I hadn't thought to use the Archive, but wow, now I get the whole NINE yards, or even ten yards! Another satisfied customer.

My two cents worth about the '100 Greatest Works of American Numismatic Literature': For a numismatic bibliophile with a small but expanding library, the list is invaluable. It simply offers an amazing compilation of titles to peruse (many I never knew existed), from which I can cherry pick those that interest me, seek out and purchase on the aftermarket. What a fantastic resource to have at your fingertips!

As a contributing writer and publisher of a newsletter to glass collectors ( quarterly---hardly weekly!), I understand and hope that others read carefully and understand your comment ...."As long as editing this newsletter continues to be fun, I'll gladly keep it up." Some folks need to recognize that this is a labor of love and not a method of gaining fame or money. Thank you for all of the interesting and timely work that you turn out.

How many subscribers do you think you would have if you only mentioned books? I think about 50, tops. Your reply was 110% correct. Keep them coming as is. Anyone who wants a pure bookie newsletter should unsubscribe - how boring!

There are topics in The E-Sylum that go rather far afield of coin books, numismatics and related items but the readership seems to enjoy them. My problem is the yapping Pekinese that wait till a man is DEAD before they come out of the woodwork. It is cowardice to shout accusations and hearsay about someone who CANNOT respond.

I received the latest E-Sylum just after reading the new Spring 2008 issue of the American Numismatic Society Magazine. On p. 36 of the magazine, under the period 1948-1957, I found the following:

If it hadn't been for The E-Sylum, I would have been completely in the dark as to what was going on behind this brief statement.

This issue of the ANS Magazine also has a lot on the recent relocation of the Society and the move as you reported. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for sticking to your guns on the Naftzger controversy. Kleeberg was at the ANS during the dispute, and has first-hand information.

The story of Naftzger/Sheldon/ANS is fascinating, thanks to all who weighed in on it. I also enjoyed Alan Weinberg's submission of the Kosoff/Kaplan/Laine caper. Great stuff!

I found the postings on Ted Naftzger and Abe Kosoff in the June 15 E-Sylum to be troubling, and printed them out to review. I did not get around to it and thought that others would share their thoughts in the June 22 issue. Charles Davis did and you also mention a call from John Burns. Frankly, I thought there would be more outrage, though Charlie was certainly direct.

I'll restrict my comments to John Kleeberg's commentary on Ted Naftzger and Alan Weinberg's story about Abe Kosoff. While I find some of John Kleeberg's characterizations to be slanted and unfair, he steps up to the plate and takes responsibility for what he says and it is clear that, if need be, he could document many if not all of the basic facts.

I have no brief against Alan Weinberg. I certainly enjoy his man-on-the-street contributions in the Big E and other numismatic publications and I admire his obvious love of the hobby. Nor am I above sharing controversial stories about numismatists of the past and present. But to do so in print, with zero documentation and anonymous sources, is not acceptable. You just cannot do this, despite the "tap dance" disclaimer at the end. Abe Kosoff may not have been a saint —- who of us are —- but I would hope, and I think that you would too, that others will not write such things about us when there are no provable facts or named sources to support them and we are no longer around to defend ourselves.

As I have told you many times before, the Big E is a great publication and all of numismatics is in your debt. I hope you will continue to publish controversial articles, leavened with a bit better judgment. I was appalled by John Kleeberg's comments on John Ford after his death yet I did not criticize you for publishing them. So, keep up the good work!

I just got a copy of a book that probably isn't well known to numismatists: Campaigning for President by Jordan M. Wright. Published by Smithsonian and Harper-Collins, it's beautifully done, showing political items, including medals and tokens, but loaded with other political campaign material in full color and coffee table size. It retails for $35.00 list but got thru Abebooks.com for $19 plus postage. Very worthwhile.

Based on the author's extraordinary personal collection of presidential election memorabilia, Campaigning for President tells the colorful story of how presidents (and their losing rivals) have wooed voters since America was founded. These objects—from posters and paper dresses to ice-cream bars, sunglasses, and (of course) buttons—form a fascinating, moving, sometimes funny, sometimes outrageous physical record of the past.

Campaigning for President makes it clear that money didn't become important just in recent elections and that candidates—and their minions—have sometimes been willing to gloss over the fine points or get very creative in their self-representation in attempts to win the presidency. Full of entertaining stories about the elections and the memorabilia, this book provides wonderful insight into America's most important achievement—our democratic system.

