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Here is a link to my recent blog on Ernest Hemingway and numsimatics. It also appeared in the September 20, 2016 issue of Numismatic News:
I have recently returned to collecting Conder Tokens. My interest sometime back was in Middlesex tokens--there are a lot of them--but I have now expanded my area. Two very interesting tokens are Suffolk 37, which features the unusual bathing machines, and Oxfordshire 1, which has a magnificent sun on the reverse.
As I continue to expand my collection and knowledge of colonial coins, I am greatly aided by acquiring some specific colonial publications to round out my existing numismatic book collection. I already had a number of good books--old ones, reprints and modern titles. Among these are Crosby's The Early Coins of America; Salmon's magnificent recent book, The Silver Coins of Massachusetts; and certainly Bowers' Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins. I also have some key auction catalogues, including the Newman IV on colonial coins and the recent Kendall sale from Stacks' Bowers.
I have been fascinated by the series of books published by Whitman on the hundred greatest coins from different collections. I have purchased, read and enjoyed the ones on ancient and U.S. coins. There also are titles which deal with errors, modern U.S. coins and currency. Yesterday I received a copy of the "100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens," and I am impressed.
I enjoy the big coin shows, notably the quarterly ones in Baltimore, but there is something to be said for the local shows as well. I have been attending the show in Vienna, Virginia, since the 1980s. These gatherings, which also occur quarterly, meet in a community center about 15 miles south of Washington, D.C. Many of the dealers have been there year in and year out although some have gone, usually older dealers, and new ones have taken their place. There are generally about 30 dealers, and they come from Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsyvania. I have been able to pick up many decent coins, both ancients and U.S., over the years. Today I found a nice North American Token to fill the hole in my effort to create a "type set" of colonial coins identified in the Red Book. Purchases, sales, trades and conversation has always made this gathering a pleasure.
Fifty years ago John Willem published his revised standard work on trade dollars, "The United States Trade Dollar: America's Only Unwanted Unhonored Coin." The title of this informative book tells a lot, but that is unfortunate because collecting trade dollars can be an honorable pursuit.
My introduction to coin collecting came as a result of skimming and then memorizing R.S. Yeoman's Red Book, "A Guide Book of United States Coins." My relationship with this book began around 1960 and has continued, on and off, since. The organization and perspective of this annual publication has thoroughly influenced the way I see U.S. numismatics.
Coins, of course, represent history as well as works of art. As art, some are quite attractive, although I suspect everyone has different opinions of whether one coin is more appealing than another. I have been thinking about coin aestethics recently, and have seen some blog commentaries related on this point. Here are my thoughts on the five most appealing numismatic Items (not necessarily in order). I say "numismatic item" because four are coins and one is paper currency.
For years I have been interested in the Massachusetts willow, oak and pine tree coins. Alas, their cost has prevented me from wading into collecting and studying them. Finally, as a result of a coin trade, I purchased my first Massachusetts tree coin, a threepence pine tree. It was also affordable.
I purchased my first coin in 1959 when I was nine years old. My family lived in Pennsylvania, and we would periodically visit Philadelphia to shop. One stop was usually Gimbels, a very complete seven-story department store on Market Street. On this particularly day, probably Easter Monday, which for some reason became a tradition for us to visit Philadelphia, we went to one of the upper floors and entered the coin department. There my father allowed me to select a coin. I chose a very worn 1825 Coronet Liberty Head Large Cent, which I would generously grade in fair condition. The reason it attracted me was that it was the oldest U.S. coin that I could find that day.
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