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 Friday, September 14, 2007
Plague Hits Northern Arizona
Posted by tom
Black Death, Prairie Dogs, Fleas and a Human Case in AZ
Back in May I posted several snippets on the recurrence of the plague in squirrels in the Denver park system. Now I just read a story at the USA Today website about a woman in northern Arizona contracting the plague from a flea bit. Seems that fleas can carry the disease from rodents to humans, and of course a bit from an infected animal would do the trick as well. Out in Arizona they are cautioning the populace about flea collars for house pets, staying away from rodent dens and wearing gloves when skinning your squirrels and prairie dogs!
Of course, as I mentioned in those postings from may, medical advancement has provided us with antibiotics to fight Black Death in humans, so the woman who caught it in Arizona should be on antibiotics now and is hopefully doing well. Never the less, the USA Today article notes that eight of the 48 human cases of plague reported in Arizona since 1977 have resulted in death. You can never be too careful, I guess.
On the other hand, you can handle medieval coins all day long and not worry a bit, so I suggest leaving the prairie dogs alone and taking up numismatic pursuits. Many coin dealers offer good selections of Medieval coinage, check out the new items in Tom Cederlind's buy or bid sale, look at the coins in Classical Numismatic Group's website, or stop by Allen Berman's website. Explore the world of Medieval coins through Medievalcoinage.com, check out European Medieval issues through Alex Basok's well designed Rusty Pennies site, investigate the stellar website of Marc Breitsprecher for ancient coins or contact Liz Cottam for more on Celtic coins at the Chris Rudd website. I'm sure you'll have some fun and I guarantee that you'll not pick up a single plague infested flea.
Focus Country
9/14/2007 6:31:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Friday Fix
Posted by tom
 Friday Fix
London pm fixes for 9-14-07
Gold $716.35
Silver $12.50
Platinum $1,297.00
Palladium $331.00
Friday Fix
9/14/2007 11:06:20 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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When We Were Kings
Posted by tom
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
When We Were Kings
When I was kid, Muhammad Ali was admired and despised alternately by many of the people in my neighborhood. Ali was a big figure, everyone had an opinion, and nobody could ignore him. He expressed himself boldly, had no signs of humility and could back up most everything he said.
The Ali-Frazier bouts commanded high attention with my schoolmates and myself. Everyone had a prediction for each fight and there was much debating in the week’s prior. The same was true of the Rumble in the Jungle, except that most everyone was sure that Muhammad Ali could never beat George Foreman. We had seen what Foreman was capable of, but in 1974 we had only a glimmer of the Greatness that was Ali.
When We Were Kings
is a wild and wooly documentary of one of the biggest Boxing matches of my generation. It showcases some of the most flamboyant figures in the boxing world at the time, including Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Don King. But King's spectacle in Zaire didn't stop at Boxing; it also included performances by James Brown and B.B. King among others. In addition, this documentary includes commentary from boxing authors Norman Mailer and George Plimpton, who were there at ringside, and social commentary from film director Spike Lee.
It's a great behind the scenes look at a world-shaping event in Boxing history.
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
9/14/2007 10:08:59 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, September 13, 2007
Cederlind Offers Rare Ancients
Posted by tom
Children, Parents & Even Grandmothers on Ancient Roman Coins
In looking over the current Tom Cederlind catalog a few interesting items jumped out at me. Though young rulers, babies and mothers and often times wives of Emperors were depicted on various Roman coins over time, I don't every recall seeing a Grandmother on an ancient coin. Of course, I am not really too well versed in Ancients, but I do always look over the ancient sections of the many auction catalogs which land on my desk weekly and I don't remember any Grandmothers, but here in this Cederlind offering is a bronze coin featuring Julia Maesa, grandmother to Elagabalus and Severus Alexander. This coin is flanked by select coins of her two grandson's making for excellent representation from their time period ranging from 218 to 235 A.D.
After a bit more page turning I stumbled across another unusual Roman type from Domitian, which features his infant son seated on a globe. Cederlinds lot description tells the tale of Domitian and his wife Domitia, whose son died in infancy. During his rule from 81 to 96 A.D. Agustus Domitian had this silver Denarius struck to honor the memory of their son, who seems happy in Heaven. On the reverse of this type, the boy sits atop a globe, surrounded by stars, with the legend roughly reading " the son of the Emperor Domitian is now in the Heavens." It's an outstanding piece and quite rare.
