HARRY BOOSEL'S 1873 OPEN AND CLOSED 3'S

Boosel had an unusual specialty – collecting anything numismatic with the date 1873. Focusing initially on United States coinage of that year, he began writing monthly columns in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine beginning in March, 1957. In 1960 he put together, from his columns, a book on the topic titled simply 1873 – 1873, using type fonts resembling the two date styles of that year, the closed 3 and the open 3. The book was published by Hewitt Brothers of Chicago, then publisher of NSM. Next year will be its 60th anniversary.

Circa 1967, Boosel, who had continued writing “1873” articles, published a hardcover edition of 500 copies which included tear sheets of four subsequent supplements. He made a few pen and ink changes before autographing and signing the hardcovers. In all, Boosel wrote at least nine supplements, furnishing hand-marked tear sheets along with the hardcover books. The latest supplement that I have is a tear sheet from the 1987 Coinage of the Americas Conference at the American Numismatic Society in New York on the topic America’s Silver Coinage 1794-1891. Boosel’s contribution was titled “The Silver Coinage of 1873, and the So-Called Crime of 1873.” He died in 1994.

Why all this background? Look closely at the inscription at the bottom of Boosel’s 2½ cent token: “1873 HXB. 1973”. To my eyes, the 3 on the first date is “closed” and that on the second is “open”!

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
QUERY: BOOSEL'S 2 1/2 CENT COIN CONCEPT (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n52a08.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JANUARY 6, 2019 : More on the 2 1/2 Coin Concept (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n01a10.html)

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