Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 33, July 31, 2005:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


EDITOR'S CORNER

Among our recent subscribers is Charles Heck. Welcome
aboard! We now have 774 subscribers.

Ben Weiss writes: "I agree with you that this publication
should be about numismatic literature and research.
Therefore, I believe it is inappropriate to personalize the
Editor's Corner in a general publication such as this.
Nothing personal, you understand."

Howard A. Daniel III writes: "I am not sure Wayne's World
was suggested to replace The E-Sylum, but if so, I do not like
it. But if it is to have a name for your editorial, I like it, or even
Wayne's Web, if you do not want your editorial space named
after a ridiculous movie."

[No, we're not considering renaming The E-Sylum, just the
Editor's Corner. -Editor]

Ken Bressett writes: "Wayne's World sounds great to me.
I love it."

Roger deWardt Lane writes: "I think we should keep looking for
a better title for you - How about the King's Corner?"

Whew. With a mix of opinion on all sides of the map,
I'll just stick with Editor's Corner for now.

We have no reports yet from the American Numismatic
Association convention in San Francisco this week.
Hopefully all went well for our subscribers who attended.


OCEAN IN VIEW NICKEL UNVEILING SLATED

The new 2005 Ocean in View nickel reverse designed by
Joe Fitzgerald will be unveiled on August 5 in a ceremony
at a site overlooking the Pacific ocean in Ilwaco, Washington.

"The United States Mint will present the new 2005 Ocean in
View nickel to the American people for the first time on a
dramatically beautiful overlook of the Pacific Ocean at Cape
Disappointment State Park in Washington State on August 5 at
10 a.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to exchange their bills
for Ocean in View immediately after the ceremony.

"Ocean in view! O! the Joy!", explorer William Clark's jubilant
exclamation recorded in his field notes in 1805, appears on the coin."

"Children under 18 will receive a free Ocean in View nickel.
Lewis and Clark-era entertainment will be provided by
re-enactors and musicians.

Chinook Nation exhibits and Lewis and Clark programs
will be held at the park and the Lewis and Clark Interpretative
Center throughout the day."

For more information, contact:

Chip Jenkins
Superintendent
Lewis and Clark National Historical Park
92343 Fort Clatsop Road
Astoria, OR 97103
(503) 861-4401
chip_jenkins at nps.gov "

To read the full article, see: Full Story

[I've been in touch with Joe Fitzgerald, and he and his wife plan
to attend the event. It sounds like a perfectly lovely and fitting
location for the event. I hope some of our numismatic brethren
from the great northwest will be able to attend. -Editor]


MORE ON THE JULY 7 LONDON BOMBINGS

The August 8 issue of Coin World has an article (beginning
on page 3) that expands greatly on Douglas Saville's account
from our July 11 special issue. The article includes a map of
the "London numismatic district" marking the bomb locations
and the sites of Spink, Coincraft and the joint library of the
Royal Numismatic Society and the British Numismatic Society.
The article also discusses the experiences of numismatic firms
farther from the blast as their employees dealt with transportation
headaches in the aftermath (Knightsbridge Coins, and
Dix Noonan Webb.


THE RED BOOK BUSTS A GUT

Gary Dunaier writes: "I just got the new 2006 Red Book
(the spiral version, if anyone's keeping count) and I've got
one quick question: Why do the descriptive paragraphs in
the commemorative section end with the 1994 World Cup
coins? After that, it's just a photograph and the listing itself."

I put the question to Redbook Editor Ken Bressett, who writes:
"The answer to this question is that the proliferation of modern
commemorative coins simply got out of hand and it was taking
up far too much space each year to give them full coverage.
Most book users simply want to know the value, so it was
decided to forego all the extra information. Adding all of the
new issues to the book each year often means adding an additional
16-page signature which, of course, adds to the cost of the book
and is a negative sales incentive."

That's what I suspected; I told Ken I wondered when the modern
issues would cause the book to bust a gut. He replied:

"Bust a gut, indeed! The Mint's greed has become so out of
control that they may soon kill the numismatic goose that is laying
all those golden eggs for them. The thought of a new series of
22 additional "satin" coins each year, half dollars for each
president and their wives or friends, and more commemorative
coins than you can imagine, is frightening. On top of this are the
new .9999 fine bullion coins, and even more of the not-for-
circulation half dollars and dollars.

