Just thought I'd let you know - I ordered M. Thierry's book immediately and it got here in just nine days. Good service, especially given that domestic mail can sometimes take that long!

So funny you brought up "Out on a Limb". I just recently picked up a second copy in Charlie Davis' last sale for Florida because outside of The Colonial Newsletter, it is one of my favorite just-pick-it-up-and-read newsletters. I actually reread the Norweb story and equally funny story of their trip to visit Armand Champa in the last month.

Being a past President of the American Numismatic Society and having hosted a few such "Norweb"events with a cross-section of members and patrons, and yet also being a Berkeley grad and a child of the 60s, I must say I enjoyed the full dynamic of how they described the experience.

But I must also echo the comment about Out on a Limb being a must-read for what was going on in the late 1980s to 1990s. Robert Martin, a world class bibliophile in his own right, first directed me to this treasure of numismatics, sarcastic humor and great pearls of gossipy bibliophile goings-on. I would also suggest Copper Tomes by Tom Rinaldo for the same kind of great fun but informative read.

The description of the Paine token in last week's E-Sylum may have missed a play on words in its description. The knave in many situations is a bad guy, but in card games, the knave is an old name for the jack of any suit. A "trick" in card games is a single play (of which there are many) in which each player exposes a card and one player takes all of the exposed cards based on the values of the cards shown. Therefore, "May the knave (jack) of clubs (one of the four card suits) never get a trick" is asking in card parlance that Paine never succeed or win, even a single play. Sort of three puns in a row.

Martin Ibert was born in Baden, Germany in 1861, emigrating from that country to the United States in 1847 with his brother Albert. He became a clerk in Henry Zimmer's store in Brooklyn, and then worked for A. Saul before opening his own business dealing in flour at the corner of Leonard Street and Montrose Avenue. He later moved his business to Montrose and Graham avenues, as depicted on this token, and in 1889 left the flour business to start a brewing company.

It appears Ibert came to this country fourteen years before he was born; interesting trick!

The Registrar, 7 Pierce Road, Milford, Auckland 0620
Or email allan@speedy.co.nz

I enjoyed David Lange's picture of my favourite book (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) by my favourite writer (Edward Gibbon). Many years ago in The Asylum I published some notes that Gibbon wrote about Joseph Addison's Dialogues Upon the Usefulness of Ancient Medals. [E. Gibbon, 'A dissertation on the Allegorical beings found on the reverses of medals,' The Asylum 21 (2003), pp. 2-7.].

He also began a numismatic book: Principes de poids des monnoies, et des mesures des anciens (Gibbon was bilingual). [The fragments of this work can be found in E. Gibbon, The Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, ed. Lord Sheffield, vol. 3 (London 1814), pp. 66-169. The original manuscript is in the British Library and a new modern edition of this work is desperately needed.]

I am very fortunate to own a numismatic book from Gibbon's library: Rene Budder's De monetis, et re numaria (Cologne, 1591).

... the valuation guides to Bob Julian's mint medal book or Neil Musante's Washington medal book are nice to have, but are not central to the value of those publications.

Sorry, but this is not true, at least for the Julian book. TAMS printed 3000 copies of Julian's massive work on US Mint Medals, but was only able to sell 700 copies as there was no price guide. I purchased the 2300 remaining copies and wrote my 1982 and 1986 supplemental Price Guides, packaging the Julian book and my Guide together. I then sold the remaining 2300 copies, and I'm down to the last dozen copies. Very few people wanted the book without the prices. The information is great, the price guide sells. I still sell copies of my 30 year-old price guide, as the numbers are still relatively accurate to each other, just higher today.

I went to Barnes and Noble at Union Square in New York City Saturday and was surprised to see they were selling the first edition of the Mega Red Book at a bargain price of $9.98. Not a bad deal for someone still on the fence about whether the Mega Red is for them. And besides, it's a genuine First Edition Red Book - not the 1947 first edition, of course - but still, a genuine First Edition Red Book for less than ten dollars!

I just finished reading a novel, Pipsqueak by Brian M. Wiprud, and was surprised to find one paragraph in it with a reference to numismatics. It is always exciting when our world of collecting is picked up on by what I like to call mainstream media such as television, movies, books, or network news.

While in one breath I was excited to read the term NSA being interpreted in the novel as possibly the Numismatic Society of America or the National Security Agency, the next breath and following sentence led to disappointment and disbelief. It read, "I didn't notice any of the telltale stamp fatigue on his tongue, so I assumed the latter."

I can only assume he has confused us with stamp collecting or Philatelics. Where was the editor in all this? It only goes to show that we have a lot of educating to do.

Cuprolaminophobia is the fear of coins. Since coins are made of metal, sufferers of metallophobia would readily suffer cuprolaminophobia too. Since many coins are used for money, this fear may lead to chrometophobia, but not readily. Since some coins are used as religious values, sufferers may believe that coins could summon gods or demons that they may fear.

Odd--based on the roots, I thought this might describe my personal fear that our "pennies" are just copper-plated pieces of, I dunno, something horrible like zinc!

Fear not, Ken. Judging from the word, a cuprolaminophobic would only be fearful of “copper-layered” (viz., nickel-clad copper) coins. Your friend could be completely comfortable with gold or silver. I’d request a reconsideration if I were you, your invitation was very gracious.

I think cuprolaminophobia is the fear of copper-nickel sandwich coins only. I can’t imagine anyone living in fear of gold or silver coins.