Jules Reiver

For those unaware of Jules Reiver, this is from The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 8, February 22, 2004, Article 2

JULES REIVER DEAD AT 87

Julian Leidman and Gregg Silvas alerted the hobby via last
week's Early American Coppers email newsletter that another
of our hobby's greats, Jules Reiver, passed away on February
11th. The Delaware News Journal published an obituary
on February 14th. Unfortunately, it has already been removed
from the paper's web site. Here is an extensive excerpt:

"Julius Reiver Age 87 and a lifelong Wilmington, DE resident,
died suddenly February 11, 2004. Born September 25,
1916 to Hyman and Ethel Rothman Reiver, Jules graduated
from Wilmington High School. After receiving his BME from
the University of Delaware in 1938, he worked as an engineer
with the DuPont Company and was instrumental in building its
first commercial nylon plant.

He was called into the Army in July 1942. An officer in the
First Army, he commanded the first antiaircraft battery to land
on Omaha Beach in the Normandy invasion, for which he
earned the Certificate of Merit. He was in the vanguard of the
liberation of Paris. During the Battle of the Bulge, his battery
turned back the Germans at a huge gasoline dump, for which
he earned the Bronze Star, and he was promoted to major by
the end of the war.

Ernie Pyle, the famous correspondent, devoted a chapter to
"Reiver's Retrievers" in his book Brave Men. Jules continued
in the Army Reserves after the war, retiring as a lieutenant
colonel in 1966. An expert marksman, he competed as a
member of the Sixth Army Pistol Team, winning a national
second place at the Camp Perry, OH, matches.

He was president of Hyman Reiver & Co., the floor covering
business, from 1946 until his retirement in 1978. He was
president of the Floor Covering Association of Philadelphia in
1975 and vice president of the National Floor Covering
Association in 1976.

Jules began collecting coins at age 7 and became a specialist
in early American copper and silver coins. In 1960, he was
arrested for refusing to surrender a $10 gold certificate in his
numismatic collection. The charges were dropped and a law
was enacted permitting collectors to hold gold certificates.

He wrote 5 books on coins, including U.S. Early Silver Dollar
1793-1803, which won the 1999 National Literary Guild
Award. He was appointed to the Citizens Commemorative
Coin Advisory Committee to the U.S. Mint, serving from
1996-1999. A frequent speaker at numismatic conventions,
he did coin appraisals both locally and nationally, and wrote
auction catalogs for special coin sales.

Jules was a collector of antique cars, including his 1936 Lincoln
V-12 convertible sedan, which won first prize in the National
Classic Car show of 1963. He served in numerous civic
groups."

Wayne Homren, Editor


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Sounds nice Bryan. I have a Half Cent as well, probably one of his culls, but I keep it because of the awesome Cud on the reverse.

Actually, I am neither interested so much in the man or his coins, but rather his published work on the reeded edge half dollars. I have more info to add to what he has compiled.

I am trying to find out if someone has picked up the torch, in which case I will feed them info on several of the rarer varieties which I have in nice condition. I am thinking that I might try the John Reich Society if I cannot get any leads here or on the PCGS forum.

I have recently let go many Morgans and other CBH to make room for these reeded edge varieties that I am trying to hoard for what is becoming my first private research project.

Good ideas Dave. I'll ask a few of the 'Nuts' and Alan as well. Thanks for the thoughts.

Those are my thoughts and intentions exactly Conder. While his work must have been quite exhaustive, I have trouble with his 'book' in it's non illustrated, codedly descriptive text. It is a great resource, but very difficult to discern.

I am a long way from having anything ready to tailgate with though; I am only about halfway through the 1837s, and have not yet started on the 1838-39s.
I am still gathering coins as specimens, and have no idea how long it will take (if ever) to attain all varieties. Right now, I am concentrating on the R-5 thru R-8 and possibly a couple new ones. I figure that I can pick up the R-1 through R-4 later.

From what I can gather through my limited sources, there is not a great deal of interest in the reeded edge varieties (which I attribute to lack of readily available information), so most collectors only obtain one or two examples for type sets with consideration given strictly to condition rather than variety.

Here is an example of JR-23 (R-7): (Cool crack formations 'eh)?

while I do not collect these types of cons, I do, however callect every "crack, or break, I run across. I have seen many "spears, but never a bouble spear. It is cool, to say the least.
Thanks for sharing!
Later. I just noticed the other crack, running thru the devices. it looks lke a large piece of pie, with fancy crust.
Dick

Most of Reiver's VIM manuals are not that hard to figure out with a little practice (If you can find them. The booklets are as collectible as the coins.) But I will agree that it may be harder with the reeded edge halves since the other booklets dealt with non-hubbed dies.

If you can't find examples of the rarer varieties to own, it may still be possible through loans or high quality photography to still achieve your goal. If photos can't capture the fine diagnostic marks then possibly the use of diagrams as was done with the Late Date Large Cent book.

Personally I would like to see illustrated versions of all of the VIM manuals, or at the very least the manuals need to be reprinted.