Jane's book is fabulously written and meticulously researched. If her speaking style is anything like her writing style, this should be a fantastic evening.

"The highlight of this auction was the sale of the Dr John M Chapman Collection of Australian Historical Medals in a separate catalogue featuring the Charlotte medal that realised a world record price of $873,750 for an historical medal The Chapman collection listed in 750 lots realized a total of $2.25 million The Chapman Collection was eagerly anticipated by a large attendance of over 100 with standing room only. The excitement unfolded from the start with the Naval Exploration Medals bringing multiples of estimates the room was tense with TV cameras running, [when] the bidding for the Charlotte Medal (lot 704) got underway with the hammer finally falling on a new world record for an historical medal of $873, 850 [sic] (approx US$ 850,000).

Immediately after this, a round of congratulatory applause broke out in the room The price reflected the importance of the piece as a tangible historical colonial work of art of the First Fleet. It is interesting to note that the medal was owned till 1981 by the late John J Ford of the USA what irony that his most valuable medal turned out to be Australian. Ford only relinquished the medal in 1981 to us as a return of favour for securing for him in our sale 4 (Nov 1980) the John Jacob Astor Fur Traders Indian Peace medal."

In 2003 I wrote a letter to ANS Librarian Frank Campbell sending him a copy of my new CD-ROM book and offering to send him all the CD's I had collected to study what other people in coins were storing on CD. I did send them to him including a 20 disc holder. From my experience, the creation of CDs either commercially or self-produced was a great idea during the period these were issued. But as the Internet became more available, most of the products put out on CD (slide shows, data bases, or book formats) were not very cost effective and most were discontinued. Based on my experience with print-on-demand publishing, it seems a far better way to distribute a book (or as I also have done, put it up on the Internet for download, either for a fee or free).

You asked about books on CD format. All of the books we have been releasing on Disc are DVD format. This would include the following:

Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-Date - Three DVD set, including the 5th edition 1801-1900, 35th edition 1901-2000 and the 2nd edition 2001-Date (this was our first DVD offering)

14th edition Standard Catalog of World Paper Money - Modern Issues - 1961-Present - released as a book with DVD and as a stand alone package

36th edition 2009 Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000 - released as a book with DVD and as a DVD stand alone package

3rd edition 2009 Standard Catalog of World Coins 2001-Date - released as a book with DVD

7th edition 2009 U.S. Coin Digest - released as a book with DVD and as a DVD stand alone package

Coming later this year will also be:

12th edition Standard Catalog of World Paper Money - General Issues - 1368-1960 - released as a book with DVD and as a stand alone package and 4th edition Standard Catalog of World Coins 1601-1700 - released as a book with DVD

Most collectors are familiar with our books, some use our DVD's and many use our NumisMaster website. We have been evolving our focus from print products alone, to a broader offering in various media. We want everyone to have access to our data through whatever media form they find most useful.

At present we do not offer any numismatic books exclusively on DVD alone. This has been talked about and will most likely come into play in the future. We sell fewer stand alone DVD's than we do books at present. It's a new type of product for us and we are still feeling out the market.

Because we chose to include a free DVD with all our books this year, is is hard to fully judge their popularity. Our intent was to get the data out there in digital form and get collectors used to this type of format. As a media company I am sure that we will be doing more products offering digital forms of data as the 21st Century progresses. It's a great way to make the data more flexible for individuals.

Books won't go away in our lifetimes, but many other forms for our coin data will surely emerge. Consider music - since the inception of recorded music, how many media forms have experienced popular use? Cylinders gave way to discs, 78's transitioned to 33 1/3's which competed with tape and eventually we got CD's. Now most people use MP3 digital format. Maybe some day I will have a little pocket device with the Standard Catalog of World Coins 1601-2020 in digital format?

Unless a "sugar daddy" pops up somewhere, the second edition of my book on Indiana Obsolete Notes and Scrip will likely be a CD-only offering.

