Details:
- Published by Bowers and Merena Galleries. Inc.
- Copyright 1988
- Fifty-five pages plus footnotes and an index
- Line drawings and some photographs included

The book's title, The Eagle That Was Forgotten, stems from a poem by that sametitle written by Vachal Lindsay. Understanding that poem is essential to understanding Dr.Joel J. Orosz's book. The poem pays tribute to a noble bird that has lived its life and nowlies quietly below a stone, its victories forgotten. Orosz's book explains how Pierre EugeneDu Simitiere (1737-1784) achieved significant accomplishments in American numismaticsduring America's colonial, revolutionary and early independent days without gainingfinancial wealth or public acknowledgement. Dr. Orosz helps explain some of thewonderful accomplishments of Du Simitiere, things left unknown by most numismatistsand scholars of today.

Du Simitiere was an artist who emigrated from Switzerland to the Caribbean regionand then on to colonial America while in his twenties. He paid attention to monetarysystems and coins found in each region, beginning to collect some coins at that time. Fromhis story it is clear that there were coin collectors in Philadelphia, New York and NewJersey in the 1760s. There was also the sale of an American coin collection by a privateparty during this era.

Living in Philadelphia, Du Simitiere had a small but important collection of coinsand artifacts which he compiled into a museum. He had New England coins, British coins,ancient coins, Roman medals, gold coins, plus stories of his own experiences to offer.Admission was fifty cents and the tour lasted around one hour.

Interestingly, Du Simitiere remained neutral during the American Revolution. Hedid correspond with John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington about coinsand currency, yet when the Tories occupied Philadelphia, he knew and conversed withthem as well. He worked on a medal of George Washington, having made a portrait of himduring a sitting, and he suggested using a woman as the subject of Liberty for the Seal ofthe United States.

Du Simitiere died a poor person. His museum was still in place in Philadelphia, buthis income was low. He had been giving drawing classes, yet remained poor. I am pleasedto have read that he could not sell his coin collection. He held it too dear to himself. Hewas an avid collector and I suspect a wonderful person in many ways.

I appreciate a great deal that Dr. Orosz wrote this book. I met him at The World'sFair of Money in Philadelphia this past summer. He signed my copy of The Secret Historyof the First U.S. Mint, as did the coauthor, Leonard Augsburger. Dr. Orosz is a tirelessresearcher who supports his claims well. He has written several other books on subjectsincluding coin investing, effective foundation management and studies regarding museumactivities. He is a frequent contributor to numismatics periodicals, too, including TheNumismatist and Coin World.

I encourage anyone interested in early American numismatics to give this book aread. What I found out was that there was a good deal of private numismatic activity in thiscountry prior to the nineteenth century.

For more information about the Colonial Coins Collectors Club (C4), see:
http://colonialcoins.org/

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
BOOK REVIEWS: U.S. COLONIAL ERA(https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n17a05.html)