His book, with more than 500 full-color illustrations, is a must read/own for students and teachers of U.S. presidential history, collectors of quadrennial election memorabilia and just plain old, run-of-the-mill, political junkies. Campaign banners, buttons, posters, flags, socks, gloves, shirts suspenders, fans, figurines, and medals to name a few, memorializing the past efforts of our Presidential candidates, each from his personal collection, are reproduced in this work

Based on the author's immense and unique personal collection of over one million objects, our nation would be poorer without this special edition. Replete with fascinating tales and little remembered facts about presidential elections and the candidates who competed, Jordan's work provides insight into our nation's most important achievement-our democratic republic (pun intended!).

Looking at the new books listed in the last E-Sylum, it strikes me that I have a new book too – or rather, the second, updated and greatly improved edition of something I did in 1996: America’s Money – America’s Story. I’m not certain when it’ll appear in book stores, but Whitman has done it, and they have done a magnificent job – full color, many new illustrations, the works. It’ll show up sometime in Midsummer.

I would like to thank you for the work that you commit to the E-Sylum e-mail each week. I find it interesting and informative. I am the President of the Albuquerque Coin Club, and almost every issue has something that I copy and send to one or more of our members. A couple of weeks ago, I sent the section about leprosy coins to a friend, John Grost, who is the President of the El Paso Coin Club. He asked me to get him added to your list.

Since I became President of the Albuquerque Coin Club, I have been pushing education about numismatics to the membership. Each meeting now has an educational program, and we are growing as well as getting increased participation among members. I also started giving books to members a couple of times each year. I purchase 40 to 50 books and at a meeting, we draw numbers, and whoever has that number gets his choice of a book.

I never tell the members ahead of time, and since our meetings have about 70 to 80 attendees, most people get a book (only one winner per family). Personally, I find that using club funds like this is much better than paying for meals at a restaurant. Sometimes it has been Red Books, or ANA Grading Guides, I have also given away Milestone Coins & 100 Greatest American Currency Notes. We have done this 4 or 5 times now, and it is always well received.

Several years ago, we had an air conditioning leakage problem at the American Numismatic Society resulting in some water damage occurring with respect to a few of our books. Fortunately we did not jump to some form of obvious answer like pull out a hair dryer, but instead contacted a book restoration expert. In sum, the best treatment for water damaged books is to freeze them and then dry them in a controlled environment. The books were restored literally as good as new.

But the part that I found so amazing is that after I became aware of the problem and solution, I had the occasion to be talking to Eric Newman and I mentioned the water damage and the first words out of his mouth were..."did you freeze the books?" After all these years, he never ceases to amaze me.

Please convey my thanks to those who contributed ideas on how to safely remove price sticker residue from a book. Not having most of the suggested solvents, and being somewhat hesitant because the book did not have a more impervious glossy dust jacket or cover, I ended up using an art eraser per Anne Bentley's suggestion.

After ten or fifteen minutes using the technique she described the remaining glue on the cover was gone, with no apparent discoloration or damage to the underlying surface (whether I've minimized the historical value I cannot say, but confess that I also remove price tags and stickers from clothing I buy, so future archeologists might at the least judge me consistent).

I found this to be one of the most useful discussions in recent issues. As a collector of coin albums, folders, etc., I'm frequently frustrated by the non-contemporary price stickers applied by thoughtless dealers selling used or remaindered vintage items. I will certainly put to the test some of the methods described. Along a similar line, a recent eBay acquisition was a scarce Dansco folder for Canadian small cents that I purchased from a seller in England. It arrived with the package open and the folder firmly stuck to the self-adhesive flap. Evidently, the customs agent had opened the package for inspection and had not resealed it properly.

A tentative attempt on my part to separate the folder from the flap quickly established that this could not be done without ripping the cover paper. In desperation I took it to my friend and fellow employee Skip Fazzari, who works in the lab at Numismatic Conservation Services, conveniently located around the corner from my own office at Numismatic Guaranty Corp. I got it back three days later without a trace of the offending flap or any sign of damage to the folder. What method he used to save the day remains a trade secret but, needless to say, I was quite pleased.

Regarding the discussion on removing stickers from books, I was greatly surprised that no one mentioned Goo-Gone.

I have been involved with books since before I could read. I earlier years I too was very frustrated with stickers on dust jackets, comic covers and other fragile paper wraps whose value often lay in the colorful graphics. I used many methods over the years, but sometime within the last 10 years or so I discovered Goo-Gone. It's a citrus based product which dissolves glues, waxes and such. All I do is squirt some Goo-Gone on and around the sticker and let it soak in for a while. The glue dissolves and the sticker can be removed, along with the glue residue. The dust jacket will looked stained at first, but Goo-Gone evaporates and leaves no stain after an hour or so. If the sticker is older, or tougher to remove, after soaking in Goo-Gone, I use a sharp pocket knife to lift the edges of the sticker so that the liquid can get below, this is sometimes necessary if the sticker has a foil top surface also.

