REVIEW: Coin of the Canonical Realm
During the unpacking of an estate, I came across a book with the title Coin of the Canonical Realm. It is a short, 58 pages, paperback book that has an intriguing cover. As a coin collector, I started to thumb through the book to get a sense of its purpose. Since it was not apparent, I had to wait until later.
After cleaning off my desk, I found the book and decided to read the Introduction to understand the book’s purpose. According to the introduction, its purpose is to “21st century sense of all the 19th century mentions of money in the Sherlock Holmes stories.”
Sherlock Holmes was a fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle created Holmes as a “consulting detective” so that the character can appear in varying environments. Doyle was one of the first authors to create a crime-fighting character that includes all of the tools that we take advantage of today. Someone suggested that Mission: Impossible is a modern extension of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
Most of Doyle’s stories are written from the perspective of John H. Watson, M.D. as Holmes’ biographer. Watson is a friend and part-time roommate who accompanies Holmes on his investigations. Watson can be annoyed with Holmes on some of his actions while being intrigued by his actions.
During his life, Doyle wrote 56 short stories and four novels about Sherlock Holmes. The short stories are compiled in five books which I have read three of them. All of the Sherlock Holmes stories are highly recommended.
The Sherlock Holmes stories endured long after Doyle’s passing in 1930. Aside from the movies and other new media recreations, there are societies dedicated to studying the intricacies of Holmes, the crimes, and other characters Doyle included. One of those organizations is The John H. Watson Society.
The John H. Watson Society, founded in 2013, is described as an organization that will study Dr. Watson as a unique individual and how his character enhances the Doyle classics. Watson, whose background is revealed throughout the stories, is a renown physician with a heroic war record and trust by a community is leery of the medial arts.
The book, written by Nickolas Utechin whose biography describes himself as having a long history with studying Sherlock Holmes, is the first monograph published by the John H. Watson Society.
Starting from Chapter 1, Utechin copies one or two-line passages from Doyle’s writings that reference money then explains them in the context of the 21st-century. He first describes the old British monetary system where there were 240 pence to a pound including the varying minor coins that were in use at the time. (See this post for a description of the old British monetary system)
Each of the chapters covers the five volumes of compiled short stories and then four chapters for each of the novels. Although you can get the gist of what Utechin writes about, it is best to use this booklet as a companion while reading a Sherlock Holmes story.
Having this explanation while reading one of the short stories adds a different perspective to the story. For those who have not read a Sherlock Holmes story, I would recommend that you first read the story without consulting this booklet. On your second reading have this booklet nearby to help you put the story into perspective.
Some may consider Coin of the Canonical Realm a supplemental study guide to Sherlock Holmes. Whatever you want to call it, fans of the stories may find it adds to their enjoyment.
If you are interested in owning a copy of Coin of the Canonical Realm, you can order it directly from The John H. Watson Society.
Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving was first celebrated in 1621 by the settlers at Plymouth, Massachusetts. George Washington was the first to issue a proclamation honoring Thanksgiving during his presidency. The only other president to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation was James Madison. It was Abraham Lincoln who issued a proclamation that made Thanksgiving Day a national annual event. Ironically, the first national observance of Thanksgiving under this proclamation came a week after the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg.
Be thankful for your family.
Be thankful for our hobby.
Be thankful for everything.
Image of 1936 Gettysburg Commemorative Half Dollar courtesy of the US Mint.
An Open Letter to the President-Elect
Dear President-Elect Obama:
I know you are busy and have a lot of other issues to deal with, but as a numismatist and blogger on numismatic topics, I am concerned with who you may ask to run the US Mint.
In the recent past, the Director of the US Mint has been a political appointment whose experience was not in areas necessary to make the Mint a success. For example, this past year, the Mint has not been able to keep up with the demand of bullion coins. Followers of the Mint are dumbfounded over these circumstances since the Mint is reporting striking fewer coins in 2008 than they did ten years ago when the demand was higher.
In addition to failing to meet the demand for its product, the Mint has mismanaged the costs necessary to manufacture their products and tried to extend their product lines in ways that even their most ardent customers found excessive. Recently, the Mint had to hold a “Clearance Sale” to rid themselves of an oversupply of collector products that never sold. Items that were available in sale, such as 1999-dated collectibles, shows that the current bureaucracy has been ineffectual in managing the Mint’s resources and misjudged the demand to the collector community.
