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About Us The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit association devoted to the study and enjoyment of numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at coinbooks.org Subscriptions Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers (or wishing to Unsubscribe) can go to the following web page link Membership There is a membership application available on the web site Membership Application To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Print/Digital membership is $40 to addresses in the U.S., and $60 elsewhere. A digital-only membership is available for $25. For those without web access, write to: Jeff Dickerson, Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society P. O. Box 578, Weatherford, TX 76086 Asylum For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership questions, contact Jeff at this email address: treasurer@coinbooks.org Submissions To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com BUY THE BOOK BEFORE THE COIN Sale Calendar February 17, 2024 Kolbe & Fanning

 

Content presented in The E-Sylum is not necessarily researched or independently fact-checked, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM DECEMBER 17, 2023

Thank you for reading The E-Sylum. If you enjoy it, please send me the email addresses of friends you think may enjoy it as well and I'll send them a subscription. Contact me at whomren@gmail.com anytime regarding your subscription, or questions, comments or suggestions about our content.

We currently send two versions of the email each week. One is the regular long version, and the other is a very short one with a link to the complete version online. Some email providers (AOL, Yahoo) don't like the long version. The short version seems to get through to everyone, and next year we may stop sending the long one to reduce clutter and confusion. If you're getting both versions but haven't tried using the short one, please do so and let us know if you have any problems.

Also, since the upcoming issue dates fall on Christmas and New Year's Eve, we'll likely not publish Sunday night as usual but sometime the following day or so. Happy holidays!

This week we open with five new books, two passings, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, notes from readers, Christmas collectibles, and more.

Other topics this week include Roman Imperial Coinage, the Charlotte Mint Museum, overlettering, fixed price and auction previews, King Charles coins, dodgy toonies, medals for dishonor, St. Nicholas, bitcoin banknotes, and movie prop money.

To learn more about how to become a coin dealer, the San Fernando Book Co., Bob Lyall, Santa’s helpers, sickly coins, Christmas puddings, the Boston Stamp Heists, useless papers, documents, and records, Persian hairpin money, a huge silver pentakaidekadrachm, and the rebel Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

NEW BOOK: ROMAN IMPERIAL COINAGE V.4 GALLIC EMPIRE

Roman Imperial Coinage Volume V.4: The Gallic Empire
by Jerome Mairat

Regular price £150.00
276 x 219mm, 404 pages

The Roman Imperial Coinage (abbreviated RIC) is a typological catalogue of Roman Imperial coins from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC to Late Antiquity in 491 AD. It aims to offer a complete and chronological reconstruction of the whole coinage produced by each of the Roman emperors. The series was started in 1923, and has become the standard work for numismatic reference. It was previously comprised of 10 volumes in 13 parts, some of which are currently being revised and will be divided differently.

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NEW BOOK: GOLD COINS OF THE WORLD, 10TH ED

The last edition of Gold Coins of the World, by Arthur L. Friedberg and Ira S. Friedberg, was published by the Coin & Currency Institute six years ago, in 2017. That edition the ninth and each one before are derived from the original, groundbreaking 1958 work by Robert Friedberg, whose cataloging and numbering system revolutionized the way gold coins are collected. It changed the face of world-gold collecting at that time, and it remains unparalleled in its scope and universal usage today, six decades later. Collectors and dealers around the world rely on the Friedberg Numbering System™ to systematically identify and study any gold coin ever made. Now, the Friedberg legacy is renewed yet again with the all-new, tenth edition of Gold Coins of the World. Three years in the making, the newest edition calls on the expertise of a numismatic who's-who of more than one hundred expert contributors and consultants from across the globe.

The continued respect commanded by each edition of the volume is due to the expertise of both the authors and the impressive contributors they bring together. The popularity of gold coins, however, is due to a whole host of factors. It is not an overstatement to say that the history of gold coinage parallels, and has helped define. the trajectory of civilization.

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NEW BOOK: MEDALS FOR DISHONOR

Title: David Smith: Medals For Dishonor
Text by: Michael Brenson, Dore Ashton, Matthew Marks

This catalogue examines a major though little-known body of David Smith's work. Enraged by the rise of fascism that he witnessed while visiting Europe in the 1930s, Smith began to work on the “Medals for Dishonor.” Approaching the tradition of commemorative medallions ironically, Smith denounces historical players who willingly contributed to the horrors of war.

Publisher: Independent Curators International (ICI)
Publication Date: 1997
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 84
Item Length: 9.5in
Item Width: 9.5in

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NEW BOOK: ART & MONEY

Banknotes: unique in the world of product design, a source of artistic inspiration, and the visual brand of money and debt. But why do we use cash? Why does it look the way it does? What does it say about us, life on Earth, and where we’re going as a species?