Usually I will place a paper towel under whatever I squirt Goo-Gone onto to minimize it's spread. This reduces the drying time back to natural color. One caution when using Goo-Gone; do not try to rub it into any color printed surface. This will damage or even remove the gloss and eventually the color print itself. Let Goo-Gone do it's work naturally.

Here is a link to the Goo-Gone website, http://www.googone.com/googone.aspx where they offer a variety of products. Plain old Goo-Gone is available in most hardware or departments stores, usually near the cleaning supplies. A small bottle will last through years of sticker removal.

For the most part I prefer removing modern stickers applied at garage sales, antique stores and booksellers. However, I agree with Jorgen as far as older, or original sales stickers are concerned. If they are part of the context of the issue of the book, or they establish a pedigree or build an interesting history for the life of the book, then it is favorable to leave them intact. I feel this is also true of bookseller labels, library labels and name plates, which are normally applied to the inside front or back covers.

DONALD W. FREDERICK
Beaumont, Texas

Donald W. Frederick saved Lloydina L Bailey from being struck by a runaway truck, Nederland, Texas, October 29, 1966. Lloydina, 17, was on the walk leading from a community center when a pickup truck which had gone out of control proceeded diagonally across the lawn toward the walk at about 40 m.p.h. Donald, 14, schoolboy, who was beside and slightly behind Lloydina, saw the truck strike an automobile parked on the lawn and then continue toward the walk. He shouted a warning to Lloydina. She stopped in the path of the truck, frozen in fear as it proceeded at undiminished speed to within 15 feet of her. Donald delayed jumping backward in order to push Lloydina forward, thrusting her from the truck's path. He then tried to move backward but was struck on the head by a mirror on the side of the truck and knocked unconscious. The truck passed over the walk and stopped beyond it after striking another automobile. Donald, who had suffered a skull fracture, was unconscious for about a week and was hospitalized a week longer.

I've been following the discussion on removing coins and medals from Lucite and thought I'd share this image of a paperweight bought on eBay from a seller in Texas who had purchased it from an estate sale.

I have no desire whatsoever to remove this particular coin from the block of Lucite, however, as that would also destroy its pedigree: Jarvis/Flint/Van Wart/Weston. I'm usually not big on pedigrees but I think I can live with this one.

As an interesting side note to this entombed Bank of NY Hoard Fugio cent, the seller's wife had considered cutting it out of the Lucite block and making a pendant out of it because she liked the design. I'm glad her husband talked her out of it.

We list them in the Unusual World Coins Catalog, which is in it's 5th edition and available form coin dealers or from our bookstore at http://www.krausebooks.com/product/647/4

Many, but not all, Swiss Shooting Taler types are illustrated in UWC. In the Swiss section you will also find other local Swiss medallic issues and types of limited circulation. I like the Huguenin Freres Talers, which are readily available in the market and feature views of various cities.

We hope to continue adding to these listings, as each new year's issues are released and are doing this with the assistance of Craig Keplinger. Craig is a dealer in Swiss coins, with a specialization in the Shooting Festival coins.

Collectors of this series will also want to keep an eye on NumisMaster at http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis.jsp as the new issues Craig supplies the data for will first be listed there on the website before they appear in a printed work such as UWC. Craig is also working to get all types illustrated on NumisMaster well before we produce a 6th edition of UWC.

Depending on page count and size limits, we also would like to add the Swiss Shooting Talers back into the regular Standard Catalog series at some point in the future. For the moment however, NumisMaster provides a ready and accessible outlet for collector to keep up to date.

I'll post this information on my blog - Big Ideas, little world - also, with some additional information.

It must have been something about the era some fifty years ago, but I collect George Washington Inaugural buttons. These are truly historic pieces that are believed to be of American Manufacture (presumably by silversmiths and coin engravers of the time) that were made for the officers on George Washington's staff to wear as something between cuff-links and buttons on their dress uniforms to honor Washington at the time of his first inauguration. They were also symbolic of American resolve to move the button making industry (then a big one) from Birmingham, England to the United States.

In any event, they are frequently found with the reverse shanks bent sideways or snapped off to fit in coin envelopes. Sometimes, the slightly concave button is even pressed flat. The difference between an original button with an upright shank and a bent or otherwise damaged one can represent well over a thousand dollars in value. What were they thinking?