At something close to the size of my Ohio book and as a second edition of a previous work, I doubt that the market is big enough to support a hardbound book. In addition a CD offers all color photos, enlargements of same, and an easy to use search tool at no additional cost.

When I was at ANACS, I would stand the coin on edge under a microscope at low magnification, and turn the coin until I found some identifiable mark. Using that as a starting place, I would slowly turn the coin, counting as I went, until I returned to my identifying mark. Write down the results, and do it again to see if I got the same number.

I suppose it would be easier to photograph a coin in a conical mirror (as is done on lettered edge coins to show the inscription), make a print and check them off by tens as you suggest, but my way was faster back in the days when a photograph meant developing film.

Many years ago I read an article in an error coin magazine (probably Lonesome John Devine's Error Variety News) on photographing the edge of a coin. This was many years before digital cameras, which should make the job much easier (instant results).

Disassemble a regular flashlight and take out the reflector. Place the coin in the reflector and take the photograph. The entire edge will be visible. Of course with a digital camera you can put the image on your computer and blow it up to make counting much easier. I have never tried this, but I'm sure it will work with a little practice.

Counting the number of reeds on a coin is a curious task, but certainly one of numismatic importance. There is no one set way. I have observed different methods by different numismatists.

The surest way, of course, is on a photograph, mentioned in last week's E-Sylum inquiry, and even easier on an enlarged photo. Everyone, it seems, starts counting at the top. Mark a top reed as either a "0" or "1" right on the photo. Then you can mark every fifth or tenth one. Then count the tics to get a total count.

If you are attempting to count reeds on an actual coin take a well-sharpened lead pencil and rotate the point in one of the indentations near the top. (Pencil lead retains in the indentation and can be removed with a damp cloth afterwards.) Start counting and don't stop until you are back to that marked indentation. You have better eyes than I have if you made it all around the circumference without starting over. All I can say is thank goodness the U.S. three-cent silver is not reeded. Larger coins are easier, obviously, with larger reeding.

I devised myself a tool many years ago using materials at hand. The first was a "Koinvayer," a spring-loaded, plastic pair of tongs made by the E. T. Kointainer Company, the same business which makes Kointain capsules. The end of each tong has a convex diamond shape to hold a coin securely by its edge at a right angle to the tong handles. Instead of holding the subject coin this way, I placed it parallel to the tool, securing it between two plastic wheels lifted from an HO scale model railroad car. These wheels each came with a prong on its outside face that fit perfectly into the convex end of the tong, while the inside surface of each wheel had been smoothed by me with a file after I had cut it free from the axle which joined the two wheels. To further protect the coin's surfaces from abrasion, I placed self-adhesive paper dots over the filed side of each wheel.

While holding the coin between the two wheels with my hand, I then placed this trio between the tongs and released the pressure which held them open. This spring action provided a nearly hands-free tool that permitted me to rotate the coin 360 degrees while counting reeds. As for performing this last task, I painted every 20th reed with white-out, which is easily rubbed off the edge when the chore is completed, doing no harm to the coin. That gave me enough stopping points to complete the job without losing count.

I have successfully been using a simple technique for years; with it, I have counted the reeds on well over 1,500 Liberty Seated Half dollars along with other smaller denominations.

In a nutshell, here it is. Simply remove the reflector from an inexpensive flashlight, place the coin into the reflector under your stereo microscope, and slowly rotate the reflector with the coin while viewing the in-focus edge (i.e., reeds) through the scope. Start at an obvious flaw (all coins have them) and, count the reeds (counting out loud is best and ignore distractions) using the reticule of your scope to keep track of your position; stop for breathers at easily referenced places (e.g., nicks, lint, cracks in the collar, etc). Continue until you get to the starting reed.

You may have to initially adjust the coin in the reflector to keep it in focus for the entire counting session. With practice, you can easily and accurately count the reeds on a coin in about 2 minutes. Careful with the reflector surfaces; they scratch easily and you may end up replacing it more often than you like. One more thing, you can also photograph the edge of the coin with this technique.

