The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V21 2018 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 21, Number 40, October 7, 2018, Article 8

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: OCTOBER 7, 2018

Update to Bowers Continental Dollar Article
Regarding last week's Dave Bowers article on the Continental Dollar, Maureen Levine writes:

Continental-EG-FECIT-Labelle-05-07-25-MS-63-L590-obv.jpg Neither Eric P. Newman nor I ever stated that the Continental Dollars were bought and sold in England, or that they were created as medals. In our July 2014 article in The Numismatist, "18th-Century Writings on the Continental Currency Dollar Coin," we wrote that the earliest print mention and illustration of the coin was in a 1783 German almanac featuring a chronicle of the American Revolution written by prominent historian M.C. Sprengel. Nowhere did we suggest anything but an American origin.

Dave has since updated his article, and we have done the same with the version of the E-Sylum archived on the NBS web site.

Perhaps someday some contemporary documentation will be found to settle once and for all the uncertainty around the origin of these pieces. While it's heartening to see many people open to new evidence and thinking, I don't see a solid verdict on these yet one way or another. The British origin theory is gaining traction, but I'm not sure the American origin theory can be completely ruled out either. As we noted at the beginning of this discussion some months back, all we have is a lack of evidence. -Editor

To read the updated E-Sylum article, see:
1776 CONTINENTAL ITEM: FROM COIN TO MEDAL (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n39a16.html)

To read the updated Mint News Blog article, see:
From coin to medal: Transition of the 1776 Continental Currency coin (http://mintnewsblog.com/from-coin-to-medal-transition-of-the-1776-continental-currency-coin/)

Cheyenne Agency Token
Regrding an article published last week, Larry Dziubek writes:

You have a photo error in the Feisel section. You have two “paradise” items and no Cheyenne Agency token.

Oops - Larry's right. One of the images was duplicated. Here it is. We'd also updated the version archived on the NBS web site. Thanks. -Editor

Cheyenne Agency Token

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
FEISEL TOKEN SALE CLOSES OCTOBER 27, 2018 (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n39a22.html)

Clapp's French Sale Catalog
Jan Valentine writes:

Thanks to George Kolbe's help we now know there are at least nine leatherbound French catalogs around. Can anyone who has seen George Clapp's copy, I think it's at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, share with the readers whether his was also in leather and whether his name was stamped on the front cover? I know B. Max Mehl and Clapp were not close !

I've seen the copy in the Wadsworth Rare Book Room at Carnegie Library, but I'm afraid I don't remember if it was a deluxe copy. I was still pretty new to numismatic literature and not familiar with the variants. And there were no cell phones in those days to capture photos. Can anyone help on this one? -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 : More on Leatherbound French Catalogs (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n39a09.html)

Plaster Casts in Coin Photography

The article last week by Jeff Garrett on photography in numismatics described a photograph of an 1804 Silver Dollar which was "actually a photo of a plaster cast; the actual coins were deemed too shiny to photograph". -Editor

Kavan Ratnatunga writes:

Do you have a range in years that the plaster cast method was used?

I found same in the Ceylon Coins and Currency book published in 1924:
http://coins.lakdiva.org/museum_cc/cnm_ccc55.html .

Jan Lingen gave some possible reasons on that page but not that the coins would have been to shiny.

Is that because the film sensitivity was low and the object had to be highly illuminated to photograph? However, since a coin is nearly flat couldn't a wider aperture and longer exposure could be used if that was the case? I am trying to understand all the reasons for the use of a plaster cast method.

I haven't studied photography in numismatic literature. Can anyone help answer Kavan's questions? During what period were plaster casts primarily used? Thank you. -Editor

Testoons and Shillings
Regarding the statement in last week's piece from Allan Davisson that "Shillings were a Tudor innovation that began with the coinage reform under Edward VI," David Powell writes:

No! Previously known as testoons, but of a similar twelve pence value, they originated c.1504 under Henry VII. However, I expect that quite a lot of your English correspondents will be telling you similarly.

Thank you. Here is a short history from the Royal Mint Museum web site. -Editor

Henry-VII-testoon-obv Elizabeth-II-shilling-rev
Left: Henry VII testoon; Right: Elizabeth II shilling, 1953

The shilling as a coin was introduced at the beginning of the 16th century during the last years of the reign of Henry VII and until the middle of that century was known as a testoon. It was one of the first English coins to bear a real portrait of the monarch instead of the representative portrait which had served for the previous ten centuries; and it was for this reason that it derived its name of testoon from the Italian Testone or Headpiece introduced in Milan in 1474.

Convenient in size and value, the shilling became one of the popular workhorses of the silver circulation. Colloquially described for some unknown reason as a bob, it was not superseded until 1968, during the preparations for decimalisation,

To read the complete article, see:
Shilling (http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk/coins/british-coinage/old-denominations/shilling/index.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE SHILLINGS OF ELIZABETH I (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n39a24.html)

1978 Zodiac Calendar Medal Designer
1978 Zodiac Calendar Medal reverse Last week I asked about the designer of the 1978 Zodiac Calendar Medal. Rich Jewell writes:

Marcel Jovine is the artist in question

Correct -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 : 1978 Zodiac Calendar Medal (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n39a20.html)

What Is That Thing?

PAN 2018-09 1715 Fleet Society case

Gary Beals writes:

Well now I am curious (even though it is not numismatics) — The bar-bell shaped piece in the display case at Ben Costello's 1715 Fleet Treasure Coins display is marked with “What is it?” unlike all the other pieces which are identified. I can’t tell if the display is going after audience involvement or the exhibitor does not know that that piece is.

I believe that is an invention cannoneers created centuries ago hoping to tear away a sailing ship’s rigging and canvas. It was supposed to whirl through the air and rip away a vessel’s ability to sail properly. But in reality the pieces just flew straight and punched out a round hole in the sail rather than ripping great gashes in the material aloft. That’s my memory from somewhere — and after all, I was in the U.S. Air Force not the Navy.

Correct! The sign encourages people to ask, and that is indeed the answer. The intent at least, was to blast these at the enemy ship's rigging. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
PAN FALL 2018 SHOW VIDEOS PUBLISHED (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n39a08.html)

Confederate Numismatica Supplement One Correction

Author Peter Bertram submitted this correction to his Confederate Numismatica Supplement One. Thanks. -Editor

Chemico backs CORRECTION 2a

For more information on his book, see these earlier E-Sylum articles:
NEW BOOK: CONFEDERATE NUMISMATICA SUPPLEMENT ONE (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n32a05.html)
REVIEW: CONFEDERATE NUMISMATICA SUPPLEMENT ONE (http://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n35a05.html)

Holabird E-Sylum ad 2018-09-30 October 2018 sale



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      

V21 2018 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2012 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin