WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM NOVEMBER 22, 2009

No new subscribers this week - our current subscriber count is 1,269. Hmmm. Maybe we HAVE hit a subscribership plateau. But don't tell me there are no more than 1,269 serious numismatists in the world. Give a free gift subscription to a friend (send me their email address and we'll sign them up)!

One item that fell through the cracks last week was this note from Richard Doty of the National Numismatic Collection:

This week we open with an update from dealer David Fanning. Next up, Martin Gengerke's book update is available on the web, as are e-books from the Old Fort Coin Club and Dane Kurth.

Other topics include Walter Breen's time at Johns Hopkins, the Henry Fauntleroy hanging penny, a 1911 Tiffany Lifesaving medal, and a record $2.5 million price for a medal.

To learn about the Australian slouch hat penny carvers, Somali pirates, Spanish scientists and how to release the artistic design talents of a central banker, read on.

Wayne Homren
Numismatic Bibliomania Society

DAVID F. FANNING NUMISMATIC LITERATURE UPDATE

David F. Fanning Numismatic Literature were in attendance at this week's C4 Convention in Boston, Massachusetts (part of the Bay State Coin Show). Fanning brought with him a small but select group of 18th-century American and British publications of numismatic interest, and prepared a "mini-catalogue" describing them, which can be downloaded from the firm's Web site at www.fanningbooks.com . Some items may still be available for purchase.

The catalogue of the firm's third mail-bid auction (closing December 3) is also available on the site for those who have not received a hard-copy version. Bidders are encouraged to send their bids in promptly.

GENGERKE'S AMERICAN NUMISMATIC AUCTIONS BOOK AVAILABLE ONLINE

As mentioned last week, an updated version Martin Gengerke's American Numismatic Auctions book is now available online at the Numismatic Bibliomania Society web site, on the Community Resources page.

He's received several updates from contributors just this week, and with this publication he'll undoubtedly receive some more. This is an important list for numismatic researchers, so please take a look and fill in gaps where you can, particularly in the area of auction catalogs published in the last decade or so.

In addition to Martin, we owe thanks to our NBS webmaster Bruce Perdue and NBS Secretary-Treasurer and his team at Littleton Coin Company for composing a free full-page ad for NBS in the book.

Reading the book's acknowledgement section was a trip down memory lane. I feel like an old-timer now, but once upon a time I was the new kid in the hobby of collecting American numismatic literature. Many of the good friends and mentors I met along my journey, many of them key figures in the early days of NBS, are now deceased. I visited many of them at conventions, and visited their homes and libraries. Rest in peace, my bibliophile friends:

• Douglas Ball
• John Bergman
• Walter Breen
• Armand Champa
• Jack Collins
• John Ford
• Frank Katen
• Ken Lowe
• Lester Merkin

To access the NBS Community Resources page, see: http://www.coinbooks.org/resources/

ONLINE BOOK: HISTORY OF THE OLD FORT COIN CLUB

George Fitzgerald writes:

October 10, 1957
A very interesting talk on Lincoln medals and allied interests. Also with questions and answers with explanation was given of the various aspects of medals. The lecture was given by Dr. McMurtry who was the director of the Lincoln Museum at the Lincoln Life Insurance Company.

December 12, 1957
A Coin Quiz was given with very hard questions from the Red Book. Ken Hallenbeck won the prize. It was an 1818 Spanish milled dollar – A.D. Noble.

September 13, 1962
Ken Hallenbeck gave a detailed report on the American Numismatic Association convention.

September 10, 1964
George C., Courtesis gave a report on the club library. A moth flew out of an old book when it was held up. It was the 1887 Illustrated History of the United States Mint.

December 12, 1968
John Shaffer read an account written by a Michigan man about the final hectic hours of the redemption of Silver Certificates at the San Francisco Mint.

October 10, 1996
Beth Deisher of Coin World talked about her past.

November 11, 1999
Kenneth Chen of Coin World spoke on "How to Use the Internet and How the Internet is Affecting the Coin Collecting Hobby."

To read the complete book, see: 50th Anniversary Book (www.oldfortcoinclub.org/OFCC50thAnniversaryBook.aspx)

BOOK REVIEW: JOHN SPRING, ANCIENT COIN AUCTION CATALOGS: 1880-1980

John Spring, Ancient Coin Auction Catalogs: 1880-1980 (2009), self-published, distributed by Spink (but not yet on their website). 369 large pages describing 886 auction catalogs. Charles Davis is selling this for $110 and CNG is selling slightly bumped copies for $95.

