I have a question for E-Sylum readers. Does anyone know anything about Dennis W. Sibert? In 1946 he twice ran a full page ad in The Numismatist announcing a new book on the silver dollars of China, to be co-authored by himself and H. Chang, a coin dealer in Shanghai. Another ad in Numismatist in 1948, placed by his wife, said that due to Sibert's ill health, the book plan had been cancelled and advance payments had been refunded.

I came across these advertisements some time ago, and put a card in my bibliography in case any other information turned up. Last night I discovered that I have the manuscript and many of the photos for that book. It came from the Howard F. Bowker library in the form of a binder, but with no title page or author shown. Stuck in the manuscript is the top half of a letter addressed to "Mr. Sibert". The name rang a bell and led me to my card file.

A Google search provided the following information: Dennis Willie Sibert (1912-1991) was born and died in Alabama. He enlisted in the U.S. Army 9 September 1942 and was a captain and later a major. At the time of his death (21 February 1991) he lived in Mentone, AL, which was also where he lived in 1946. He received his social security number in New York, so he must have lived there at one time. In 1955 he and his wife, Helen, flew into New York from Frankfurt (Germany?). In the Bowker-Coole correspondence, Bowker mentions that Sibert was working on a book on Chinese silver dollars and had obtained photos of Eduard Kann's coins.

Beyond that, I know nothing about Sibert. What happened to him after 1948? I suspect he was an ANA member, but I didn't find anything about him in the indexes to The Numismatist (though the last one was published in the 1980's -- before Sibert died). He must have recovered from his 1948 illness, since he was able to travel in 1955 and lived until 1991. I found a photo of him, in WWII uniform, online and have attached it.