I have dreams about putting all of these items in a special section
at the back of the book and calling them NCLT (non-circulating
legal tender), like the junk foreign coins that are made simply for
profit and not as part of any national coinage. No, I really won't
do that, but the thought is tempting.

When I began collecting, I bought every new issue of U.S.
coinage each year (Proof and Unc.) for about $5.00. Now it
would cost in excess of $4,000 to buy one of each different
coin, bullion or commemorative offering, in their various packaging
options. And the list is growing each year."


EXTENDING THE STATE QUARTER SERIES

Regarding last week's question about a House of Representatives
bill to provide for a circulating quarter dollar coin program to
honor the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, David
Ganz writes: "This was introduced in the 108th Congress. The
bill was not introduced (at least not yet) in the 109th Congress."


FORT KNOX RESEARCH HELP SOUGHT

Asylum Editor-in-Chief David Fanning forwarded the following
note from Quinn Kanaly, an Associate Producer for Indigo Films
in California:

"My colleague, Lisa Mao contacted you in regards to a program
we did for the Travel Channel about Fort Knox. The program was
so successful that now the History Channel wants us to do a
two-hour program about the history of Fort Knox. I wanted to get
in touch with you to ask if you might know of some good authors
who have written about Fort Knox over the past century."

If any of our E-Sylum subscribers are interested in working on
the project, contact David at fanning32 at earthlink.net and he'll
forward your note to Quinn.


ORIGIN OF IN GOD WE TRUST REFERENCE SOUGHT

An individual researching the origins of "In God We Trust" on
our coins and currency has contacted me, looking for the source
of a quotation that was referenced elsewhere:

"The devices are beautiful and appropriate, and the motto on
each, such as all who fear God and love their country, will
approve."

Can anyone help in finding a valid citation for this quotation?

[He found the reference on one of my own web pages. I put
it together years ago, mainly as an example of how numismatic
information could be presented on web pages. It was not
meant to be a scholarly piece and my citations leave something
to be desired. I'm not exactly sure where I found that quote.
Can anyone help us relocate it? Here's the address of the
web page: Quote
-Editor]


IRAQ COIN PROMOTION

Roger deWardt Lane forwarded a link to a May 9th story
in The Charlotte Observer - entrepreneurs there made a bulk
purchase of obsolete Iraqi coinage, with the intention of
marketing it to the general public.

"They are piled 3 feet high in a 1,225-square-foot portion
of a Charlotte warehouse, roughly 7 million bagged coins
that sparkle even in the dim light.

The coins were once part of Saddam Hussein's currency,
all of them fils of varying smaller denominations.

They have no value in Iraq -- except for their melted-down
copper nickel and stainless steel.

But two Charlotte men, Michael Crowder and Lane Ostrow,
are betting they are worth millions on the international collectible
coin market. They are selling them for $19.95 as limited-edition
sets of four coins not only to turn a profit for investors and for
themselves -- but to turn Saddam's coins into a satisfying irony.
 From their sales they want to donate at least $5 million to
organizations that help families of fallen or wounded U.S. troops."

"Two 18-wheelers were needed to get the coins to Charlotte.
The stash is not a spoil of war, but a product of difficult and
legitimate multi-national negotiations between coin dealers and
British, U.S., Iraqi and Kuwaiti officials. Because Iraq has no
mint, the coins were stamped in Canada between 1971 and
1991. They were never circulated in Iraq, but shipped in mint
bags to the southern Iraq city of Basra, the country's second-
largest city, where they sat in a bank."

To read the full story, see: Full Story

Roger writes: "The problem with this promotion is that it hurts
the coin collecting image and when they advertise on TV (as
they say the will) they sucker in the public that they are getting
something rare.

The coins were 'stamped' (minted) in Canada, shipped to Iraq,
stored in a bank for years and never issued to the Iraq people,
so that makes them more like NCLT. They have no intrinsic
value and with only about a few thousand collectors of foreign
coins in the U.S.A. (and few if any collect modern non-silver coins),
some half million American families are going to get ripped off.

It is too bad that a knowledgeable coin dealer is putting over
this fraud on the patriotic American families and a worthwhile
charity.

Sorry that this story gets me so heated up."

[I think I'm more in the caveat emptor camp on this one.
At $19.95 no buyer will go broke on these, and a lot of that
price covers the packaging and marketing. I won't go down
the path of discussing the politics, but as a mass-market
collectible this doesn't sound like such a bad deal for the
public. Anyone who really thinks something they buy from
a TV ad for $19.95 will make them rich is beyond help,
and it might introduce some other people to the hobby of
collecting coins. That's an awful lot of coins to try to sell,
though.

[As a totally non-numismatic aside, actually, I can think
of one TV promotion that did make a lot of money for
some people. Back in the early days of cellular
telephones, the U.S. government set up a lottery to
distribute rights to portions of the required radio
spectrum. Some entrepreneurs seeking to increase their
chances recruited investors through infomercials. For a
fee of a few hundred dollars they would guide people
through the application process. A lot of people actually
managed to win the rights, making "truck drivers,
hairdressers and pig farmers" (as one author put it) owners
of very valuable assets. The catch was that they were then
left with a legal obligation to set up cellular phone operations
within a certain time period. Having no clue how to actually
do this, they usually sold their rights for tens or even hundreds
of thousands of dollars, often to the people who helped guide
them through the initial process. People like Craig McCaw
then crisscrossed the country buying up these licenses and
stitching together a national network.

As Yakov Smirnoff would say, "What a country!"
The government gave away stuff for free, ordinary
people made thousands, middlemen made millions,
McCaw became a billionaire, and decades later we
still can't get our cell phones to work everywhere.
Go figure.

Now back to numismatics. I asked Dick Johnson his
opinion about the proposed Iraqi coin promotion, and
got an earful. -Editor]

Dick Johnson writes: "In my opinion they should have filled
a van with selected specimens of the many millions they
obtained and sent the two semi trucks to the nearest
smelter. There is NO WAY the market can absorb such
a large quantity of coins, either now or in the foreseeable
future.

Unless the two entrepreneurs can come up with some
remarkable marketing plan -- far more than a pitch or two
on TV home shopping shows -- will it be possible to sell
even a few tenths of one percent of such a vast hoard. I
have witnessed similar attempts in the past to the abject
failure and loss for the promoters. (The first such situation
that comes to mind is the discarded copper sheeting off of
the original Statue of Liberty.)

If the two businessmen want some useful advice hire me as
a consultant (my fee is $1000 a day). Here is one free suggestion:
After melting the coins, recast this metal into something beautiful
and significant. The coins are symbolic of a dictator and will,
in their original state, have some gruesome appeal -- like Hitler
memorabilia of the past. But beauty and patriotism sells. Make
something beautiful and patriotic from that metal.

What they have is a few tons of RELIC metal. This could be
used to strike medals -- why not offer the copper-nickel metal
to the makers of the U.S. decoration for the Iran Campaign Medal.
(Contact the Institute of Heraldry.) But don't expect to use it all
up even for as many medal issues as they could dream up. (Oops,
I gave away a second free suggestion!)

As for these coins' numismatic status: They exist, therefore
they are collectible. Are these NCLT, noncirculating legal tender?
No. They are -- or were -- legal coins. Consider the original
intent. They were intended and authorized to circulate in a legal
way at the time in a designated geographical area (that is, a
country). The fact they never reached circulation means only
one thing: They are not worn. Now they are de facto
demonetized coins."


THE WORLD MONIES MUSEUM FUND

Speaking of failed schemes, while leafing through some old
copies of World Coins magazine, I came across a full-page
ad (May, 1965, p405) which read, in part:

"Wanted - Your interest now, in the new World Monies Museum
Fund. Sponsorship for the World Monies Museum is by the
Numismatic Division of the Clinton National Bank of Clinton,
Conn."