Although collectors would like for your Mint Director to be a collector, the situation calls for a leader who has experience in manufacturing, supply chain management, and customer service. This leader should be able to manage four active factories whose well known products are as important to the public as it is to the collector. The importance and scale of this manufacturer belies the ability of a bureaucrat to manage.
News reports announcing the selection of your new leadership team indicate that you are looking for the most qualified people. When you consider who should be the next Director of the US Mint, would you please consider appointing someone with a manufacturing background whose product serves a commodity community as well as a specific market? It would help if this person was familiar with managing a company in a regulated market. Such a person would be able to understand the markets the US Mint serves while being able to successfully manage a profitable government organization.
Congratulations on your victory and I wish you much luck in dealing with the problems the nation is currently experiencing.
Scott
Official Charity Makes Common Cents
Charity is good for the soul!
Charity supported by children is not only good for the soul but a sign of a positive future for this nation.
Common Cents is an educational, not-for-profit organization that specializes in creating service-learning programs for young people. Their best known program is the Penny Harvest, the largest children supported philanthropy program in the United States.
This year, over 1,000 schools with nearly 500,000 student will be searching for idle pennies in their homes, from their family, and in their neighborhoods. They will take all of those pennies, the ones that people claim have “no value” and put them to work. This year’s collection ends on Thanksgiving.
After collected, every penny collected will be used to make grants to non-profit organizations of the student’s choice. Issues that concern the students are Infant/Children/Youth in need, Global Relief, Healthcare, Families in Need, Environmental, and more! Thousands of dollars are collected by good students for good work.
Last year, the Penny Harvest raised $677,955.99 for charities. That is over 67 million pennies! Who said pennies are not worth anything!
For this reason, Common Cents has been made the Official Charity of the Coin Collector’s Blog.
On my dresser is a pitcher that I put the coins that are in my pocket in at the end of the day. During Thanksgiving weekend, I will take that pitcher to a bank and dump its contents in their coin counting machine. Whatever the machine says is in that pitcher will be donated to Common Cents for this year’s Penny Harvest.
I ask that my readers click on the banner on the upper-right of this page and give directly to Common Cents and support the Penny Harvest.
Charity is good for the soul!
Lincoln Bicentennial Commem Unveiled
Seven score and five years ago, Abraham Lincoln brought forth a message, conceived in war, read in peace, and remembered more fondly than the initial reaction.
The country was engaged in a great civil war that tested the foundation of the 87 year old nation. They stood on the bloodiest battlefield of that war. He read that speech dedicating the final resting place of citizens and brothers who fought for principle and died for a cause. Lincoln said that “it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.”
In a larger sense, Lincoln did not understand the impact of his address on the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He paid tribute to those who lived and survived from that battle. But Lincoln said, “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” The world notes and remembers what happened as we celebrate our freedom.
On November 19, during the annual Dedication Day Ceremony at Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the US Mint attended to unveil the design for the 2009 Abraham Lincoln Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin.
The obverse of the coin was created by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Master Designer Justin Kunz and sculpted by Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart. The image was inspired by Daniel Chester French’s famous sculpture of the President that sits inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
The reverse was designed and sculpted by Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill. The design features the an inscription of the last 43 words of the Gettysburg Address:
WE HERE HIGHLY RESOLVE THAT THESE DEAD SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN–THAT THIS NATION, UNDER GOD, SHALL HAVE A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM–AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH.
These words are encircled by a laurel wreath with Lincoln’s signature incuse into a banner at the bottom of the design.
The US Mint is authorized to strike 500,000 coins at the Philadelphia Mint. Proceeds from the sale of the coins will be paid to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
I like the design. If it is executed as good as these line drawings, it will be a fantastic coin!
Images courtesy of the US Mint.
Army Commemorative To Become Law
It appears that the lame duck session of congress will do what it can to clean up some unfinished business. As part of this spirit, the Senate picked up H.R. 5714, United States Army Commemorative Coin Act of 2008, from the hopper as sent from the House and passed it by unanimous consent.
The bill calls $5 gold coins with a limit of 100,000 minted, 500,000 $1 silver coins, and 750,000 clad half-dollars commemoratives in 2011 to recognize the founding of the United States Army in 1775. “The design of the coins minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the traditions, history, and heritage of the United States Army, and its role in American society from the Colonial period to today.”
Once the bill is engrossed it will be sent to the president for his expected signature.
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