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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 5/31/2025 - 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 MAY 18, 2025

New subscribers this week include: Angela Carter and Erik Jansen. Welcome aboard! We now have 7,241 subscribers.

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.

This week we open with a numismatic literature sale, a book review, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, the ANA Summer Seminar and more.

Other topics this week include Seated Halves and Trade Dollars, San Francisco Mint rarities, Sede Vacante coins, retrograde lettering, auction previews, an iron age gold coin hoard, the Shanghai Mint Museum, and paper money in Syria and Russia.

To learn more about the New Orleans Mint, the medal in France, Supernotes, Liberian pattern coins, the Money Museum of Boston, numismatic author Shankar Kumar Bose, the Otoh Collection of Physical Cryptocurrency, Norse-American centennial medals, the coinage of Akragas, the 'baseball crack' reverse, and the medals buried with Pope Francis, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

KOLBE & FANNING MAY 2025 SALE SELECTIONS

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers will be holding our next auction on Saturday, May 31, 2025. Featuring the second half of the L.D. & I.P. Library and additional selections from the library of Barry Tayman, the sale includes rare and out-of-print works on ancient, world and U.S. numismatics. The 500 lots offer something for everybody, with books from the 17th through the 21st century.

Some highlights of this first sale include:

 

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BOOK REVIEW: THE PUBLICATIONS OF ERIC P. NEWMAN

From start to finish, The Publications of Eric P. Newman: A Collector's Guide is an enticing read for bibliophiles and connoisseurs of Eric Newman's numismatic scholarship. I gained a greater appreciation for his diligence as a researcher and writer, as well as his meticulous preparation of manuscripts for publication. I was astonished at the sheer number of novel discoveries that Newman made and followed up on over a period of more than seventy years. This book is a page-turner, as one anticipates the next numismatic mystery to be investigated by Newman. It is worth savoring each page!

This expertly researched, organized, well-illustrated and edited volume is not a hagiography of Newman or his scholarship. It is a creative presentation of Newman's personal papers and library artifacts intertwined with his published works. The authors provide clarity when Newman's research findings have been updated by more recent numismatic research. They also review Eric's rare failures or limits to his scholarship.

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NEWMAN PORTAL ADDS HALF CRAZY

Newman Portal Adds Half Crazy

Recently added to Newman Portal is the latest issue of Half Crazy, the electronic publication of the Seated Half Society. The Bill Bugert volumes on the Liberty Seated Half Dollar (1839-1891) die varieties, first appearing in 2010, have spurred interest in this long running 19th century American series. Although the set consists of over a thousand die marriages, these coins were produced in large quantities, and many varieties are available at accessible prices.

The current issue of Half Crazy includes an interview with John Dannreuther on proof coinage, a call for census information on the 1849 Doubled Date and 1873 No Arrows Open 3 varieties, and an overview of the 1841-O "baseball crack" reverse. Half Crazy is edited by Dennis Fortier and is issued quarterly. To subscribe, contact Dennis at ricajun@msn.com.

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VIDEO: HISTORY BEHIND THE TRADE DOLLAR

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ANA SUMMER SEMINAR 2025, SESSION ONE

Summer Seminar is a once-a-year opportunity for numismatic learning and camaraderie that offers students a varied selection of weeklong courses designed for discovery or continued study.

For many students, Summer Seminar is a life-changing event; it has catapulted the careers of several of the nation's most respected collectors, authors and dealers. Classes are designed to suit every collector's interests and include courses such as: Grading U.S. Coins, Detecting Counterfeit and Altered Coins, ancient Greek and Roman coinage, Early American Copper Coinage, Colonial Americana, Morgan Dollars, World Numismatics, and much more.

Students gather in small groups, allowing everyone to be an active participant. You'll learn from instructors who are recognized leaders in their fields, and from the collective experiences of fellow students, who range in age from teenagers to seniors. Students may select from a variety of tuition and lodging options to meet their needs, preferences and budget. Activities include seminars and lectures, special events, great food, receptions and banquets, and optional tours.

