It would be great to get some contributions from a wider range of people. Here are some areas that are worth considering as possibilities to explore:

Biographical notes on significant numismatists of the past. The Asylum has printed quite a few already, but there are certainly many more individuals that haven't received attention. Just at a glance through Bill Malkmus's admirable index, I see that William Sumner Appleton, Isaac F. Wood, Montroville W. Dickeson, George W. Rode, C. W. Betts, and John Hickcox are among the important and/or colorful characters neglected.

Comprehensive reviews of the literature on a particular series or topic. (Thanks to David Fanning for this idea.) We've had recent articles on the Smithsonian's collection and Admiral Vernon medals, but I'm sure everyone who has a favorite series that they collect could say a lot about the past and present references on that series, or about the history of a major collection pertaining to it. This is especially true for things other than coins - medals, tokens, emergency or special purpose scrip, etc. - which often don't have the equivalent of Breen or Krause-Mishler.

In-depth book reviews. The E-Sylum is great for several paragraphs, but sometimes a book calls for a somewhat longer discussion, either because there's so much going on in it or because it's debatable on some important points. Again, I'm sure people have opinions that would be worth sharing in print.

Obituaries. Not something anyone really wants to think ahead on, but when the numismatic community loses someone important, there are times when there's more to be said than a few paragraphs in the E-Sylum. This is especially true if it's someone who has published notable numismatic works that are worth a bit of extra discussion as part of an appreciation of their numismatic achievements.

Google Books. There is a wealth of numismatic literature now available for free on the web via Google, but a guide to what is and isn't (yet) available would be very helpful.

SALOON TOKENS OF THE UNITED STATEScan be purchased from Mike Patton, P.O. Box 1365, Ocean Shores, WA. 98569. Al Erickson at present is unable to fulfill any requests for book orders.

In response to your question in the latest E-Sylum concerning Mint reports, I think the following information might be of interest: apart from the reports already mentioned from the U.S., Canada and Great Britain, Mint reports have also been published by France (Paris; 1896 till now, first on an annual basis, later on covering 10 years of activity), Belgium (Brussels; 1900 till the 1920s, in principle on an annual basis, but due to WWI on a more irregular basis later on), the Netherlands (Utrecht; most of the 19th and 20th century on an annual basis), Japan (Osaka; I do not know the frequency) and Italy (Rome; only a few single years before WWI and a report covering 25 years between 1918 and 1943).

The Swiss Government published detailed data on the activities on its Mint (in Bern) on a yearly basis, although not in a separate report, but in a general statistical report on the activities of the Federal Government. I am not aware of Mint reports for Germany, although I suppose, like for Switzerland, that data should be available in more general official statistical publications.

Obviously also the annual reports of most central banks contain information on monetary affairs, including in some cases mintage figures.

And the procès-verbaux of the conferences organised by the Latin Monetary Union between 1865 and 1921 also often contain detailed statistical data. Actually, the reports by the Mint in Paris since 1896 were published in order to comply with the stipulations of the agreement of this monetary union, by which member states were obliged to exchange statistical information on coinage matters; first, this information was exchanged between the ministeries of foreign affairs only, and was not made public, but later on, it was decided to have them published with the help of the French Government, leading, as said, to the publication of the annual reports in 1896.

We found David Ginsberg's comments concerning the New Orleans Mint in the last E-Sylum quite interesting, for we have the answers to most of his questions. He discovered some information concerning the 1883 O Eagle, and we just recently submitted an article for publication in Coin World on that same coin.

The 1883 is quite an interesting coin, with its miniscule mintage of just 800 pieces, and from all the resources we have researched there has been little, if any, information to support its low production. We decided to delve into it, and came up with some interesting facts, as well as some theory because the records are scant in the National Archives.

Anyway, we are hoping that the article will be published and this new information can be shared by all.

My thanks to all the E-Sylum readers who supplied information on my query on William Livingston. His career was really "a blip on the Screen".

The question remains, however, as a second or third tier dealer, where was he getting all these uncirculated & proof coins? While thinking about this, I remembered something that I read a long time ago (I don't remember where) that Wayte Raymond had an arrangement with a dealer in the 1930's, supplying him with coins to sell, but it did not work out. If Livingston was that dealer, it would explain the quality material he was offering.

Dick Johnson's submission on author William Sheldon's non-numismatic work generated a number of comments and corrections. -Editor

The word is "somatotype", not "somotype". The book photos were NOT nude. Each had private parts covered.

I'll go Dick one better-- I was somatotyped by Dr. Sheldon himself. I used to visit him and Dorothy Paschal ("Dr. Dorothy" as he called her) at their home in Cambridge, Mass. On one occasion the conversation turned to somatotyping, and the fact that I went to Harvard but had not participated in Sheldon's photographic somatotyping project. He promptly got up, told me to stand straight and face 90 degrees away from him. He inspected me carefully and pronounced me a 4-6-1, (4 endomorphic, 6 mesomorphic, 1 ectomorphic), a solid rarity 6 in the somatotype world.

So, he'll have a rocky road to health? Sandstone, perhaps?

