I am now in Viet Nam and was scheduled to be in Bangkok on December 11th for a show and auction before departing for the USA on the 15th. But I had to cancel the Bangkok trip because the airports are inactive with their occupation by political agitators. Even if the demonstrators leave the airports right away, it will take at least a week to bring the up computers, radars, entrance/exit security keypads, security badges, restock the counters and other rooms, clean up the airport, fly all of the planes back in to the proper gates and parking places, contact all of the employees to return, etc., etc., to be operational again. This will be past the 11th so I have arranged to stay longer in Viet Nam and leave from there on the 20th for the USA.

While in Viet Nam, I am arranging for my next catalog, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Coins & Currency, to be printed here. It will be in color with card covers, but I will have some hardbound for the bibliomaniacs.

The Ho Chi Minh City Censorship Office had the CD-ROM of the catalog but it has been forwarded to Hanoi because they want the higher ups to approve it. I was expecting to come back with some copies in my suitcases and ship the rest, but it appears the printing will be delayed and I hope to come back with at least a proof copy. The shipment should arrive in Norfolk and then the Richmond Customs Office sometime in February or March 2009.

If there are any NBS members or others who would like to donate numismatic and related references of any type or variety for handing out to young and new collectors (and teachers and scout counselors too) at the two annual ANA shows, and at the Memphis International Paper Money Show, please contact me at HADANIEL3@MSN.COM. I can pick them up at the FUN Show in early January or even stop at the donors' location on the way down or back from Florida to Virginia.

Dr. Livingston is a blip on the screen from April 1935 to January 1941 and disappears from our records. He does not renew his ANA membership and falls off the roll either because he dropped out of the collecting and dealing arena or else died.

Dr. William H. Livingston, MD, 202 Julian Street, Ebensburg, Pennsylvania applied for membership in the ANA in April 1935 and joined the ANA in May 1935 as member No. 4748.

He conducted thirteen coin auctions. The final auction, held in January 1941, is not listed in Martin Genkerke's American Numismatic Auctions. Three of these were mail auction bids published in periodic magazines, two in The Numismatist and one in Numismatic Scrapbook.

He published his Bulletin which ran in three numbers, listing in each over 600 coins mostly UNC and Proofs. He ran three half page ads and one quarter page ad in Numismatic Scrapbook from September 1937 until November 1939 in addition to his one full page mail bid coin auction of 100 lots in the October issue on page 227.

He ran 35 ads in The Numismatist from November 1936 until January 1941 in addition to the two mail bid auctions which were full page. Among his ads two were full page, 24 half page, and nine quarter page ads.

In all 39 ads and three auctions were published in these two numismatic periodicals. 10 coin auction catalogs were published and mailed to those on his list or who wrote requesting one.

The story of James Earle Fraser’s designs and models for the Indian head nickel is told, illustrated and documented in great detail by Roger Burdette in Renaissance of American Coinage 1909-1915, chapters 7 through 11. In 1980 Joseph Lepczyk of East Lansing, MI. sold at auction a collection consigned by a dealer of 30 plaster models by Fraser and his wife Laura Gardin Fraser (Lepczyk 36:461-490), of which five were incuse obverse models of the nickel (## 464-468), two were incuse reverse nickel models (## 469-470) and one was a relief reverse nickel model (#471).

These were large-scale models ranging in diameter from 4.75 to 6 inches. All but two of the 30 lots were illustrated in the catalog. At the ANA convention in 1981, Bowers & Ruddy Galleries auctioned eight additional models by the Frasers, none of which were provenanced to the Lepczyk sale (B&R 53:2419-2426).

Of these, three (## 2419, 2420 and 2421) were uniface relief actual-size so-called “electro-trials” of the second obverse trial design (Lepczyk #465) and one (#2422) was a uniface relief actual-size trial of the adopted reverse design. The actual-size trials were formerly listed by J. Hewitt Judd et al, United States Pattern Coins, 7th ed. (1982), appendix “A” p. 249, but were dropped from later editions because they were electrotypes, not struck from dies, see 9th ed. (2005), p.313, fn. 24.

Although I realize that no definite commission has been given me in regard to the designs for the new coins, I have become so much interested in the sketches that I have pushed them a little farther and now they are in the shape of electrotypes which I should like to submit for your consideration.

