I found a book which some E-Sylum readers will be interested in -- a biography of Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross. Title is: Governor Lady: The Life and Times of Nellie Tayloe Ross. Author Teva J. Scheer, published by University of Missouri 2005, hardcover 312 pages (ISBN 0826216269). The book is available from Amazon new for $25 or used for under $10.

Ross was elected governor of Wyoming in 1924 -- only 5 years after women gained the right to vote. In 1928 she was vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee and was nominated for vice president the same year. In 1932 she was appointed the first woman director of the U.S. mint. Oddly, she ran for governor only because her husband, who was governor, died and left her with four children and no income. She died in 1977 at the age of 101.

Awhile back someone asked either on The E-Sylum or in Bank Note Reporter for biographical information on William McChesney Martin, the first Chairman of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank. Martin (1874-1955) was born in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1900 he graduated from Washington University (St. Louis) law school and immediately joined the Mississippi Valley Trust Company of St. Louis. He joined the Federal Reserve Bank in 1914 and his signature can be found on the early notes of the St. Louis branch.

Biographical information about him can be found in Who's Who in the Midwest (1949) page 809; Who's Who in St. Louis (1928) page 71; and Book of St. Louisans (1912 edition) page 397. He is mentioned briefly in: Banking in Mid-America: A History of Missouri's Banks, by Timothy W. Hubbard and Lewis E. Davids (1969), the standard work on Missouri banking history.

His design made its first appearance in 1968 on the 5p and 10p coins, the first of the ‘new’ coins that were able to circulate alongside the ‘old’ coins due to the equivalent pre-decimal values of the shilling and florin.

I know the above refers specifically to UK coinage, but technically his design appeared earlier than that in Canada (1965) & Australia (1966), and probably elsewhere, but I don't have my catalogs with me to confirm this.

I'm betting I'm not the first to point out that this is a repeat of the Machin portrait & not the Maklouf!

Well, according to: www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight a cubic meter of gold would weigh 19,320kg, the same lead would weigh 11,342kg. Closer to 1.5 times as heavy as lead, not 3x.