1.
Philip Marlowe
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Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep, published in 1939, Chandlers early short stories, published in pulp magazines like Black Mask and Dime Detective, featured similar characters with names like Carmady and John Dalmas. Some of those stories were later combined and expanded into novels featuring Marlowe. When the non-cannibalized stories were republished years later in the story collection The Simple Art of Murder, Chandler changed the names of the protagonists to Philip Marlowe. His first two stories, Blackmailers Dont Shoot and Smart-Aleck Kill, were never altered in print but did join the others as Marlowe cases for the television series Philip Marlowe, Private Eye. Underneath the wisecracking, hard-drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical and enjoys chess, while he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores. Morally upright, he is not fooled by the genres usual femmes fatales, Chandlers treatment of the detective novel exhibits an effort to develop the form. His first full-length book, The Big Sleep, was published when Chandler was 51, his last, seven novels were produced in the last two decades of his life, with an eighth being posthumously completed by Robert B. Parker and published years later. Explaining the origin of Marlowes character, Chandler commented that Marlowe just grew out of the pulps, when creating the character, Chandler had originally intended to call him Mallory, his stories for the Black Mask magazine featured characters that are considered precursors to Marlowe. The emergence of Marlowe coincided with Chandlers transition from writing short stories to novels, Chandler was said to have taken the name Marlowe from Marlowe House, to which he belonged during his time at Dulwich College. Marlowe House was named for Christopher Marlowe, a hard-drinking Elizabethan writer who graduated in philosophy and this man with the name of Samuel Marlowe allegedly was the first black private detective licensed by the city of Los Angeles. Philip Marlowe is a character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely. Chandler is not consistent as to Marlowes age, in The Big Sleep where the story occurs in 1936, he makes him 33, while in The Long Goodbye Marlowe is 42. In a letter to D. J. Ibberson of 19 April 1951, Chandler noted among other things that Marlowe is 38 years old and was born in Santa Rosa, California. He had a couple of years at college and some experience as an investigator for an insurance company and he was fired from the D. A. s office for insubordination. The D. A. s chief investigator, Bernie Ohls, is a friend and former colleague, Marlowe is about 6ft1. 5inches tall and weighs about 190 pounds. He first lived at the Hobart Arms, on Franklin Avenue near North Kenmore Avenue, but then moved to the Bristol Hotel, where he stayed for about ten years. By 1950 he has rented a house on Yucca Avenue and continued at the place in early 1952 in Playback
2.
Hallmark
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A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of precious metals—platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term hallmark can also be used to refer to any distinguishing characteristic, historically, hallmarks were applied by a trusted party, the guardians of the craft or more recently by an assay office. Hallmarks are a guarantee of certain purity or fineness of the metal, Hallmarks are often confused with trademarks or makers marks. A hallmark is not the mark of a manufacturer to distinguish his products from other manufacturers products, to be a true hallmark, it must be the guarantee of an independent body or authority that the contents are as marked. Thus, a stamp of 925 by itself is not, strictly speaking, a hallmark, many nations require, as a prerequisite to official hallmarking, that the maker or sponsor itself marks upon the item a responsibility mark and a claim of fineness. Responsibility marks are required in the U. S. if metal fineness is claimed. In some nations, such as the UK, the hallmark is made up of elements, including, a mark denoting the type of metal, the maker/sponsors mark. In England, the year of marking commences on May 19, in other nations, such as Poland, the hallmark is a single mark indicating metal and fineness, augmented by a responsibility mark. These can ease import obligations among and between the signatory states, signatory countries each have a single representative hallmark which would be struck next to the Convention mark which represents the metal and fineness. The control or inspection of precious metals was an ancient concept of examination and marking, a series or system of five marks has been found on Byzantine silver dating from this period, though their interpretation is still not completely resolved. From the Late Middle Ages, hallmarking was administered by local governments through authorized assayers and these assayers examined precious metal objects, under the auspices of the state, before the object could be offered for public sale. By the age of the Craft Guilds, the authorized examiners mark was the masters mark, at one time, there was no distinction between silversmiths and goldsmiths, who were all referred to as orfèvres, the French word for goldsmith. The Master Craftsman was responsible for the quality of the work that left his atelier or workshop, hence the responsibility mark is still known today in French as le poinçon de maître literally the makers punch. Hallmarking is Europes earliest form of consumer protection, modern hallmarking in Europe appears first in France, with the Goldsmiths Statute of 1260 promulgated under Etienne Boileau, Provost of Paris, for King Louis IX. A standard for silver was thus established, in 1275, King Philip III prescribed, by royal decree, the mark for use on silver works, along with specific punches for each communitys smiths. In 1313, his successor, Philippe IV the Fair expanded the use of hallmarks to gold works, in 1327 King Edward III of England granted a charter to the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, marking the beginning of the Companys formal existence. This entity was headquartered in London at Goldsmiths Hall, from whence the English term hallmark is derived, although gold was certainly used for articles, the regulation was silent on standards and hallmarking for gold. In 1355, individual maker marks were introduced in France and this concept was later mirrored in England in 1363, adding accountability to the two systems
3.
