I just wanted to point out to you that Czechoslovakia ceased to exist on December 31, 1992 and the next day two new countries were formed: Slovakia and the Czech Republic which consists of both Bohemia and Moravia. Our daughter-in-law was born what was then Czechoslovakia (Moravia) and met my son in the mid-1990s in Prague. The split between Czech, which is how Eva refers to it, and Slovakia was a great deal more civil than our Civil War.

After reading the response to Dave Wnuck's question I broke out my Reports to the Director of the Mint and found some fascinating data.

For FY 1964 Nearly 90 short tons of US coins were exchanged in Federal Reserve banks and branches. Coins are termed uncurrent and may be worn, damaged or other.

For FY 1958 over 2.1 million dollars of US coins were "turned in" as uncurrent. Also as of this year (other reason) is that almost 146 million steel cents had been turned in since 1945. This is the only type, denomination and year that could be easily traceable.

Lots of answers are in these reports and I look forward to people who have the questions.

Campbell-Logan (www.campbell-logan.com) in Minneapolis is an exceptional bindery. Major collectors have had them conserve and bind their books. I have used them many times for repairing historic volumes, binding periodicals, rebinding important references. George Kolbe has used them and Bill McKivor has used them for special editions of his new publication of Dalton and Hamer. I have used them for decades and have always been satisfied and I can recommend them without reservation. It is a simple matter to deal with them via UPS. I am willing, on a limited basis, to confer with anyone who may be a bit uncertain about how to proceed.

I can recommend Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding outside of Winchester, Virginia. That’s about 75 miles west of Washington, D.C. They also offer short courses in book restoration and related subjects. Here’s the website: www.cattailrun.com

Such a request should have given the size and metal. It is suggestive of some Latin American coins, particularly Colombian.

It's 16mm in diameter. It is in shiny white metal. I don't think it's German Silver or lead because either are usually duller. It's possibly silver.

On Thursday of the Dallas Money Show, we are holding the Numismatic Friends of Sherlock Holmes dinner.

AN INQUIRY

Immersed as I am in the culture of exactitude, scrupulosity, and punctiliousness induced by the profound scholarly erudition of the accumulative E-Sylum intelligentsia, and earnestly wishing to eschew adulterated usage, I urgently seek clarification: does the term “crapload” denote a unit of weight, volume, or some other metric of quantification, such as degree of malodorousness ?

Awaiting your elucidation, and in everlasting gratitude, I remain

Yr. Hmbl. Srvnt,
Pablo Hoffman