Riddell, John Leonard. Monograph of the Silver Dollar, Good and Bad. New Orleans. 1845. Very Fine.Octavo. Hardbound in black quarter morocco with black cloth. Four raised spine bands, lettered in the second and fourth panels in gilt. Marbled pastedown and flyleaves. Speckled page ends. A scarce and fascinating reference prepared by Dr. Riddell, who was the melter and refiner in the U.S. Branch Mint at New Orleans. According to the title page, there are 475 illustrations of “dollars” including circulating dollar-sized coins of the world, and 87 half dollars, mostly counterfeit issues, each with their weight, fineness and exact value “enabling the inexperienced to detect those which are spurious.” Assays were conducted on the pieces at the Mint from coins turned in, by Dr. William P. Hort, Assayer at New Orleans. As such, it is a fascinating snapshot and record of the many forgeries in circulation prior to 1845, and serves as an ideal reference on these now well-collected issues. Genuine examples were also included to provide the proper standards, and among those is a great rarity, the 1835 Hermosillo 8 Reales, Riddell’s No. 132. For comfortably more than a century after the publication of this book, that genuine issue was known <em>only</em> from the image in this book, and that single coin would have been destroyed in the assay. Riddell’s study was exhaustive and well-documented enough that he noted at this entry, “This coin must be rare, for I have met with but one, of which the above is a fac-simile.”<p>Light foxing on some pages, which is typical of this reference, but many pages are fairly bright and clean. A few penciled check-marks at some entries. Some loss along the spine edges and minor separation between the inside pastedown and flyleaf joints, though the binding overall remains pleasantly tight. This volume once belonged to early ANS Vice President and long time member, Alexander Balmanno, of Brooklyn. His name and address are written on the front endpaper in pencil, along with the date, September 25, 1882. It is quite possible that the penciled checks within are his own, identifying pieces he owned or encountered. The bookplate of Armand Champa inside the front cover.From the D. Brent Pogue Library.