Raymond Chandler
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Raymond Thornton Chandler was a British-American novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, Blackmailers Dont Shoot, was published in 1933 in Black Mask and his first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime. All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once, in the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. He died on March 26,1959, in La Jolla, Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is considered to be a founder of the school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain. The protagonist of his novels, Philip Marlowe, like Hammetts Sam Spade, is considered by some to be synonymous with private detective, both were played in films by Humphrey Bogart, whom many consider to be the quintessential Marlowe. Some of Chandlers novels are considered important literary works, and three have been considered masterpieces, Farewell, My Lovely, The Little Sister, and The Long Goodbye, Chandler was born in 1888 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Florence Dart and Maurice Benjamin Chandler. He spent his years in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, living with his mother and father near his cousins and his aunt. Chandlers father, a civil engineer who worked for the railway. To obtain the best possible education for Ray, his mother, originally from Ireland, moved them to the area of Upper Norwood in the London Borough of Croydon, another uncle, a successful lawyer in Waterford, Ireland, supported them while they lived with Chandlers maternal grandmother. Raymond was a first cousin to the actor Max Adrian, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Chandler was classically educated at Dulwich College, London and he spent some of his childhood summers in Waterford with his mothers family. He did not go to university, instead spending time in Paris, in 1907, he was naturalized as a British subject in order to take the civil service examination, which he passed. He then took an Admiralty job, lasting just over a year and his first poem was published during that time. Chandler disliked the servility of the service and resigned, to the consternation of his family, and became a reporter for the Daily Express. He was unsuccessful as a journalist, but he published reviews, an encounter with the slightly older Richard Barham Middleton is said to have influenced him into postponing his career as writer
4.
The High Window
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The High Window is a 1942 novel written by Raymond Chandler. It is his third novel featuring the Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe, private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the house of wealthy widow Elizabeth Bright Murdock to recover a missing Brasher Doubloon, a rare and valuable coin. Mrs. Murdock suspects that it was stolen by her son’s estranged wife, Linda Conquest, on his way back to his office, Marlowe is followed by a blond man in a coupe. Mrs. Murdock’s son Leslie Murdock visits Marlowe and tries to learn why his mother hired him, Murdock lets slip that he owes nightclub owner Alex Morny a large sum of money. Marlowe learns that Linda Conquest had two friends, Lois Magic and a Mr. Vannier, Magic is now Mrs. Alex Morny, Marlowe visits Mrs. Morny at home and finds her with Vannier, who acts suspiciously. Marlowe is still tailed by the blond in the coupe and confronts him and he is George Anson Phillips, an amateurish private detective, who is thinking of enlisting Marlowe’s help on a case that is out of his league. Marlowe agrees to him at his apartment later. Marlowe keeps his appointment with Phillips but finds him dead, the police arrest the next door for the murder. The police give Marlowe an ultimatum to all he knows. At his office, Marlowe receives a package with no address that contains the coin and he calls Mrs. Murdock and is floored when she says the coin has already been returned. Marlowe returns to the dealer and finds him dead also. Then Alex Morny’s henchman calls and invites Marlowe to visit Morny at his nightclub and it turns out that Linda Conquest is singing there. Morny demands to know why Marlowe visited his wife, but Marlowe is unfazed, Morny offers to hire Marlowe to find dirt on Vannier, giving him a suspicious receipt for dentistry chemicals that Vannier lost. Marlowe also talks to Linda and decides she is not involved in the theft. Returning to the Murdocks, Marlowe is told a story he doesn’t believe, Leslie Murdock hocked the coin to Morny for his debts, then changed his mind, the landlord is paying the drunk’s legal bills in exchange for his taking the rap. Marlowe gets a call that Merle is at his apartment having a breakdown, he rushes home and she claims to have shot Vannier. Marlowe visits Vannier’s home, finds him dead, and discovers a photo of a man falling from a window, Morny and Magic arrive, and Marlowe hides while Morny tricks his wife into leaving her fingerprints on the gun near the body. He tells her he is sick of her and will force her to take the rap, the stress of it made her become detached from reality
5.
