A box 26 x 40 x 23 cm full of envelopes of coin photographs. These were probably used to illustrate his many auctions and possibly his Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins. There are several hundreds of items. I can't give an accurate description of the contents as I have not gone through them thoroughly. Most of what I have seen are Canadian with some foreign. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone who can use this material to acquire such a lot.

There were three requests for it - one within an hour and the other two overnight.

Ray Williams forward the following report on returning from the recent Colonial Coin Collectors Club convention in Boston. -Editor

The special book that you see here is a one-of-a-kind, full-color advance galley. No other advance galleys will be created or made available to the hobby community. This unique copy has been autographed by Bowers, and comes with a certificate of authenticity from Whitman Publishing. As the Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins takes its place in the canon of numismatic literature, this advance galley will attain the status of a centerpiece for the advanced collector of colonial coinage or rare books.

... a masterpiece from an author who has already demonstrated his expertise on 19th century United States gold coinage on numerous occasions. This new edition is a. definitive study that belongs in the library of all serious numismatic researchers and Southern gold experts.

It was with heartfelt sadness that we learned of Adna's passing. Adna G. Wilde Jr. was one of the most honorable numismatists we have ever known. During our entire terms of service on the ANA Board from 1987 to 2005 we were privileged to have Adna as Treasurer and Parliamentarian of the Association.

This knowledgeable and thoughtful man helped us greatly during our terms of service to ANA. When he recently stepped down as Treasurer and Parliamentarian of the ANA, that was a very sad day for us. No one looked after the ANA in regards to finance and procedure as he did. When Adna talked, Board members listened and almost always agreed with him.

He was a close friend who we always asked for advice in Board meetings as well as other times. He was a leader who served as an example to all of us. His service to our Country in the U. S. Army was also commendable where he achieved the rank of Lt Col. This coin club officer and worker, collector, author, speaker and exhibitor will always be remembered by everyone who crossed his path.

All of our prayers and thoughts to his wife Joan and their family. We have made a donation to ANA in his memory. Rest in Peace Adna, as your passing will be mourned by those of us who loved him so much. With deepest sympathy, John and Nancy Wilson, Volunteers and Life Members of ANA

He always had a smile on his face and a kind word whenever we met, no matter the circumstances. He came from the "old school" of always being an officer and a gentleman and he carried that into civilian life and the ANA. I know there will be a welcoming salute for Adna in that part of heaven reserved for old soldiers. Goodbye for now old friend.

Editor-in-Chief Barbara Gregory forwarded the following items of interest to E-Sylum readers. -Editor

The first tune is the Star Spangled Banner, and the second is Yankee Doodle.

It took my wife (a PhD student in music theory) about 30 seconds to identify the first tune as the Star-Spangled Banner and the second tune as Yankee-Doodle.

The half-bit note shows "The Star-Spangled Banner", though some versions split up the first note in the sequence (into a dotted quaver and a semiquaver).

The one-bit shows "Yankee Doodle" (verse "Father and I ...", not the refrain "Yankee ..."). Some versions have an extra quaver in front so as to be able to give 2 syllables/notes to the word "father"; also, the second group of 4 notes is sometimes a bit higher than shown here.

I would propose this: If you transpose the middle two notes in the second measure up a third (D, C# up to F#, E), you get Yankee Doodle Dandy. So, I think there was a misprint, unless there was an alternative version. As the first note has an extra note at the beginning, I guess misprints are not hard to imagine.

The two tunes on the notes in the November 16th E-Sylum are of course the Star Spangled Banner and Yankee Doodle. However, neither are written exactly the way we seem to hear them most often today. The national anthem usually has the initial sylable "Oh" as a dotted eighth followed by a 16th note, or two 16th notes, not a single quarter note like on the bill. Also, the two eighth notes on the bill are usually rendered as a dotted eighth and sixteenth.

For Yankee Doodle, the second measure usually has the 4 notes as D F# E A, but this note has D D C# A.

A question for music historians -- are these earlier versions and therefore are they more accurate towards the originals as played many years ago? Were variations in the music common in the era that the bills were printed?

The 6-1/4 cent scrip includes one of many versions of the English song "To Anacreon in Heaven," The music was composed by church organist John Stafford Smith. This melody was later used for Francis Scott Key's poem "The Star Spangled Banner." The 12-1/2 cent scrip includes "Yankee Doodle."

When I saw the tune on the 6 1/4 cent note illustrated in last week's (11/9) eSylum, I immediately recognized it as the opening of "To Anacreon In Heaven," which was adapted for Francis Scott Key's poem "The Star Spangled Banner" to comprise our national anthem.

