The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V11 2008 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 28, July 13, 2008, Article 6

CHARLES DAVIS ON INSIGNIFICANT ADJECTIVES IN COIN CATALOGUE DESCRIPTIONS

Numismatic literature dealer Charlie Davis submitted the following quiz. -Editor
Question: What is significant about the following words? satiny, elusive, enigmatic, attractive, extraordinary, lustrous, classic, intriguing, stately, amazingly rare, pleasing, incredible, awesome, impressive, nice, distinctive, exemplary, celebrated, splendid, popular, famous, desirable, remarkable, compelling, lovely, dazzling, sparkling, satisfying, fascinating, extraordinary, dramatic, landmark, outstanding, exciting, unusual, appealing, and important.

Answer: They are just some of the hollow modifiers gleaned from the headlines of the latest Stack's catalogue. The last one is my favorite. I do not see a coin as being "important." A cure for cancer is important, but we take our selves a little to seriously to consider a coin important. Significant - yes, but not important. And notice that the word significant is missing from the above list.

So why now do I point this out when it has been going on since Kurt Krueger's nauseating 1984 ANA catalogue? An English colleague who now receives the similarly written Smythe catalogues for the first time since the company's purchase by Spink called me with both amusement and disgust in his voice. My answer was of course, "Welcome to America. We speak English here."

THE BOOK BAZARRE

DAVID SKLOW - FINE NUMISMATIC BOOKS now accepting consignments for our October 4th mail bid auction. Consignments in hand include the first 25 numbered Steigerwalt sales . numismaticbooks@aol.com (719) 302-5686, visit our web site www.finenumismaticbooks.com
DAVID F. FANNING NUMISMATIC LITERATURE offers fixed price lists on our Web site at www.fanningbooks.com. In stock: Monograph of Second Restrike Proof Half Cents, by Richard T. Coleman, Jr. 2nd ed., 1999. Comb binding, 30 pages, 21 plates. $75 postpaid. dfanning@columbus.rr.com





Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V11 2008 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2008 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin