Weiss Named ANS Benefactor
Dr. Arnold-Peter C. Weiss of Barrington, RI, a member of the ANS since 1989
who was elected a Fellow in 1994, has been named a Benefactor of the Society
in recognition of his great generosity. At this time, Benefactors are those
whose contributions aggregate at least $200,000.
Dr. Weiss, a member of the Society's governing Council since 1995, serves
on the ANS Finance, Operations and Management, and Personnel Committees.
An orthopaedic surgeon who holds an appointment as Associate Professor at
the Brown University School of Medicine, Weiss has a serious research interest
in Rhodian and related Greek coinages. He co-chaired the initial two Boston
Conferences held each September in conjunction with the numismatic convention
and served as General Chairman for the highly successful ANS Members Exhibition
at the 1996 NYINC, resulting in the illustrated catalogue, Treasures of
Ancient Coinage. In addition, Weiss serves as Chairman of the Society's
1998 Annual Giving drive, the means by which ANS members support the core
work of this organization.
ARNOLD-BIUCCHI IN EUROPE
Carmen Arnold-Biucchi went to London and Paris to honor two distinguished
numismatists. In London she was invited to a reception at the British Museum
to celebrate the publication of the volume Studies in Greek Numismatics
in Memory of Martin Jessop Price, edited by Richard Ashton and Silvia
Hurter in association with Georges Le Rider and Roger Bland (London, Spink)
to which she contributed an article on "The Pergamene Mint under Lysimachos."
Many colleagues and friends joined Keeper Andrew Burnett and Maria Price
and her children to honor the memory and the accomplishments of one of the
leading Greek numismatists of this century.
In Paris at the Collège de France, Georges Le Rider was presented
with the manuscript for a volume of essays to be published later this year
in honor of his seventieth birthday and his retirement. Arnold-Biucchi
contributed an article on a new hoard of tetradrachms from Aigeai in Cilicia
to the volume.
Augustus Sage Subject of New Book
What do the board room of the ANS and the pages of Q. David Bowers's newest
book have in common? They both display an important historical document from
the archives of the Society: the letter penned by the sixteen-year-old Augustus
B. Sage inviting twelve distinguished New Yorkers to meet at his home to
discuss the founding of the American Numismatic Society.
American Numismatics Before the Civil War, 1760-1860, emphasizes the
story of Sage, a collector and a coin dealer, in the context of the history
of coin collecting in the early United States. A complimentary Foreword to
the study is provided Dr. Joel Orosz, whose own study, The Eagle That
Is Forgotten, chronicling the life of Du Simitière, provides insights
into early U.S. collecting practices by the "founding father of American
numismatics."
American Numismatics Before the Civil War, 1760-1860, by ANS Fellow
Q. David Bowers, is available directly from Bowers and Merena Galleries,
Wolfeboro, NH 03894.
ANA TO MEET IN PORTLAND
The 107th annual ANA Convention will take place from August 5 to 9 in Portland,
OR. The Society will be at booth number 819 in the heart of the convention
center. We will have a number of activities at our booth, including computer
access to the ANS website, a demonstration of the new ANS CD ROM entitled
"Coinage of the Roman World," and informative displays.
The new ANS Assistant Director, Dr. Ute Wartenberg, will be in Portland at
the convention and we look forward to all of our members and friends stopping
by booth 819 to welcome her. As usual the convention will be an exciting
time to make new friends and welcome old ones. We look forward to seeing
you in Portland.
Volunteer hosts for the booth are needed and those wishing to help us greet
visitors at the table are encouraged to contact Arlene Jacobs (212) 234-3130,
ext. 219.
CNL 107 Released
The April 1998 issue of The Colonial Newsletter has been mailed to
subscribers. The feature article, "Cast Counterfeit Coppers in Pre-Federal
America," by Charles W. Smith, Ph.D., and Philip L. Mossman, M.D., is an
in-depth study of the cast counterfeit coinages of the eighteenth century
which circulated together with legitimate coppers as the small change medium
of the period. The counterfeits under discussion are cast imitations of regal
English and Irish issues and contemporaneous copies of state coppers of the
Confederation manufactured to deceive the unwary public. Forgeries of valuable
numismatic specimens are excluded from consideration.
In the introduction, the history of the development of English copper coinage
in the late seventeenth century is reviewed. It is pointed out that because
of the potential profits available at little risk, counterfeit English and
Irish coppers quickly permeated the market place. These false coppers, very
common in England and Ireland, were soon imported here in great numbers.
Initially, counterfeit coppers were cast from sand molds impressed from genuine
coins, but by about 1745 these clandestine mints began to strike their forgeries
from engraved dies. Thus casting procedures were gradually replaced by this
newer and more efficient technology such that, by the reign of George III
in the 1770s, sand cast counterfeits of English coppers are very rare.
Following the Revolutionary War, the small change medium of this country
was deluged again with these lightweight counterfeit English and Irish coppers.
To discourage their circulation and provide full weight coins for public
use, several states, during the Confederation Period, minted their own copper
currency. Again, unscrupulous operators jumped at the opportunity to counterfeit
these legitimate coinages by two methods. First, from clandestine mints,
there were coppers struck from engraved dies which bore some fair resemblance
to the genuine items, but this effort required a substantial infrastructure
with the capacity to process copper sheets into cut planchets before striking.
Next it appears that others resumed the less sophisticated sand casting technique
to produce their forgeries, a process which could be done in any blacksmith
shop. Thus, sand casting counterfeit coppers, which had generally been abandoned
in England about 40 years earlier, was alive and well in America.
The physical aspects, techniques, and characteristics of the casting process
are reviewed. An inventory of 100 cast examples, drawn from several large
collections, was examined in detail by the authors. Several coins were
photographed to demonstrate the tell tale traces of the casting process which
help identify cast products as such. Other examples were subjected to X-ray
fluorescence spectroscopy to quantitate their metallic composition and the
metallurgical results discussed.
Issue 107 also bears the sad news of the death of one of CNL's senior
patrons, Raymond Williamson.
Bastien's New Book
Dr. Pierre Bastien's Les Nusmismates is now available in an English translation. The Coin Collectors, translated by Robert Turfboer. The book departs from the authors renowned expertise in the later Roman period in the West and dips into the 1960s numismatic world in France. Thc characters hover on the edges of one's knowledge of dealers and collectors and slides through a world with which many of us are familiar. But try to button down the characters, and you slide into the delightful novel that it is without grasping the exact identity of those portrayed. One emerges from the book thoroughly entertained as well as excited about the future of numismatics for all of us who love the collecting and study of coins. A long-time ANS Corresponding Member and very good friend of the Society, Dr. Bastien has recently been elected a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society.
The Coin Collectors is exclusively available from Classical Numismatic Group, Inc., P.O. Box 479. Lancaster. PA 17608-0479 for $19.95.
Errata. Miriam S. Balmuth, contrary to what was stated in the
fall ANSNewsletter, is not an emerita yet, but is still actively
teaching at Tufts University where she is Professor of Classics, Archaeology,
and Art History. Apologies! CAB