May
 2003 Issue
By James C. Johnston Jr.
Photos by Steven Vater

Such a beautiful book should have been owned by a prince. As I looked at the wonderful binding (fig. 1), I thought, “I’m a prince, a prince among men! I should own this treasure.”

And with that, I smiled at the dealer at Ed Aleo’s Boston “Bay State Coin Show” and said, “How much is this one?” indicating the substantial tome in the coin book seller’s stall.

“Four hundred,” he shot back. “I’ll take it,” I smiled.

I wrote out the check and walked back to my booth in another room of the show. “Four hundred dollars!” I said to myself. I psychologically pinched myself to see if I was still awake and actually there and in possession of my treasure: Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata by Carolum Patinum published in 1671. It was bound in tooled vellum and printed on rag-wove-laid paper. The copper-plate engravings of the imperial Roman coins are perfection, but the real artistic glories of the volume are the portraits of the Holy Roman Emperor and Arch Duke of Austria, Leopold “The Hog-Mouth” (fig. 2).

Fig. 1 – This beautiful 1671 edition of Imperatorum Romanorum Numismata (Imperial Roman Coins or Coins of the Roman Empire), is bound  in tooled vellum and illustrated with  fantastic copper-plates.	Fig. 2 – Here Leopold, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria, looks out from the book on Imperial Roman Coins dedicated to him by Carolus Patinum, the author.	Fig. 3 – The title page of James Condor’s book on English copper tokens published in 1798.

I might add that His Imperial Highness, Leopold Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Arch Duke of Austria, King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Duke of Tyrolia, and so on, was never called “The Hog Mouth” to his face. As you study his portrait, I am reasonably sure that you will note the emperor’s lower lip which is full and juts out. This was a family trait going back to the first Hapsburg to rule the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire began with the reign of Charlemagne in 800 C.E., and ended with Napolean changed the politics of Austria in 1806 by abolishing the Holy Roman Empire and making its former ruler Francis II, emperor of Austria.

This family trait, however was thought of to be handsome by some. That might seem strange, but the Hapsburgs, after all, were the imperial alpha males who dominated European royalty. Young men, who wanted to impress others with their burrowed lineage, thrust out their lower lip, raised their pseudo-aristocratic noses, and aped the Hapsburg look.

It seems that young women were impressed by this affectation. “Hogmouthism” swept the Germanies, and young girls swooned. But, I digress. The groveling dedication of author Charles Patin (Carolus Patinum) to Emperor Leopold was lush and gushing even in Latin. But that was the way artists, authors, and writers got advanced and moved on in the world.

So why do coin writers write about books? Because books are a huge part of the hobby. In order to collect both U.S. and World Coins, one needs dozens, even hundreds, of books. I have almost 400 coin reference volumes published over the last three-and-a-half centuries in many languages in my library. Not all books on coins are rare, but the rare ones are the most fun. 

Another one of my library treasures is a book on English Condor tokens by James Condor himself (fig. 3). This is a first edition and was published in 1798. The provincial coins, tokens, and medalets, some of which circulated as small change on both sides of the Atlantic, were (and are to this day) called “condors” because of this book. It was also a steal for $400. Again the copper-plate engravings of the tokens are magnificent.

Another valuable coin reference book in my numismatic reference library is a hand-tooled, fully leather-bound volume with the imposing title An Essay on Ancient Coins, Medals, and Gems, As Illustrating the Progress of Christianity in the Early Ages. It was written by the Rev. R. Walsh, L.L.D., M.R.I.A., etc., was published in the second edition in London in 1828. The tooled binding and the fronticepiece (fig. 4) make this book  a steal at $300.

Another great work on Condor copper coins is Provincial Copper Coins Issued Between the Years 1787 and 1796 Engraved by Charles Pye of Birmingham: From the Originals in His Own Possession. Hundreds of copperplates exactly reproduce England’s popular copper tokens of Georgian England. This was the most definitive work actually depicting the pieces so wonderfully listed in the previously mentioned work of Condor. These two books really belong together. This volume was a great buy at $300.

The title page of George Evans’ Illustrated History of the United States Mint (fig. 6) was part of a lavishly illustrated work with portraits, mint pictures, plates of coins, and filled with short biographies of famous people associated with the mint’s history. This book, published in 1888, lists details about the design of U.S. coinage, minting information about the quantities of coins minted, and statistical information on foreign coinage.

Rare Coins was printed for the Numismatic Bank located at 89 Court Street, Boston, Mass. in October of 1897. This little handbook, carries a special notice which reads, “There is no premium on any U.S. Coins issued since 1890, except for the Isabella Quarter of 1893, for which we pay 50 cents each. But we pay 60 cents each for uncirculated Half Dollars issued 1879 to 1890, and 15 cents each for uncirculated Dimes and Half Dimes, 1864 to 1869.” Today these coins have values ranging from a few hundred to thousands of dollars each. To go back in a time machine to 1893 would be wonderful if we could buy coins at prices listed in Rare Coins. Proof $3 gold pieces could be had for $3.25 to $40 for an 1875 issue. Today these proofs range in value from $9,000, for the least expensive, to $85,000 for that 1875 coin. Some 1804 dollars are listed for $600 in uncirculated condition in Rare Coins. Today’s value would be in the $5 to $8 million range. An uncirculated 1794 dollar was listed at $200 at that time. Today that same dollar would have a value of $240,000 or more.

Fig. 4 – This is the beautiful tooled binding of Charles Pye’s book on British copper tokens.	Fig. 5 – The title page of Walsh’s  Essay on Coins.	Fig. 6 – The title page of Evan’s Illustrated History of the United States Mint printed in 1888.

Among the greatest of books we have in the market today are the World Catalogs of Chester L. Krause, the basic Whitman Red Book,  A Guide Book of United States Coins by R.S. Yeoman, Spink’s Coins of England, Seaby’s books of Roman silver coins, Freedberg’s Paper Money of the United States; Sheldon, Pascal, and Breen’s Penny Whimsy, and Overton’s Early Half Dollar Die Varieties. These books should provide the foundation of a really good numismatic library, but no collector of U.S. coins should be without Walter Breen’s Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. It truly is the ultimate guide to coins of  this country. Almost any question about U.S. coins can be answered in the pages of Breen’s monumental work.

One of the greatest pleasures of coin collecting is the building of a good numismatic library. Used book shops, coin shops, on-line sellers, coin shows, and auctions are great sources of both old and new books. Auction catalogs can also be sources of a great deal of useful information. Books are wonderful, and it would be a dull world and hobby without them.