Wayne asked me to find out what I could about Calvin Franklin and a book being sold by Kolbe& Fanning with the Homren library.

Calvin (age 6, born in Ohio) appeared in the 1860 Census with his father, John Franklin (1826-1908), his mother, Nancy Franklin (1833-1916), a brother, John (8), and his sister, Sarah Jane(2). His father was listed as a farmhand in the State of Ohio. The brother listed as John wasprobably James.

Calvin (age 16) appeared again in the 1870 census in Washington County, Ohio, with his parents,James (18), Mary (10) and John (5). The father was still a farmhand.

For the 1880 Census, John and Nancy are living in Ravenswood, West Virginia, with Mary (19),John William (14) and Lucy (6). I did not find Calvin in 1880. The 1890 Census has beengenerally lost.

The firm of Franklin & McCausland sold pianos, musical instruments, and sheet music at 18Sixth Street in Pittsburg. There was a notice in the newspaper that the firm was dissolved on June1, 1893.

In 1899, C. W. Franklin was selling real estate lots on Orchard Street in Bellevue. In 1900 he wasselling lots on Forest Avenue. In 2024, Bellevue has an Orchard Avenue but not an OrchardStreet.

For the 1900 Census, Calvin was at 24 North Diamond Street in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, livingas a lodger and employed as an advertising agent. His birth was listed in Ohio in November,1858, and age 41.

In June of 1900, C. W. Franklin began running small ads offering a gold-plated picture frame forsixty cents via P. O. Box 667 in Pittsburg. These ads ran in the Indiana (PA) Weekly Messengerbut not in Pittsburgh papers.

On March 30, 1901, Calvin married Agnes Morrison Kerr (1870-1909) in Beaver, Pennsylvania.Calvin was listed as age 43, representing a birth year of 1858. Agnes was listed as age 30 andborn in 1871.

In 1902, he was selling safes out of Pittsburg P. O. Box 667.

In 1903, he was advertising fireproof safes for sale from 126 Fourth Avenue. By 1904, he wastrying to close out his inventory. He continued to offer safes for sale into 1910.

By October 1904, C. W. Franklin had begun offering coins. He placed many ads in The PittsburgPress. One offered,

In another 1904 ad, he offered a for 25 cents.In 1905, he offered an 1804 silver dollar for $5.00 and an 1856 eagle penny for $5.00. Whatwould those coins be worth today?

The only known photograph of C. W. Franklin was published in the April 16, 1905, issue ofPittsburgh Weekly Gazette, which featured four of their regular advertisers.

By 1906, he had moved up the street to 239 Fourth Avenue. Later in the year, he relocated to2 Taylor Ave., in Bellevue.

An article on Franklin appeared in the Pittsburgh Post on January 6, 1907, This reported,

Was this the same 1804 silver dollar he offered for $5 in 1905?

Another article appeared in the same paper on March 10, 1907, titled, Author Mrs. A. B. Sperry wrote,

The article has what every collector wants or dreads when it gives his address, and mentions hehas a valuable collection of coins. Later in the article, it says,

The article describes the collection at length, and it would appear that it was, in fact, animpressive collection.

Later in 1907, C. W. Franklin ran ads promoting his complete rare coin book for $1. These adsran in The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times, ThePittsburgh Post, and The Pittsburgh Press.

For the 1910 census, with Agnes dead in 1909, Calvin was living with his sister-in-law and nieceat 321 Taylor Avenue in Bellevue, Pennsylvania, at age 51. His profession is listed ascommercial trader in novelties.

In 1908, he was selling upright pianos while still selling safes and cash registers.In August of 1909, he offered Was this thefirst offering of Lincoln

In 1910, he was offering typewriters for sale from 321 Taylor Avenue in Bellevue.

In 1910, he was offering the smallest Bible ever published for 25 cents, same address.

In 1911, he was offering his house at 321 Taylor Avenue for sale. This was a month before hisdeath.

There is a Findagrave listing for Calvin W. Franklin, born in 1855 and died in 1911. He is buriedin Ravenswood, West Virginia. The Findagrave site also had a listing for John and NancyFranklin in this cemetery but the memorials have been removed.

The FamilySearch site includes trees submitted by users which may not agree with originalsources. The tree fan chart gives his name as Calvin Wesley Franklin, born November 22, 1855,and died April 29, 1911.

The previous article was nearly completed by the evening of Wednesday, June 12. Then Ireceived a copy of Franklin's death certificate from Julia Casey. His date of birth is given asApril 12, 1857, and his middle name was Westley. His occupation was given as old coinmerchant. Otherwise, the certificate agrees with other sources.

Information for the certificate was provided by Mrs. Lucy Bibby of Charleston, West Virginia.That would have been his sister, Lucy Elsie Franklin Bibby (1877-1924). She may have beentwenty years younger than her brother, so he may have been out of the house by the time she wasborn. There are also conflicting sources for her date of birth.

Over the years, the census has Franklin's birth year as 1855, 1855, 1858, and 1859. Hismarriage certificate gives his year of birth as 1858. I tend to believe the 1855 year of birth butmust admit that I don't know.

Julia Casey also provided a death certificate for Agnes Morrison Kerr. Her date of birth was May16, 1874. There is a birth record from Scotland for May 16, 1870. Her obituary gives herhusband's name as Caldin Wesley Franklin.

After all this confusion, I want to state that Calvin Franklin was a minor player in numismaticsand the dates have little importance.

The Numismatist for July 1907, page 199, described a new book:

Apparently, the book has two titles. It is seen with a blue cover and the title: Numismatic BlueBook: Ancient and Modern Coins. On the title page is A Handbook of American, Greek andRoman Coins.

The copy sold with the Wayne Homren Library has a hardbound maroon cover. This may be anaftermarket binding. The auction lot included one plate illustration. I matched that plate to G. F.Hill's 1899 book, Illustrations of History: A Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins. I don't haveeither book in my library.

Someone with access to both books could see if all the same plates were in both books.

I suspect there are reasons why few copies have survived. It was not broadly marketed, and feworiginal copies were sold. It did not get into libraries. It was also not considered importantenough to keep.

After working on this for a week, I have a related question. Is the author and the book worth theeffort to tell the story?

To read the complete lot description, see:
Mysterious American Numismatic Rarity(https://bid.numislit.com/lots/view/1-91D1N7/mysterious-american-numismatic-rarity)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
C. W. FRANKLIN(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n17a16.html)
WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC LITERATURE JUNE 9, 2024(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n23a19.html)