It's a nice book! Every catalog is described by size and color. The number of plates — Celtic, Greek, Roman aes grave, Roman Republican, Roman Imperial, Roman Provincial, Byzantine, and "barbarian migration" — is given. There is often information about the collector, collection, or auctioneer. Sometimes that information comes from the catalog, but Spring also seeks biographical information from other published sources such as obituaries in numismatic journals. The photos depict the collector or firm. The catalogs themselves are not pictured.

The author does not judge the paper quality, the method of reproduction of the plates, nor the numismatic merit of the coins.

To read the complete article, see: John Spring, Ancient Coin Auction Catalogs: 1880-1980 (digitalhn.blogspot.com/2009/11/john-spring-ancient-coin-auction.html)

NEW ONLINE BOOK: HISTORY AND COINAGE OF DACIA

Dane Kurth writes:

From the book's foreword and dedication:

To read the complete article, see: History and Coinage of Dacia (www.archive.org/details/HistoryAndCoinageOfDacia)

ONLINE BEBEE PAPER MONEY COLLECTION EXHIBIT UPDATE

All the Bebee banknotes are now clickable and the instructions linked from http://ana-museum.org have been changed to reflect that.

To keep the download time reasonable, each of the higher-resolution (40"+ wide on a 100 dpi monitor) images was sliced into 2000+ 64x64 pixel squares, only 64 of which are loaded on a mouse click. Since the images are cached by the browser, repeated clicks in the same area load fewer squares.

The slicing process went well beyond the capabilities of Photoshop, so I used a program originally written for the Unix environment, ImageMagick (www.imagemagick.org), to do the slicing. This worked on all but the imges of uncut sheets which had to be pre-sliced in half.

Currently the site has 2+ million slices. A separate virtual disk was set up for the site so it would have its own file system due to the large number of potentially active files. Using the file system rather than a database for a static application such as a web site allows the operating system to manage its caching over all applications instead of optimizing one at the expense of others.

A Javascript loaded with each HTML page runs within the browser to pull in the slices. A number of Perl programs organized the one-time work on the server for ImageMagick's slicing which took about 3 days of CPU time on a fast mainframe, and other programs modified the hundreds of existing HTML files so that they would call the Javascript routines.

This turned out to be quite interesting and fun although I had my doubts at first, especially when Photoshop went into an infinite loop whenever I tried anything less than a 256x256 slice.

To view the Bebee Collection online gallery, go to www.money.org (select "Visit the Money Museum," then select "The ANA Bebee Collection of U.S. Paper Money/View the Collection")

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: ANA DEBUTS ONLINE BEBEE PAPER MONEY COLLECTION EXHIBIT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n44a06.html)

MORE ON NEWTON AND THE COUNTERFEITER

Michael E. Marotta writes:

To read the Michael's earlier review, see: BOOK REVIEW: NEWTON AND THE COUNTERFEITER (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n32a03.html)

MORE ON THE E-SYLUM AND THE AMAZON KINDLE READER

Regarding last week's item about the availability of The E-Sylum on the Amazon Kindle book reader, Rich Bottles writes:

Fred Schwan writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: THE E-SYLUM AVAILABLE ON THE AMAZON KINDLE READER (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n46a03.html)

JULIAN LEIDMAN RECOVERS STOLEN COIN INVENTORY

As most of you know, my car was broken into during my return from a show last month. I received many phone calls about the missing coins, but nothing matched.

On Oct. 29, I received a call from an eastern dealer who does not want to be named at this time. He was being offered some coins and asked me about them. After he had mentioned three coins, I was virtually certain that these were, indeed, the stolen inventory.

I then called the police detective that had been working on the case and gave him the information. By late that afternoon, he had set up, in conjunction with the FBI and another agency, a meeting for the next morning to view the coins.

Early Oct. 30, my son, Sam, and I drove to meet with the assembled law enforcement officers. The original plan was abandoned and the eight officers then went to the place that the coins were supposed to be, while Sam and I waited to be called to identify the items.

After nearly an hour, I was called and eventually told that it really wasn't necessary for me to identify the coins, as my name was all over them. A few minutes later, I went and saw the coins, which were all mixed up, but very few had been removed from the 2 X 2's and I don't think that any had been broken out of their encapsulation, either.

The following Tuesday, I went to examine the coins more closely and found over 1700 coins and 300 notes in the custody of the FBI. The vast majority of the volume was there. There were some notable items missing.

The following week, the FBI made another visit, but no items were found. On Nov. 12, the FBI called and said that they were going to get some more coins and on a subsequent call, I was told that more coins including at least one item that I had noted as still missing, previously.

I have not been to examine this second group of coins yet, but will do so in the very near future.