Aside from the fine selection of ancient Roman coins this buy or bid sale closing October 1st also contains an unusual array of Byzantine coinage as well as a good grouping of Medieval English coins. Two standouts include a Kingdom of Wessex silver penny from Edward the Elder, sharply struck and well preserved and a classic bronze follis of Nicephorus I which could easily have been the basis for a string of modern imitative fantasy copper coins from St Hildegard. 
Lots You'll Like
9/13/2007 4:47:06 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, September 12, 2007
DuPont Explosion Bonded Quarter Pattern
Posted by tom
Patterns at Heritage Long Beach Sale
Session Five of the upcoming HeritageLong Beach Auction contains a nice run of United States patterns. There are some of the classic pieces such as the popular Judd-1655 Coiled Hair Goloid Metric Dollar in copper and a Judd 346 Seated Liberty muling also in copper. These types always generate high interest, but this grouping also has a few more obscure pieces well worth the look.
An outstandingly sharp strike of the Liberty Head nickel design for a proposed alloy change to 50% nickel and 50% copper, Judd-1710, is offered as lot 3033. This pattern piece grades proof-67 and is a real dazzler.  There are several International Nickel Company Inc. strikes from 1964 when the U.S. Mint farmed out some of the composition testing for new nickel based coinage brought on from higher silver bullion prices. Many of these pieces were designed by Gilroy Roberts and had hubs produced by the Medallic Art Company. Some were struck by General Numismatics, which evolved into The Franklin Mint. All display Dr. Paul D. Merica of INCO on the obverse and the INCO laboratory on the reverse. This sale contains one of the Dimes from this series and three of the quarters including one of the scarce type three patterns with the revised design pictured here.
 
Finally this sale contains an undated DuPontBenjamin Franklinquarter pattern produced in 1964 under the same U.S. Mint program as the INCO pieces. In their search for a replacement for silver, DuPont experimented with a patented method called Detaclad. Detaclad was a process of explosion bonded laminating designed to adhere 75% copper onto 25% nickel. Judging by the results on this piece, it must have worked pretty well. DuPont eventually supplied 70 million pounds of Detaclad coin blank stock to the U.S. Mints in Philadelphia and Denver during the 1960's. This was a great start for the new Detaclad division which DuPont built up to an 11 million a year buisness before selling it to Dynamic Materials Corporation in mid 1996.
Lots You'll Like
9/12/2007 6:08:24 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, September 07, 2007
Second Best Thing to the Windows
Posted by tom
 Tom's Inescapable Truths
While removing your windows for a home renovation always brings on the rain drops, it is the roof replacement which brings on the rain and the wind gusts.
Tom's Inescapable Truths
9/7/2007 1:29:52 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday Fix
Posted by tom
Friday Fix
London pm fixes for 9-7-07
Gold $701.00
Silver $12.57
Platinum $1,289.00
Palladium $334.00
Friday Fix
9/7/2007 11:07:42 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Discovery in Portuguese Gold
Posted by tom
B R Propels a Coin to the Top in Portugal
Just had a moment to look through the latest Dix Noonan and Webb auction, scheduled to close at Coinex on September 27th. Most of the sale is comprised of a fine selection of ancient coins, but near the end DNW provides a few unusual Early Medieval coins as well as a few coins from the Crusader States. One of the major highlights is a gold Solidus stuck by the Suevi in Gallaecia. These imitative types are listed by Alberto Gomes in his Moedas Portuguesas and are considered to be the first gold coins struck in Portugal.
This particular example differs slightly in legends and style from the ones Gomes pictures. It is also a bit different than the one sold through Sotheby's Geneva in November 1986. In fact, as Michael Metcalf states in his analysis of this specific specimen for the DNW auction, the B R flanking the figure on the reverse of this coin most likely stands for Bracara, the capital of the Suevi territory in Gallaecia. That small distinction makes this coin a unique example and possibly the earliest of these imitative gold coins struck in Northern Portugal.
Any modern day coin collector from Braga, Galicia should find this a most fascinating coin. Take a look at the DNW website, even if the estimate of 20,000-25,000 pounds is over your budget limit. It's a great opportunity to look and learn and you may find something within your budget in the many other selections up for bid in this sale.
Auction Lot of the Week
9/7/2007 10:00:25 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Fear and Trembling
Posted by tom
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
Fear and Trembling or Stupeur Et Tremblements
Sometimes the most interesting moments in life are created by human dynamics. How we interact is an amazing thing, and the differences in our approach to those around us is vast. Most all situational comedy and drama is based either on physical predicaments or mental and verbal ironies. We enjoy watching others go through uncomfortable situations mainly because we ourselves have likely experienced similar entanglements.