Back in the day I tried several different ways of counting reeds on a coin's edge. None worked satisfactorily. I learned the following technique from E.G.V. Newman. It's the only one I found that rendered reliable counts every time.

Obtain a small amount, a few ounces is all that's needed, of ordinary white or yellow modeling clay, the sort one may buy in a hobby shop or from a school supply store. When one wants to count a coin's reeds pull off a small piece from the clay, knead it until it's warm and soft, and then flatten it out to an appropriate length and width (three to four inches by about one inch seems to work well but the desired length and width depend on the circumference and thickness of the coin to be examined).

Next, take a felt tip marker (one with washable, not indelible, ink) and mark one reed on the coin's edge. Then, take the coin by its edge (as always), push its edge into the clay, and roll the coin along its circumference through the clay. The clay will be impressed by the reeds as the coin rolls along and the ink from the marker will show in the light colored clay each time the marked reed rolls onto it. Keep rolling until two ink marks are seen in the line of indentations.

It's a simple job to count the indentations left in the clay by the reeds starting at the first ink mark and ending just in front of the second one. A low powered glass is useful. A sewing needle can be used to mark in the clay groups of five reeds to aid in the tally. When one is finished, just ball up the clay for re-use (the tiny ink marks blend back into the clay when it's kneaded). Store it in a closed container so the clay doesn't dry out. I found a plastic quarter dollar tube worked well. The impressions in the clay can be photographed to document a count.

Last weeks featured Web page: CASTINE AND THE OLD COINS FOUND THERE as suggested by Ray Williams includes a numismatic mystery. In the E-Sylum photo one of the eighteen coins pictured is dated 1769. Yet the Castine Hoard, if associated with Baron Jean Vincent dAbbadie de St. Castin who departed for France circa 1703, must have closed much earlier than 1769 while he was still in America.

At the centennial of the hoards discovery, some of the original coins on loan from the Maine Historical Society were gathered by Sydney P. Noe, then Librarian of the ANS, and put on display in New York City. See Numismatic Notes and Monographs #100, The Castine Deposit: An American Hoard, American Numismatic Society, New York, 1942 for a detailed accounting of the coins with individual plates.

Q. David Bowers American Coin Treasures and Hoards, published by Bowers and Merena Galleries, 1997 gives a good sense of the paucity of early American coin hoards, so that understanding the Castine Hoard is key to knowing what coins circulated in the old Massachusetts Bay Colony which then included coastal Maine. Also see The Colonial NewsLetter #128 of August 2005, Second Thoughts on a First Rate Hoard: Castine Revisited.

I found a silver dollar sized French coin dated 1821 stamped with J.L Polhemus druggist 190 J St. cor. Sacramento Cal today while metal detecting in the hills near Coloma, CA.

When I read about the J.L. Polhemus counterstamps in last week's E-Sylum, it jogged my memory. Some months ago this counterstamp on a gold coin was discussed. At that time I thought I remembered a $50 Slug with that counterstamp sold in a Morgenthau sale. I was away from home at the time and could not check my catalogs. This time I looked and found it, but it was not J.L. Polhemus, but rather J.T. JONES CORNER MONTG. & COMMERCIAL ST. In any case that coin would be the ultimate for a counterstamp collector. The coin was in Sale 388. 3/15/1938, lot 179.

In Western Americana, "the unique 1851 $50 slug with the J.T. Jones counterstamp, an historic record of San Francisco's vigilante days."

The coin was consigned without provenance as lot 1600 of the Stack's January, 2001 auction. Bidding opened at $6,600 and closed at $32,000. It sold into a prominent mid-Atlantic states collection. Don Kagin and Tony Terranova were underbidders. The coin is plated in Kagin, p.380, n.1, and Brunk 99.

J.(ames) T.(hompson) Jones was the proprietor of the famous Blue Wing Saloon, 138 Montgomery Street. This saloon was one of the most notorious of the Barbary Coast.