I've never heard of a World Monies Museum in the U.S., so
I assume the project never came to fruition. Can any of our
readers provide more background? Typically these efforts
grow out of the desire of an individual collector to see their
collection stay intact and on display for years to come. Who
was the driving force behind this effort? If there was a core
collection, what became of it?


MONEY AND RFID TAGS

Roger deWardt Lane writes: "After reading last week's issue,
I started to catch up on my other reading. Each week I receive
two computer related magazines. I put some CD classical music
my computer and settle in to see what is new. In addition to
being a numismatist I guess I am still a computer geek..

The first magazine I picked up was a month old, but had a
feature story which has a small connection to numismatics -
gaming chips. Titled "Where’s RFID going next?," the article
was in the June 20, 2005 issue of InformationWeek

“Take gambling. Some casinos are trying RFID (Radio-frequency
identification) in gaming chips to stop the use of counterfeits.
Gaming Partners International Corp. has sold more than 3 million
RFID gaming chips and hundreds of readers to casinos worldwide,
including the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas, which opened in April.
The Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas began experimenting with
RFID chips at some blackjack tables earlier this year.”

Read the whole story: Full Story

But I did do a little searching and found several related items,
including the story on the new $20 bill which I think I heard before.

Another story on how RFID casino chips are used: Full Story

Next I did a search on “RFID money’ – see that I found:
Exploding RFID Story
[We have covered the exploding currency-in-the-microwave
story before. -Editor]

Five years ago the EU was working on putting a RFID chip
in the new EU notes: Full Story

I think the real story will be when we no longer use any money
at all, just a cell phone and RFID chips in everything else."


PHOTO OF FORD AND HIS SLABBED CATALOGUE

Fred Lake writes: ""A number of people have asked to see
the picture of a beaming John J. Ford, Jr. displaying the
"slabbed" catalog of Stack's sale of Herman Halpern's Paper
Money (Mar.17,1993). The catalog was encased in Plexiglas
and "sealed" with yards of duct tape by Martin Gengerke who
founded BUGS (Bibliographic Universal Grading Service).
He did this after Ford complained that he could not obtain a
pristine copy of the catalog.

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society held a meeting at the
A.N.A. convention in Baltimore in 1993 and Ford took
advantage of the occasion to unveil his prize. I finally unearthed
a copy of the photograph that I took and you may view John J.
in all his glory at: Lake Books

Just click on the link at the left side of the home page titled
"John J. Ford" and you will see the picture.

Ford signed my framed copy with the inscription "With
best wishes to Fred Lake: A man who recognizes a Pioneer
Effort when he sees one."

Beth Deisher (Editor of Coin World) wrote a subsequent
piece entitled "Don't forget: Have fun with the hobby!"

[The direct URL for the photo is: JJ Ford Picture
John is grinning ear to ear. -Editor]


ON THE WESTERN ASSAY BARS

Rick Witschonke writes: "Here are my two cents on the Ford
controversy: First, I have no stake in the controversy. I did
not know Ford or Kleeberg, and know Buttrey only slightly.
I agree that some of the language used by Kleeberg and Buttrey
is rather inflammatory, and not conducive to a reasoned dialogue.
However, having read all of the papers on their website, I find
lots of readily verifiable statements of fact which strongly support
their conclusions. Since they have laid out their data and
arguments so extensively, I think we all should read what they
have written and consider it seriously."

Another reader writes: "An article appeared in Coin World a
year or so ago that addressed the issue of the Western assay
bars. Three experts in Western numismatics, mining, and
metallurgy were the authors of this piece. Of the three, the
only one familiar to me was Fred Holabird, who I believe is
widely known for his knowledge of Western numismatics.

The three experts compared the Western assay bars discovered
at the wreck site of the S.S. Central America with bars from the
same assayers in the Lilly collection at the Smithsonian. They
compared bars with an excellent provenance to bars whose
history had been questioned. As I recall, they concluded that
there were some bogus bars in the Lilly collection. "The
genesis of any pieces deemed false" might be harder to pursue."

[One of the other authors was Bob Evans, not of restaurant
fame, but of the team that discovered and recovered artifacts
from the wreck of the S.S. Central America.