Fear and Trembling
takes some of these basic principles and couples them with cultural differences to form a most uncomfortable, yet oddly amusing film. Its pinpoint comedy is formed through the clash of Japanese and Western European cultures, combined with inter-office dynamics common to all societies. Think about a combination of The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Gung Ho, and you'll be in the right neighborhood.
Everyone if the cast of Fear and Trembling does a great job of conveying the excessive natures expressed in the story. Sylvie Testud is brilliant as the central character and her office mates and eventual rulers are played to the hilt by Kaori Tsuji, Taro Suwa, Bison Katayama as the middle management dicatator, Yasunari Kondo, Sokyu Fujita and Gen Shimaoka. Alain Corneau directed this offbeat film and found the humor in all the little places it could possibly pop up.
Be forewarned that there are some uncomfortable situations depicted in this film. Also, there is one scene containing full frontal nudity, though it will not be anything you expect and is decidedly non-sensual. Keep in mind that Fear and Trembling is based on a true story and told through the eyes of a Belgian woman, Amelie Nothomb, who, for personal reasons, wanted to become more Japanese. Mixed up? So is she, but if you like dark comedy, you may enjoy this little gem.
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
9/7/2007 9:59:02 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, September 06, 2007
Diana on Five Ounces of Gold
Posted by tom
Diana Lingers On
Last week my Blogging Pal and numismatic neighbor, George Cuhaj, wrote a nice posting on the anniversary of Princess Diana's death. George noted that Princess Di has been immortalized on coins, stamps and at least one fantasy banknote. Check out George's Blog posting for illustrations, more links and his experienced take on sculpture.  When he was writing this posting, George asked my opinion on what coins to illustrate and I suggested my favorite off the wall Diana coin, which is a 10 Dollar silver piece from Liberia, KM#350, showing Diana wearing protective gear and observing a minefield. There is a similar coin type listed for Mongolia, KM#202, a 500 Tugrik, though I have never seen that piece.
One area that George did not cover in his Blog posting was Diana medals. So when the Coincraft special flyer from Richard Lobel arrived a few days ago serendipity lent a hand.
Coincraft is offering an unusually large gold Memorial Medal of Princess Diana. The obverse sports a nice depiction of Diana facing right with birth and death dates of 1961-1997 below. The obverse legend reads: IN MEMORY OF DIANA PRINCESS OF WALES. The reverse identifies the medal as Princess Diana's Pattern Gold Fifty Pounds and notes it as a Milestones of the Millennium piece. The weights and measures are included at the bottom of the reverse. At five ounces of .999 fine gold this piece carries about $3400 in melt value alone. Coincraft is offering the medal at 1,870 pounds or about $3780, just about $400 over melt.
Of course this isn't the only Di medal available for collectors. If you are looking for something less weighty, try eBay or look at the other Diana Medals offered through Coincraft's website.
Lots You'll Like
9/6/2007 12:36:53 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Sunday, September 02, 2007
Apocalypto
Posted by tom
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
Apocalypto
There's been plenty of talk and lots of good and bad reviews from all corners on Apocalypto and Mel Gibson. It's fun to read them and good to form your own opinion. For me, Apocalypto turned out to be an interesting action/adventure film within a Mayan setting. It was entertaining because it was out of character. You don't come to a film like this expecting to see a Die Hard style plot, but here it is. If any of you have seen Brick, you know the feeling; Noir in a High School setting catches you off balance.
When I finished watching Apocalypto my first thought was that I had seen this story before. Different setting, different time frame, same chase'em down plot. In trying to think of which film I was relating Apocalypto to, I discovered, over a few days of thinking, that it was actually many, many films, all with similar stories.
Like The Naked Prey, or Die Hard, Apocalypto pits one driven man against many ruthless killers. All the talk about historical accuracy is somewhat lost on me, as I can only see this film as an action adventure piece set in an unusual time period. Aside from documentaries, I highly suggest that viewers should not mistake entertainment films for history lessons. I love JFK for it's intricate and mystifying plot, but I would never take it as historically accurate.
The same is true of Apocalypto. Enjoy this film for it's great action, fast pace, irony and heroism.
Tom's Recommended Film of the Week
9/2/2007 11:00:12 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday Fix
Posted by tom
Friday Fix
London pm fixes fro 8-31-07
Gold $672.00
Silver $11.95
Platinum $1,268.00
Palladium $330.00
Friday Fix
8/31/2007 4:15:43 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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