As of this date, the original thieves have not been apprehended and I am not certain of exactly what else might be missing. This is an ongoing investigation and I am being as forthcoming as I am able to be at this time.

I am unable to express, adequately enough, my appreciation to the hundreds of well wishers and especially to the many, many, people that pledged money to a reward fund that was started by Jon Lerner and Laura Sperber. Many of my colleagues in the PNG also added to this fund and I will be eternally in their gratitude, as well.

The numismatic press and the general press gave this a great deal of publicity and I believe that because of this publicity, the coins were able to be identified. I want to express my appreciation to, in no specific order, Coin World, Krause Publications, the Coin Dealer Newsletter, Heritage Numismatic, the various dealer networks, as well, and of course the message boards on CU and NGC. Doug Davis of the NCIC offered me his good offices, as well.

The law enforcement agencies, from the local police to the FBI, have been true professionals and are continuing to be as supportive as possible. I will probably never be able to properly express my appreciation to them either.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: COIN DEALER JULIAN LEIDMAN VICTIM OF VEHICLE BURGLARY (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n42a11.html)

1772 RESOLUTION AND ADVENTURE MEDAL CLICHÉS

1772 Resolution and Adventure obverse and reverse cliches. Tin. Betts-552, var. Nearly As Made.

Both are nearly paper thin, thin enough that the designs are seen incuse on the backs of each. On a typical cliche (or epreuve, also known as a splasher or proof), the back of the cliche would be flat, pushed flush against a tabletop, often against a piece of scrap paper (presumably so the bubbling tin would not scald the furniture!). These cliches must have resulted from the dies being pushed into a more malleable surface, perhaps molding clay, to allow for the contours of the die to be seen even on the back.

These are among the earliest witnesses to the production dies for the famed Resolution and Adventure medals carried by Captain Cook into the Pacific. The obverse is signed under the bust truncation WESTWOOD F.; it would be modified to B:F when the normal production run began. The reverse is in its finished state, but lacks the significant die crack in the exergue common to all normal strikings, suggesting the crack appeared in hardening. These would have been produced by the engraver personally, likely as samples to show Joseph Banks, the noted scientist who oversaw the medal's production.

To read the complete lot description, see: 1772 Resolution and Adventure obverse and reverse cliches. (www.stacks.com/lotdetail.aspx?lsid=AN00000739&asid=&lrid=AN00157922)

STACK'S DECEMBER 2009 COIN GALLERIES SALE

Lot 32: Alexander III, 336-323 B.C. Stater

Lot 564: Westphalia Notgeld. Bronze goldplate 5 Million Mark, 1923

Lot 774: British East India Company ½ Rupee

Lot 1409: 1825 Erie Canal Completion Medal

WALTER BREEN AT JOHNS HOPKINS

Walter Breen entered the Johns Hopkins University in the fall of 1951 and graduated only 10 months later with a degree in mathematics. I thought it would be interesting to find the 1952 Johns Hopkins yearbook — called the Hullaballoo — to see if Breen was in it. I have wondered if he really completed four years of coursework in just 10 months, but as it turns out he did indeed.

A photograph of a clean-shaven Breen appears on page 70 of the Hullaballoo, with the following text: WALTER H BREEN / 215 East University Parkway, Baltimore 18, Maryland; humanities ΦBK. (215 East University Parkway no longer exists – it was torn down to make room for the expansion of Union Memorial Hospital.) Another picture of Breen is on page 97, where there is a group photograph of the members of Phi Beta Kappa. Breen does not seem to have been involved in any campus activities.

The 100th issue (July 1995) of The Colonial Newsletter provides some interesting snippets from the correspondence between Breen and Ray Williamson, an early mentor of Breen's. A few letters were written while Breen was at Johns Hopkins, such as one dated August 21, 1951, where Williamson wrote,

As mentioned above, Breen was able to get his degree in less than a year. On April 1, 1952 Breen wrote a letter to Williamson from Johns Hopkins that reveals his "light" schedule:

In a letter dated May 24, 1952, Breen wrote to Williamson, "Did I tell you, by the way, that the Maryland Alpha Chapter (JHU) of Phi Beta Kappa has elected me to membership. A most unexpected honor…." Immediately after graduation Breen went to work for Wayte Raymond, and he would later earn his master's degree at the University of California, Berkeley. CNL 100 only printed excerpts from Breen's early correspondence with Williamson, and I am curious if any letters mention Breen working with the coin collection at Evergreen House during his time at Johns Hopkins.