Artist Tom Badley brings together his experience in art, design, cryptocurrency, history, and his work in the banknote industry to present a unique philosophy of money design.

In doing so, he uncovers society’s beliefs on life, evolution, and the future of money.

 

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NEW BOOK: GUIDE TO BECOMING A COIN DEALER

ChatGPT, one of the most famous AI tools on the market at present, created this entire book in less than an hour. ChatGPT (Version 3.5) took the prompt, “Outline for a book titled How to Become a Coin Dealer”, and created a ten chapter outline in just a few seconds. Each line in the outline became its own prompt from which ChatGPT generated entire sections in less than a minute each. The final count came to over 37,000 words. Compare this to the months it would have taken a human to write a similar book.

ChatGPT even provided alternative titles for this book, several of which were entirely appropriate, and from which the actual title was chosen.

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EMIL NICHOLAS EUSANIO (~1925-2022)

Last month, I bought on eBay a lot of twenty COINage magazines (1972-1984) and in the February 1978 issue, page 17 there is a very interesting article written by Bob Wolenik and titled "He Deals In Coin Books". At that time Emil Nicholas Eusanio was working as an engineer at Rockwell, International and he was the owner of "San Fernando Book Co." in California.

Emil said: "I found the books were harder to find than the coins, so I never got around to purchasing the coins".

I was looking for information about Emil N. Eusanio and found that he was the son of Emil Eusanio (1902-1975) and Lucy Marrano (1908-2007) and both native from Italy (most likely from the Abruzzo region). His parents came from Italy to New York in 1905.

Emil N. Eusanio was a mechanical engineer graduated from the University of Buffalo (NY) generation 1946-1950. On October 13, 1973 he married Patricia L. Kinman in Los Angeles, California.

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BOB LYALL (1938-2023)

Ken Eckardt writes:

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CHRISTMAS RIDDLES & THE COIN COLLECTOR

Christmas Riddles & The Coin Collector

The Coin Collector, a monthly house organ published in tabloid form by Bowers & Merena from 1994 to 2003, numbered 144 issues total. The readable Bowers formula combined coin commentary, the occasional presentation of original research, letters to the editor, engaging graphics, and of course coins for sale. The Internet has rendered the format obsolete, a pity for those of us who eagerly snatched such publications from the mailbox. From the February 19, 2001 issue (no. 104) come a pair of Christmas riddles contributed by reader Dr. Kathy Helgesen Fuller, “a long time reader of our publications.”

Q. What do you call Santa’s helpers?
A. Subordinate Clauses.

Q. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
A. Frostbite.

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VIDEO: FEBRUARY 2017 LONG BEACH EXPO

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CHARLOTTE MINT MUSEUM COIN EXHIBIT

Greg Adams writes:

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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: DECEMBER 17, 2023

A $3 Gold Piece Love Token
Ken Barr writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: DECEMBER 10, 2023 Christmas 1884 Love Token on $1 Gold Piece (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n50a10.html)

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THE PROOF COIN IS IN THE PUDDING!

Fresh white coins
The Birmingham Daily Post on 26th December 1889 commented that there is always a great demand for new coins from Royal Mint at Christmas for gifts to postmen, messengers, family. Most people want “a fresh white shilling, florin or crown.” Even the “thrifty threepence” were in demand for puddings. It is interesting that new coins are described as “white”.

Sickly coins
On 25th December 1925 the Western Gazette reported that the Royal Mint normally issued more coins at Christmas. In previous years silver threepences were popular but that had declined because they turn a “bilious” (sickly) colour when cooked! Before 1920 coins contained 92.5% silver. Perhaps the colour change related to the reduced bullion content.

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AN IRISH NUMISMATIC TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Ronan Fitzpatrick writes:

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VOCABULARY TERMS: OVERLETTER, OVERLETTERING

Overletter, Overlettering. One or more letters on a die reworked by punches or re-engraved to correct the lettering. Like overdating, new letters are intended to replace existing letters, to update or correct a die so it may continue to be used. The die is softened and new letters are overpunched the existing letters in a die (which is then hardened by heat treating and placed in use). Or, the die can be softened and reworked by hand engraving, cutting new letters deeper into the die to obliterate the incorrect existing letters. Often parts of the under letter can be seen near the replaced letter on pieces struck from a reworked die.

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THE BOSTON STAMP HEISTS

There was a series of thefts of stamp collections in the Boston area during 1971 to 1973. The total estimate of losses exceeded a third of a million dollars. The individuals involved included a number of prominent stamp and coin dealers, thieving police officers, corrupt FBI agents, criminal gangs and organized crime figures.

