J. E. Lindsay Carter & Barbara Honeyman Heath, Somatotyping - Development and Applications (Cambridge University Press, 1990). This has an extensive introduction discussing Sheldon. Sheldon's career fell apart after the "Starlight" crisis of 1936. A woman he thought he was engaged to, whom he nicknamed "Starlight," married another doctor. Sheldon wrote a foul, abusive letter. Her husband circulated this letter among medical academia. His bizarre letter led him to being squeezed out of the profession, and after 1936 Sheldon did not ever hold again another formal, salaried academic post (Carter & Heath, p. 6). His chief income was his full disability as a major after he developed Hodgkin's disease while in the army in World War II C & H p. 7). Heath, who worked as Sheldon's research assistant, broke with him after she discovered him altering his data to fit his theories. He wanted her to trim photos to fit certain somatotype measurements (C & H p. 12). At the University of Oregon Medical School, Sheldon was given desk space and the title of "clinical professor," but no salary and no benefit under the grant. In 1953 Columbia University threw him out of his space at the hospital (C & H p. 14). Sheldon insisted rigidly on a 7 point scale for somatotypes (C & H p. 13). Sheldon had many mystical beliefs, in particular about the number 7, which explains why he fit both somatotypes and coin grades into Procrustean scales of 7 and 70. After the Second World War, Sheldon had no substantial pension and no large salary - except for whatever he got in disability - and he turned to theft to pay for his retirement. He wrote his cent books and created his grading system as part of his plan - after all, I can always fool you into believing it is colder than it is if I make the thermometer. He was a talented, charming man, but also a psychopath and a thief. We do not do justice to history or to numismatics when we sweep his crimes under the rug." FEATURED WEB SITE This week's featured web site is Jersey Coins and Banknotes by H.K. Fears http://hiwaay.net/~hfears/coins.htm Wayne Homren Numismatic Bibliomania Society

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