These guys put our flames to shame!
MrEureka
Posts: 24,331 ✭✭✭✭✭
The following was published as part of today's weekly version of the eSylum, the electronic newletter of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. It's always a great read and I highly recommend that you subscribe - it's free. To do so, contact David Sklow. Tell him I sent you!
KLEEBERG COMMENTS ON W. H. SHELDON
John M. Kleeberg writes: "In a recent posting, John W.
Adams comes to the defense of William Herbert Sheldon
and asks us "not to be glib with the truth." Actually, if we
examine the truth more carefully, we can understand
Sheldon's life of crime better. Sheldon made many
extensive thefts of large cents: in the course of ten years
of litigation and many more of research, I have found
that he stole not only from the American Numismatic
Society, but also from many of the leading dealers of the
day - Abe Kosoff, Stack's, New Netherlands, Celina
Stamp & Coin - and from collectors (the T. James
Clarke Estate, the Gaskill estate, and Ted Naftzger)
through coin switches. Yet many have been puzzled,
asking "Why would a tenured professor at an Ivy League
university do this?" One answer is that he didn't
have tenure at an Ivy League or any other university.
We can understand the motive for these crimes by
reading J. E. Lindsay Carter & Barbara Honeyman Heath,
Somatotyping - Development and Applications (Cambridge
University Press, 1990). This has an extensive introduction
discussing Sheldon. Sheldon's career fell apart after the
"Starlight" crisis of 1936. A woman he thought he was
engaged to, whom he nicknamed "Starlight," married
another doctor. Sheldon wrote a foul, abusive letter.
Her husband circulated this letter among medical academia.
His bizarre letter led him to being squeezed out of the
profession, and after 1936 Sheldon did not ever hold
again another formal, salaried academic post (Carter &
Heath, p. 6).
His chief income was his full disability as a major after
he developed Hodgkin's disease while in the army in
World War II C & H p. 7). Heath, who worked as
Sheldon's research assistant, broke with him after she
discovered him altering his data to fit his theories. He
wanted her to trim photos to fit certain somatotype
measurements (C & H p. 12). At the University of
Oregon Medical School, Sheldon was given desk space
and the title of "clinical professor," but no salary and no
benefit under the grant. In 1953 Columbia University
threw him out of his space at the hospital (C & H p. 14).
Sheldon insisted rigidly on a 7 point scale for somatotypes
(C & H p. 13).
Sheldon had many mystical beliefs, in particular about the
number 7, which explains why he fit both somatotypes
and coin grades into Procrustean scales of 7 and 70.
After the Second World War, Sheldon had no substantial
pension and no large salary - except for whatever he got in
disability - and he turned to theft to pay for his retirement.
He wrote his cent books and created his grading system as
part of his plan - after all, I can always fool you into believing
it is colder than it is if I make the thermometer. He was a
talented, charming man, but also a psychopath and a thief.
We do not do justice to history or to numismatics when we
sweep his crimes under the rug."
KLEEBERG COMMENTS ON W. H. SHELDON
John M. Kleeberg writes: "In a recent posting, John W.
Adams comes to the defense of William Herbert Sheldon
and asks us "not to be glib with the truth." Actually, if we
examine the truth more carefully, we can understand
Sheldon's life of crime better. Sheldon made many
extensive thefts of large cents: in the course of ten years
of litigation and many more of research, I have found
that he stole not only from the American Numismatic
Society, but also from many of the leading dealers of the
day - Abe Kosoff, Stack's, New Netherlands, Celina
Stamp & Coin - and from collectors (the T. James
Clarke Estate, the Gaskill estate, and Ted Naftzger)
through coin switches. Yet many have been puzzled,
asking "Why would a tenured professor at an Ivy League
university do this?" One answer is that he didn't
have tenure at an Ivy League or any other university.
We can understand the motive for these crimes by
reading J. E. Lindsay Carter & Barbara Honeyman Heath,
Somatotyping - Development and Applications (Cambridge
University Press, 1990). This has an extensive introduction
discussing Sheldon. Sheldon's career fell apart after the
"Starlight" crisis of 1936. A woman he thought he was
engaged to, whom he nicknamed "Starlight," married
another doctor. Sheldon wrote a foul, abusive letter.
Her husband circulated this letter among medical academia.
His bizarre letter led him to being squeezed out of the
profession, and after 1936 Sheldon did not ever hold
again another formal, salaried academic post (Carter &
Heath, p. 6).
His chief income was his full disability as a major after
he developed Hodgkin's disease while in the army in
World War II C & H p. 7). Heath, who worked as
Sheldon's research assistant, broke with him after she
discovered him altering his data to fit his theories. He
wanted her to trim photos to fit certain somatotype
measurements (C & H p. 12). At the University of
Oregon Medical School, Sheldon was given desk space
and the title of "clinical professor," but no salary and no
benefit under the grant. In 1953 Columbia University
threw him out of his space at the hospital (C & H p. 14).