Steven Contursi
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Steven L. Contursi is an American businessman and numismatist. He is the founder and president of Rare Coin Wholesalers, in the past 38 years, Steve Contursi has bought and sold over $1 billion worth of rare United States coins. In 2004, Steven sought evidence for his coin to be the first silver dollar made for the United States, the coin was sold in May 2010, for a world record $7.85 million, making it the most expensive coin ever sold. In addition to owning the first silver dollar, Steven owned the first gold coin made for the U. S. the ‘Unique’ Brasher Doubloon, the unique Brasher Doubloon was struck in 1787 by silversmith Ephraim Brasher, a neighbor of George Washington. Steven’s Brasher Doubloon with the “EB” stamped on the chest, was sold in December 2011 to a Wall Street investment firm for just under $7.4 million, in 2005, Steven purchased the King of Siam proof set for $8.5 million in a private sale. In June 2012, Steven purchased the highest grade “Ultra High Relief”1907 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle nicknamed “America’s Most Beautiful Coin Design” by experts, in late December 2011, Steven donated a 1792 half disme to the ANA Money Museum. The coin, purchased for $220,000, was donated with “no strings attached. ”He said, “This donation is my way of giving back to the ANA for the wonderful things that they do for collectors. ”Official Rare Coin Wholesalers company website Other Money Show Biography
6.
The Brasher Doubloon
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The Brasher Doubloon is a 1947 crime film noir directed by John Brahm and based on the novel The High Window by Raymond Chandler. The film features George Montgomery, Nancy Guild and Conrad Janis, the plot revolves around a man being pushed out of a high window by a woman while the incident was caught on film. The movie is technically a remake of Time to Kill, a 1942 film which adapted The High Window as a Michael Shayne adventure starring Lloyd Nolan, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Murdock, to find a stolen coin called the Brasher Doubloon. Marlowe ends up in the middle of a more complicated case, one that involves blackmail and murder. That includes Merle Davis, a secretary to Murdock, whose own role in the matter is considerably more sinister than it seems. Chandlers popular shamus and, we add, his efforts to recover the stolen brasher doubloon. Its just smart enough of a film noir to be considered a classic, the film is not as complex as the novel, but it makes good use of its snappy dialogue and has vividly grotesque characterizations to go along with the dark mood it sets. Fritz Kortner stands out in his villainous role, which he plays like Peter Lorre would, while Florence Bates is charmingly acerbic in her creepy role as a bitter old hag
7.
