I share your gratitude for the opportunity to purchase hardbound editions of the Stack's John J. Ford, Jr. auction catalogs when they started to become available. At 21 volumes they'll stand as classic reference volumes on a variety of subjects infrequently researched in such detail and with such scholarship.

R.M. Smythe will reach catalog 15, and still counting, for the Schingoethe collection next month in July. Many of us continue to hope that we may be favored with the availability of hardbound editions of these auction catalogs at some point, commensurate with their landmark status and research value. It would be a lasting and meaningful tribute to the Schingoethes, who did not live to see the disposition of their exceptional efforts and achievement.

The sale of these two collections together may exceed forty separate auction catalogs. We're fortunate in our time to benefit from and to share in such depth, quality and graphic presentation of historically important fiscal documents and numismatic material.

Just a comment on what David Gladfelter wrote about the 1990-91 ABN sales by Christie's. Most of the world notes were cataloged by me, with some assistance from my son Joel. Walter Allan did the Canadian material and Russell Kaye the U.S. obsoletes. I do not believe James Lamb himself did much if any of the actual catalog work. It is certainly possible that Gene Hessler was called for help with some things, though I have no specific remembrance of that occurring.

At the time I had several discussions with Lamb about how complete the material was that we were to catalog. He insisted that as far as he knew it was the complete archive, but I strongly believed that it had been gathered in far too much haste to be anywhere near complete. Because I had such a negative attitude he was "only 70% sure" I was going to be able to work on the cataloging - but it worked out that I was there for quite a while.

It was the kind of work that you could do day in and day out, from early morning to late evening, all day every day... and never once get tired of it! Marvelous pieces kept pouring out of every envelope and file, each one better than the next, in a steady stream of delight. It was an experience I will never forget.

The New York Times recently explored the human obsession with lists - how apropos considering the discussion among E-Sylumites about the Top 100 numismatic literature items."

My book, Good Money, is in press at long last, and will be available in July. Here is the Independent Institute's description of the book, which shows the very nice cover they and University of Michigan Press designed for it.

I'm looking for advice on how to safely remove price sticker residue from a hard-bound book (happens to be Don Taxay's U.S. Mint and Coinage) without damaging the cover. The book is new, recently purchased online, but I suspect the sticker had been on there for awhile. I was able to remove most of the sticker paper, but much of the glue remains.

My usual scheme is to use transparent tape as a sort of blotter, dabbing it repeatedly on the recalcitrant glue (glue to glue) and lifting it off, but that doesn't seem to be working this time. I didn't want to get too aggressive.

I thought about trying a soft art eraser but before doing that want to see what others recommend, as I can't imagine this being something never before encountered. I did skim through the E-Sylum table of contents archive but nothing popped out (not to say that there isn't something there, but I was going through the pages fairly quickly). Thanks in advance.

Sorry it has taken me so long to write in about die numbers. This was an interesting problem 40 years ago, and it took Jim Haxby and me some time to find the answer. The purpose for the use of die numbers was to allow bad work in the coining press room to be traced back to the responsible workmen.

This was not a guess on our part. We found an 1860's English publication that explained the use of die numbers, so really Jim Haxby and I simply summarized the juicy bits. Just a few weeks after our Numismatic News article, David Sealy wrote on the same subject, using the same key reference, in one of his marvelous columns on coin varieties in, I believe, Coins Monthly.

The use of die numbers required that registers be kept of the use of all numbered dies. Unfortunately those registers were destroyed after World War II, when the Mint allowed a busybody from the Public Records Office who knew nothing about numismatics to thin out the Mint Library by selecting for destruction Mint records he deemed not to be worth preserving. As a result of that piece of wanton destruction, little remains of the die sinking and die finishing records of the 19th century. I suppose one could take the view that making life too easy for scholars engaged in numismatic research takes away much of their fun. I do not subscribe to that view and have often wished that I had access to those missing records.

Interested readers can consult our publication on the subject which includes a reference to the contemporary source material:

Peter P. Gaspar and James A. Haxby, "The Use of Numbered Dies in the Royal Mint 1863-1880", Numismatic News, Vol. 20, No. 35, p. 11 (August, 1972).