HOWARD DANIEL'S LETTER FROM HO CHI MINH CITY

I am over here in my townhouse home office in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and reading your Wayne's Numismatic Diary for November 10, 2009 where you describe Clyde's Restaurant being "perched atop one of the few hills in the area." As a numismatic researcher, it is also difficult for me to not research anywhere I am living to learn about its past and also the plans for the future. The "hill" you described is named Gantt Hill and is "the" highest peak in Fairfax County, and is sometimes called "The Mountain of Fairfax." It is 512 feet above sea level and the peak is on the grounds of The Rotonda Condominium, just behind my unit. For those who use or remember Gantt Charts, the hill's namesake is related to the man who invented the charts.

You also mentioned that the November Nummis Nova dinner was Traci Poole's last because she was moving back home to Idaho. I sent an email to her employer, Wizard Coin Supplies, to say goodbye and discovered she will be working the January 2010 FUN Show in Orlando, FL as her last work for them. I will have a club table there for NBS and some other numismatic organizations and can personally say goodbye to her with a hug. Unlike your wife, I have no restrictions from my wife because she says I am so old I cannot follow up on anything after the hug anyway!

For those readers who want books about Vietnamese numismatics, there is a new one over here besides mine. It is titled Tiến Giấy Việt Nam Qua Các Thò'i Kỳ (Tù' 1875 - 2006). The author's name is Nguyễn Hoàng Xuân Vinh. He self-publishes it and his printings are about 5 each, and each one is different as he finds new images and/or information on the internet. I have had a message sent to him that I will pay for his travel and put him up in a nearby hotel for a couple of days to assist him in creating a better reference. I hope he takes me up on it......we shall see.

I also have some good news from over here. My latest catalog; Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Coins & Currency, was bought by HASABA and FAHASA, the two national bookstore chains here in Viet Nam. Besides preserving the history of Vietnamese financial instruments with my catalogs, I also want to generate more collectors here in Viet Nam and hopefully, the bookstore sales will do it. My supply here is now down to about 20+ copies and I am looking for a new printer for a second printing at a possible lower cost. My supply in the USA arrived just before my trip here so I still have 100+ there but expect it to sell out too within a few months.

I hope everyone will have a great Thanksgiving back in "the real world" or "the land of the Big PX" as we used to call it during the Vietnam War.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY FOR NOVEMBER 10, 2009 (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n46a19.html)

THE HENRY FAUNTLEROY HANGING PENNY

Dick Johnson writes:

Intense public anger at cheating bankers is nothing new, this macabre souvenir created to mark the hanging of the 'Bernard Madoff of the 19th century' shows.

The reworked George III penny was fashioned as a memento to the hanging of Henry Fauntleroy, who forged cheques at his bank Marsh, Sibbald & Co for more than a decade before he was found out and it collapsed with enormous debts.

Showing sentiments have changed little over the best part of two centuries, one side of the coin describes Fauntleroy as "The Robber of Widows & Orphans".

The other warns "all insolvent bilking [cheating] bankers" that "The Fate of Fauntleroy" awaits them.

Such a scandal was the Fauntleroy affair that 100,000 turned up outside Newgate Prison near the Old Bailey on 30 November 1824 to watch his execution.

He was the last man in Britain to be hanged for forgery.

Fauntleroy claimed that he had only forged the signatures of hundreds of clients to keep the bank going but lurid accounts of his extravagant spending on numerous women filled the papers for weeks.

To read the complete article, see: Cheating bankers nothing new, 19th century 'Madoff medal' shows (www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/6589144/Cheating-bankers-nothing-new-19th-century-Madoff-medal-shows.html)

AUSTRALIAN SLOUCH HAT PENNY CARVERS

The humble penny may have been usurped by the one-cent piece when Australia adopted decimal currency on February 14, 1966 but the copper coin has proved a boon for a group of Sunshine Coast ex-servicemen.

"Without wanting to be too dramatic, many Vietnam vets have been through some rough times," Barry confided.

"But the penny has brought about 50 of us on the Coast together, working for a common good. And the camaraderie born from this project is just wonderful."

Operating under the company name Digger Hat Jewellery, the Vietnam vets produce key rings, lapel badges, earrings and pendants in the shape of the iconic slouch hat. They also produce the iconic items of jewellery from halfpennies and sixpences – other pre-decimal currency coins.

Barry, a musician and career soldier, has no idea how many slouch hats have been fashioned by the group since they took over production five years ago but he suspects it is near 120,000.

But he does know that just on $200,000 raised from the sale of the slouch hats has been distributed to needy ex-servicemen or their dependants.

"In the early days I think this was viewed more as an activity than a business, but when we see the good it is doing for our mates, the tedium of the work is worth all the effort," he said. "It has helped me with some issues I had and I'm sure others feel the same way."

When Barry uses the word tedious, he is not kidding.

