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    Oct 29 2024

    A Rare New Jersey Colonial Note

    Certain numismatic items fall into the class of “very hard to find, but not necessarily expensive when you do.” A recent example is a New Jersey January 26, 1756 18-pence note, offered by Stack’s Bowers as lot 97006 in their October 24, 2024 Collector’s Choice Online Auction. The Stack’s Bowers catalog indicated “No. 4083. Plate A. Third War Issue. The earliest dated New Jersey 18d of all known pieces. This extremely rare piece is believed to be unique features the signatures of Samuel Nevill, Joseph Yard, Joseph Hollinshead. Unrepresented in the collections of Boyd, Ford, Newman, Budde and other numismatic luminaries. Pinned and sewn to prolong circulation.” This example realized $216.

    The Newman inventory, entered by hand into a 1967 first edition copy of Early Paper Money of America, confirms its absence in the Newman collection. Indeed, the Heritage Auctions archive lists only three examples of any January 26, 1756 denomination, while Stack’s Bowers lists four pieces, going back to sales of 2005. Most notes of these emissions were redeemed, leaving few examples for modern collectors.

    Newman Portal acknowledges Ed Sarrafian for bringing this piece to our attention and for contributing related images. 

    Link to NNP edition of Early Paper Money of Americahttps://nnp.wustl.edu/library/imagecollection/513468
    Link to Newman’s 1967 colonial paper money collection inventory: https://archive.org/details/earlypaperinventory1967epnarchives
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    Oct 24 2024

    Sample Slab Collectors Renew Newsletter

    After a several year hiatus, the Sample Slab Update newsletter is back with the latest developments in the field of sample slab collecting. For the uninitiated, grading service companies often issue one-off variants of their encapsulating plastic holders, typically in conjunction with a specific coin show or other event. These special edition holders become collectible in themselves, in addition to the value of any coin contained therein. Further, slab types that were used for only a short time are desirable. The August 2024 edition of the Update notes, for example, the NGC type 8 holder (“The Ocho” in sample slab collector parlance), among other scarce types.

    The Sample Slab Update is published by David Schwager, who naturally has commissioned his own sample slab. Produced by NGC, this slab commemorated the David and Michelle Schwager wedding in July 2024. Each holds a George VI silver sixpence issued between 1937 and 1946, chosen for the wedding rhyme that ends “and a sixpence in your shoe.”

    Link to Sample Slab Update on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/514437
    Link to YouTube video “NGC Gen 8 Holder - Not a Fake”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afsluegtgiY
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    Oct 15 2024

    Logan-McCloskey Plate Coin Photos Digitized

    In 1998, Russ Logan and John McCloskey published Federal Half Dimes 1792-1837, which expanded on the previous work by Daniel Valentine. This work entailed a significant effort, and today “LM” numbers are the standard for attributing early half dimes. NNP has recently digitized the (pre-Bust) LM plate coins from a set of photographic prints. This set includes 32 die varieties and was photographed by Tom Mulvaney.

    Link to Logan-McCloskey plate coins on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/imagecollection/518109
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    Oct 10 2024

    Service Outage

    Our repository (Internet Archive) is offline, and access to documents will be restricted until service is restored. Other NNP resources (biographies, image collections, etc.) remain in service. Internet Archive is posting updates at https://x.com/internetarchive/. Contact NNPCurator@wustl.edu for further information.
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    Oct 10 2024

    Hillyer Ryder Correspondence Scanned at American Numismatic Society

    Scanning of the Howland Wood papers at the American Numismatic Society continues apace, with 2,225 individual [A-R] correspondent files scanned to date. This work began in November 2023 and promises to be complete in early 2025. Wood served as ANS Curator from 1913 to 1938 and clearly dedicated substantial time to handling his daily correspondence. Hillyer Ryder is best known for his contribution in 1919 to the American Journal of Numismatics (first series, vol. 53, part I of III), which covered die varieties of Vermont and Massachusetts colonial coppers. In the same edition, Henry C. Miller published on the Connecticut copper varieties. The die variety analyses paired well with Crosby’s Early Coins of America (1875), which filled in the historical and legislative background of these issues. 

