The Central States Numismatic Society has awarded grants totaling $20,000 to six numismatic authors to research and publish information on topics ranging from elongated coins to early half dollars.
CSNS Education Director Ray Lockwood, who oversees the authors grant program, said, “This four-year old program has proven to be one of the most successful education programs ever undertaken by CSNS.” To date, it has provided grants to 21 authors and researchers.
This year’s grants of $3,333.33 each were awarded to Donald H. Dool, Peter Huntoon, David E. Schenkman, The Elongated Collectors, Steve Tompkins and Harry Waterson.
Dool will write two books on the medals of South American liberator Jose de San Martin. The first book will be an update of Humberto Burzio and B.J. Otamendi’s 1950 catalog of San Martin medals, Numismatica Sanmartiniana.
In his grant application, Dool wrote, “Although there are many collectors of San Martin medals in Argentina there is no reference for those items produced after 1950 or items since discovered.” The book, he said, will list items from his own collection of 450 San Martin medals, which he said, is “possibly the largest private collection,” as well as medals in other private collections and the collections of the Museo Mitre and the Museo de los Corrales Viejos.
The second book will cover monuments featured on many of the medals.He plans to publish both books in the United States and Argentina using on-demand publishing.
Huntoon plans a series of articles on the science behind the presentation of bank titles on national bank notes.
During the 67-year national bank note era, the protocols used to guide the presentation of bank titles on the bills changed from time to time. The topic, Huntoon wrote in his grant application, “was a very serious business because the title block served as a legal instrument that guided the note holder of the bank of issue so he could redeem his note for lawful money.’
Huntoon plans to research the subject at the National Archives and National Numismatic Collection, write a computer program to “discern systematic patterns based on the syntax of the titles” and publish his findings in Paper Money, the journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors.
Schenkman will update his 1980 book, Virginia Tokens.
In his application, he wrote, “In the nearly 35 years since it was published, many new discoveries have been made ... This revised second edition hopes to catalog as many tokens that were issued by merchants in the Commonwealth of Virginia up to 1950. Tokens to be listed include, trade/ good-for tokens, store cards, transportation tokens, coal and mining scrip, picker’s/cannery checks and similar tokens used as a monetary substitute. ”
Schenkman said the second edition, which is sponsored by the Virginia Numismatic Association, “will be approximately 500 pages covering more than 2,000 different merchants from over 700 Virginia locales.”
He plans to release the book at the 57th Virginia Numismatic Association Convention & Coin Show next September.
The Elongated Collectors plan an update of Lee Martin and Dottie Dow’s 1981 guide, Yesterday’s Elongateds.
In her application, Nancy Wooten, president of The Elongated Collectors, noted, “Since the time of its publication many additional elongated coins have been found from the time period covered by the book that deserve to be included for the information of all collectors. There was also a rarity guide included that has proven to be extremely outdated in today’s market that needs updating. While TEC has reprinted the book two times in recent years, no updates have ever been made.”
The group, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016, plans to release the book at the American Numismatic Association’s 2016 World’s Fair of Money in Anaheim, Calif.
Tompkins’ award is for his work on the first volume of a projected four-volume set covering half dollars issued from 1794 to 1836.
Tompkins, who wrote Early United States Quarters 1796-1838 in 2008, moves up a denomination with a look at early half dollars. The first volume will cover coins issued from 1794 to 1807.
He wrote in his application, “This is an in-depth study and attributions of the die marriages struck during the time period covered, listed in the proper emission sequence in which they were struck. Pictorial pedigrees will be added for the rarest die’ marriages.”
Tompkins plans to complete the book early next year and release it at the 2015 American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money.
Waterson will publish a catalog of the medals of Julio Kilenyi.
Waterson, who wrote the first book printed with a Central States authors grant, The Medal-of-the-Month Club, Created by Felicity Buranelli in 2012, plans to produce an 800-page catalog of the works of medalist Julio Kilenyi, who died in 1959.
Waterson noted, “This book has been a subject of research for the last 13 years. The compiler has identified many sites that he is sure would add more knowledge to the work of Julio Kilenyi and fill in many blanks. There is still a large amount of information yet to be gathered. Kilenyi did many pieces, quite a few unsigned and all the records of his work for Whitehead & Hoag the major manufacturer of his work were destroyed.”
Waterson plans to publish the book on Dec. 17, 2015, the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Hungarian born Kilenyi in Hoboken, NJ.
Authors and researchers interested in applying for 2015 grants may contact Lockwood at sunrayofmarion@aol.com.
This article was originally printed in Numismatic News.
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