John Bellairs
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He maintained a lifelong interest in archaeology, architecture, kitschy antiques, bad poetry, traveling to the UK, and studying history and Latin. His favorite authors included Charles Dickens, Henry James, C. V, wedgwood, and Garrett Mattingly, as well as M. R. James, from whose ghost stories he occasionally borrowed elements to work into his own fiction. His first published work, St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies, was a collection of short stories satirizing the rites, the title story of St. Fidgeta grew out of stories Bellairs made up and shared with friends while living in Chicago. After committing one such story to paper, he sent it to the Chicago-based Catholic magazine the Critic, the following year, the hagiography of St. The book remained out of print for decades until it was rereleased in a 2009 anthology, the Pedant and the Shuffly, his second book, was a short illustrated fable that detailed the chaotic encounter of the two title characters and logic. It was originally published in 1968 and rereleased in 2001 and 2009, Bellairs undertook The Face in the Frost while living in Britain and after reading J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, but it is not much like that book, apart from sharing the idea of a wizard who is palpably human, Bellairs said of his third book, The Face in the Frost was an attempt to write in the Tolkien manner. I was much taken by The Lord of the Rings and wanted to do a modest work on those lines, in reading the latter book I was struck by the fact that Gandalf was not much of a person—just a good guy. So I gave Prospero, my wizard, most of my phobias and it was simply meant as entertainment and any profundity will have to be read in. Writing in 1973, Lin Carter described The Face in the Frost as one of the three best fantasy novels to appear since The Lord of the Rings, Carter stated that Bellairs was planning a sequel to The Face in the Frost at the time. An unfinished sequel titled The Dolphin Cross was included in the 2009 anthology Magic Mirrors, the House with a Clock in Its Walls, Bellairss next novel, was originally composed as a contemporary adult fantasy, but at the time there was little market for such a thing. The second publisher to which it was submitted suggested rewriting it as a young readers book, Bellairs did so, Bellairs wound up writing 15 young-adult novels. Two books, The House with a Clock in its Walls and The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn, were adapted for television in 1979 and 1980, a number of books have also been released in such languages as German, French, Japanese, and Polish, among others. Bellairs died of disease at his home in Haverhill, Massachusetts. At the time of his death, he left two unfinished manuscripts and two one-page synopses for future adventures. Author Brad Strickland was commissioned by the Bellairs estate to complete the two unfinished manuscripts and to novels based on the two one-page outlines. These would become The Ghost in the Mirror, The Vengeance of the Witch-finder, The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie, starting in 1996 with The Hand of the Necromancer, Strickland began writing his own stories based on the established characters. In 1992, a marker was placed in front of the Cronin House in Bellairss hometown of Marshall
8.
American Numismatic Society
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The American Numismatic Society is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins and medals. The American Numismatic Society is a dedicated to the study of coins, currency, medals, tokens. The Societys headquarters in New York City houses the foremost research collection and these resources are used to support research and education in numismatics, for the benefit of academic specialists, serious collectors, professional numismatists, and the interested public. The ANS is a constituent member of the American Council of Learned Societies, ANS should not be confused with the Colorado Springs-based American Numismatic Association. Originally, the ANS was located at Audubon Terrace on West 155th, in 2008, the ANS moved to its current location is at 75 Varick Street by Canal Street in downtown Manhattan. The collection of coins, medals and paper currency consists of over 800,000 objects drawn from all periods, in many fields the ANS collections are the most comprehensive anywhere in the world. The collection includes early numismatic items from Ancient Greece and the Roman Republic, and also has a representation of coins of American, European, Far Eastern. These coinages range from 700 BC to the present, in addition, the collection contains paper and primitive money, as well as medals and decorations dating back to as early as approximately 4000 BC. The curatorial department of the ANS preserves, studies, and documents the extensive collection and this work includes keeping the collection’s database MANTIS up-to-date, which also involves adding images. This online database is an asset to the study of numismatics, because it is one of the largest of its kind. The ANS also collaborates with institutions to make numismatics accessible online. In collaboration with the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, the ANS is creating OCRE and this project aspires to record every published type of Roman Imperial Coinage and link them with examples in major collections published online. The ANS also participates in Nomisma. org, which is a project to provide stable digital representations of numismatic concepts according to the principles of Linked Open Data. Further the ANS maintains the website of “The Jewish Museum in Cyberspace. ”At its headquarters in Manhattan, the ANS has a small exhibition, the ANS also loans objects from its collections to other institutions and exhibitions. While the largest number of objects from the ANS can be found at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a special part of the library is the Rare Books Room with its unique collection of antique numismatic literature. Currently the ANS publishes three journals, the American Journal of Numismatics, Numismatic Literature and the Colonial Newsletter, as well The ANS Magazine, the ANS also publishes books on coins and medals. The ANS gives multiple awards to people contributing to numismatics and the Society, the Huntington Medal Award is conferred annually in honor of Archer M. Huntington, who was an important contributor to the ANS at the beginning of the 20th century. This award recognizes outstanding career contributions to numismatic scholarship, the first such award was conferred to Edward T
9.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