Regarding your story of the Farmington Hills, MI token. It is a good story for them, but a ho hum for the collector. This may AGAIN prove the value of having the right book on hand. Duane Feisel's book on Parking Tokens lists three varieties of these issues, all with the same wording. In the section:
PARKING TOKENS MANUFACTURERS STOCK

PTMS-3090 A 25mm Bronze 25¢
PTMS-3090 B 25mm Brass 25¢
PTMS 3090 C 22mm Brass 50¢

Federal APD (Automatic Parking Devices) manufactures coin or token activated gates for parking lots. They issued tokens is two sizes – 25mm (just over the size of a quarter) and 22mm (just over the size of a nickel. There are several varieties of the 25mm token.

These tokens are what are called “stock tokens” issued for use in parking gates equipped to collect tokens, usually to gain entrance to a parking lot but sometimes used for exit. These stock tokens were sold in quantity to businesses having gate-controlled parking lots who did not want to go to the expense of having custom made tokens manufactured.

These parking tokens and many, many others are catalogued in Feisel’s Catalogue of Parking Tokens of the World. The sixth edition of this catalog is available at a cost of $65 from Joseph V. Pernicano, 58 Sonia Lane, Broomall, PA 19008. After moving to California I passed along the job of cataloging parking tokens to Joe, while I have moved on to other token-related projects including writing catalogs of California saloon tokens, California encased coins, California US Bicentennial issues, and California Food Stamp Change Tokens.

A current project is the preparation of a catalog of unattributed maverick saloon tokens and a comprehensive index of United States saloon tokens to be published as an addendum to Saloon Tokens of the United States by Al Erickson, and available from him at a cost of $65 postpaid – Al Erickson, PO Box 99667, Lakewood, WA 98496.

Novi, Michigan was named for a stagecoach marker. In 19th Century Michigan, on Grand River Road, the principal road between the state's largest city, Detroit, and the state capital, Lansing, stagecoach stop number six was marked with a stone marker cut as "NO. VI". The period disappeared with time, and the wide spot in the road (as it was when I passed through there as a kid on the way out to Kent Lake with my family) became known as "NOVI." It is now a large bedroom suburb of Detroit.

Marilyn is a popular topic for private mint issues. I suspect there are quite a few. I have seen a recreation of her Playboy photo on one ounce silver rounds and one ounce bars. I have seen enough to believe there is more than one version of these. We can't know what the kid's coin display included without a picture or better description.

The following circulation find story indicates how little I knew when I started collecting:

Around 1953, when I was a teenager, a friend and I went to the Bank of California branch on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, and we asked the teller for ten silver dollars. We bicycled back to his house to divide the coins, deciding to take turns - he won first pick on the toss of a penny.

Neither he nor I knew our Morgan dollars well, as will be painfully obvious in a moment, and the last round came down to a shiny Peace dollar and a toned Morgan that had circulated enough for the coin to be reduced to what we would now call VF. It was the most heavily circulated silver dollar I have ever seen. My friend picked the Peace dollar, leaving me with the runt of the litter. Only that runt was an 1893-S that I still cherish. Sometimes luck saves the ignorant.

I checked the obsolete books I have (SC, TN, AL, AK, MS, FL) and the GA obsolete website and did not find it.

Regarding the Lafayette scrip, check the Indiana obsolete note catalog. Lafayette was an important town in Indiana in the 19th century. Unfortunately all my books on U.S. paper money are packed up and I can not get to them.

I can't say I know where it originated, but our 1905 Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World has the following Lafayettes on record, which might give Dennis Schafluetzel and Tom Carson some new directions to search:

• a SW county of AR, capital New Lewisville
• a county of FL, capital Mayo
• a parish in S. part of LA, capital Lafayette a banking post-town
• a county in the N. part of MS, capital Oxford
• a county in the W. part of MO, capital Lexington
• a county in the SW part of WI, capital Darlington
• a post-village of Contra Costo Co., CA
• a post-town of Boulder Co., CO
• a banking post-town of Walker Co., GA
• a banking post-village of Stark Co., IL
• a city, capital of Tippecanoe Co., IN
• a post-hamlet of Linn Co., IA
• a banking post-town of Christian Co., KY
• a post-township of Gratiot Co., MI
• a banking post-village of Nicollet Co., MN
• a post-village of Sussex C0., NJ
• a post-village of Onondaga Co., NY
• a post-village of Allen Co., OH
• a post-village of Madison Co., OH
• a post-town of Yamhill Co., OR
• a township of McKean Co., PA
• a post-village of Washington Co., RI
• a banking post-village of Macon Co., TN
• a post-village of Upshur Co., TX
• a post-village of Montgomery Co., VA
• a post-township of Chippewa Co., WI
• a town of Monroe Co., WI
• a town of Walworth Co., WI

Happy hunting!

