The Nummis Nova Supper Club met by Zoom last Tuesday. As vacuous as theappetizers were, so too, the main course was entirely too airy and insubstantialfor my palate, and for dessert... don't get me started. I would not recommendZoom as a restaurant substitute if one is hungry. Be that as it may, it was good tosee a few of the old crowd in the comfort of their homes and libraries. We hadtime to walk around our desks and peer into the stacks of our numismaticlibraries. Different hosts plucked interesting books from their customary nooksand shared them as one would a bedtime story. Here is what I picked.

I pulled ANS Numismatic Notes and Monographs #131, The Coinage of the FirstMint of the Americas at Mexico City 1536 - 1572 by Robert I. Nesmith, publishedin 1955 and shared a most curious inscription from the author on the flyleaf.

In what was once blood red sealing wax, Robert finished his dedication with aflame and drops of crimson on the page, in which he pressed what I envision to bea gold signet ring, leaving a most impressive flourish of skull and crossbones.Dedicated

Robert sure left a lasting impression.

Who was Robert I. Nesmith you ask? In Kiplinger's Personal Finance Newsletter"Changing Times" of May 1956, this advertisement appears: "Hints to TreasureHunters: "If you want to pay for expert advice on a given problem, write to RobertI. Nesmith, Foul Anchor Archives, Rye N.Y. he is a recognized authority on oldcoins, and he has authentic records on the never-ending search for buriedtreasure."

Another tip for treasure hunters reads: "Don't go plunging off after sunken orburied treasure without reading available literature or consulting an expert in thefield. A couple of months ago a man got steamed up about finding gold, silverand crown jewels of Maximillian, which were said to have been in the safe of theWard liner Merida when she sank off the Virginia Capes on May 12, 1911.Fortunately, the prospective treasure hunter checked with Robert I. Nesmith ofRye, N.Y., who quickly proved that several expeditions had searched for theMerida and that one had finally found her at a considerable expense and pulledup the safe. Inside were three disks: a waiter's badge, numbered 13, a Mexicancopper coin and a counterfeit U.S. 50-cent piece. Research showed that the shiphad been rammed at midnight and not abandoned till five hours later. The purserhad had plenty of time to empty the safe."

In the ANS Monograph #131, Robert Nesmith writes that his study of the earliestcoinage of the Americas was propelled by the scanty information and lack ofknowledge about the circumstances of emission of coins from the Mexico CityMint. A series of articles written by Wayte Raymond in The Coin Collector'sJournal of 1943-44 proved this point. In introduction Robert Nesmith explains:

Robert Nesmith knew of the Archives of the Indies where official documents ofthe Spanish Empire including original handwritten decrees, regulations, andappointments for New Spain from the 1500s still resided, untranslated in archaicSpanish, at the Archives in Seville. The first English translation of the RoyalDecrees establishing the Mexico City Mint on May 11, 1535 were published in hisANS Monograph #131. Robert studied many early Mexican coins in finenumismatic collections including at the American Numismatic Society, and theBanco de Mexico, S.A. As a capstone to his monograph, a large hoard of over onethousand coins from Carlos and Johanna to Philip II was unearthed in Mexico inthe summer of 1952 which added to the varieties known.

Does anyone know who Hans Cochran is?

By the way... a new private group on Facebook formed this past week for thosewho collect pirate coins. Dedicated to showing off, sharing, buying, selling,trading, and auctioning off "pirate coins" they define pirate coins as those ofSpain and Portugal - and their colonies in Central and South America from 1474till 1830. Also coins of the West Indies, Danish West Indies and Dutch West Indiesfrom 1740 to 1913 along with shipwreck coins and artifacts. What betterexamples than these first coins of Mexico, in circulation at the rise of the Age ofPiracy and throughout, as likely coins to be inducted into a set of cobs andhammered coins, minted back when swashbuckling was in vogue.

To visit the Facebook Pirate Coins page, see:
PIRATE COINS - Buy, Sell, Trade & Auction(https://www.facebook.com/groups/767691483783404/?ref=share)