I don't have a handy copy of the Coin World article, but
found the following paper on Holabird's web site:
"Western Precious Metal Ingots: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"
pdf file
The written record on this controversy is becoming quite
lengthy on both sides. Has anyone been compiling a
bibliography? -Editor]


F. PARKES WEBER ON DEATH AND NUMISMATICS

Recently I asked about books by F. Parkes Weber.
Ken Bressett writes: "Regarding "Aspects of Death In Art" by
Weber, I have a copy of the book, and it does seem to be rather
scarce. It is reprinted, with additions, from an article that first
appeared in Numismatic Chronicle in 1909-1910, Nos 36-38.
Good reading, and unique in its numismatic coverage."

Hadrien Rambach writes: "Here are descriptions of my different
copies of Weber:

WEBER, F. P. Aspects of death and their effects on the living,
as illustrated by minor works of art, especially medals, engraved
gems, jewels &c. Chicago (The Open Court Publishing Company)
s.d. [1910]. American issue of the first edition. Octavo, viii, 160
pp., 58 illustrations in the text, gilt publisher’s cloth with
embossed macabre medal by Boldu on the board. Perfect condition.
Very rare.

After several articles published in the Numismatic Chronicle in
1909-1910 (numbers 36-38), Friedrich Parkes Weber (1863-1962,
a member of the Royal Numismatic Society since 1885) wrote
the book Aspects of death and their effects on the living, as illustrated
by minor works of art, especially medals, engraved gems, jewels
&c. the first edition of which was published in 1910. It was
enlarged and republished in London at T. Fisher Unwin and
Bernard Quaritch in 1914 (xxviii, 461 pages, 123 illustrations).
A third edition appeared in 1918 with a modified title: Aspects
of death and correlated aspects of life in art, epigram, and poetry.
Contributions towards an anthology and an iconography of the
subject (xl + 784 pages). The 4th and largest edition was printed
again by T. Fisher Unwin, in 1922, and republished in Maryland
in 1971. In 1914, the author had also published Art and epigram
regarding science and medicine in relation to death, together with
an Addition on Epigram and art in relation to the excessive fear
of death. It was translated by Eugen Holländer and published in
1923 under the title Des Todes Bild (247 pp. illustrated). All of
these four editions had a brilliant and unique study of the
“aspects of death” in coins and medals. He also published in
1956 in London (H.K. Lewis & Co.) a book entitled Interesting
cases and pathological considerations and a numismatic suggestion
(octavo, iv, 78 pages, with text-illustrations)."

[To conserve space I've edited out Hadrien's descriptions of
the third and fourth editions of the work. Is the 1971 reprint
readily available? -Editor]

Larry Mitchell writes: "There are two other well-known books
relating to death and numismatics:

Hough, Franklin Benjamin. Washingtoniana: or,
Memorials of the death of George Washington, giving an
account of the funeral honors paid to his memory, with
a list of tracts and volumes printed upon the
occasion, and a catalogue of medals commemorating the
event. Roxbury, MA: Printed for W.E. Woodward, 1865.

Boyd, Andrew. A memorial Lincoln bibliography: being
an account of books, eulogies, sermons, portraits,
engravings, medals, etc., published upon Abraham
Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States,
assassinated Good Friday, April 14, 1865; comprising a
collection in the possession of the compiler, Andrew
Boyd ... Albany, NY: A. Boyd, 1870.

While these titles are specific to the subject, more
general titles--Brown's 3-volume series on "British
Historical Medals," for example--include numerous
specimens of such "funerary art" in miniature."


KAGIN ON JUDAISM AND NUMISMATICS

Dealer Don Kagin, son of the late Art Kagin, was interviewed
in the July 29th issue Jewish News Weekly of Northern California:

"(Jews) have always been merchants, and how much more
merchant can you get than handling money, especially not only
as a business but as a collectible,” he said. “There is no greater
artifact about a civilization, a culture and a people than their
coinage.”

Coins, he noted, can reveal secrets about economics, history,
political science, language, metallurgy, society and fashion in
a single artifact.

And for those with an interest in Jewish history, he added,
there are coins and paper money with Jewish themes or Hebrew
letters, coins from early Jewish civilizations such as the Bar-Kochba
era, coins of pre-Israel Palestine and the original currency from
the early state of Israel."