Sheldon insisted rigidly on a 7 point scale for somatotypes
(C & H p. 13).
Sheldon had many mystical beliefs, in particular about the
number 7, which explains why he fit both somatotypes
and coin grades into Procrustean scales of 7 and 70.
After the Second World War, Sheldon had no substantial
pension and no large salary - except for whatever he got in
disability - and he turned to theft to pay for his retirement.
He wrote his cent books and created his grading system as
part of his plan - after all, I can always fool you into believing
it is colder than it is if I make the thermometer. He was a
talented, charming man, but also a psychopath and a thief.
We do not do justice to history or to numismatics when we
sweep his crimes under the rug."
Andy Lustig
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
0
Comments
Come on over ... to The Dark Side!
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
For the newcomers who don't know what Askari is referring to...
Breen's Wife's Testimony
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
http://www.urbanlegends.com/collegiate/ivy_league_nude_photos.html
I've always found it a bit troubling that some of the most respected numismatic "scholars" have also had some very dark and deviant sides to thier personal lives.
Why should it be a surprise? They are afterall human and like everyone else.
Coin collectors, numismatists, etc. have the stereotype of being somewhat cultured and genteel, highly educated, rich, etc. Ever go to a coin show or auction? Ever have a coin dealer "misplace" your coin and refuse to pay you for it? Ever had a coin dealer bounce a check on you?
The ones you trust the most are the ones to be wary of .
K S
And that's all I can say about that!!!
Joe.
K S
He wrote his cent books and created his grading system as
part of his plan - after all, I can always fool you into believing
it is colder than it is if I make the thermometer."
Sounds like the mentality of a lot of current Coin Dealers and Market Makers.
Too bad most people don't see it that way.
I didn't know Walter all that well, but we did speak on more than a few occasions. He was brilliant in many ways, not so brilliant in a few others. Never met anyone else like him, probably never will.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
He was not perfect, even numismatically, but he was as good as they got. Values were not important to him, but the study of numismatics was.
I believe that he truly enjoyed numismatics. I also believe that he got thru Johns Hopkins University in 18 months.
I firmly believe in numismatics as the world's greatest hobby, but recognize that this is a luxury and without collectors, we can all spend/melt our collections/inventories.
eBaystore
Tom
sincerely michael
Total Copper Nutcase - African, British Ships, Channel Islands!!!
'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup'
As ccrdragon said, Breen was a convicted pedophile. Breen died in prison, as I recall awaiting trial after violating probation for another alleged incident. Breen's wife was a well known science fiction author who also was a lesbian. I presume that there marriage was ... different ... than most couple's marriages.
Back to the initial topic of the thread, it was truly interesting that Sheldon had no earned income for much of his life. Even though I accept the assertion that he stole many of his coins, nonetheless I presume he was able to honestly amass a decent collection, which really does point out the relatively low prices of the era. I also found his fascination with 7s and 70s interesting. For those of us who might prefer a more conventional scale of 1 to 100 for use in grading, it's too bad Sheldon wasn't fascinated by 10s and 100s.
Mark
<< <i>Breen's wife was a well known science fiction author who also was a lesbian. >>
Their life sound like a Science fiction.
<< <i>Breen was an avowed and convicted pedophile >>
His type generally do not last long in prisons and jails.
"There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental
illness."
Remember. ... First pillage, Then burn
As to Walter, I knew him, though not as well as many of my friends. Breen did have a photographic memory at one time. There's a story that JJF tells about putting on a "dog-and-pony show" with Breen memorizing a phone book.
By the time I met Walter in the early 80s he was pretty incoherent from years of psychological problems compounded by drug abuse. The link MrEureka posted to MZBs deposition reveals much about Mr. Breen's (and MZBs) well-known pedophilic problems. Breen's drug problems sadly only compounded his psychological problems.
While his early work is certainly the stuff of legend, it began to suffer greatly in the early 60s. As one prominent numismatist noted, "After 350 acid trips the data becomes kinda scrambled". Sadly, his work began to reflect this - quotes of "historical records" that do not exist and "missed" records that were contrary to his theories. A comparison of the "Purloined Purple Book" with the Borckardt-Breen Large Cent book is an interesting read.
Walter was convicted of child molestation and died of liver cancer while in prison. A sad end.
<< <i>how many of you ever actually met walter breen??? >>
Not that it counts for anything, but I did meet him briefly at the 1989 ANA convention where he signed my copy of his Encyclopedia of US Coins.
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.