The Polhemus counterstamps reminded me that I had recently run into another druggist of interest. In the July 1929 issue of The Numismatist (p441) there is this filler in the middle of the page:


Mr. Neil's Letterheads

Will W. Neil, a member of the A.N.A., who conducts a pharmacy at Baldwin, Kan., uses a letterhead for his correspondence, which reads as follows:

WILL W. NEIL,
Numismatist by Instinct - Pharmacist from Necessity
Baldwin, Kansas.

I hope Mr. Neil was hugely successful in both pursuits.

Will Neils collection of U.S. coins was sold in 1947 by B. Max Mehl, the flamboyant dealer from Texas. The catalog of the sale, replete with seven of our Ten Most Famous U.S. Rarities, was rated "A+" by numismatic expert, John Adams, who has examined all of the early U.S. coin catalogs for content and quality. Neils 1913 Nickel is an exceptional PR-64 from the Farouk collection, he owned an 1804 Silver Dollar (Class III), and both types of the 1880 Stellas. Neil's numismatic legacy lives on through B. Max Mehl's catalog and the memory of his fabulous collection.

If you like the Pistrucci medal, here are some pics you might enjoy. These are negative-image (incuse and reversed) electro-somethings of the Pistrucci Waterloo medal.

These are the correct size, with the medal part measuring about 5.5 inches in diameter, and a total diameter of about 6.5 inches including the broad rim. The rim and the backside of each half are covered in some sort of fairly hard waxy substance.

I've shown these to several people, and nobody seems to know what to make of them. I've had several guesses that are generally plausible, but nothing that I feel is quite right (in particular, the presence of the wax seems like it ought to be important, and none of the guesses can explain it.)

I've found several sale records of positive-image cliches (including sets that were produced by the Waterloo Committee in 1969), but nothing for negatives. Another mystery...

Can anyone translate the inscription on this gold medal from Athens 2004? It belongs to Olympic home run record-holder Crystl Bustos (USA Softball, 2000-gold, 2004-gold, 2008-silver), and she'd like to know what it says. [Other images of '00, '04, '08 medals available to fellow E-Sylum inmates upon request.] Thanks.

Snowden served as Director of the Mint from June 1863 until April 1861, and claimed authorship for two major 1861 American numismatic works: the one cited in the letter and his even more popular Mint Manual.

In Chicago, the Federal Reserve Bank has a nice exhibit. The have three $1 million displays. One is a rotating cube of $1 packs. Another is $1 million of $20 packs underneath a glass dome. The last one is a suitcase of packs of $100 in which you can take a picture of yourself with it (the photo is FREE). They also have 18 notes for you to try to determine if they are real or counterfeit. I got 12 of the 18 correct.

I am attaching pictures of all three exhibits. The last one is of my oldest son (who lives in Chicago), my wife, and the guy with the Berlin shirt and hat is me.

I returned home from Chicago and left again for Scotland (Edinburgh and Glasgow). I will be visiting numismatic collections at the National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh), The Bank of Scotland Museum on the Mound, and the Hunterian Museum (Glasgow) in between some pubs and distilleries.

This distinguished gentleman is the doorman of the 5-star Balmoral Hotel decked out in full regalia, including the small dagger at the top of the right sock. Contrary to common belief, NORMAL men wearing kilts DO WEAR underpants! (no, he didn't demonstrate his)

This week I'm in Scotland. Right now I am at the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow looking at the some of the coins of Dr. William Hunter, who collected just about everything in addition to coins. Across the street from the museum is the Hunterian Art Museum where there are a few more coins and next to it is the university library. I was told by the museum's senior curator, Dr. J D Bateson, that it holds approximately 100 of Hunter's numismatic books that go back to the 16th or 17th century. Apparently you do not need to make advance arrangements to see these, just sign in.

How would you like to be a billionaire? It's easy, just move to the countries below.

Zimbabwe as an example, this country's entire population of over 12,000,000 are billionaires. In fact, many are trillionaires, or even quadrillionaires. in case you're unfamiliar with "quadrillions, " a quadrillion is a million billion, or a 1 followed by 15 zeros