1/26/2019 Gmail - FYI, Eric, from Dave B Eric Newman < FYI, Eric, from Dave B 1 message Dave Bowers < Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 1:10 AM To: "Eric P. Newman" < From: [mailto: Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2010 1:04 AM To: Cc: Subject: Re: Dr. Mease's Catalogue Gentlemen: Dave and Len have hit the high points about Dr. Mease, whose publications in the Proceedings of the New-York Historical Society in 1821, and in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1834 and again in 1837 are generally considered to be the first publications on numismatics in periodicals in the United States. He probably had a collection of coins and medals, as well, although I have not been able to document this supposition. Mease led a fascinating life outside of numismatics. He stayed with Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1793 when most doctors fled the Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic (although the harsh methods they used probably killed many of their patients). He also was the father-in-law of one of the most celebrated actresses of the 19th century, Fanny Kemble. In between, he helped to settle a dispute in Philadelphia about the location of the home where Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, by the simple method of writing Jefferson to ask him. Eric Newman wrote an article about Dr. Mease in The Numismatist back in the 90s, and I wrote one for The Asylum about ten years ago. I'm traveling right now, but if anyone is interested, I'll provide the citations once I return home next Wednesday. Best regards, Joel -----Original Message----- From: Leonard Augsburger < To: Bowers Dave < Cc: Joel Orosz < Wayne Homren < David Sundman < Sent: Sat, Jan 16, 2010 12:08 pm Subject: RE: Dr. Mease's Catalogue https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=504c5c6882&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1325094515663848218&simpl=msg-f%3A13250945156… 1/3 1/26/2019 Gmail - FYI, Eric, from Dave B All- As usual, John Adams is way ahead of us, for Washington's letter of transmittal was discussed in his Comitia Americana book in the chapter on the Wayne medal. Regarding the Mease catalog, David Fanning recently offered a copy at: http://www.fanningbooks.com/Bookshelf3Web.pdf (lot 300) What I find interesting about the letter of transmittal is that it mentions a copy of the Mease catalog as of 1817. So far as we know, the catalog initially published in 1821 as an article in "Collections of the New-York Historical Society." This indicates that Mease was at the task even four years earlier. I am sure Joel will have further comments. Regards, Len. From: To: CC: Subject: RE: Dr. Mease's Catalogue Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:19:57 -0500 Dave B to Dick MacMaster (brother-in-law, historian, author, etc.) with copies to some numisma�sts. Dear Dick, Thanks! Haven’t picked up the NYT yet today. Buy it every Fri and Sat for the puzzle, and Sunday for the puzzle and other sec�ons. Mease was a pioneer figure in numisma�cs and is known to serious historians. Appended is a bit about him from my 2001 book, American Numisma�cs Before the Civil War. Today in 2010, and in recent �mes, there has been a renewed interest in numisma�c history and also in early medals —the two go together. I’ll read the ar�cle as soon as I get the paper. Best wishes, DAVE B At a time when ‘coin collectors’ in the United States were popularly considered little better than monomaniacs, two or three gentlemen—Dr. J.B. Felt, of Salem, Mass., Mr. J. Francis Fisher, of Baltimore, and Dr. Jas. Mease, of Philadelphia[1]—were deeply interested in the subject., and communicated the results of their investigations to societies of which they were members, or published them in a separate form. In the 3d vol. of the New-York Historical Society’s Collections (pp. 387-404), will be found a highly interesting paper by Dr. Mease, giving a description of 17 medals struck with reference to America; and this paper the Massachusetts Historical Society republished (Coll., vol. 4, 3d Series, 1834), together with additional particulars from the same hand https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=504c5c6882&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1325094515663848218&simpl=msg-f%3A13250945156… 2/3 1/26/2019 Gmail - FYI, Eric, from Dave B concerning 33 medals presented to the officers of the war of 1812-14; and also of 4 other miscellaneous American medals.… Although Felt would be recognized as the author of a pioneering book, the names of Messrs. Fisher and Mease were scarcely known to a later generation of numismatists. From: [mailto: Sent: Saturday, January 16, 2010 9:20 AM To: Subject: Dr. Mease's Catalogue Good Morning, Dave! On the first page of the Arts Section in this morning's NY Times, there is a photo of a letter from George Washington to "Mad" Anthony Wayne (for whom The County is named, as you know) about a medal awarded by Congress to General Wayne in 1790. In the lower left hand corner there is a notation in 1817 that Dr. Mease included a description of this medal in his catalogue. Dr. James Mease (1771-1846) was the son of John Mease (1746-1826) from Strabane, Co. Tyrone, one of the Philadelphia flaxseed merchants in my book. He was a medical doctor interested in scientific agriculture. Was he also a pioneer American numismatist? All the best, Dick [1] Mease, a prominent Philadelphian and member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, prepared a catalogue of Peale’s Philadelphia Museum and was an acquaintance of naturalist John James Audubon, introducing him to scientists in the city at the start of the latter’s career. Joshua Francis Fisher (1808-1873) was from Philadelphia, not Baltimore. = https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=504c5c6882&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1325094515663848218&simpl=msg-f%3A13250945156… 3/3 1/25/2019 Gmail - Forwarded message from EPN Eric Newman < Forwarded message from EPN 1 message Dave Bowers < Thu, Aug 5, 2010 at 12:43 PM To: Dave Bowers < Craig Sholley < Cc: "Counts, Mary" < Wynn Bowers < Dear Rittenhouse members: I well not be able to be with you physically at breakfast this year but will be enthusiastically with you in spirit. All