SHADES OF MARTIN NATHANIEL DAYCIUS Público Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 5, Number 15, April 7, 2002, Article 6
SHADES OF MARTIN NATHANIEL DAYCIUS
About the last item in the previous E-Sylum, Ray
Williams writes: "I get it!!! That whole blurb about
Mickley was an April Fools joke - I fell for it! I got all
excited. I actually emailed "Mr Esterman" about having
the diaries published and asked if there was anything in
them regarding communications with Maris. Did anyone
else fall for the joke?"April Fools! Several subscribers reported being unable
to access the email address listed last week for the
gentleman (A. J.ester Man) who found some of the lost
Mickley diaries. A couple sharpies caught the prank,
although they didn't let on if they too tried to send an
email first. For the benefit of our new subscribers,
I'll reprint the item here:"A visitor to our web site asks, "A web search turned up
several references to a Joseph Mickley on your site, which
I read with interest. I'm an amateur historian and collector
of original 19th century American source material such as
old photographs, letters, ledgers, and diaries. I was on the
web researching three volumes I picked up a few weeks
ago. The seller said they came from an estate in Texas.They appear to be handwritten diaries of a gentleman named
J. Mickley. Some of the entries relate to coin collecting and
visits to the Philadelphia Mint, which led me to your web site.
I'd like to learn if this "Joseph Mickley" is the same person
who kept these diaries. Where can I locate a copy of the
"26-page biography of Joseph Mickley written by his close
friend, J. Bunting.", which was mentioned in the vol. 4,
number 21 issue of your newsletter? Anthony. J. Esterman,
Cleveland, OH (ajesterman@earthlink.net)"NBS Board member Joel Orosz writes: "The note from
Mr. Anthony J. Esterman in the current issue of the
E-Sylum set my heart a-racing, and, being possessed of
the J. Bunting article in question, I hastened to write him,
when suddenly I noted the e-mail address: ajesterman.
Then I remembered the old announcement from Mr.
Daycius about the Mehl library, also "found" in Texas.
Then I remembered today's date, April 1.You stinker. My only consolation is that I didn't go to the
expense of sending a representative to Cleveland to poke
around, as Armand reputedly did to check out Mr. Daycius!"[Joel is referring to an April Fool's joke perpetrated on a
number of numismatic bibliophiles ten years ago, in the
spring of 1992. Although some claim to be certain who
the culprit was, no one has owned up to the deed and the
jokester remains anonymous to this day.A number of U.S. bibliophiles received a flyer postmarked
Ft. Worth, TX, advertising an upcoming event run by an
auctioneer named Martin Nathaniel Daycius. The auction
consisted of an extensive numismatic literature library
with items printed as early as 1820. The address of the
auction turned out to be that of the B. Max Mehl building
in Ft. Worth. Mehl's coin business was shut down
decades ago, but to an expectant bibliophile, his library,
if kept intact, could be a bonanza. Could it have been
in storage all these years?In every great con, the mark has to WANT to believe.
And the flyer found a number of believers, some of
whom went as far as booking flights to Texas prior to
the sale date, Wednesday, April 1st.I checked my schedule and prices for flights too, but
putting money down was too much of a leap of faith.
Setting out to confirm the auction, I was frustrated by
the lack of a contact phone number on the flyer (which
you would think would be a big clue...) There was no
auctioneer named Daycious in the phone book. Ever
resourceful, and knowing that auctioneers are generally
licensed by the state, I called the licensing office and
was told they had no record of the gentleman. "But
if he's holding an auction, we want to know about it.
He'll be hearing from us." Hmmm, clue number two.Still undeterred, a few more phone calls and lots of
southern hospitality later, I found myself talking to
a clerk in a shoe store across the street from the
Mehl Building. No luck. "Oh, no," she said, "that
place has been boarded up for years." Clue the third?I knew something was fishy, but it didn't dawn on me
until later that evening. Sitting in night class I mentally
pronounced the signature at the bottom of the flyer:
M. N. Daycious. Men Daycious. Mendacious!I recalled a story about George Clapp telling
Max Mehl that he thought he was "mendacious".
Mehl thanked him, thinking it was a compliment.
It wasn't (look it up!). I laughed out loud and
my fellow MBA students must have wondered what
substance I was abusing to find managerial accounting
so amusing. -Editor]- 2002-04-07
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