Getting a penny to the slouch hat key ring stage involves a minimum of 10 production points and that does not include accessing the pennies which are sourced from coin dealers.

Three groups of veterans – Monday Marvels, Caloundra Push and Breakfast Club – meet at Barry's Buderim home one day each month, kicking off the production line by drafting pennies into their respective year of production. The various steps that follow include cleaning and polishing the coin and pressing the crown and turning up the slouch. Most is done manually.

An estimated 700 slouch hats are produced in each three-hour session by the mostly conscripted veterans who range in rank from private to squadron leader.

To read the complete article, see: Pennies from heaven boost Diggers (www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2009/11/21
/pennies-from-heaven-big-boost-for-diggers/)

1911 GOLD TIFFANY LIFE SAVING MEDAL OFFERED

A 20ct gold Life Saving Medal designed by CH Lovett for Tiffany & Co, awarded to Alfred N Bevan in 1911 is going under the hammer on 30 November at Birmingham based auctioneers Fellows & Sons.

The medal was presented to Alfred N Beavan, captain of the steamship ‘Brika' for the rescue of three seamen from their sinking ship ‘Theresa' by the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York (LSBA). The ship had been found in heavy sea 120 miles off St Michael's in the Azores.

The medal had been spotted in a consignment of gold which was due to be scrapped by Liverpool jewellers, W J Edwards.

Margot Walker and Peter Edwards, Partners of W J Edwards said: "This medal simply stood out as it was in impeccable condition when we found it. We realised that it must have been something special when we read the inscription on the back of the medal and simply had to find out more about it."

Stephen Whittaker, Managing Partner, Fellows & Sons said: "This Life Saving Medal is unique and carries an interesting history. Currently there is a tendency for jewellers to scrap gold but I am delighted that W J Edwards spotted the potential interest of this medal for collectors both here in the UK and the United States"

The medal has an estimate of £2,000 - £3,000 and will be sold with copies of the account from the New York Times in the Silver, Plated Ware, Coins & Medals auction on Monday 30 November.

To read the complete article, see: RARE MEDAL DISCOVERED BY LOCAL JEWELLERS (www.responsesource.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=51883)

VICTORIA CROSS SELLS FOR RECORD 1.5 MILLION GBP

The "ultimate" gallantry medal – the only double Victoria Cross from the Great War – has been bought by Tory peer Lord Ashcroft for a world record price of nearly £1.5 million.

The story behind the gallantry medals of Captain Noel Chavasse is deeply moving: he was awarded the second of his VCs after dying from battlefield injuries in 1917. Since then at least 12 memorials have been erected worldwide in his honour – more than for any other recipient of the Commonwealth's most prestigious bravery award.

Captain Chavasse's service and gallantry medals were left by his family decades ago to St Peter's College, Oxford. The college has now sold the medals to Lord Ashcroft, the billionaire Tory peer. According to college sources, the price was "close to £1.5 million", easily topping the previous world record for a medal, rumoured to be a private sale worth £1 million.

The Chavasse medals are now guaranteed place of honour in the new Lord Ashcroft Gallery, which will open at the Imperial War Museum next year and which is being built with a £5 million donation from the Tory peer.

The gallery will house Lord Ashcroft's collection of VCs, which he started to build up in 1986. It is now the largest collection of VCs in the world and is estimated to be worth at least £30 million. VCs and George Crosses already owned by the museum will also go on display in the gallery.

To read the complete article, see: Lord Ashcroft pays record price for 'ultimate' Victoria Cross (www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6624138/
Lord-Ashcroft-pays-record-price-for-ultimate-Victoria-Cross.html)

WALL STREET JOURNAL ON RISING NUMISMATIC PRICES

Loren Gatch forwarded this article about the surge in prices for rare coins. Mentioned are the "million dollar cent" (and Warhol's "200 One Dollar Bills") that we discussed earlier. He writes:

When is a penny worth a million dollars?

When it's a 1795 reeded-edge U.S. penny, one of only seven known to exist. It recently sold for nearly $1.3 million at auction—the first time a one-cent coin has cracked the million-dollar price barrier.

Today's coin market is largely defined by high-end investors grabbing the rarest of coins that infrequently come up for sale; gold bugs snapping up gold coins; and speculators bidding up prices for coins whose grades they suspect are too low, in the hopes of securing a higher grade and selling them for more money. Yet ordinary collectible coins—the nickels, dimes and quarters that are nice but not great—have fallen in value by as much as 30% over the past year, say coin dealers and auction-house executives.

"It's easier to sell a $100,000 coin today than a $1,000 coin," says John Albanese, founder of Certified Acceptance Corp., based in Bedminster, N.J., which verifies graded coins.