Got to look out for those “sedimentary endormorphs” – they are closely related to sand sharks and can emerge at any time to attack!

I really enjoyed the links to Dr. William Sheldon. Looking a little further, I found on one of the sites an interesting view of Sheldon and his relationship with Large Cents...it's near the end of the article and attempts to make some sort of psychological connection between Sheldon, his work, and his cents ( www.innerexplorations.com/catpsy/t2c7.htm ).

Of particular interest is a citation from Early American Cents: 'For generations American schoolboys bought, sold, swapped, or swiped old coppers. Some of these boys, especially in old age, have returned to the early enchantment, there to forget or condone the singular incompatibility between human dreams and fulfillments.' (p. 5)

What is this but a description of Sheldon, himself, who fulfilled his professional dreams but not himself?"

I think we can definitively say that the Frank's Restaurant maverick is, in fact, from Lafayette, Indiana. Reuben H. Frank is listed in the 1862-63 Lafayette, Indiana City directory as a saloon and restaurant proprietor. The restaurant was located at the corner of Columbia and North 5th Streets in downtown Lafayette. Prior to this business exposure, Reuben had been a dealer in animal hides. The next time you take Indiana 26 through Lafayette to a Purdue football or basketball game, you'll pass right by the site, about four blocks before you cross the Wabash River into West Lafayette.

Maverick Notes are fun. I have an article in the November/December issue of Paper Money titled Give Tennessee Back Her Notes. In the article I take back several notes to Tennessee from Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina. I give back notes to Kentucky, Pennsylvania and New York. It looks like we need an addenda to give one to Indiana.

Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in full navy blue morocco, with a portrait of Horatio Nelson in the centre of the front board surrounded by a further 12 vignette portraits each depicting Lady Emma Hamilton in a different beguiling pose, the whole surrounded by an intricate design of interwoven gold-stemmed roses onlaid in red morocco with green morocco leaves, this motif continues to four of the six spine panels, the other two lettered in gold, and is repeated in four magnificent sprays emanating from the centre of the rear board to cover its entirety, the design is echoed on each corner of the triple ruled turn-ins, red moire silk doublures and ends, all edges gilt. Housed in a matching blue cloth solander box. 30 full page colour mezzotints each protected by a captioned tissue, 9 full page monochrome plates and 37 monochrome illustrations in the text.

On one side of this small ingot is stamped "CSA" with the number 1396, below which is stamped 937 FINE and the year 1863. On the reverse side of the small ingot is stamped 1863 right in the middle. The weight of the ingot is 8.5 grams, which equates to about a 1/4 troy ounce. Any idea how such small castings of silver were used during the war, especially here in the South where precious metals were in such short supply?

I got the following email on Facebook. Could any of our E-Sylum readers help? Thanks.

Of course I know, but will leave it for others...

Tenino, Washington was named for its elevation above sea level, ten-nine-oh. Their Chamber of Commerce issued paper scrip in December 1931 and wood flats in 1932. These are considered the first examples of wooden money. More can be found in Depression Scrip of the United States by Mitchell and Shafer.

Tenino was the first town to produce Legal Tender Wooden Money which was issued as he result of the closing of the bank. Those with money in the bank were allowed to consign up to 15% of their bank account to the Chamber of Commerce in exchange for the wooden money. The first issue was in December, 1931.

The favorite story of the town's name is that comes from the train engine which ran through the town. Its number was 10-9-0. There are other versions of where the name comes from but the train story is what is featured on one of the commemorative wooden money notes.

In 1872 the railroad from the Columbia reached Hodgden’s farm and a station was built and named “Tenino”. It was the beginning of a settlement that later grew into the Town of Tenino. There is much speculation about the origin of the name, with stories that it was named after a railroad locomotive with number 1090 or a survey stake with that designation marked on it. According to the railroad archives, neither of these tales is true. There is considerable evidence that the name preceded the railroad and is of Indian origin, meaning “a branch in the trail” or “meeting place”.

Talk about billions; the automakers GM, Chrysler and Ford were in Washington this week after driving their hybrids from Detroit to D.C. Anyway, did you hear the news? The Treasury department has run out of serial numbers to print more $100 bills.

So they announced that instead of doing like Argentina and adding more zeros, they are going to change the Treasury Seal to the logos of GM, Chrysler and Ford and print this new money as "CASHBACK NOTES". Then when you buy that new Ford and get $2,500 cash back, they will give you 25 of the new notes. They hope you will just save a few of the CASHBACK NOTES and the government will never have to make them good!

In 1987 Doug established the Numismatic Crime Information Center within the Pantego Police Department to assist law enforcement officers in the investigation of crimes against collectors and dealers. Later that same year he was instrumental in assisting the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the development of the National Stolen Coin File.

Recognized as an expert in numismatic investigations Doug developed the first and only accredited law enforcement school dealing with the investigation of numismatic crimes and continues to assist state, federal and local law enforcement agencies across the country. The American Numismatic Association has recognized Doug for his numismatic investigations and in 1988 was presented the PNG Sol Kaplan award for setting up a clearinghouse to coordinate investigations of crimes against the numismatic industry.