For the numismatic researchers (pro and non-pro)--where do you start when trying to find an answer?
Longacre
Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
I posted another thread because I wanted to find out more about Lee Hewitt's Numismatic Credit Bulletin issued during the 1930s. I saw an advertisement for it in a book that I was reading (there was no further information about it), and I was curious as to exactly what it was, what types of services Hewitt provided, what the market was like at the time for the types of services offered, etc.
No one on the boards had additional information, so I decided to research it on my own. Then I realized that I had no clue where to start. If this had been a tax law question, I would have immediately pulled out my tax code, regulations, researched the legislative history, jumped on Westlaw and dug up old cases and rulings, etc. However, in the coin field, things don’t seem as structured. I am now sitting here completely baffled as to where I should begin.
Should I check out QDB’s History of US Coinage and see if it is mentioned? Should I try a Google search? Is there another searchable database that would have this sort of information? Should I leave the research to the professionals and pay the $500/hour just to satisfy my curiosity? Any thoughts on where to begin would be appreciated.
No one on the boards had additional information, so I decided to research it on my own. Then I realized that I had no clue where to start. If this had been a tax law question, I would have immediately pulled out my tax code, regulations, researched the legislative history, jumped on Westlaw and dug up old cases and rulings, etc. However, in the coin field, things don’t seem as structured. I am now sitting here completely baffled as to where I should begin.
Should I check out QDB’s History of US Coinage and see if it is mentioned? Should I try a Google search? Is there another searchable database that would have this sort of information? Should I leave the research to the professionals and pay the $500/hour just to satisfy my curiosity? Any thoughts on where to begin would be appreciated.
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
0
Comments
Although, like you I use Lexis for legal research they do have a good newpsaper/periodicals section?? Mabye you'll get a hit there?? Or maybe it does not go back far enough...
Anyway, just a thought...
Chicolini: Mint? No, no, I no like a mint. Uh - what other flavor you got?
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.
I agree -- this is a search (really) for a serial publication. Library databases are the place to start, and either the ANA or ANS libraries will have both: (a) access to a large number of international library search engines, and (b) possibly have the item on their shelves.
Hoot
I suspect the ad was from a periodical. Go find the periodical at ANA, ANS, or elsewhere. Most coin trade papers pre WWII reviewed newcomers (sometimes quite uncharitably). Figure out when it began and look in the Numismatist. Look in Scrapbook -- a natural place to find more info about a Hewitt enterprise. Check QDB's History of the ANA.
Google will likely not help you in the least.
Betts medals, colonial coins, US Mint medals, foreign coins found in early America, and other numismatic Americana
As for the "one" place to find out something, there is no such beast. But over time I think you can develop a knack for finding things, a lot of it is just experience and networking with other researchers.
They may be able to help you or point you in the right direction. Pretty extensive inventory of catalogs and reference materials.
Joe
Mark