The September 10 issue of Coin World had an article on pattern coins with a Martha Washington design. There is another form of such patterns that has not gotten much attention in the numismatic press.

On August 7 I toured the Philadelphia Mint while attending the ANA convention. The third floor gallery has examples of quarter size hubs, dies and struck coins. These had a Martha Washington "Nonsense" design. At a distance they look like normal "America the Beautiful" quarters. A closer look shows that they have Martha on the obverse rather than George. The reverse legends have jumbled lettering. According to my notes, the reverse design has the word "Nonsense" at the top.

I stood behind a Mother and son who were looking at the area that produced medals. The kid wanted to see the Olympic medals. I mentioned that the Olympic medals were not produced here and besides, the Olympics were in England. The kid went away muttering that he still wanted to see the Olympic medals.

I am one of those numismatists who thinks he knows more than the staff at the Mint. I picked out a number of errors. They had a Dickeson fantasy 1792 pattern in their exhibit with legitimate 1792 patterns. I believe this is one of the items on loan from the Frank Stewart collection. I talked with others who toured the Mint and found other errors.