    The Miller / Ryder work was reprinted, in 1920, by the ANS under the title The State Coinages of New England. The Wood / Ryder correspondence provides detail surrounding the production of the American Journal of Numismatics, vol. 53, as well as the reprint volume, which in practice appears to have all occurred at the same time. Despite the 1919 publication date of AJN vol. 53, production clearly ran into 1920, per Wood’s letter to Ryder of February 24, 1920. Production costs including “composition, paper, and printing” were split between ANS and the writers. 

    This cost (about $800 total to the writers) may have been the rationale for the lesser quality plates in this volume. While parts II and III of vol. 53 were produced with collotype plates, part I presented only halftones, as noted by Charles Davis in American Numismatic Literature. The correspondence indicates authors highly engaged with the ANS as the publisher, and although not explicitly discussed in the correspondence, the question of the plates surely must have been negotiated between the authors and ANS.

    Link to Wood / Ryder correspondence: https://archive.org/details/ryderhillyer191900amer 
    Link to Wood / Miller correspondence: https://archive.org/details/millerhenryc191900amer
    Link to Howland Wood ANS correspondence files:  https://archive.org/details/americannumismaticsociety?tab=collection&query=%22Howland+Wood%22
    Link to American Journal of Numismatics (first series, vol. 53, part I): https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/562547
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    Sep 30 2024

    SNS Library Continues Digitization

    The SNS numismatic library, privately held in Chicago, launched a digitization effort in 2023 that now numbers over 2,000 scanned volumes. This library specializes in ancient numismatics but also includes important works related to medieval and modern numismatics. Recently scanned is the multi-volume set Recueil De Médailles (1762-1778, twelve parts in nine volumes), a catalog of the Jospeh Pellerin (1684-1782) collection. The bibliographer Bill Daehn gives Pellerin the credit for being “the first to classify Greek coins in geographical order, rather than alphabetical order.”

    Wikipedia describes the formation and dispersal of Pellerin’s collection: “Tradition has it that he encouraged the sailors of the French Mediterranean Fleet to buy up such ancient coins as they found on offer throughout their range, which he guaranteed to buy back from them at double the purchase price. In this way he gradually accumulated what became the largest and most valuable collection of ancient Greek coins ever to be held in private hands to that date, amounting to 33,500 coins which he ultimately sold to Louis XVI in 1776 for £300,000. This notable collection, housed in massive original marquetry and ormolu cases in the Louis Quinze style, still forms a nucleus of the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale [BN] de France.” Today, the SNG catalogs documenting the BN numismatic collection describe numerous examples with the Pellerin pedigree.
     
    Link to Pellerin Recueil De Médailles set from the SNS Library: https://archive.org/details/snslibrary?tab=collection&query=pellerin
    Link to SNS Library digitization announcement (September 24, 2023): https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n39a09.html
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    Sep 24 2024

    Souvenir Card Collectors Society Updates Journals on Newman Portal

    The Souvenir Card Collectors Society (SCCS) promotes the study and collecting of souvenir cards, which are typically issued to mark special occasions and are printed on high quality card stock using intaglio methods (steel plate engravings). SCCS maintains a catalog of souvenir cards and further publishes the Souvenir Card Journal, which is currently in its 44th year. The SCCS has recently extended its run of back issues on Newman Portal, and these are now available through the year 2018.

    Illustrated here is an example of the FPS-1939A souvenir card, which commemorates a 1930s traveling exhibit that showed Americans how stamps were made. President Roosevelt was a well-known stamp collector and presumably greased the proverbial wheels of this project, which consisted of a traveling truck with exhibits mounted inside. As visitors exited the truck, they were presented with this souvenir card depicting the White House. Arlie Slabaugh wrote in the November 1982 issue of Coins magazine: “Some collectors consider the Philatelic Truck souvenir sheet to be the first of the Post Office cards. It was issued during 1939-1941 and came in both gummed and ungummed versions and was much smaller than the usual souvenir cards, which are frequently eight-by-six inches.”

    Newman Portal acknowledges Greg Alexander, Souvenir Card Journal editor, for his assistance with this title.