"Jews have been at the forefront of coin collecting even before
it emerged as a business in the 1850s, he said. Jews (including
the Rothschilds) have handled and collected the oldest and
greatest collections, added Kagin, a member of Congregation
Kol Shofar.

Kagin thinks Jews’ prominence in the industry can be explained
by the connection between Judaism and numismatics. “Jewish
people seem to always be interested in their history and culture
and heritage, and [are] always questioning and curious about
who they are. And numismatics is a great way to find answers
to that, and to keep in touch with your heritage.”

His interest in numismatics comes from his family. His father,
who recently died at age 85, had been a professional since 1933.
A man who helped promote the Lubavitch movement in Iowa,
his passions for Judaism and numismatics converged. He lectured
about Jewish influence on American money and the American
monetary system.

Kagin remarked that his father enjoyed telling the stories of
Benjamin Levy and Benjamin Jacobs, who signed the colonial
Continental currency of 1776-1777. One of the financiers of the
American Revolution — Chaim Solomon — was also Jewish,
Kagin pointed out.

In 1777, he added, Francis Salvador, a printer of money in
South Carolina, used Hebrew letters as a counter-counterfeiting
device."

To read the full story, see: Full Story


GEOGRAPHY LESSON

Philip Mernick writes: "Although not numismatic, subscribers
may be interested in the amazing Google Earth web site.
There is a free version that enable you to zoom in on a country
(ANY COUNTRY!), even tilt the map to see the topography.
Resolution is variable, but in many cases you can zoom in close
enough to see the road system and then overlay the street names
or look at major buildings. Once you get to understand how it
works you will be amazed what you can do with it. Apart from
wanting to look at your own home town/state etc, collectors of
coins from exotic places will also find it an excellent world atlas."
Google Earth

[I think some of you will have fun with this. I've been amazed
at the related functionality of maps.google.com. -Editor]


THE WAYBACK MACHINE

Bill Malkmus writes: "The Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Wall Street Journal had a fascinating front-page article on a
website that should be of interest to other folks like me who
have a library of obsolete (non-functional) bookmarks:
Way Back Machine

The Wayback Machine has archived web pages over the last
nine years; while Google has currently 8 billion pages archived,
the Wayback Machine has a total of 40 billion! I tried this out
on my old lists of bookmarks; whenever I got a response that
the web page could not be found, I put the URL into the Wayback
Machine. Sure enough, the pages were not only archived and
retrievable, but a listing was given of the dates on which they
were archived (perhaps 30 or more), and in addition, notation
was made of whenever the web pages had been changed!

This works great when you know the defunct URL; I don't
know if it's possible to do "from-scratch" searches, Google-style,
to find what was ever said on the Internet about your favorite
subject. Maybe someone else can contribute here."

[This service is also very useful for relocating information that
has been moved or dropped from web sites. For example,
the Virtual Museum pages from the old American Numismatic
Association site are still partly available via the Wayback machine.
The last archive of November 30, 2004 can found at this URL:
ANA Archive on Way Back
Clicking on "Virtual museum" takes you to
"Virtual museum"

That's where you can still access pages on a number of
numismatic topics. including:

# Controversial 1818 George Cruikshank Bank Restriction Note
# 18th Century Republic of Vermont Copper Coins
# Selections from the Bebee Collection of Paper Money
# French 1,000-Franc Revenue Note
# A Rare Troop Payment Note from La Louisiane (circa 1763)

Not all pages are archived, however, so some parts of the old
web site may not be accessible until they're fully restored on
the new ANA web site. I especially miss the Cruikshank
note exhibit, which was taken from a book in the ANA library.
-Editor]


SRI LANKAN PARALLELS TO THE 1974 ALUMINUM CENT

Kavan Ratnatunga writes: "ICG—Independent Coin Grading
of Englewood, Colorado—announced 2005 July 1st that it had
recently certified a 1974 aluminum Lincoln cent. It is the first and
only aluminum cent ever certified by a professional third-party
grading service. The coin was submitted to ICG by a well-known
national dealer on behalf of the Toven family. ICG has graded
the coin AU-58 and pedigreed it the “Toven Specimen.”