Here are the remaining session one classes for Summer Seminar 2025:

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ANA SUMMER SEMINAR 2025, SESSION TWO

Session 2

Advanced United States Coin Grading & Problem Coins

Discover the nuances of high-grade, mint-state, and proof coins. Learn how to distinguish original surfaces from mint-state and circulated coins that have been cleaned or altered, and how to identify minute imperfections and color variances that can affect a coin's grade. Find out the methods experts use, as well as their own strengths and weaknesses. Enrollment is limited to 24 students.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of "Grading United States Coins, Parts 1 and 2" or instructor permission.

Instructors: Don Ketterling, professional numismatist, D.H. Ketterling Consulting; and Jeff Garrett, Mid-American Rare Coin Galleries, senior editor; and Ken Park

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MORE ON SAN FRANCISCO MINT RARITIES

First the 1894 S dime.

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MORE ON SEDE VACANTE COINS

Martin Purdy of New Zealand writes:

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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MAY 18, 2025

Papal States Paper
With the Pope so much in the news these days, #1 Money Man writes:

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VOCABULARY TERM: RETROGRADE LETTERING

Retrograde Lettering. Lettering which reads backwards; legend or inscription in mirror image. Lettering – as well as all images – are retrograde in the negative (as in a die); however the term is specifically used when the lettering only is backwards in the positive. This is not always obvious for a given piece if it bears a portrait, for example, since portraits look correct in either positive or negative.

An early example of a retrograde legend is on a Marie de Medicis Queen of France Medallion, 1624, in the Kress collection of the United States National Collection (A1307.56S). See illustration. A later example is in the author's collection: a Tiffany medal has all positive elements except for the name of the maker, it is retrograde. What happened here was a punch with "wrong reading" lettering – intended to be punched into a die – was punched into a medal.

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JOHN FRANCIS LEBLANC (1887-1964)

Regular readers of my articles may have noticed that for the past five weeks my topic has been a person mentioned the previous week. This week I look into J. F. LeBlanc, the business successor to William Hesslein.

John Francis LeBlanc was born in Boston on June 13, 1887. He was the son of Louis LeBlanc (1850-1908) and Adelia Adeline Wanders LeBlanc (1859-1932).

On June 4, 1913, he was married to Mary H. Legendre (1892-1927). They had two sons. In 1916 he was employed with the Liberty Trust Company.

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PROFILE: AUTHOR SHANKAR KUMAR BOSE

From a banker turning into a renowned numismatist, Shankar Kumar Bose's journey is a fascinating one, as Ranjita Biswas finds out Kolkata-based Shankar Kumar Bose was a banker when coins from ancestry suddenly made a call and he was enticed, and he then started on a whole new path. At the ripe old age of 87, writer of many books on numismatics, he is still at it, researching, writing and is as enthusiastic as ever in new areas of exploration. Currently, he is collecting documents on the ‘token' banks used to give customers while they waited for service, something now forgotten in the digital age, for his book A Historical Journey of Bank Tokens.

It is quite interesting how Bose, who is originally from Assam, has stepped into the world of coins.

Excerpts of an interview:

From an administrative officer in a PSU bank how did you step into the world of coins?

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DAVISSON'S CUPBOARD SALE ONE

Welcome to the inaugural "Davissons Ltd. Cupboard Sale" featuring interesting, collectible coins, tokens, medals, and books, all estimated at or below $100.

Throughout many years of doing business, we have held on to significant coins from old collections, auction purchases, unsold consignments, and more. With relatively low values, it has not been economically practical to include them in our larger sales.

Yet these lower cost coins can be important parts of a collection. All coins in this sale qualify as worthwhile. The term "Cupboard" accurately reflects where many of them have been for the last while.

We have also pulled from choice, previously offered better material that for one reason or another did not sell in our auctions, so we offer it here at lower estimates.