I found this note thoroughly charming, and I was previously unaware of such a piece. I note that it is written in the key of D major, an arrangement in which only a deep alto or a high (almost heroic) soprano (or tenor) would be able to carry both the lowest and highest notes of the tune successfully. (The high notes in a D major arrangement are well into my falsetto range.) However, it does fit nicely on the treble staff, which is probably why this key was chosen.

The second note illustrated (the 12 1/2 cent) shows a version of the opening of "Yankee Doodle," also very charming.

The Anacreontic Song was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century club of amateur musicians in London who gathered regularly to perform concerts. The song is commonly (albeit incorrectly) referred to as "To Anacreon in Heaven", which is not the title, but rather the opening line of the lyrics. These barristers, doctors, and other professional men named their club after the Greek court poet Anacreon (6th century BC), whose poems, "anacreontics", were used to entertain patrons in Teos and Athens. His songs often celebrated women, wine, and entertaining, and today can be considered eroticism.

The connection with Anacreon, along with the "drinking" nature of the lyrics, have caused many people to label "The Anacreontic Song" a drinking song. The chorus certainly suggests Bacchanalia with its lyrics "And long may the sons of Anacreon intwine the myrtle of Venus with Bacchus' vine." In all probability some drinking did occur at Society meetings, but the primary purpose of the Society (and its song) was to promote an interest in music.[citation needed] This absence of an official connection to drinking did not keep the song from being associated with alcohol, as it was commonly used as a sobriety test: If you could sing a stanza of the notoriously difficult melody and stay on key, you were sober enough for another round.

How do you justify the inclusion of the item of the artist creating the micro statues in last week's issue? I see no numismatic connection.

There are two terms that can be used for the precious metal increased value: markup and the word used in the sentence, premium, but perhaps bounty should be chosen because you have to pay the bounty plus the metal value to receive delivery.

Private mints must also pay a processing fee from metal suppliers. It they want delivery of blanks of prescribed gauge and diameter instead of sheets or strips they must also pay a blanking fee.

Interestingly there is a coin word for just the opposite of this meaning, the antonym is agio -- a deduction from the face value of a precious metal coin because it is worn. When coins of gold or silver were valued for a transaction as in international trade -- irrespective of what country or authority issued them -- they were weighed to determine the exact value of the metal. No fiat coins were accepted then.

The high relief MCMVII dated pieces are also noteworthy as a target of one of the most infamous counterfeits ever known, the work of the mysterious .Omega.. Several diagnostic characteristics may help identify an example of one of the highest quality forgeries ever produced. The maker of these pieces, who has never been identified, signed his work. A tiny symbol .Y. that resembles the Greek letter omega may be found inside the eagle.s claw. Two patches of distinctive tooling marks are found on the obverse, in the hair to left of Liberty.s face and on the ray directly above the first M of the date.

I.ve just had some interesting correspondence with someone who went to his local grocery store recently and got a Wisconsin Civil War token, dated 1863, in his change. As the piece lists in Fuld at rarity R7, I reckon he has done rather well.

My own best experience was when I was a schoolboy c.1962/63 and found, on the ground outside a London Underground station in not exactly the most salubrious part of London, an 1853 Victoria farthing of the old, large copper type demonitized in 1869.

Best I have heard of for age is the story about a guy who, on going to a coin fair here in London, received a denarius of the Roman emperor Maximinus {235-238 AD} in his change from the taxi driver. The latter was obviously trying to pass it off as a five pence. I have also heard of someone getting a 1709 Queen Anne halfcrown in their change, although I can.t remember the details.

Just wonder whether you might care to invite your readership to contribute other similar stories as to what other unlikely pieces they have found in ordinary circulation?

I was sitting here, reading In Yankee Doodle's Pocket by Will Nipper, when I got to the footnote on page 414. Therein, in a reference to Dr. William Sheldon's authorship of The Varieties of Human Physique, Nipper claims that one of Dr. Sheldon's nude photos of Ivy League students was that of Hillary Clinton!

In a New York Time Magazine issue in January .95, Ron Rosenbaum contributed a cover story on Sheldon, largely assigning him to the category of pseudo science, if not downright quackery. The story, including mention of the somatotypes of George W. Bush, Nora Ephron, Hillary Rodham Clinton, George Pataki among others, suggested that Sheldon.s work involved ruse, too much subjective (Sheldon.s) judgment, and, in general, "loose" scientific method and research.

Sheldon published the work in question in 1940, long before any of those named persons, including Hillary Clinton, would have been in their late teens. I don't believe the book was updated after the 1940 edition. However, this article indicates that photos continued to be taken into the 1970s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League_nude_posture_photos

It seems likely that a circulated Canadian coin slipped into the huge piles of German coins awaiting destruction, and was waffled in error.