I wonder if this will lead to a deal like the 1933 double eagle ...

Full Story
Full Story

On my web site I have posted the 1975 Sri Lankan equivalents,
which are also very rare.

Sri Lankan Coin
Sri Lankan Coin
"


A NEW KING OF COUNTERFEITING?

David Gracey writes: "It has been many years since I bought
a copy of "Rolling Stone" magazine but the cover of the July 28,
2005 issue caught my eye with "King of Counterfeit; the criminal
genius who cracked the new $100 bill".

Counterfeiting was mostly a family business passed from one
generation to the next and Art Williams learned the art of
counterfeiting from his stepfather. The changes in US currency in
1996 almost put him out of business but he found non-acidic paper
that did not react to the counterfeit detector "pen", found a way
to imitate authentic currency paper, developed a way to mimic
the security thread and watermark found in the latest currency,
and applied color shifting ink using auto paint and a rubber stamp
from Kinkos. By keeping his operation small and passing
counterfeit money in small towns while traveling across the country
he eluded the authorities.

Once he was arrested with $60,000 in counterfeit $100 bills but
the case was dismissed on the grounds of illegal search and seizure.
Of course he was finally caught (otherwise this story would not
have been told); received only a 3 year sentence because there
was no physical evidence in his possession at the time of his arrest,
only statements from his fellow conspirators, but he had to admit
passing bills in Texas and Oklahoma. The latest 2004 series may
be impossible for him to counterfeit. To get the full story visit
your library."

[The article is not available online (as the comedians say,
"What's up with that?"), but I managed to photocopy the article
at the local library and here's an excerpt. "Art Williams" is
not the man's real name. -Editor]

"At thirty-two years old, Art Williams, Jr. is a dying breed.
In an era when ninety percent of American counterfeiters are
amateurs who use inkjet printers to run off play money that
can't even fool a McDonald's cashier, he is one of the few
remaining craftsmen, schooled in a centuries-old practice.
He is also an innovator who combined old-world techniques
with digital technology to create notes that were so good an
FBI agent is said to have once counted $3,300 of his fakes
on the hood of a police cruiser, then handed them back. By
some estimates, Williams printed about $10 million in nine
years, making him one of the most successful American
counterfeiters of the past quarter-century."


SPELL CHECKERS

Bill Murray writes: "With all the folderol about the word numismatics
in recent E-Sylums, I thought of this nonsense piece I did a few
years ago.

"My gnu come pewter is reel grate bee caws it helps me knot two
make sew many miss steaks. Do too of sum pro grams it has, eye
am knot a loud to make sir ten miss stakes. Thee come pewter
seize wen a word is miss pelt. Baste on thee spell Czech pogrom
it has (a Dick shun airy), it makes core wreck shuns inn awl thee
are tickles I write. Knew miss matt tic Ed it ores R X static. It is
sew good ewe cant make miss takes like yew mite halve dun bee
four. I am loosing all thee pain witch pour spelling all ways awe
furred me inn thee passed.

It dozen all weighs no awl thee words, sew sum thyme you half
too tell it thee knew once you want it two no.

This tie knee are tickle has bin threw my come pewter spell
Czech, sew I no it is awl core wrecked. Butt ream ember, sum
thyme yore come pewter kneads to be taut. Ewe cant letter get
a way with miss stakes. It is e z too due, butt due knot four get
two duet."


FEATURED WEB SITE

This week's featured web site is maintained by Friends of the
Segovia Mint. Don't miss the photo tour! We rarely repeat
our Featured Web Sites, but it's been a while for this one
(v2n12, March 22, 1999). Back then we had a whopping
148 subscribers, so it's time all for all of us to take a fresh
look at this one - it's a keeper.

"The Segovia Mint has a fascinating history. It was built in 1583
by Juan de Herrera, Spain's most famous architect of all time,
and equipped with the most modern German waterwheel-driven
minting technology. Today, the site is considered to be the
oldest industrial building still standing in Spain and one of the
oldest remaining in the world."

Featured Web Site
  Wayne Homren
  Numismatic Bibliomania Society