This coin owned by Dr. Manuel Harris of Jamestown was purchased in Orlando, Fla. The coin was once owned by Anton Klaus, considered to be the father of Jamestown. It will be on display at Wells Fargo Bank beginning Wednesday and remain on display through the 125th Anniversary Celebration.

Your reference to the web site on coin spoons reminds me of a cigarette extinguisher I once saw. It was made during World War II in the German-occupied Netherlands of three coins soldered together—at the bottom a square copper-nickel five-cents piece, standing thereon a round bronze cent, and at the top one half of a bronze half-cent, which had been cut in half, to fetch the object.

These coins had been demonetized by the German high commissioner Arthur Seyss-Inquart and replaced by zinc coins, to obtain strategic materials like copper-nickel and bronze for the German war effort. The extinguisher was fashioned as a protest against this measure and to ridicule the hated Seyss-Inquart: the coins with a total nominal value of six-and-a-quart cents impersonated the high commissioner's nickname Six-and-a-quart.

Did you catch this? I suspect it could have a profound influence on attendance at shows and auctions Down Under. It may promote far more live on-line bidding as well as other aspects of web-based numismatic participation. However, its ramifications could run far deeper than that. At the very least some folk may come to appreciate what it is to live-out one's hobby in sublime physical isolation!

How are soaring energy prices going to affect the coin market? I got my first taste of the New Reality today when I decided not to attend a coin show because of what I thought was an exceptionally high price for an airline ticket.

The other day I received an email from Whitman Expos regarding their August Atlanta show. I believe that this show is in its third year and I have attended the previous conventions. Even though it is a brutal flight for me to get to Atlanta from the Northwest, I’ve always looked forward to the show. I love Atlanta, I like the Whitman people and want to support their shows and I have some good clients in the Atlanta metropolitan area. So even though this had never been a “major” event on the coin circuit, I was still happy to attend it.

That is, until I went on my airlines’ website yesterday and looked up the price of a round trip ticket to Atlanta. Even booking the ticket more than two months in advance, the best fare I could find was close to $800 and that was with a lovely three hour layover on the way home in Dallas. To get a convenient round trip ticket was nearly $1,000.

I wonder how many other dealers are feeling the same way about non-essential shows. No matter how expensive airfare gets, I’m still going to attend the ANA and FUN shows and I will continue to attend West Coast shows because of the convenience factor. But instead of going to three Baltimore shows per year, I’ll probably cut back to two to reduce expenses.

I fly a lot but that's going to stop. One must justify trips by the cost of the travel and it goes against my grain to pay $500-600 for a fare that last year I paid $350 for. Car rental has also gone up and that I cannot understand. What I could rent for the same trip and period last year for under $100 now costs over $150. I foresaw this increase (although not to this level) a few months ago and booked all my flights thru Labor Day weekend. Since then I've searched for a reasonable January 2009 FUN show airfare without success. $435-500+ and up for a fare that was less than $300 last January, Los Angeles to Orlando.

Watch - attendance at shows will dramatically drop due to the cost of air fares and vehicle fuel. The only thing that will prop up hobby prices will be the auctions, which are curiously still doing very well despite high unemployment, high fuel costs and natural disasters that are wiping out whole areas economically. I'd like to predict that the numismatic market will drop 35% or more - but I'm not sure that'll occur. A few weeks ago at the Long Beach show I overheard a telling comment in a conversation between two dealers - "You know, I can sell a coin for $100,000 more easily now than I can sell a coin for two or three thousand dollars."

The national news tonight said a lot of money is seeking new reliable outlets for investment and I thought of coins/currency where there's pride of ownership. I seem to recall reading that numismatic price levels did not drop all that much during the Great Depression as the stock market bombed. But then prices were much lower and the number of collectors/dealers was infinitely smaller.

Friday, concerned with the LA Times forecasting $7 gas and $200 oil by the end of the year, I booked a roundtrip flight to January 2009's Orlando FUN show. Normally, I would never book such a flight so far in advance during summer's high air fares. But, after considerable checking, I booked an AirTran "redeye" flight for $405 LAX-MCO. Other airlines were quoting $500 and up. This same flight was just over $225 for the last January FUN. I feel sadly confident that this was a prudent move.

Harold was the first major collector of GW's starting in the early 1950's. Over the years, he kept notes and research material on the types and numbers of buttons available, and with the encouragement from fellow collectors, put the results in his book. This book is itself a collector's item with only two printings, one in 1963, and a revised version in 1968 (revised with permission by Elmer Piercy). I have further revised it and put it in .pdf format and with the family's permission make it available for downloading. Get the book "George Washington Inaugural Buttons and Medalets, 1789-1793" (revised January 27th, 2005.