Numismatics International Bulletin, Vol. 28, No.1

24 Pages·1.3 MB·English

by  Numismatics International Bulletin

28 years of service to numismatics
1993
JANUARY
BULLETIN
NUMISMATICS INTERNATIONAL
|
FOUND!D 1**4
Volume 28 Number 1 ISSN: 0197-3088 Price .... Two Dollars
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEATURE ARTICLES
11 Engraved Coins and Other Oddities, by Bob Forrest
8 Leyte Provisional Notes, by Joseph H. Zaffern
16 South Baltic Regions - The Duchy of Curland, by John S. Davenport
DEPARTMENTS
22 Book News & Reviews
6 From the Mailbox
24 Member Notice Page
INSIDE
N.I.
3 Donations Report
4 Librarian’s Report
3 Membership Chairman’s Report
5 1993-1994 Officers and Staff of NI
OTHER ITEMS
10,15,23 Numismatic Extracts From Selected Literature
Copyrighted by Numismatics International, P.O. Box 670013, Dallas, Texas USA 75367-0013
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
DR. HOWARD L. FORD
Chairman & Past-President
JOHN. E. VANDIGRIFF PHILIP BRANDENBURG
President Vice-President
ROSS SCHRAEDER DON DOUGLAS
Secretary Treasurer
214-995-4921 D
214-239-4347 N
CRAIG BURRUS WALTER W. LEONARD
At-Large Director At-Large Director
WILLIAM E. BENSON MARVIN L. FRALEY PHILIP LAWRENCE
JACK E. LEWIS CHARLES MUCHMORE ROBERTW. RICHTER
ELMORE B. SCOTT WILLIAM B. THOMPSON CARL YOUNG
Past-Presidents
APPOINTED STAFF
Curator, NI REFERENCE COLLECTION Publicity Chairman
Philip L. Lawrence Stuart T. Eisen
Phone [phone]
JOHN GRAVES MEMORIAL
Curator,
PAPER MONEY COLLECTION Librarian, NI BOOK LIBRARY
David Block Granvyl G. Hulse, Jr.
P. O. Box 12473 30 Pleasant St.
Gainesville, FL 32604 Colebrook, NH, 03576
Editor, NI BULLETIN Librarian, NI CATALOG SUB-LIBRARY
Marvin L. Fraley Paul Edmund Gamer
2813- 57th St. P. O. Box 224584
Lubbock, TX 79413 Dallas, TX 75222-4584
Phone [phone]
Librarian, NI PERIODICAL LIBRARY
Book News & Reviews Editor Jim Haley
NI BULLETIN P. O. Box 4057
Donald S. Yarab St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
2739 Noble Road, Apt. 1
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121 NI MAIL BID SALES
Carl Young
Article Abstractor, NI BULLETIN P. O. Box 1836
Joseph Uphoff Dallas, TX 75221
La Jolla, CA
Moderator, NI EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
Index Compiler, NI BULLETIN William F. Spengler
Dick Schubert 2032 Ridgeway
Denver, CO Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Correspondence should bedirected tothosepersons and addresses above for departments indicated. All othercorrespondence
should be mailed direct to NUMISMATICS INTERNATIONAL, P. O. BOX 670013. DALLAS, TEXAS 75367-0013.
MEMBERSHIP FEES: Individual & Club Memberships -$15.00 Annually. JuniorMembership(18years ofage and under) -
$10.00 Annually. Senior Membership (70years ofage and older) - $10.00 Annually.
2
INSIDE
N.I.
MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
No new applications for membership were received since the last report. Any
members needing material for recruiting are urged to write to the Membership
Chairman.
Regular Memberships Converted to Life Membership:
LM-112 William S. Kable, 150 East 65th St., New York, N.Y. 10021
LM-113 Ronald E. Zitterkopf, 3500 West 128th St., Shawnee Mission, KS
66209
LIFE MEMBERSHIPS
Life Memberships are available to members of three years standing upon application
to the Board of Governors and the payment of the $200.00 fee. Conditional Life
Membership is available upon payment of $60.00 down and four quarterly payments
of $35.00.