G. F. Ansell, in his 1871 "third edition" of The Royal Mint states on p. 80: "For the past few years the reverse die has been made to carry, in addition to its recognized device, a small number, with a view to determine at which coining press, and on what particular day, that die was used, that bad work might be traced to an individual." (The italics represent my emphasis.)

We should have found the reference in Ansell years earlier, since the Ansell book was one of the few generally accessible sources of information about the detailed workings of the Royal Mint. The reference that actually triggered our little paper (and also, coincidentally, a British paper just a few weeks later) was an article entitled "Registration of Coins" in a rather obscure English publication Intellectual Observer (1866) pp. 445-8. That article states at greater length what Ansell wrote a few years later.

I have asked Numismatic News for a photocopy of our 1972 paper. When it arrives, perhaps I will be reminded how Haxby and I found the Intellectual Observer piece.

I first tried using nail polish remover, which is largely acetone, but the work was slow and laborious. I then immersed the medal in pure acetone and the remaining Lucite eventually came off. The hardest to reach spots, indentations like the ears, proved nettlesome. We'll now send the medal to Hugo for a good cleaning and a protective finish, put it in a box and send it off to the awardee.

Regarding minting coins of new alloys - forget it. Any such experiments in space will involve milligrams of metal. You will never see quantities brought back sufficient to go into production - most likely never enough for even a single piece.

consisting of Early American coins and featuring his famous "Error Coin Collection" used in compiling the book "It's Only Money"

I don't think you should have published Denis Loring's comments on Ted Naftzger. The American Numismatic Society knew that there were big problems, ever since a young Richard Doty did an inventory of their cents in the early 1970's, an inventory of which they sold copies, wherein many coins are noted "Not the Clapp coin." They apparently did nothing at that time, and anything more is conjecture.

The comments on Ted Naftzger - first those by Alan Weinberg and then those by Denis Loring - contrast so starkly that I feel compelled to add my two cents worth.

Denis is an honorable man and, when he said that Ted lied, I accept his word. However, Ted's actions in the cited instance have to be taken in context: Ted was locked in a take-no-prisoners contest with the ANS, with both sides believing devoutly in their respective causes. The court actions were close, with Naftzger winning Round #1 and the losing the appeals of Round #2 and Round #3.

It is a shame that a compromise settlement was never reached - the parties came close - but all can agree that the origins of the disagreement, i.e. the switching of 100 plus large cents, occurred long before Ted ended up owning many of the coins.

My experiences with Ted Naftzger were very much akin to Alan's. He sent me valuable large cents with no security. He shared his treasures openly at EAC meetings where he was known as "God" because he had by far and away the best collation of large cents ever formed. And he was fun to be with. I used to take the "red eye" back to Boston in order to have the pleasure of dinner with Ted after business meetings during the day.

I believe that the man's considerable wealth derived from cattle ranching with a twist. Ted owned large land holdings in Eastern Oregon and on an island (thousands and thousands of acres) off Santa Barbara which he combined with even larger federal leases. This diversification of pasture land gave him the ability to move cattle by rail to wherever the grass was greenest. He collected actively and intelligently for 40 years. It's a shame that his relations with the hobby did not end on a far better note.

"The United Kingdom coinage is the currency for all of Great Britain" wrote John Knight of Heath Cardiff. "Strange then that all the other parts are represented by this design but not Wales. It would appear we do not exist as far as the Royal Mint is concerned.

A bit of an oversight, considering they are based at Pontyclun and the designer is Welsh. Perhaps if we joined the euro we may get more recognition!"

Palo Seco (the name means "Dry Stick" in Spanish) was an ocean-side 500 acre fruit farm about six miles from Panama City. The fruit farm was isolated, and initially access was only by boat (even though it was part of the mainland). In order to be more homelike, the facility was built like a Panamanian village. It had a plaza with a chapel one one side and the dwelling houses on the other side of the plaza. It was surrounded by trees, which also grew among the buildings.

Below are some recollections of the daughter of the paymaster who visited Palo Seco:

"My Dad told me that the lepers would carry a string that had a button on one end and a loop on the other that they threaded through the hole in the center of the coins so they could keep them under control. Most of the lepers had horribly disfigured and missing fingers which made handling of the coins difficult for them.

There was a Catholic church at the colony and the lepers would put coins into the collection basket. The nuns that keep the church and linens clean would also clean the coins in alcohol and then present them to the paymaster for U.S. currency on the colony payday."