This is a major publication and follows his earlier book on the same subject of half this size published in 1983. It was a successful launch, 200 copies were sold and only a few copies left. More details for interested buyers from Les Carlisle at malecarl@bigpond.net.au. Noble Numismatics have copies also for sale (info@noble.com.au).

Of the more than 1,000 coin-shaped charms that Alex Fang Chengyu has in his collection, his favorite is quite an enigma.

The Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) bronze coin depicts a man on horseback attended by servants on the obverse. On the reverse, three people stand on a river bank, looking down at a person in the water.

"Some believe the front side depicts Xuan Wu (a Taoist god)," said Fang from the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics, City University of Hong Kong (CityU). "Maybe... The God of North became an important icon in the Song Dynasty after Emperor Huizong had a dream about him."

But the story on the reverse is inexplicable. Who are the people on the bank? Why is there a person in the water? What does the charm signify? So far, Fang hasn't been able to find satisfactory answers.

When the coin was cast, the allusions should be unmistakable - "something people could tell with one look," Fang said. "But now nobody knows. A piece of our cultural heritage is lost, probably forever."

The NLG winners for 2008 are now online at www.numismaticliteraryguild.org

When Frank was leaving, he noted that there were special holdings in the library that were known to him and to a few users who make deep use of the library, but he was concerned that they weren't known to his successor, and he wanted to make sure there was some sort of record of that. (He mentioned the Ray Williamson correspondence, which was transferred under a deed of gift that says it can only be made accessible to the public after a certain number of years have passed - I don't remember specifically how many.)

Frank named as users who knew the holdings very well myself and Eric P. Newman. Gary Trudgen then asked me to write an appreciation of Frank for the CNL, and since Rick Witschonke's ANS Magazine article pre-empted a biographical approach, I decided to get down on paper an overview of the collection, to encourage people to make more use of it.

There are a lot of manuscripts in the ANS library that should be transcribed and published. Examples are the bid books from the Chapman estate; Breen's card index to the auction catalogs; the purchasers at the New Netherlands sales; Homer K. Downing's notes of his conversations with Henry C. Hines; and the George Cogan correspondence scrapbook. I also love Henry Chapman's book of "Men Reported Bad" (collectors who bounced checks or paid slowly).

Carl Honore is correct in his comment on this subject in last week's E-Sylum that "One person cannot do it alone." He sites the people who assisted Mathew Boulton in expanding his button factory into one of coin and token manufacturing and assisted him in improving minting technology. I cited Boulton alone like we mention Henry Ford here in America for his genius in manufacturing autos. We do not mention the hundreds of people who assisted him; it is always Henry Ford's name alone.

Thus we honor Mathew Boulton for his genius in bringing together all the factors that made his Soho Mint and his minting technology so successful. On the bicentennial of Boulton's death next year scholars, historians and numismatists from around the world will hold a Conference in his honor planned for July 2009 in Birmingham England. It is sponsored by the University of Birmingham and the University Central England. An extensive exhibit of all the coins, tokens and medals struck by Boulton will be on exhibit at the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. (See E-Sylum, Volume 11, Number 3, January 20, 2008, Article 9: MATTHEW BOULTON CONFERENCE PLANNED FOR JULY 2009 )

On the numismatic aspect of button manufacturers: I could site dozens more examples here in America (in addition to the obvious one of Scovill mentioned previously in E-Sylum). For example the J.R. Gaunt & Son firm (founded 1725), a London firm, established a branch in New York (Rouse's Point) about 1910. It replicated Washington's Button (Baker 1003S), and struck a Dahlia Society of New Jersey Medal (I once sold one of these), in addition to numerous sports award medals. Gaunt was striking these medals along side buttons. The New York branch was sold to the Waterbury Companies prior to World War II.

Again, another example of the close relationship of buttons and numismatic items. Similar technology, Carl. Thanks for your comments.

PIONEER GOLD FORUM TO DISCUSS CONTROVERSIAL U.S. ASSAY OFFICE 1853 $20S AT ANA'S WORLD'S FAIR OF MONEY

This year's annual meeting at the ANA will consist of a special gathering of the Pioneer Gold Forum, to discuss the controversial proof and prooflike 1853 $20 U.S. Assay Office of Gold Pieces. These pieces were the subject of an inconclusive 1968 PNG (Professional Numismatists Guild - Editor) arbitration.

The Pioneer Gold Forum is an elite group of numismatic experts in the field of pioneer gold and have been carefully chosen for their abilities, willingness and impartiality toward analyzing controversial pioneer numismatic issues. Earlier this year, the Forum analyzed and concluded that the "Prooflike" 1861 Clark, Gruber & Co. $20s were 20th century fantasies, leading to PCGS' subsequent repurchase - and relabeling as fantasies - of erroneously certified overstruck specimens. This years' meeting takes place Saturday August 2, 2008 in Room #320 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

I had the privilege of examining the USAO $20 gold specimen in about MS-64 which is the EXACT prototype of the "proof" USAO $20 pieces. There are at least 20 exact points on the "proofs" that match the prototype $20 (it only takes seven to establish a finger print). It is obvious to the most novice observer, there is no question that the "proof" dies were made from a transfer process directly from the prototype regular issue $20. Forget the reed differences, X-ray back scatter or other mesures--the coins are strictly concoctions as there is no way genuine proofs can be produced from an original prototype regular issue!!

Of course all the so-called die trials of the USAO pieces came under the same "BAD" category

I started this coin study of the so-called proofs in early 1964 with a group Made up of Dr. James O. Sloss, Abe Kosoff, Eric Newman and myself. As a public service, the Metallurgy Research Laboratory of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. did x-ray studies and photomicrographs and back scatter x-rays. All data was transmitted to Eric about six months later and he carried the ball up to the 1967-8 PNG hearing. One proof was sent to the Secret Service--but they declined to study it as they claimed that the USAO was not a government Mint until 1854 although the USAO was a U S government agency.

Except for some crocodile tears from the present owners of the "proof" twenties and associated trials, the 11:00 AM meeting at ANA on Saturday should put this whole subject to rest.

Of course the last big question is where the coins were made--they certainly weren't manufactured in Paul Franklin's garage!!

Here's an interesting article in The Economist concerning banknotes issued in hyperinflation. Zimbabwe is still far from breaking Hungary's record of a 1 Quintillion Pengo note in 1946!

While trying to recover from the walking the bourse floor at the ANA Thursday night, David Fanning and I were looking over some old books (who'd'a thunkit!?). We were trying to figure out why the name of a bookseller on a label in a 19th century book sounded familiar. The search for the answer also serendipitously led to a web site that may be of interest to E-Sylum readers. Here's a nice illustrated collection of labels of the book trade (binders booksellers, etc.)

Anyone who handles old books will have come across these small and sometimes beautiful labels pasted more or less discreetly into the endpapers. Publishers, printers, binders, importers, distributors and sellers of books -- new, second-hand and antiquarian -- used to advertise in this way their contribution to bringing the book to market. Most of the earliest examples shown here belong to binders (e.g., the Marcus Ward ticket, ca.1841); this is a continuation of binders' earlier practice of sewing into the binding a small ticket with their signature.

This collection began with labels found in our own books, but now it is mainly a virtual collection -- each entry is digitally scanned from books found in the excellent research library to which we repair in our spare time. We must admit to having gone from "coming across" the labels in our book-browsing to actually searching for them.