That mirrors the trend in other collectible markets, such as those for fine art, wine and jewelry. The high end of these markets is garnering big interest as investors increasingly worry about the weakening dollar and the potential for future inflation. Yet lower-end collectibles are struggling in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Andy Warhol's 1962 silkscreen painting "200 One Dollar Bills" sold for $43.7 million to an anonymous buyer at a Sotheby's auction in New York—more than three times its high estimate of $12 million. Auctions this fall have established new price records for a host of fine-art photographers. And blue-chip wines such as Bordeaux from Chateau Lafitte, Petrus, Le Pin and Ausone "are on fire," says Charles Curtis, head of Christie's North American wine sales.

Sales of gold coins are up as much as 75% at Dallas-based online auction house Heritage Auctions Inc. "because there is just so much demand," says Jim Halperin, the auction house's co-chairman. "Even Warren Buffett is talking about inflation these days, and people I talk to who are buying coins are worried about a massive onslaught. They're buying coins because they want to hold something tangible that will do well."

To read the complete article, see: The Million-Dollar Penny (online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703811604574533732182243424.html)

NEW YORK TIMES ON THE ADVANCE OF ELECTRONIC CASH

For almost as long as Americans have been hearing about jetpacks and picturephones, they have been hearing that money — bills, coins and plastic cards — might cease to exist, or at least become a novelty.

Instead of leather wallets, consumers could, sooner than they think, carry virtual wallets, with their credit card and bank information stored on remote computers that are accessible everywhere and anytime. They could use them whenever they want to buy something, whether on the Web, on cellphones or at cash registers.

With a new cellphone application called ShopSavvy, for instance, a shopper can use the phone's camera to scan an item's bar code in a store to see if it is available for less online. If so, the shopper can buy it with one click if they have already entered their credit card and shipping information on PayPal's Web site.

"What we're trying to do and what we think is very important is to displace the use of cash or checks," said Scott Thompson, president of PayPal, which is a leader in digitizing money. "We'll just have one wallet, and it lives in the cloud."

PayPal says its service makes the checkout process more convenient and secure for both shoppers and merchants.

The way consumers pay for things has transformed only a few times. Coins replaced bartering, paper bills mostly replaced coins, and bank drafts and checks developed as an alternative to cash.

In the 1950s, the credit card was introduced, and today, Americans pay for more on plastic than they do in cash. Some airlines and restaurants, for instance, no longer accept cash. The coming evolution to digital money that is handled over the Web is under way, led by companies like PayPal, MasterCard and Visa, as well as start-up companies and retailers. Some methods involve using a cellphone instead of a credit card, while others call for using a single password or code to tap into their credit cards.

"It just keeps getting more and more convenient to get access to your money and to transfer it to someone else," said Lawrence H. White, a professor of economics at George Mason University who specializes in the history of money. "When everyone has a cellphone, why reach into your wallet?"

To read the complete article, see: At Checkout, More Ways to Avoid Cash or Plastic (www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/technology/start-ups/16wallet.html?
scp=1&sq=at%20checkout%20more%20ways%20to%20avoid%20cash%20or%20plastic)

GOT CASH? YOU'RE A CRIMINAL SUSPECT

To read the complete article, see: A Constitutional Case in a Box of Cash (www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/business/17road.html?_r=1&hpw)

M.V. LAKSHMINARAYANA'S NUMISMATIC MUSEUM

In this new era of e-mail, ipods, DVDs and other electronic gadgets of entertainment, the hobby of collecting stamps and currency is still alive in late M.V. Lakshminarayana's residence ‘Aparoopa' at Agrahara in city.

Lakshminarayana, an employee of State Bank of Mysore (SBM) in city, was in the habit of collecting postage stamps, greeting cards, ancient coins, currency notes, war medals, antique pieces, first day covers and comme-moration stamps, photography.

Over a period of 40 years, he has collected more than 15,000 stamps, coins and currency notes of about 150 countries and more than 350 war medals.

"My husband first began his collection in 1954. Initially it was only stamps, but later in 1963, when he got a job in the Bank, he took to collecting currency notes and with the help of his pen-friends in different countries, he started collecting currency notes of all countries," says Shantha.

"During the course of his job, when he had an opportunity to work at the Foreign Exchange Department, he befriended foreigners who visited the Bank to encash their Traveller's Cheques into Indian currency. He bought currencies of their countries by paying them their equivalent in Indian rupees. In this way, he collected both currency notes and coins of nearly 150 countries."

"Lakshminarayana also started collecting rare Indian currency notes bearing unusual serial numbers. At first he started collecting currency notes of denominations of Re.1, Rs.2, Rs.5 and Rs.10, bearing serial numbers 111111 to 999999. He used to wait for fresh currency notes that were being regularly sent to his Bank by the RBI from its Press (Cash Remittance). Whenever currencies with unique features were received, he immediately exchanged them with ordinary currency. It took nearly 10 years for him to collect notes bearing serial numbers in the above denominations and only nine such notes can be collected from 1,000,000 pieces of the same series," says Shantha.

"Then his hunt began for notes bearing serial numbers 123456 and 654321 (ascending and descending order). Since our currency notes start with the serial number 0000001 and end with 1,000,000, notes with the above numbers appear only once in a bundle of 1,000,000 pieces.

Among the ancient coins were forceps-shaped silver coin (Larin) minted in 1077 by Ali Adil Shah II of Bijapur and gold coins of Kanishka period. A coin released by the Ontario Government to commemorate the role of mining in the development of Canada issued in 1967 is an alloy of gold, nickel, zinc, platinum, silver, copper and iron.

Others in the collection include silver coins of East India Company minted in 1768 AD at Murshidabad, West Bengal, coins of Arcot Nawabs with Walajah as their capital minted perhaps in Tiruchi and gold and silver coins of Tipu Sultan. Silver pagodas of Madras Coinage minted in 1870-1808 had the figure of Lord Venkateshwara on one side with value in Tamil and Telugu and on the obverse a Gopuram with value written in English and Persian characters.

To read the complete article, see: Aparoopa: A unique museum to keep alive a unique hobby (www.starofmysore.com/searchinfo.asp?search1=4313&search2=specialnewsnew)

CHINESE ARTIST DUPLICATES BANKNOTE WITH EGG-SHAPED ROCKS

In the years between the end of World War II and Mao's declaration of the People's Republic of China in 1949, it is said that China's money was so worthless a single egg cost ¥10,000.

Perhaps one artist in Guangzhou, southern China, had that fact in mind when this sculpture was conceived. Except they got it backwards – it's a case of a thousand eggs being needed for a single banknote.

The work was based on the 50 yuan note designed in 1980.

To read the complete article, see: Chinese Money Worth Weight in Eggs (www.weirdasianews.com/2009/11/20/chinese-money-worth-weight-eggs/)

SRI LANKA ISSUES BANKNOTE TO MARK END OF TAMIL WAR

Sri Lanka on Tuesday released a banknote to mark the end of the country's 37-year separatist war, following the crushing of Tamil Tiger rebels in May, the central bank said.

The first commemorative banknote in the 1,000-rupee (nine dollars) denomination was given to President Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday, the bank said in a statement.

"The valiant contribution made by the nation's victorious sons and daughters, of the security forces and the police, is the theme on the reverse of the note," the bank said in a statement.

"The design at the centre depicts the hoisting of the national flag by members of the security forces."

To read the complete article, see: Sri Lanka issues banknote to mark end of war (www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gSyqb-7OITAcscn_B_7h1NX5TEXQ)

Kavan wrote up a detailed article and critique of the note. He submitted it to the Sunday Times, but they declined to publish it. It's posted on his web site. Here are some excerpts.

To read Kavan's complete article, see: 2009 - Sri Lanka - 1000 Rupee note The Ushering of Peace and Prosperity (coins.lakdiva.org/commemorative/2009_mahinda_1000r_note.html )

KENYA MAY BAN PORTRAITS ON ITS BANKNOTES

Kenya's coins and notes will not bear the portrait of any individual if the proposals in the new harmonised draft Constitution of Kenya are adopted.

The Committee of Experts, in a draft Constitution released on Tuesday, propose, "Notes and coins issued by the Central Bank of Kenya may bear images that depict or symbolise Kenya or an aspect of Kenya but may not bear the portrait of any individual."

This means that former presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi will be the only last personalities to have had portraits on the Kenyan currency.

Kenyans have a month to make their contributions on what they think of the proposals before changes are made to the draft constitution.

A referendum is scheduled for early march next year.

The history of Kenyan currency dates back to 1966, when the Central Bank of Kenya issued notes in denominations of Sh5, Sh10, Sh20, Sh50 and Sh100.

Kenya's first President Jomo Kenyatta appeared on the banknotes issued until 1978, with President Daniel Moi's portrait replacing him in 1980.

To read the complete article, see: Draft constitution: Kenya currency to exclude portraits (www.nation.co.ke/business/news/-/1006/687788/-/item/0/-/a2j0ph/-/index.html)

BANKNOTE 2009 CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON DECEMBER 6-9

MPC GRAM editor Fred Schwan wrote:

From the conference web site:

The Keynote speaker is Andrew Bailey, chief cashier of the Bank of England. Speaker topics include:

• Mapping technology for creation of innovative intaglio origination
• New soiling test method: anti-dirty fingers
• Digital Intaglio Plates & High-End 3D Quality Control
• How to Release the Artistic Design Talents of a Central Banker
• The magic in banknote substrates
• Digital Counterfeit Classification—The Need for a New Approach
• ColoUr blindness test for banknotes
• New Developments in Banknote Paper
• Latest Developments at the BEP
• Safety elements on new Danish Banknote Series
• Development of Security Features for the Next Generation of U.S. Currency

For more information, see: Banknote 2009 (www.banknoteconference.com)

SOMALI PIRATES CHECK RANSOM CASH FOR COUNTERFEITS

From parachuted bundles of dollar bills to suitcases of cash transiting through east African capitals, there are many ways to deliver ransoms to Somalia's modern-day buccaneers.

The ransom handover is the most critical time in the hijacking of a ship; the single moment when the pirates, but also the crew, are at their most vulnerable.

On Tuesday, pirates who had been holding the Spanish tuna trawler Alakrana said they were about to release it after receiving four million dollars and its crew of 36 but were in the process of "checking the money".

When the luxury French yacht Le Ponant was hijacked by pirates last year, an estimated 1,2 million dollars were delivered to secure the ship's release, according to sources close to the pirates.

According to several businessmen in northern Somalia who refused to be named, part of the cash the French paid was counterfeit and virtually impossible to use.

Since that incident, which took place in April 2008, the pirates started taking more precautions and bringing counting machines and counterfeit money detectors on board.

Some pirates were already very specific on the notes that should be used for the ransom, demanding only 100 and 50 dollar bills and refusing certain years of issue.

"They won't take any $100 bills from 1996 and they also try to avoid the very recent bills, out of fear they can be traced more easily," said one Somali source who was involved in several negotiations.

To read the complete article, see: Ransom - the hole in Somali pirates' net (www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=87&
art_id=nw20091117153122306C465771)

SPANISH SCIENTISTS TRAIN MOUSE TO DETECT COUNTERFEIT COINS

Counterfeiting is as old as money itself, with the history of currency including a millennia-long arms race between mints and the forgers that copy them. While governments have finally crafted paper money so intricate that counterfeiting isn't a major problem, detecting counterfeit coins remains a challenge. Now, Spanish scientists have modified a regular optical computer mouse to create a cheap and easy device for sniffing out phony Euro coins.

The device utilizes the sensor on the mouse to detect the minute details etched into the surface of the coin. The user loads a coin into the detector, which then references the coin against a database of legit currency. The sensor can detect even the slightest mistakes on the engraved map of Europe on the back of every Euro coin, making it easy to detect all but the most perfect facsimiles.

The mouse modification is cheap and easy, and the researchers who invented it say the same technique can be applied to webcams, too. So far, the device is only designed to analyze 2-Euro coins, the currency that makes up 79 percent of all counterfeit coins in Europe, but expanding the range would only require updating the database, and making a different sized coin holder.

To read the complete article, see: Spanish Scientists Mod Optical Mouse Into Counterfeit Coin Detector (www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/
spanish-scientists-mod-optical-mouse-counterfeit-coin-detector)

WOMAN LEAVES $40,000 AT SHRINE FOR SAFEKEEPING

A woman quietly left $40,000 worth of rare U.S. coins near a Catholic shrine for safekeeping so the Virgin Mary could watch over her life savings while she was out of town, and apparently it worked: The money was returned to her when she got back a week later.

Operators of the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes near Emmitsburg thought they had been blessed with a big donation when a groundskeeper found the two plastic freezer bags filled with gold and silver while raking leaves.

But Shrine Director William Tronolone said the woman approached him after a noon Mass Sunday, six days after the discovery, to ask whether anyone had found some coins she had hidden beneath fallen leaves at the site on the campus of Mount St. Mary's University.

"I said, 'Why did you leave it there?' And she said, 'Well, I had to go away and I was afraid to leave it and I wanted the Blessed Mother to watch over it for me — and evidently she did because you found it,'" Tronolone said.

By then, university officials had had the coins appraised, notified police and placed the money in a safe while awaiting word from investigators.

To read the complete article, see: Woman leaves $40,000 at Md. shrine for safekeeping (news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091118/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_grotto_hidden_coins)

FEATURED WEB PAGE: MONEY HATS

This week's Featured Web page has images of Origami hats made for the portraits on world banknotes. Very clever!

blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/11/money_hats.html