D. Wayne Johnson on Breen
Mr. Jaggers
organ of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, D. Wayne Johnson has a piece
entitled "Defining and Voting on 'Greatest' Numismatic Works: A Contrarian
View of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society Survey." Johnson claims to his
own credit having been the first editor of Coin World.
He says that he refused to take part in the survey, as he considered it no
more than a popularity contest. He eschews the current chic of publishing
books and lists of the "100 Greatest" of anything. He defines "greatest" as
"the books that provided the greatest amount of numismatic information to
the greatest number of readers." He points out that the 357 titles on the
NBS ballot make up only a tiny portion (about one in one hundred, he
guesses) of the holdings of the ANS library.
After generally naysaying the whole project, he then "relents" and lists his
picks for the top 25. His four criteria: only books, and only those which
"stress core concepts" of numismatics, those that have great "reference
value,", those whose authors were innovative in some way, and those which
focus on technology of minting.
His pick for number one, after all the ranting and caveating: The Breen
Encyclopedia! About it, he has this to say:
"This book is unquestionably the greatest American numismatic book for the
amount of research, knowledge and sheer information found in this
book...Because of its pre-eminent position in the numismatic field,
detractors have taken potshots at Breen's text. Some early mintage figures
may be off, and some critics may question the author's assumptions where the
facts did not exist when the author wrote about them. Overall, however, it
remains the one volume of American numismatics above all others. I would
certainly welcome an updated version, but it would require a team of
qualified numismatic authorities to accomplish such a task, in contrast to
the herculean achievement by one very qualified, knowledgeable numismatic
scholar."
James
Bob F.
"Mr. Jaggers" <lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com> wrote in message
news:h1oee...@enews2.newsguy.com...
Does he have anything to say about Frank Provasek's numerous suspensions
from eBay?
Mr. Jaggers
Nary a peep.
James the Chickenplucker
Bob F.
"Mr. Jaggers" <lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com> wrote in message
Than I shall have to dismiss his writings as the mere ravings of a
diseased mind.
Frank Provasek's multiple suspensions from eBay should be the prime, nay
ONLY, topic of numismatic interest!
Bob the Vindictive Individual
coinsusa
>
> - Show quoted text -
Only your unsupported opinion.
No facts,
Nothing positive
nothing of substance
a real usless comment.
Try again if you are up to it.
Jud
Mr. Jaggers wrote:
>
> Nary a peep.
>
> James the Chickenplucker
I had expected the usual rebuttal from Reid, speaking of the lack of
peeps. Makes you wonder if he FINALLY got the message. Nahhhh...I know
better than that!
Mr. Jaggers
Jaggers' Second Law: "As James' praise for a given numismatic text
increases, the probability that "someone" will drive by and make an attempt
to shoot it down approaches one."
James the Gusher