The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V24 2021 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 51, December 19, 2021, Article 23

STANLEY APFELBAUM AND FIRST COINVESTORS

CoinWeek has a great article by Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker on First Coinvestors, Stanley Apfelbaum, and Anthony Swiatek. Here's a short excerpt - see ther complete article online. -Editor

  Booker T. Washington Half Dollars

Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen's The Encyclopedia of United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins: 1892-1954 has always been one of my favorite books. Sure, the topic's been done better, most recently by Swiatek himself. And yes, the book is hopelessly optimistic about what was then the future value of the series. But it felt like it was written by authors who really knew the series, and understood what collectors want to know.

Taking a different approach than Don Taxay and his earlier work, the Encyclopedia made you feel like you had privileged access to the always fascinating, sometimes sketchy, inside scoop on some of America's most interesting novelty coins.

What stands out in the minds of many readers is the peculiar way in which the book is laid out. Starting from the premise that every commemorative was created by swindlers and frauds, the coins are listed beside the Latin phrase Corpus Delicti, which means the body of the crime and refers to the facts necessary to the existence of a crime (as in the death of a victim in a murder case). The groups and individuals behind the pieces are identified as Suspects or Accessories, and Swiatek and Breen's description of each coin's design process comes under the header Modus Operandi. It gives the Encyclopedia a kind of True Crime atmosphere, and makes each story seem like an episode of Dragnet. While all along, the authoritative and collegial manner in which the authors write lulls you into a great sense of trust and camaraderie.

Little did I realize, in all the times I've read the book, that some of the fun and games had at the expense of the original purveyors of America's commemorative coin series was also being had on me as well. It seems that the publishers had more at stake than just selling books.

Read on to learn about the planeload of Booker T. and Carver Washington halves. -Editor

To read the complete article, see:
Booker T. on the Tarmac: A Story About First Coinvestors (https://coinweek.com/coins/commemoratives-coin-guide/booker-t-on-the-tarmac-a-story-about-first-coinvestors/)

  Lank E-Sylum ad 2021-10-24 Three Books
 



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      

V24 2021 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2021 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin