The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review

COINS AND MEDALS.

The amount realized from the sale which was made by BANGS, MERWIN & Co., New York, of coins and medals, the last week of May, was $2,200. In speaking of this sale, the Journal of Commerce says: Among the colonial and early national pieces sold, the prominent specimen was the Washington half dollar of 1792, which brought ninety dollars! This extravagant price for a coin of which more specimens are known than of some other Washington coins, was due to a furor which has for a long time raged among collectors for the possession of specimens to be used as "crown pieces" in fancy or show collections.

The next important piece sold was the Lord Baltimore shilling, which brought $32 50. It was in splendid condition, and the price was not esteemed too high by collectors. This was one of a series of coins proposed by Lord BALTIMORE in 1661, and which obtained some circulation in Maryland. There were three silver coins, a shilling, sixpence, and groat. There was also a copper halfpenny struck, of which but one specimen is extant, and which was sold in England a few years ago, at auction, for $362.

A Baltimore threepence, known as the Standish Barry threepence, very rare, and the history quite undecided, brought $22. The Annapolis coins, a set of three, offered for sale as a full set for the first time in America, although frequently sold separately, brought $40, for the lot. A very high price, not likely to be repeated. The shilling is very frequently sold, the other pieces, sixpence and threepence, being more rare. The coins were issued by one CHALMERS, as a private coinage, at Annapolis, in 1738.

Persons who are not collectors do not understand the rules which control the prices of mint specimens. We may remark, as explanatory of the list of prices we give below, that proof coins are struck from the first or master die, engraved by the hands of the engraver. Other dies are made by impressions in steel from this die, and of course are not fully equal to it. In some years the mint has made a master die, but never issued coins, the only specimens being the proofs from the master die. This is the case with the dollars of 1851, 1852, and some others of the specimens named below. Proof specimens are highly prized by collectors for their beauty, and being rare, bring high prices. We note the rates at which some of these were sold and also some uncirculated specimens:

1851, Dollar, proof, $27.

1852, Dollar, proof, $27.

1854, Dollar, proof, $8 75.

1854, Dollar, very fine, not proof, $5 87.

1857, Dollar, proof, $3 50.

1858, Dollar, proof, $9 25.

1858, Set of proof silver coins, $13.
1838, Dollar, proof, $27 50.
1797, Half Dollar, not proof, $14 12.
1796, Quarter Dollar, not proof, $4.
1811, Quarter Dollar, uncirculated, $3 87.
1820, Quarter Dollar, uncirculated, $6.
1821, Quarter Dollar, uncirculated, $3 50.
1822, Quarter Dollar, very fine, $5 12.
1824, Quarter Dollar, very fine, $5 12.
1797, Dime, with 16 stars, $5 62.
1798, Dime, very fine, $13 50.

1800, Dime, fine, $8 87.

1804, Dime, fine, $9.

1809, Dime, very fine, $8 12.

1825, Dime, proof, $8.

1794, Half Dime, uncirculated, $6 50. 1796, Half Dime, fine, $4 75.

1801, Half Dime, $4.

1803, Half Dime, $4 75.

1805, Half Dime, $6 75.

1793, Liberty Cap Cent, very fine, $16 50.
1793, Link Cent, very fine, $16 50.
1893, Cent, other specimens, $7; $3 50.
1794, Cent, uncirculated, 86.

1795, Cent, uncirculated, thick die, $5 25;
same year, thin die, $8.

1796, Fillet Head Cent, uncirculated, $7 50. 1797, Cent, uncirculated, $5 75.

THE BOOK TRADE.

1. The Pearl of Orr's Island, a Story of the Coast of Maine. By MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "The Minister's Wooing," etc.

2. Agnes of Sorrento. By the same. Boston: TICKNOR & FIELDS. 1862. For sale by SHELDON & Co., New York.

These beautiful twin-volumes, uniform in binding and execution, are issued simultaneously by the publishers. Of their contents it is hardly necessary to speak. To eulogize Mrs. STOWE, is like trying to throw a lustre on the violet, or add another hue unto the rainbow. Her fascinations as an authoress are felt in thousands of homes throughout our entire country, and it is enough for her many readers to know that her books are ready for perusal. Some among them will prefer one, and some the other, according to their own personal culture and inclinations, and it is difficult to tell which of them will eventually win the palm of superiority. The first is a lovely story of simple people of our own time, and our own land; the second is a gallery of glowing pictures of Italian life and scenery, three hundred years ago. If one is a Pearl, perfect in its simplicity and purity, the other is an Opal, full of orange and purple tints that flash and change in varied and endless beauty.

Beauties, Selected from the Writings of Thomas de Quincey, author of " Confessions of an English Opium Eater," etc. Boston: TICKNOR & FIELDS. 1862. For sale by D. APPLETON & Co, New York, 443 and 445 Broadway.

DE QUINCEY, Charming as an essayist and critic, and deeply interesting as a man, from the strange influences which overshadowed his life, has written more than twenty volumes. The most popular of them, his "Confessions of an English Opium Eater," is probably familiar to our readers. From this uncommon book in a great measure, and from the other volumes in part, these selections are chosen with great judgment and discrimination. All the facts relating to his early life are placed together first; then follow his 66 Dreams," "Narratives," "Essays," "Critiques," and "Detached Gems."

DE QUINCEY is better in everything, than in his narratives; there he fails; one could hardly believe that the same pen wrote them, which upon other topics could charm mankind by its eloquent enthusiasm, or stir their hearts by the subtlest pathos. There seems to be something in the composition of a good essayist which spoils him for story-telling. Lamb never wrote so miserably as in his deplorable tale of “ Rosamund Gray," which would be utterly stupid if it were not so rasping. Essayists know that their digressions are far more agreeable than their narratives, so they shut them out rigorously, for fear of an eclipse. The result is, a bald statement of facts, in the style of the Bankrupt Gazette, too gloomy to be amusing, too stiff to be powerful, and too cold to be pathetic. If DE QUINCEY had held to his mission and not wasted his strength in narrative, we might have had another leaf of "Joan of Arc," or of the wonderful "Confessions," one more glimpse into dreamland, or another breath of the "Suspiria."

Union Speeches delivered in England during the present American War. By GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN, of Boston, United States, author of "Young America Abroad,” "Young America in Wall Street," "Young America on Slavery," etc., etc. FREDERICK A. BRADY, 24 Ann street, New York.

Mr. TRAIN has roused the Lion and the Unicorn to the last extent of wrath; they lash their tails at him, and would crunch him, if it were not for scruples on the score of neutrality. He has been resolute to be heard as well as seen, and to say what he liked, when and where he wanted to. He made speeches on street railways, till they would listen no longer; then he harangued them on the Union and the war; when they wearied of his "Spread-Eagleism," he went back to tramways; opposition has no effect upon him; law suits cannot subdue him; for if there is on earth a living embodiment of the try-try-again sentiment, this is the man. He will never give up, that is evident, and if the Londoners do not want a Train at full speed running loose in the metropolis, they must even give him a tramway. As for his patriotism-when he begins with My country! 'tis of thee! opponents are warned to subside. The whole English nation cannot stop him; they might better try to blow back the whirlwind with a fan; to cork up a Geyser, or put a stopple on Vesuvius. These things might be managed, but this double-X Yankee proof spirit, never. John Bull might as well put up his umbrella and go home, for as long as Mr. TRAIN lives, he will have the last word and the longest,

First Lessons in Mechanics: with Practical Applications designed for the use of Schools. 12mo. 192 pages. 75 cents. By WILLIAM E. WORTHEN. New York:

D. APPLETON & Co., 443 and 446 Broadway. London, 16 Little Britain. The value of Mechanical Science is so universally admitted, that we gladly welcome any publication promising to make one familiar with its elementary principles. With the idea of accomplishing this the author of this little work appears to have confined himself throughout to matters of general practical utility-avoiding mere theoryand to have given us, therefore, just such a book as is needed for common schools and academies throughout our land. He has treated chiefly of the sim-le mechanical powers, the most important machines in which they are combined, the composition and resolution of forces, the centre of gravity, motive powers, water-wheels, the steam engine, gearing and shafting, the various kinds of pumps, and friction, with its effects on machinery. These are subjects which every man is glad to be familiar with.

Van Anden's Patent Portable Copying Press. HANNAH & Co., sole Proprietors, No. 29 Cliff street, New York. Two sizes, $1 and $1 25.

We have received one of VAN ANDEN'S Presses, and can testify that it does its work well It is of a convenient size and form, and must, we think, become popular. Messrs. HANNAH & Co. tell us that they will mail a Press to any address, (postage paid,) on receipt of the price.

DOCUMENTS RECEIVED.

Speech of Hon. A. T. Galt, Minister of Finance of Canada, on introducing Budget of 1862, together with Statistical and Financial Statements of great value.

A Series of Letters relating to the Industrial Interests of California, by an old resident. From J. W. OSBORNE, Oak Knoll, Napa, California. These letters contain much that is extremely interesting and valuable.