"Dr. William H. Sheldon, Ted Naftzger and the Large Cent Thefts"
I found it a quite interesting, and fascinating story of Dr. Sheldon and the ANS large cent collection (among other collections) that had coins switched out. Also how Sheldon pulled it off and attempts to answer why he did it. The talk has lots of back story that includes the Sheldon Grading Scale and how it almost brings him down. If you like U.S. Large cents, history of numismatics, crime dramas, lots of sleuth work then this is right up your alley give it a watch, but be aware it runs about 70 minutes long.
After this my opinion on Dr. Sheldon changed drastically!
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"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector.
with that, very disheartening to all of the Numismatic community. I always held Dr. Sheldon in a pretty esteemed spot in my minds, until I got involved in EAS coinage and began to unravel the complete story. Very sad indeed.
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector.
This entire story was laid out in great detail by in Truth Seeker: The Life of Eric Newman. Its a book well worth reading. Newman was a key figure in uncovering the theft and getting most of the Clapp coins back in the ANS collection. There has been talk of redoing the Sheldon scale to remove that honor from a thief, but its too intertwined with numismatics to make that possible now.
Andrew99 - Yes a great book, I just wish I had jumped on the order sooner for a hardcover. Mark (friend at Heritage) told me there was a problem at the publisher and not as many hardcover books ended up getting printed, so it will be a classic book rarity in the future.
"Buy the Book Before You Buy the Coin" - Aaron R. Feldman - "And read it" - Me 2013! ANA Life Member #3288 in good standing since 1981, ANS, Early American Coppers Member (EAC), Colonial Coin Collectors Club member (C4), Conder Token Collector Club member (CTCC), Civil War Token Society (CWTS) member, Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC) & Numismatic Bibliomania Society member (NBS), USMex, Member in good standing, 2¢ variety collector.
Quote: On a purely numismatic level, Sheldon disappointed me more.
Personal issues aside, Breen still disappoints me more. So much effort has had to be spent disproving his made up "facts" that you really are kind of better off just ignoring anything by him because you have to double check everything. Generally this wouldn't be a big issue, but he was on a pedestal for so long people just ran with what he said and to this day some of his stories are still believed by many.
I certainly understand future research can disprove past research, but in his case it was more than good faith mistakes and making up things for money is the biggest sin a researcher/author can do in terms of work product
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Posted 04/09/2019 06:42 am
with that, very disheartening to all of the Numismatic community. I always held Dr. Sheldon in a pretty esteemed spot in my minds, until I got involved in EAS coinage and began to unravel the complete story. Very sad indeed.
