Don Taxay Questions About

Tibor

Over on the CT Forum a member was asking about Don Taxay. I know he
was a researcher and author. What were some of the books he authored
and when was the last we heard from him. Is there a reason for his absence/
disappearence? Anything will help. Thanks in advance. Tibor

IkesT

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Taxay

lilolme

https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/1767805.Don_Taxay

BStrauss3

The sources pointed to by Wikipedia are

https://coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n54a10.html
https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v09n01a09.html

The second of which quotes Karl Moulton: "I have an inscribed copy of a Taxay book dated 5-30-1980, the same date as the Chicago International Coin Fair."

This seems to be the last sighting. I've posted that over on CT.

yspsales

Weird story all around.

BillJones

On rare occasions he has posted on coin chat boards, but it was only to say "hello!"

I have three of his books. The first one about Counterfeit and mistruck coins was a good introduction to the topic when little had been written. The second one about the mint was also a good start although there was some misinformation. That's to be excused because it was an initial effort.

A third one covered the "old" commemorative coins. The great thing about that book it that it shows many of the proposed designs that were not accepted. No other book on the "old commemoratives" addresses those facts in such detail.

Nysoto

@DonTaxay posted 5 responses from 2003-2006 on this forum. This doesn't sound like the real Don Taxay to me!

"Hi, My name is Don. This is my first computer, so I'm not sure if I'm a "computer geek", but I'm definitely a coin nerd! I've been out of the hobby a while and could use some help understanding some of the phrases used in this forum. Can anybody explain what the following words mean?

1. AT
2. Bodybag
3. Accented Hair
4. Slab
5. Lucybop
6. Crackout artist
7. Accujack
8. DCAM
9. ttt
10. Coin gods"

Taxay's book The U.S. Mint and Coinage: An Illustrated History from 1776 to the Present from 1966 is a classic and groundbreaking when released. It is excellent, and remains so, when he kept with the facts and reprinted archival information. When he speculated and was wrong, it misled other authors for decades, as he did with his speculation of Anne Willing Bingham as being a possible model for the Draped Bust design. Harry Salyards proved that wrong, along with the fact that Gilbert Stuart never had any involvement with the Mint or the Draped Bust design. Taxay was misled by Breen's erroneous speculation about Robert Scot. Authors of subsequent coin reference books used primarily coin-based research and did little or no Mint archives research, they relied on Taxay and Breen, and were misinformed, misled, and corrupted by Breen's unfounded, speculative, and completely erroneous opinions about Robert Scot.

Manifest_Destiny

@IkesT said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Taxay

Wow, interesting.

291fifth

I recall reading his book "The US Mint and Coinage" at the Fort Polk library while I was in basic training there in 1970.

CaptHenway

@BStrauss3 said:
The sources pointed to by Wikipedia are

https://coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n54a10.html
https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v09n01a09.html

The second of which quotes Karl Moulton: "I have an inscribed copy of a Taxay book dated 5-30-1980, the same date as the Chicago International Coin Fair."

This seems to be the last sighting. I've posted that over on CT.

This pretty much says it all. FWIW nobody ever sent me any information to pass on to his family in Chicago. I no longer have that contact information for his cousin.
TD