Newman Numismatic Portal
KellenCoin
Posts: 1,206 ✭✭✭✭
Many of you know the Newman Numismatic Portal: nnp.wustl.edu
If you do not know what it is, check out other threads on here describing what it is.
Anyways, I am curious if any of you have any stories where the NNP helped out with research? Or perhaps you found something interesting on there you would like to share?
CCAC Representative of the General Public
Columnist for The Numismatist
2021 Young Numismatist of the Year
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Yes. I used the NNP to download a full set of 120 back issues of the Gobrecht Journal (1974-2014) as PDFs and used them to learn the details on many die varieties for Liberty Seated Half Dimes which have not been published anywhere else.
I will find other aspects of the impact of the NNP rather interesting, I think. Regarding the Gobrecht Journal: there were collective volumes (I think I paid $40-$60 each) that were issued in hardcover format. These were nice alternatives to trying to obtain back issues one by one. However, I recently noticed that these are now much cheaper---Kolbe & Fanning has some of them for sale at $15 each. Other specialty organizations, such as C4 and the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, have extensive backfiles uploaded onto the Portal too. However, the ANA has not permitted the Numismatist issues to be uploaded onto the Portal for free use. It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, this has on the values of back issues of numismatic journals and on society membership rolls.
There are lots of interesting tidbits to be gleaned from reading the U. S. Mint Reports. From the report for 1795:
All I can say about this is that gummint carelessness has been going on for a LONG time.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Any ANA member has access to all issues of the Numismatist online. I can understand them not wanting these available elsewhere without a membership.
To the OP question. I recently used this to grab some digital copies of pages from the Stack's catalogs (I have actual copies, but wanted the digital versions as well) I also enjoyed finding the receipts for four of the 1913 Liberty Nickels when sold by B.G. Johnson.
I agree. Some specialty numismatic organizations, however, have permitted substantial portions of their publication backfiles to be hosted by the NNP. Will this cause a decline in memberships?
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Loads of research, especially pedigree research from 19th century auction catalogs with the occasional plate images.
The Gobrecht Journal Collective Volumes 1-5 are only a partial alternative - they cover issues #1-78 (through 7/2000). This still leaves the 42 issues 79-120 to try to obtain individually.
Note: the latest issue of the Gobrecht Journal is #128, so there is a lag between distribution to the members of the LSCC and making it available for free to everyone. I believe this strikes a good balance, as it provides the people who support the club financially with first crack at info on the new discoveries. And by sharing all the earlier issues with the public, it makes more people aware of the extent of the research done by club members (and thus encourages new members to join).
For those wanting to use NNP - please organize your search carefully so you get the kinds of results expected. The present search engine is basic and will be upgraded as time passes.
I have several $5 libs I purchased from Stacks from the mid 70s through the early 90s. All have been slabbed in the last few years and my catalogs have been sold. I recently used the NNP to look up the catalog descriptions for those coins. It was interesting to see what Stacks thought of them vs. what PGCS and NGC thought. For the coins that straight graded I found that Stacks grades were very conservative back then.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
A word on the ANA and The Numismatist. Full-view access is available to ANA members at https://www.money.org/thenumismatist/digitalarchives. If you are not a member, this is a good incentive!
With the agreement of the ANA, the Newman Portal has indexed The Numismatist, and limited-view "snippets" will appear in Newman Portal search results. From there you will see a link to the ANA back-issue archives as noted above. So you can search The Numismatist on Newman Portal, but full-view remains on the ANA site.