    Link to Souvenir Card Journal on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/534278
    Link to Souvenir Card Collectors Society home page: https://www.souvenircards.org/html/menu_home.html

    Image: FPS-1939A, Visit of the philatelic truck

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    Sep 19 2024

    Richard Kelly and Nancy Oliver Update New Orleans Treatise

    Previously published as Treatise of the early era of the New Orleans Mint, Richard Kelly and Nancy Oliver have released an updated version of their New Orleans Mint history, The Early Years of the Louisiana Mint, 1837-1861. The work is formatted chronologically and serves as a useful companion to the related correspondence from the National Archives. The authors have extracted extensive data on die shipments and coining production, which will allow future researchers to directly reference the correspondence of interest. Contemporary media accounts supplement the work. 

    Taking the year 1842, for example, the authors have summarized about 40 individual pieces of correspondence, which detail the various comings and goings of Mint personnel, coining dies, and internal politics. Along the way tidbits appear, such as this comment on the 3-cent piece: “November 8th, Patterson reported that Riddell has proposed a 3-cent piece of silver and copper, but Patterson thought it an objectionable coinage.” Patterson was ultimately overruled on this point, as the 3-cent silver piece appeared in 1851. Kelly and Oliver’s summary of the correspondence will facilitate working with handwritten material that remains to be transcribed. 

    Newman Portal acknowledges Robert W. Julian, who acquired the related National Archives scans, operating under a grant from Central States Numismatic Society. Roger Burdette contributed image post-processing, while Nicole Fry rearranged the correspondence chronologically.

    Link to The Early Years of the Louisiana Mint, 1837-1861 on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/632304
    Link to Branch Mint correspondence from the National Archives (record group 104, entry 11): https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/515205
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    Sep 09 2024

    Greg Bennick Interviews Kellen Hoard

    In his continuing series of numismatic interviews, Greg Bennick (virtually) sits down with Kellen Hoard, who was named Young Numismatist of the Year by the American Numismatic Association in 2021 and is currently a student at George Washington University. He serves on the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) and writes a regular column for The Numismatist.

    Hoard touches on how he got started with numismatics, sharing numismatics with people outside the hobby, and his engagement with journalism, politics, public policy, and international affairs. Kellen provides context on the end-end workflow of the CCAC and evolution of coinage from legislation to production. Hoard wraps up with an optimistic view of the next generation of numismatists.

    Greg Bennick is a longtime numismatist and serves on the board of the Combined Organization of Numismatic Error Collectors of America (CONECA). He recently published Reclaim the Moment: Seven Strategies to Build a Better Now (Wiley, 2024), which is currently ranked #30 in the Amazon list of Business Management books.

    Link to Kellen Hoard interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tBb-Bt4NR8k
    Link to transcript of Kellen Hoard interview: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/641580
    Link to Greg Bennick interviews on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/multimediadetail/548505
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    Sep 05 2024

    A 1964 Offering of Early American Paper Money

    Courtesy of Joseph Daragan, Newman Portal has added a fixed price list from the Washington, DC dealer Ben. M. Douglas. This 1964 list included important examples of early American paper money, including seven Vermont notes and the always popular May 10, 1775 Continental $20, featuring a marbled edge. Douglas writes “Once every 20 years or so there appears on the Numismatic horizon a truly choice and historical collection of Colonial & Continental Currency. We have just purchased such a collection…” 

    Not surprisingly, the colonial paper money collector Eric P. Newman was not far behind, and his correspondence file lends additional context. Newman apparently traded with Douglas for some of the notes, and by mistake forwarded to Douglas an October 1, 1755 Pennsylvania one-shilling example, serial no. 6889. Newman reacquired the piece from Douglas, which later appeared in the Newman VI sale (Heritage Auctions, April 2015), lot 19530, and realized $1,527.50.

    Martin Gengerke lists nine auction sales for Douglas, ranging from 1952 to 1956 and presented in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine. An additional six sales, 1957-1969, are listed for D&W Auctions, representing a partnership with the Baltimore dealer Thomas Warfield.

    Link to Ben M. Douglas fixed price list on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/641478
    Link to Newman / Douglas correspondence on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/521678
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