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HERITAGE: OTOH PART IV PHYSICAL CRYPTO SALE

BTCC titanium Loaded (Unredeemed) 1 Bitcoin (BTC) 2016 MS68 Antiqued NGC, Ahonen-pg. 81. Total issued: 1375. Firstbits 1DCy2K35q. V Series. Type PF. 43mm. A virtually pristine example of this bold and impressive "space-grade" titanium issue containing a full Bitcoin 'minted' before the 2017 hard fork. Accompanied by the red case of issue and COA.

From the Otoh Collection of Physical Cryptocurrency, Part IV

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HERITAGE: NORSE AMERICAN CENTENNIAL MEDALS

Call it a centennial celebration … of a centennial celebration.

The Restauration — a Norwegian ship carrying 45 immigrants, many of whom settled in Minnesota and became an integral part of the community — arrived in America in 1825. One hundred years later, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia celebrated the arrival of the Restauration and the launch of the Norse-American community with the striking of a series of medals. Now, a century after the centennial celebration, a selection of the rarest of those medals, from the collection of David F. Schmidt, will be offered in the ANA US Coins Signature® Auction August 26-31. Heritage Auctions is an ANA Event Auctioneer Partner.

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THE COINAGE OF AKRAGAS

Akragas (Agrigentum in Latin, now Agrigento, Italy) was founded around 582 BCE by Greek colonists from the nearby city of Gela on the south coast of Sicily.

Located between two small rivers and blessed with fertile soil in the surrounding area, it grew to be the second-largest city of Sicily, exceeded only by the great port of Syracuse. Akragas issued some of the most beautiful and admired ancient coins ever struck. The well-preserved "Valley of Temples" at Akragas is a World Heritage Site and a popular tourist attraction today.

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COIN OLDEST KNOWN RECORD OF NAME 'TURK'

A remarkable archaeological find in Uzbekistan has unearthed a 6th-century coin bearing the inscription Turk-Kagan, a discovery that could significantly reshape our understanding of the early Turkic Khaganates and the first written appearance of the name Turk.

The coin, discovered near Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, is attributed to the Western Turk period. Professor Dr. Gaybulla Babayarov, an expert at the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences National Archaeology Centre, has identified the inscription in Sogdian script as twrk x'?'n – Turk-Kagan. This remarkable finding predates the previously known use of the term by approximately 150 years.

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IRON AGE GOLD COIN HOARD TO BE DISPLAYED

A "one-of-a-kind" cache of 933 Iron Age gold coins whose finder was convicted of attempted theft is to go on permanent display close to where it was discovered.

The Great Baddow Hoard, which was found in 2020, is a "nationally significant" find because it is Britain's largest recorded Iron Age gold coin hoard, according to experts.

It was declared treasure by a coroner and has been acquired by the Museum of Chelmsford, Essex, after receiving a £250,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant.

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THE 1844-O $5 AND $10 PROOF GOLD COINS

For the first time in a century, the unique pair of 1844 $5 and $10 Proof Gold coins minted in New Orleans have been reunited and will be on display at the ANA World's Fair of Money to be held in Oklahoma, August 19-23 at the Oklahoma City Convention Center.

GreatCollections, the rare coin company and auction house based in Irvine, California has announced that they have sold the two coins in separate transactions to the same collector who has assembled one of the greatest collections of U.S. numismatic rarities ever formed, known as the Elite Collection. No price has been disclosed, although the two coins will be insured for $15 million while on display in Oklahoma.

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RECYCLED SILVER PASSES TRIAL OF THE PYX

The King's Remembrancer, Senior Master Cook of the Kings' Bench Division of the High Court, has today pronounced a positive verdict on the 6,432 coins submitted in February by The Royal Mint at the Trial of the Pyx – one of the United Kingdom's oldest judicial processes.

Among the submissions was a silver sixpence made from silver recovered from expired medical and industrial x-ray films. Reintroduced by The Royal Mint in 2016 as a decimal coin, the silver sixpence is traditionally thought to bring luck and good fortune when given as a gift at weddings, birthdays, christenings and anniversaries. The x-ray silver sixpence was released in a limited run to promote the revival of "Stir Up Sunday" – a Victorian tradition where a silver sixpence would be placed into the Christmas pudding mix, before family members took turns to stir the pudding and make a wish – their production forms part of the Mint's commitment to pioneering sustainability across its businesses.

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SHANGHAI MINT MUSEUM COINECT EXHIBIT

• Over 100 (sets of) coins and medals from the Shanghai Mint Museum's collection will be showcased in London from 8 to 14 June 2025
• Visitors will be able to view award-winning coin and medal designs that reflect Chinese history and culture
• The exhibition will feature shortlisted designs for a new coin, with the winning entry produced by the Shanghai Mint

For the first time, highlights from the commemorative coin and medal collection of the Shanghai Mint Museum will be showcased in London at the former Royal Mint. Titled COINect, the exhibition will explore Chinese culture and creativity over the past two centuries through the art of coin design. The temporary exhibition, which is free to visit with a pre-booked ticket, will be open from 8 to 14 June.

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THE BATTLE AT BREITENFELDT

The Battle at Breitenfeldt in 1631 stands as one of the most important battles in the 30-Years' War (1618-1648). It was the first major Protestant victory and marks the beginning of a string of Swedish victories.

As was customary at the time, a medal was struck to commemorate this momentous event. The medal, which measures 58 mm, has the victorious King Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus) on the obverse, his portrait within an oval surrounded by his titles and farther out war trumpets and banners.

The reverse depicts the battle itself and is the kind of motive one can really get lost in: more than 150 soldiers; Cavalrymen, Pikeman, and Musketeers, advancing through billowing smoke as fallen troops and scattered weapons lie strewn on the battlefield. In the far background a city can be seen (Leipzig / Breitenfeldt?).

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COUNTERFEIT NOTES UNDERMINE SYRIA ECONOMY

The arrival of the Turkish lira and dollars from areas in northern Syria or carried by Syrians coming from abroad has led to an increase in currency exchange activities, and soon it became a quick-profit business, with much counterfeit money circulating, especially in Syrian currency.

University student Maya Abboud said that she tried to send an amount to her family in the city of Jableh, but the transfer company discovered that she was carrying three counterfeit notes of 5,000 without her knowledge.

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SYRIA TO STOP PRINTING BANKNOTES IN RUSSIA

As U.S. and EU sanctions are easing, Syria plans to stop issuing new banknotes through Russia's state-owned Goznak and instead print them in the UAE and Germany, Reuters reported May 16, citing three sources.

According to those sources, the switch to a new arrangement to print paper currency will also alter the design on the banknotes. The redesign will remove the image of deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad from the SYP2,000 banknote.

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NEW-DESIGN U.S. BILLS VANISH FROM RUSSIA

New series U.S. dollar banknotes have virtually disappeared from Russian banks and currency exchanges, Russian pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Shot reported on May 13, citing employees at local exchange offices.

"We have nowhere to get them. We sell what people bring in," said a woman in a video released by Shot, filmed in a way that concealed her face.

The currency worker also voiced concerns that after the summer vacation season, the new-format U.S. dollars will become even scarcer.

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LOOSE CHANGE: MAY 18, 2025

De La Rue Takeover Fails

Britain's De La Rue said on Thursday a consortium of British financier Edi Truell's companies no longer intends to make an offer for the banknote printer.

Last month, De La Rue backed a $347 million takeover bid from U.S. private equity firm Atlas Holdings, while rejecting a higher preliminary proposal from Truell, citing concerns over its lack of committed financing and clear structure.

De La Rue, which printed the new King Charles III currency notes in the UK, has been working to stabilise its finances following a pandemic-era slump in demand driven by the rise of contactless payments.

To read the complete article, see:
Edi Truell's consortium no longer plans to make offer for banknote printer De La Rue (https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/edi-truells-consortium-no-longer-plans-make-offer-banknote-printer-de-la-rue-2025-05-15/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
BANKNOTE PRINTER DE LA RUE MAY BE SOLD (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n22a25.html)

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE: MAY 18, 2025

Can the O's blame AI for a bad season? See:
The Simulation Says the Orioles Should Be Good (https://www.404media.co/the-simulation-says-the-orioles-should-be-good/)

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