DONATIONS REPORT
We
have received the following donations since the last report:
Name Donation Preference of Use
BENSON, William E $20.00 Cash General Operating Fund
BORKOWSKI, Kenneth $5.00 Cash NI BULLETIN Fund
BRUCK, Frederick $25.00 Cash General Operating Fund
DROST, Fred $15.00 Cash NI BULLETIN Fund
EADS, Ora W„ Jr. $15.00 Cash General Operating Fund
EISEN, Stuart T. $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
FELLOWS, Richard $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
HAVEL, James $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
HINKLE, David $50.00 Cash General Operating Fund
JARMAN, Gordon $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
KOONTZ, L. Donald $10.00 Cash Junior Program
KUTCHER, Robert $10.00 Cash NI BULLETIN Fund
LEVY, Bruce $2.50 Cash General Operating Fund
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Name
Donation Preference of Use
MAIER, Michael $5.00 Cash NI Library Fund
MAJOR, W. H. $5.00 Cash General Operating Fund
MILLER, Frank W. $5.00 Cash NI Library Fund
MOCKAITIS, L. $5.00 Cash General Operating Fund
MULLAN, BiU $25.00 Cash General Operating Fund
NOLAN, John $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
NOVAK,
Frank $10.00 Cash NI Library Fund
NYGREN, Raymond $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
PRICE, Fred $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
SNELL, Lester $5.00 Cash NI Library Fund
SPENCER, William $3.00 Cash NI Library Fund
THANNISCH, G. D. $10.00 Cash General Operating Fund
THOMPSON, Wm. B. $25.00 Cash General Operating Fund
THORNTON, Susan $5.00 Cash General Operating Fund
WEBSTER, Cecil $20.00 Cash NI Library Fund
LIBRARIAN’S REPORT
I. Acknowledgement is made below to those who have donated material to the NI
Library.
The American Numismatic Society
US40.KleJ:1992:MPFA
KLEEBERG, JOHN M. (Editor)
Money ofpre-FederalAmerica. A series ofarticles by various authors.
Proceedings of the Coinage of the Americas Conference.
Pub. 1992, 253pp, illus.
Robert Plemmons
BD32.FryR:1973:SRQAN
FRYE, RICHARD N.
Sasanian remainsfrom Qasr-i Abu Nasr. Seals, sealings, and coins.
Pub. 1973, 133pp, illus/plates.
William H. Randel
JI30.AlfN:1986:CUDMI
I
ALFA NUMISMATICA
Catalogo unificato delle monete Italiane.
Pub. 1984, 531pp, illus.
4
Randolph Zander
SA40.RisJ:1976:OGF
RISK, JAMES C.
The Order of the Golden Fleece.
Pub. 1976, 14pp, illus.
NI Purchase
PG70.LinK:1989:DNSPB
LINDMAN, KAI
Das Deutsche notgeld. Katalog der serienscheine, spendenquittungen,
und bausteine, 1918-1822.
Pub. 1989, second edition, 322p, illus.
II. In addition to the above the NI Library would like to thank John Pieratt for the
donation of additional numismatic material.
III. The Library is still trying to borrow, or purchase, a copy of James L. Balmer’s
Regimental Medals Handbook 1745-1895. Vol. 1: Regular Army. This is the 1987
Langlands Edition. If we can borrow a copy we will reimburse for shipment and
insurance and return it promptly insured. If anyone knows where this volume can be
purchased, would they please let us know.
IV. NI Members are also reminded that the Library contains a large slide collection
that can be utilized for club talks. If interested, please contact the Library for a
listing.
Granvyl G. Hulse, Jr., Book Librarian
James D. Haley, Periodical Librarian
$
?{c;fofc
1993-1994 OFFICERS AND STAFF OF NI; See the inside front cover of this issue
for an update on the new officers elected recently and also any changes in the
appointed staff. The results of the election of officers was as follows:
President John E. Vandigriff 110 votes
Dr. Howard L. Ford 1 vote
Jeffery Zarit 1 vote
Vice-President Philip Brandenburg 110 votes
Jack E. Lewis 1 vote
Hal Blackburn 1 vote
Secretary Ross Schraeder 112 votes
Walter Johnson vote
1
5
Treasurer Don Douglas 111 votes
Jack E. Lewis 1 vote
Director-at-Large Craig Burrus 1 10 votes
Walter W. Leonard 105 votes
William E. Benson 1 vote
Marvin L. Fraley 1 vote
Larry Knight 1 vote
Bill Murray 1 vote
John E. Vandigriff vote
1
FROM
THE MAILBOX
Fakes and Forgeries
Thomas W. Keener wrote a very interesting, useful, and much needed piece in the NI
BULLETIN November, 1992 issue (pp.225-238). However, it should be pointed out
that the word FAKE has a very specific meaning, as against the word FORGERY.
A
fake is a genuine piece which has been altered to make it appear to be something
which it is not. In philately fake overprints are common - but the stamp is perfectly
A FORGERY
genuine. is created from scratch. I suggest that the correct use of
these two words is helpful to the collecting world in accurately defining what is
wrong with the piece. What follows could arguably be called pedantic but your
readers may find it interesting.
A
forgery is not necessarily illegal, e.g. on the basis of "if you can’t beat them join
them" some Chinese Emperors allowed forged coins to be used. A counterfeit, on the
other hand, implies illegality and, as the early colonial notes of America state "To
counterfeit is death!" The much abused term REPLICA also has a specific primary
meaning. It is an exact copy made by the original maker. Most dealers use the word
instead of the more correct "Facsimile" (an exact copy). One day, perhaps, an art
dealer is going to be sued for describing "a Picasso replica" when, in fact, it is only
a facsimile. No two words in the English language mean precisely the same thing
when given their primary meaning. Common English usage may make them come
to mean the same thing - usually through slovenly use. Mr. Keener suggests that
definitions when researched in the Coin World Almanac would "daze both the readers
and the author". In fairness to the Almanac it does not set out to be an authority on
the English language. Reference to a dictionary would be more appropriate.
AD
Mr. Keener makes the point that file marks on coins prior to 1600 are most likely
to be done by present-day collectors or dealers. Some of us would find that hard to
go along with. Perhaps Mr. Keener could develop his point and give some reasons.
Over-all please let me congratulate Mr. Keener on making a start on unravelling these
problems.
Colin Narbeth
St. Albans, United Kingdom
6
Regarding brass cash-type coins ofXinjiang Province
Mr. Keener’s report on identifying Chinese fakes (November 1992 issue) brings up
some good points to consider. I would like to comment on one aspect that he seems
to stress that could cause some collectors to consign perfectly good coins to the
melting pot.
Cash-type coins of Xinjiang Province cast in brass are not rare, even though Mr.
Keener says he hasn’t seen any. In the past few years a few books dealing
exclusively with the cast cash of Xinjiang were published in China, the most recent
being the magnificent Xinjiang Qianbi (Xinjiang Numismatics), superbly printed in
Hong Kong and published simultaneously there and in Urumqi, Xinjiang, in 1991.
Three other recent books, all softcover in Chinese, two from Taichung in Taiwan and
one from Shanghai, have some out since 1982.
All these books identify many coins produced in brass. Most are types made in both
red copper and brass, and most are multiple-cash types. Xinjiang Numismatics
identifies only five types of brass coins, all multiple cash, but the other books list
many more. Xinjiang Numismatics, by the way, is bilingual in both Chinese and
English.
So don’t automatically toss out your brass cash of Xinjiang.
George A. Fisher, Jr.
Littleton, Colorado
Errata on photo caption ofOctober article on Ancient Indian Coins
(An error in the photo caption of the article "A Coin Collector With Some Purpose"
[October, 1992, pp.207-209] was pointed out by the collector who was the subject of
the article. Our apologies to the author and to Mr. Mahajan.)
It is quite correctly written as Mughal Silver Coins, 1526-1857 A.D. on page 207 of
the volume. But I may be allowed to mention that the same repetition is given on
page 208, as these are the Silver Punch Mark, 4th-2nd B.C. Errata to this effect may
kindly published in the next issue of your Bulletin.
Jatinder Mahajan
Damtal (H.P.), India
7
LEYTE PROVISIONAL NOTES
Joseph H. Zaffern, Southfield, Michigan, NI #2028
We all know that collecting coins and banknotes can provide a great wealth of
historical information. I would like to share an example of how the Standard Catalog
of World Paper Money (SCWPM) helped to dramatically increase my knowledge of
both history and of paper money.
Over the years I’ve had a number of examples of Philippine guerrilla (emergency)
notes which, while not very attractive, are important historical documents of World
War II in the Philippines. Whenever I picked up a piece I would read the Provincial
SCWPM
headnote in the and often I would be intrigued enough to read some of the
history of that area during the War.
I remember being interested in the catalog’s description of the printing of the 1943
Leyte notes (SCWPM, Vol. I, 5th Edition, p. 748). The resistance on Leyte was so
desperately short of money that they sent to Mindanao for help, and the United States
Forces in the Philippines sent a Lt. Iliff D. Richardson to Leyte with details on how
Mindanao had issued money.
A
civilian Free Leyte Provisional Government was set up to authorize the issuance
of money and upon its order, according to the SCWPM:
Lt. Richardson was assigned to get printing underway. There was no
A
printing press available, or any type of printing supplies. single
hard-carved wooden printing plate was made for the face and back of
each denomination, along with seals and facsimile signatures. Ink was
made from "RIT" dye, a product used in dying cloth. Notes were
stamped by hand, one side at a time, on precut paper. The first
delivery of the "new" Leyte currency was on August 24.1
Over the years I had read bits and pieces about the Japanese occupation on Leyte and
the resistance to it, but never came across anything more on Lt. Richardson or the
printing of the banknotes.
Then, about a year ago, I was looking at some old books in a stall at one of the local
"flea markets". I came across a volume called American Guerrilla in the Philippines,
by Ira Wolfert. The book was in pretty decent shape for a 1945 printing, the subject
looked interesting, I know that Wolfert was a very good war correspondent, and
finally the price was reasonable; so I bought the book.
When I finally got around to reading it I was very pleasantly surprised, stunned is
probably more accurate, to find that the book was the autobiography of Lt. Iliff D.
1 The Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. Albert Pick. Fifth Edition Vol. 1. Krause
Publications. Iola, Wisconsin, 1986. (Pages 748, 749).
8
Richardson’s years in the Philippine Resistance, as told to journalist Ira Wolfert. I
had inadvertently bought exactly the book I had been looking for so many years!
Besides being a very interesting account of the guerrilla war against the Japanese the
book contained a fair amount of information on the monies used during the war.
Much of this I hadn’t known before.
Just prior to the issuance of the Leyte notes of 1943 listed in the SCWPM, the
Guerrillas had been paying for goods in "U.S. Army voucher receipts" designed by
Lt. Richardson after a pre-war model. These were necessary because they did not
have the money to buy the paper and ink that they needed in order to print money!
There is no description of the wording of these vouchers but apparently they were
used in payment to Filipinos who brought goods in to the troops and also to local
Chinese whose goods were confiscated.
As to the printing of the 1943 notes, here is what Lt. Richardson had to say (the
proclamation is that announcing the creation of the Free Leyte Provisional
Government as mentioned in the SCWPM):
"The mint ran out of paper to make money before the proclamation was
issued. My idea was to have the army print its own money, but Quezon2
refused. He said that must remain the province of the civil government. I
imagine he figured it would be too easy for an army to balance its books. The
proclamation put the mint back in business.
A jeweler, who did engraving on the side, made wood blocks for us. I had
some of Fertig’s Mindanao money as a model but Kangleon3 insisted on
adding pictures to it - a carabao, a nipa hut, local scenery. It looked nearly
official by the time we finished.
We
started off on the 20-centavo bills-paper dimes. The mint worked on an
assembly-line basis in an old school-house. One man would cut the paper to
size, another would place it in a frame, stamp the wood block into a pad of
ink, then press it onto the paper. The ink had to dry before the paper could
be turned over to be printed on the reverse side. It took a long time.
I am no good at cost accounting, but after a week I began to get worried.
There were nine men there and in a week they had not printed up enough
money to pay themselves their own salaries. I made a rough stab at working
out the expenses and found out it was costing us 40 centavos to print one 20-
centavo bill. After that, we had new blocks made and stuck to 20-peso bills,
We
where each bill represented a profit of 19 pesos and 60 centavos-$9.80.
had been authorized to issue 2,500,000 pesos.
2
President of the Philippines.
3 Commander on Leyte.
9
We did not worry about counterfeiters. We had all the paper there was. We
used all kinds. We’d have used toilet paper if we could have got it. Some
of our money was printed on wrapping paper, some on Grade 3 notebook
We
paper, lined and all. ran out of dye pretty fast. That was the fault of the
women. The women there made their own clothing out of abaca fiber-a rope-
colored Manila hemp. They couldn’t stand looking all alike, so we were out
of dyes. In the end we made our own ink by taking a crude oil lamp, putting
a hood over it, and trapping the soot. We mixed the soot with glycerin and
printed news sheets as well as money with it."4
This is a pretty fascinating account of the printing of paper money in an operation a
long way from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing!
I, for one, am going to be looking at the Leyte 1943 notes PS-403 to PS-410 quite
differently. It sounds like some very interesting varieties in both paper and ink will
be found if these notes are studied closely.
I am certainly glad that I found the book and it shows just how important it is to read
the catalog.
4 American Guerrilla in the Philippines. Ira Wolfert. Simon and Schuster. New York, New
York, 1945. (Page 150-154).
*********************************************************************
NUMISMATIC EXTRACTS FROM SELECTED LITERATURE
Mr. Urban, Peckleton, Nov. 4.
The Medal represented in plate III. Fig. 1, is silver; and, from the date, was
struck in Elizabeth’s reign, perhaps on occasion of some Spanish occurrence. The
second and third persons appear to have pistols in their hands; and it looks, from such
appearance, as well as the inscription, as if assassination was intended.
Your introducing it into the Magazine will much oblige the proprietor (a lady
at Leicester), as well as
Yours, &c. T. W. Jee
Taken from The Gentleman s Magazine,
Vol. 58.2, p. 1069 (1788).
(Submitted by Bob Forrest)
10