A quick look at census records reveals the following:

1860: Reuben Frank, age 28, b: Germany; unmarried and living with an older relative in Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana; "deals in hides"

1870: R.H. Frank, age 38, b: Prussia; "[undecipherable word] Merch't"; living with wife, Julia, and young son in the 3rd Ward, Vicksburg, Warren Cty, Mississippi

1880: Reuben Frank, age 48, b: Prussia; "Bar Keeper"; living with wife and large family in the 2nd Ward, Vicksburg, Warren Cty, Mississippi

From the Family Search website: Reuben H Frank married Julia Leyens, 9 September, 1868 in Warren Cty, Mississippi

Sounds like your guy, but couldn't find any mention of "Frank's" in the SPMC Indiana book. Hope this is useful.

One of the catchphrases (spoken in an Italian accent) from the very popular British TV comedy Allo Allo (set in occupied France) is "Here is another French mistaka". Here's another "mistaka" from the latest issue of Richard Lobel's CoinCraft's "the (sic) Phoenix"

The coin has a face they say, and yes, you can see what looks like a Pokemon figure, unfortunately it is a denier viewed upside down! What it actually shows is a building. Richard Lobel has had many years of coin trade experience so I trust this "mistaka" was made by a staffer. I was later advised by an expert on medieval French coinage that the coin is not even from France but is a Frankish issue from Greece!

Regarding the security features in the new Bermuda notes, I'm sure there are more than those few enumerated in the E-Sylum article. For instance, I'd wager there are extensive ultraviolet features. A recent note that is absolutely loaded with security features is the Hong Kong $10 of 2002. The first time I saw one I knew I had to use it as a teaching aid in my counterfeit courses. Comparing the two, items 1-5 below are those mentioned for the Bermuda note; the ones 6-9 are those in the HK note:

1. Watermark and hibiscus flower visible when held to light (an orchid in the HK note)

2. See-through feature when held to light (also in the HK note)

3. Serial numbers increasing in size (not used for the HK note)

4. Iridescent band on the $20, $50 and $100 denominations (present in the HK note, with a face value of only US$1.30)

5. Latent image (tilt the image and the denomination numeral appears) (present in the HK note, but not part of the intaglio printing, which it where latent images usually appear)

6. Ultraviolet denomination block center face

7. Ultraviolet-reactive red and blue-green threads embedded in the paper (invisible in white light)

8. Windowed security thread

9. Mechanical embossing in three areas of the note

About the only current features not present on the HK note are the Eurion Constellation, an optically-variable device ("hologram"), and lettering in the windowed thread. The HK note was reissued in 2007 on a polymer substrate - all of the above features are still present except for the threads (UV and windowed). An added feature is a transparent window in the polymer, taking the place of part of the watermark (but two areas of watermark are still present, even in the polymer). For a note of such low face value, it's a model of technology.

When we gave Adna the inaugural Adna G Wilde Jr Award for Excellence, on 14 October, he recounted the action in which he was wounded. I was not making notes, but this is what I recall (any other reader who was there, please add what you recall of his story): he was shot in the left arm, shoulder, or upper side.

He was not aware that he had been shot, and continued to move his platoon forward toward their objective. It was only after reaching and securing the objective that he had occasion to reach inside his shirt and the hand came out bloody - at that point he realized he had been wounded. He was evacuated for treatment. His silver star was awarded for continuing to press forward while wounded. I had the impression that, since he did not know he had been wounded, he felt the award was a bit inappropriate.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Add Mexico to the list of countries with plans to alter their current coins because of rising costs. Their plan is just to make the coins smaller.

Numismatist finished a close second in the Prelude Stakes and then competed in the grade II Super Derby at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs. The Donnie Von Hemel-trained colt has finished on the board in eight of 12 starts with a pair of wins. Glen Murphy has the call from post five.

The Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum is a British Academy Research Project, the purpose of which is to publish illustrated catalogues of Greek coins in public and private collections in the British Isles. SNG has retained the traditional, very broad, definition of 'Greek' to include the coins produced by all ancient civilisations of the Mediterranean and neighbouring regions except Rome, though it does include the Roman Provincial series often known as 'Greek Imperials'.

The project was inaugurated in 1931 with the publication of the collection of Capt. E.G. Spencer-Churchill. A new and distinctive format was used, with text and illustrations on facing pages. This meant that only limited text was included, with the illustrations having greater prominence than in earlier types of catalogues, and to some extent replacing textual descriptions. This is because the primary purpose of SNG was to make much more material available for study. This format has been retained ever since and has been adopted, along with the title Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, for similar projects in many other countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.