of you with your excellent numismatic writing have made my life so exciting and have become my mentors. I cannot thank you enough. Thrive. Eric P. Newman . https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=504c5c6882&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1343253736300306406&simpl=msg-f%3A13432537363… 1/1 Eric Newman < RE: Computer changeover from Dave Bowers 5 messages Dave Bowers < Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 10:31 AM To: Cc: "Bressett, Kenneth" < Hi! If you want to send a picture or PDF of a few pages of the typescript I could probably come up with an idea. Teenager Phil Greco came to Johnson City and was in residence for a short �me at Empire Coin Co. This was in the era of great enthusiasm, with great enthusiasm, with new discoveries being made now and again. Prime enthusiasts were Eric P. Newman, Walter Breen, Ken Rendell, Ken Bresse�, Jim Ruddy, and me—plus a handful of others. Al Hoch was a great publisher, but not involved in correspondence about specific die varie�es. JJF was interested, had a lot of coins, but was too busy to write about them or share info on what he had—although I always had a warm recep�on if I visited him at 176 Hendrickson Ave., Rockville Centre, LI, to see his coins; he would always let me look through his boxes, which were typically untouched by him, and had the coins in their envelopes wri�en by Raymond, Boyd, or others. Eric always had info on just about anything and everything and shared it readily—you could take his info to the bank. References were few and far between, as you know. We all loved colonial and state coins. This was in an era before the Colonial Newsle�er, etc. I will send this to Ken Bresse� and Eric PN in case they have any comments. DAVE From: [mailto: Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 9:53 AM To: Subject: Re: Computer changeover from Dave Bowers Hi Dave, I am cataloguing a set of the Greco Massachusetts cents and half cents plates for my next auction and wonder if you can add any personal observations. That they are rare goes without saying. The only other set I have had was Al Hoch's set and that was perhaps 20 years ago. His reminiscences at that time have faded. I was surprised to see (in your colonial book) that you had hired Greco at Empire to do research, particularly on Mass copper. I think my main questions are. Do you recall where the coins on the plates came from (ANS, MHS, ??), and who did the photography which is razor sharp. I suspect it was Hoch as the plates remind me of those in the early numbers of CNL. The plates are also supported by a 32 page typescript "The Copper Coinage of Massachusetts." marked "Copy 2." I never knew that there was such a text (if there were only 2 copies, I can see why), and wonder if this was part of the Empire research project. Any insights would be greatly appeciated. Sincerely, ........................................................... Charles Davis Numismatic Literature P.O. Box 547 Wenham, MA 01984 Tel: (978) Fax: (978) http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/charlesdavis Early American Coppers 142 American Numismatic Association 60027 In a message dated 10/25/2009 12:30:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, writes: Hi! I have just switched from MS Vista to Window 7. In the process all the e-mail addresses to whom I’ve sent messages to or received messages from no longer appear automatically when I type the first few letters of a name. I am sending you this message to restore that capability. No reply necessary. Have a nice day! DAVE BOWERS Kenneth Bressett < Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 12:08 PM To: Dave Bowers < Cc: I remember Phil Greco and his plates, but I never did manage to get a set of them. Frustrated, I began to assemble my own set of Massachuse�s copper photos with the aid of Dick Picker. We were never able to locate high-grade examples of every variety of the cents. Our Mass cent project was eventually abandoned, but we did produce some nice half-cent plates. ---Ken From: Dave Bowers [mailto: Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 8:31 AM To: Cc: 'Bressett, Kenneth' Subject: RE: Computer changeover from Dave Bowers [Quoted text hidden] No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3091 - Release Date: 08/24/10 00:34:00 Dave Bowers < Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 1:02 PM To: Kenneth Bressett < Cc: Dear Charlie, Seeing that the Greco plates are dated 1962 this is several years a�er the Newman-Bowers-Rendell-Bresse�-et al. scenario, but in 1962 there was s�ll lots of growth and an�cipa�on, and the Colonial Newsle�er was the forum for interchange. qdb From: Kenneth Bressett [mailto: Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 12:08 PM To: 'Dave Bowers'; Cc: [Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] < Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 2:09 PM To: Bcc: Dear Dave: I received your and other recent comments about the Phil Greco Massachusetts coppers varieties. I believe I have a complete set of Greco's photographic plates in my file in St. Louis. I am away fir there present and will be home after Labor Day. Do you have or need these?. Eric [Quoted text hidden] Dave Bowers < Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 2:12 PM To: Cc: Hi! I don’t need, but Charlie Davis, herewith copied, is offering a set of them along w Phil Greco’s typescript (which I believe to be very rare). Enjoy the day. DAVE From: [mailto: Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 2:09 PM [Quoted text hidden] [Quoted text hidden] 1/23/2019 Gmail - (no subject) Eric Newman < (no subject) 1 message Dave Bowers < Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 8:13 AM To: "Eric P. Newman" < David Sundman < Not very good pic of early New Hampshire state flag on display at the NH Historical Society Continental dollar NH State flag at NH Hist Soc.JPG 365K https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=504c5c6882&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1350846925053867933&simpl=msg-f%3A13508469250… 1/1 1/23/2019 1 (768×1024) https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/1/?ui=2&ik=504c5c6882&view=att&th=12bf2c1f09c3b79d&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1… 1/1