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V29 2026 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 29, Number 11, 2026, Article 16

E-Sylum Feature Writer and American Numismatic Biographies author Pete Smith submitted this article on the impact of numismatic publishers. Thanks - great topic. -Editor

We pay a lot of attention to the authors of books we read. How important is the publisher? With the competing 1980's half cent references, the publisher made a huge difference.

Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents 1793-1857 was published in 1983 by the American Institute of Numismatic Research of South Gate, California. The name of the publisher sounds impressive and this was probably the intent. They even had a classical logo with an Athenian Owl.

The address was 2840 Indiana Avenue in South Gate, California. This was a modest two-bedroom bungalow where Jack Collins lived with his mother. George F. Kolbe described the library.

"The first time I visited his home, there were seven-foot-high stacks of hardbound volumes of Coin World flanking the entrance to his bedroom. One had to turn sideways to enter and, once inside, one tread very carefully. The walls, and most of the windows, were hidden by bookcases and there were stacks of catalogues on the bed. I recall Jack telling me that he had to move the catalogues to the floor before going to bed in the evening and had to put them back in the morning to clear the narrow pathway out."

Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents book cover

The role of a book publisher is to finance the project, edit the manuscript, do layout and art design, marketing and distribution or hire others to do those activities. Usually, the printing is contracted out to a professional printer.

Jack Collins was credited as publisher, designer and photographer. The photo on the first page shows Walter Breen sitting at a desk in front of bookshelves with fine bindings and titled "The Master at Study."

Three pages later there was a half-page biography followed by a full-page portrait of Breen wearing a medallion as a pendant. Was this some well-deserved literary award? No, it was a generic fur trade medal just serving as a photo prop.

Such a glamorized author photo was new in numismatic publishing, and probably remains unique. Collins created a fanciful setting totally unlike the Breen that I remember. I recall that he often dressed in sandals and a tie-died T-shirt. Collins was trying to give Breen a touch of class.

The book was offered in a full-page ad in The Numismatist issue of January 1982. Pre-issue price was $35. Distribution was by M. Meghrig & Sons. Alan Meghrig was one of the editors and part of the production team.

The December 1984 issue had another full-page ad with the price at $60 and the statement, "This is the FIRST VOLUME IN A SERIES of similar encyclopedias scheduled to be authored over the course of the next decade by Walter Breen. Each and every denomination of United States coinage, paper currency and patterns will be meticulously examined with a depth and scope never before attempted!"

Breen went on to produce other references, but they were not published by The American Institute of Numismatic Research.

Roger S. Cohen, Jr.'s second edition of American Half Cents the "Little Half Sisters" was published in 1982 by Wigglesworth & Ghatt Co. of Arlington, Virginia. Roger signed an autograph for me in 1982. If you can't read the picture, it says, "Roger S. Cohen Jr. / Agent for / Samuel B. T. Wigglesworth III / and / H. Garrison Ghatt / 3/12/82." Wigglesworth was his Saint Bernard and Ghatt was his cat.

The first edition of the Cohen book was self-published in 1971 with the Assistance of Ray Munde and Paul Munson. There are 105 numbered pages. The second edition was also self-published but under a fictitious name. This appears to be more whimsy than deception. There was no photo or biography of the author in the book.

The feud between the two authors has been frequently reported and discussed. I was an active member of Early American Coppers (EAC) in the early 1980's. I knew all the players and I saw the half cent community taking up sides over the Breen/Cohen controversies. I believe there were legitimate issues with the quality and originality of the research. I am not conflicted over which was the better publication.

The second edition of the Cohen book had 131 pages. The Breen book had 501 pages of text and thirteen pages of color plates. The Cohen book looked like it was published by a CPA who was counting every cent. The Breen book had photography of the highest quality and lavish photos of the author. This represented the best efforts of Jack Collins who was a perfectionist and would tolerate no less.

Here are excerpts from Bill Eckberg's E-Sylum article last year summarizing the two books and their current utility. -Editor

"The first book is Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents, 1793-1857 by, obviously, Walter Breen. Published in 1983, it has a LOT of information about coinage deliveries and a pretty good emission sequence. Most of the photos are grayscale, but there are color plates of beautiful examples of each year in the back. Also, lots about errors and how they came about. It offers interesting but limited insight on grading. However, some of the information is out of date."

"A mention needs to be made of Roger Cohen's American Half Cents: the Little Half Sisters, published in two editions, the second in 1983. It was the book that popularized half cent collecting. We still collect half cents by Cohen (C) number, although Cohen's emission sequence has been shown to be wrong in several cases. The book is only of historic interest, as all of the books listed above have rendered it obsolete."

THE BOOK BAZARRE

AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS: Are your books carried by Wizard Coin Supply? If not, contact us via www.WizardCoinSupply.com with details.