Two masked gunmen robbed the store of Confederate Philately in Back Bay Boston on March 17, 1971.They took stamps from a safe that was open for inventory and filled two green bags. The owner, Jack E. Molesworth, was vacationing in Florida at the time. Taken were 400,000 stamps. Joseph McDonald and James Sims were suspected of involvement in the crime. They were both convicted and sentenced for other crimes.

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NATIONAL SILVER DOLLAR ROUND TABLE ESSAY

As an NSDR board member I have the pleasure of announcing a Young Numismatist (YN) essay competition for early 2024. Essays must be written solely by the YN who has not reached his 19th birthday by March 1, 2024 and can cover any aspect of United States silver dollars. Essay length should be from 300 to 500 words and must be received by the NSDR by March 1, 2024.

Winners of the competition will be announced March 17, 2024. The first place winner will be awarded a scholarship for one week attendance at the ANA Summer Seminar to include airfare. Second and third place will receive a US Savings Bond for $500 and $250 respectively.

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ATLAS NUMISMATICS SELECTIONS: DECEMBER 17, 2023

1076737 | ROMAN REPUBLICAN. ETRURIA. Populonia. Struck circa 300-250 BC. AV 25 Asses. NGC Ch. AU (Choice About Uncirculated) Strike 5/5 Surface 4/5. 11.5mm-13mm. 1.39gm. ??V (retrograde). Lion's head with tongue protruding, right / (Blank). Vecchi 21.70, obverse die O1, this piece; Vecchi, SNR 67 (1988) 47.28, this piece; SNG ANS 2, same die; SNG Lloyd 10 = Jenkins AGC 475, same die).

Ex P.& P. Santamaria listino (1961) No. 2; Ex Münzen und Medaillen Auction 44, Basel (15 June 1971) Lot 1; Ex Peus Auction 336, Frankfurt (199) Lot 5; Ex Tradart (18 November 1993) Lot 5 (Color plate pg. 28); Ex European Connoisseur collection (formed before 2002).
$19,500

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NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: DECEMBER 17, 2023

102604 | GERMANY. Silesia. Noah's Ark silver Medal. Issued circa 1736. On the desire for an end to famine (21mm, 2.71 g, 12h). By J. L. Oexlein in Nürnberg. BEFIEHL DEM HERREN DEINE WEGE (surrender yourself to the Lord...), Noah's Ark facing right upon the water; above, dove flying left, with olive branch in beak; in two lines in exergue, UND HOFFE / AUF IHN (...and place your hope in Him...) // ER WIRDS WOHL MACHEN (...for He will do it), seven worshipers on their knees in act of prayer; lighted altar between them; rainbow arcing across the sky above; representation of an ark (alluding to Noah's Ark atop Mt. Ararat) upon hill in background to right. Edge: Plain. F&S 4240; Erlanger 2751. Mint State Details. Lightly toned and highly brilliant, with a few inconsequential marks on the rims accounting for the details designation. A charming and fairly small medal that packs a great deal into its size. $395.

The precise sentiments of this small medal are not entirely known, as some have ascribed it to the plight of Salzburg emigrants, while others suggest an end to famine being experienced locally in Silesia. Given the iconography, a famine seems more likely given the cataclysmic effect of the flooding relating to Noah's Ark, but the religious sentiment is strongly recounted no matter the event commemorated.

To read the complete item description, see:
102604 | GERMANY. Silesia. Noah's Ark silver Medal. $395Price (https://www.numismagram.com/product-page/102604)

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CNG TRITON XXVII SALE

A spectacular run of six Syracusan silver dekadrachms , the beautiful “Queen of Greek Coins” struck circa 405-390 BC, and a magnificent silver stater depicting “the Weary Hercules,” are but a taste of the ancient Greek masterpieces showcased in Classical Numismatic Group LLC’s Triton XXVII Auction, scheduled live an online January 9-10, 2024.

CNG’s annual marquis auction boasts one of its strongest-ever offerings of Greek, Roman, Medieval, World and British coins, comprising 1,341 lots with a total estimated value of $5.5 million. Many of the Greek, Roman and British coins offered boast pedigrees that extend back to the early 1900s or before.

The auction will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, January 9-10, at the InerContintental New York Barclay Hotel, 111 East 48th Street, New York, NY, in conjunction with the 52 nd New York International Numismatic Convention. The auction will also be webcast live on CNG’s website, www.cngcoins.com.

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TCNC JANUARY 2024 NEW YEAR'S SALE

Welcome to The 2024 New Year’s sale event. This auction of more than 2,200 Numismatic & Militaria lots features three major collections joined by selections from over 62 other consignors across North America.

The first three sessions are highlighted by three attractive coin, banknote and war medal collections. The Brown collection of Canadian banknotes Part II, The “Little Collection Part VIII” of Canadian coins, The “Militaria Collection Part I” of War medals and other related items.

The “Militaria” Collection holds a premium selection of carefully chosen elusive war medals of Canada and Great Britain issues. Also featuring in this auction; a possibly UNIQUE Nova Scotia Treasury note dated 1838, an elusive 1932 50 cents in Mint State-64. An amazing 1872H 50 cents in Mint State-63 graded by PCGS, a stunning and tied for finest known 1889 25 Cents in Choice Mint State-64, a very beautiful 1931 5 Cents in Gem Specimen-67. A rare 1885 5/3 (small 5/5) 5 cents in Choice Mint State-63. A great 1935 $25 Binary/Repeater with serial number A010101 in Choice About Uncirculated-58 condition, a Unique Trial 1912 $5 Back Proof DC-21CT with Green colour in Choice About Uncirculated-55. A rare 1935 $5 French text with serial number #A000010 in Choice condition, a stunning 1954 $1000 BC-44c in Gem Uncirculated. A lovely set of 1973 $1 with low serial numbers and a complete Set with solid numbers.

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NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: DECEMBER 17, 2023

Persian Hairpin Money

Lot 603. Persian, Safavid Empire. 1501-1736. AR larin (hairpin money). Rare.

Larins (hairpin money) were produced sometime during the 16th to 18th centuries. They are thin strips of silver bent double and clipped, and then stamped with inscriptions.

To read the complete lot description, see:
Lot 603. Persian, Safavid Empire. 1501-1736. AR larin (hairpin money). Rare. (https://agoraauctions.com/doc/listing/viewdetail/58016)

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SPANISH COLONIAL CUARTILLOS

The Stack’s Bowers Galleries January 2024 NYINC Auction will be offering a specialized catalog featuring Emilio M. Ortiz’s landmark collection of Spanish colonial Cuartillos. Many incredibly elusive cob issues and conditional rarities will headline the sale, so specialists in the series should be sure not to miss this opportunity.

Valued at just 1/4 Real but typically still struck in fine silver, the Cuartillo circulated extensively across all rungs of the social hierarchy of Spanish America. Owing to the coin’s diminutive size, mint workers could not simply miniaturize the 8 Real designs as they had done for the other minor denominations. Consequently, some of the most interesting, creative, and enigmatic designs of the Spanish colonial series are found exclusively on the humble Cuartillo. The wars of independence that erupted in the early 19th century give us some of the most individual and elusive issuances of the Cuartillo, pieces that foreshadow the rich numismatic output of the early post-colonial republics.

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AUSTRALIA RELEASES NEW $1 KING CHARLES COIN

The first Australian coins featuring King Charles’ head on them are now in circulation across the country, joining the millions featuring his late mother Queen Elizabeth.

The effigy of King Charles III will feature on the new $1 coins being manufactured by the Royal Australian Mint.

The first batch of 3.5 million coins have been delivered to the banks and will join the coins featuring the effigy of the late Queen Elizabeth II, which will continue to remain in circulation.

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REALLY BAD FAKE CANADIAN TOONIES

Gerry Tebben writes:

An arrest and huge seizure of 26,000 allegedly counterfeit $2 coins in Quebec, and a second smaller seizure of the same dodgy coins in a northern Ontario city a few months later, suggests that a new counterfeit toonie variety is circulating across Canada, a coin expert says.

Global News learned about a new variety of fake toonie while researching the case of the Quebec man who is facing criminal charges for an alleged attempt to import more than 26,000 dodgy toonies from a coin maker in China, paying a nickel a piece for them, plus shipping, court records state.

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DAVID SMITH’S MEDALS FOR DISHONOR

The Harvard Art Museums today announce the gift of Medals for Dishonor, a critical early work by preeminent 20th-century sculptor David Smith (American, 1906–1965). The gift from the artist’s estate comprises 14 cast bronze narrative reliefs from a profoundly political and satirical series that addresses anti-war and anti-fascist themes. The 15th medal in the series has been placed on long-term loan by the estate. These works join a large group of sculptures, paintings, and works on paper by Smith in the Harvard Art Museums collections. Harvard is now the only institution with the ability to show the Medals for Dishonor as a unified group.

“This transformative gift allows the museums to continue to exhibit, study, and teach with these critical early works in the way that the artist himself envisioned,” said Sarah Kianovsky, who recently retired as Curator of the Collection in the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Harvard Art Museums.

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MORE ON MEDALS FOR DISHONOR

David Smith (Decatur, Indiana, 1906-Bennington, Vermont, 1965) was one of the foremost artists of the 20th century. Smith, the sculptor most closely linked with Abstract Expressionism, revolutionized art in the United States by introducing into its sculptural idioms a rich synthesis of models pioneered in Europe by Pablo Picasso and Julio González, as well as the Surrealists, and the Russian Constructivists. Smith is believed to have created the first welded metal sculptures in America. His diverse and broadly inventive oeuvre paved the way for many of the sculptors who followed in the later twentieth century.

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JELONEK AWARDED WACKS JUDAICA ART MEDAL

The winner of the 2023 Mel Wacks Judaica Art Medal Award for the best medal shown at FIDEM featuring a Judaic or biblical theme was Hanna Jelonek for her homage to "The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” by sculptor Nathan Rapoport, installed in Warsaw and Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. The medal commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, led by the youthful Mordecai Anielewicz, who is portrayed by Jelonek and Rapoport as a more mature man.

The uprising was the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II; a total of 13,000 Jews were killed. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the uprising was "one of the most significant occurrences in the history of the Jewish people."

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THAT’S NOT SANTA CLAUS

I enjoyed seeing the banknote issued by the Central Bank of New Ulm. I believe that is not a vignette of Santa Claus. Let me tell you why.

You are probably familiar with the poem, Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore first published in 1823. The actual title is A Visit from St. Nicholas. The poem never mentions Santa Claus.

This may be hard for some readers to accept. When the St. Nicholas Bank issued bank notes in 1853 with a jolly man, his sleigh and reindeer, it was not a vignette of Santa Claus. It was a vignette of St. Nicholas.

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TOM BADLEY'S BITCOIN BANKNOTES

Fusing the digital and tangible to transform cryptocurrency into a physical form, Tom Badley introduces a family of banknote-like bearer instruments, capable of holding and transmitting Bitcoin. The London-based designer’s concept for Bitcoin Banknotes has been a persistent idea since the inception of cryptocurrency in 2009, drawing a connection to traditional monetary structures. The vibrant design of the notes celebrates the novelty, volatility, and contrarian nature of its namesake through a modernist, aspirational, and affirmative approach. Recognizable visual elements such as logos, flags, moons, and the Genesis Block hash find a place in the design lexicon. However, given Bitcoin’s faceless nature, a classical heads motif reminiscent of Hellenistic deities was introduced to instill a sense of trust, a crucial element in currency design. Nodding to Bitcoin’s association with ‘moon money’, each deity on the banknotes also wears an astronaut’s suit, and the rim of the helmet collar helps to frame the heads.

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LOOSE CHANGE: DECEMBER 17, 2023

The Susan B. Anthony Dollar

In one of those odd happenings that liven up numismatic history, a coin dealer managed to get a few hundred Anthony dollars in advance of the official release date, no doubt with the help of a friendly banker. The Treasury, apparently believing that this was a heinous crime of the worst kind, made a real effort to prosecute the hapless individual. Although the net result was the usual great waste of money and time, in truth, they should have given the coin dealer a medal for at least helping to popularize the new coin.

In due course, the coins, after a huge publicity campaign mounted at taxpayer expense, were duly released and were met with reactions ranging from a loud yawn to outright hostility. This was followed by laughter on a grand scale as the public realized the magnitude of the blunder. It was not long before the most commonly heard name for the new coin was the “Agony Dollar,” a play on words that reflected the unnecessarily stern look on Miss Anthony’s face.

Shortly after this, and to prove some strange political point, Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin forced through the Senate a ban on further coinage of the Anthony dollars until his demands were met. They soon were, and coinage resumed. Proxmire was once famous for handing out awards to bureaucrats for wasting money but was singularly quiet when it came to his part in this coinage disaster.

To read the complete article, see:
The Susan B. Anthony Dollar (https://www.numismaticnews.net/collecting-101/the-susan-b-anthony-dollar)

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MONEY MEASUREMENT MANIA

Juan Amaya has done hundreds of millions of dollars in cash business—fake dollars, that is.

Amaya runs Prop Movie Money, a business in Miami that makes look-alike bills for film and TV productions. His company’s products have starred in the “Fast & Furious” franchise and shows such as “Billions.”

Makers of prop money alter visual details such as Benjamin Franklin’s portrait to prevent it from being seen as counterfeit currency. Still, the result is pretty convincing.

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FEATURED WEBSITE: PROP MOVIE MONEY

This week's Featured Web Site is the producer of prop movie money featured in an earlier article in this issue.

https://propmoviemoney.com/