On Saturday, March 4, 2000, at the ANA midyear convention in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, "COIN World Editor Beth Deisher will discuss "First the Book: Building a Core Numismatic Library," a program that covers 10 essential books needed to collect U.S. coins and how to build a library." (p8)

In the letters to the Editor section, Robert S. Williams discusses the 1804 Silver Dollar "recovery" ads that have been running in that publication (see The E-Sylum Vol 3 No. 4). "It would be hoped that Mr. Brown had his coin attributed by one of the grading services or by an otherwise qualified numismatist ... meanwhile, I would hope that knowledgeable members of the numismatic community would comment to Coin World on this unusual situation." (p11)

David T. Alexander of Stack's has an article titled: "Numismatic Auctions: 20th Century Auction Catalogs Collectible in their Own Right." The article gets our vote for best adjectival description of a coin dealer: "a bumptious young immigrant from Russian Lithuania, B. Max Mehl." (no doubt sending nearly everyone but George Kolbe to their dictionaries). (p 20)

In his "The Joys of Collecting" column, Q. David Bowers, describing his visits to the New Netherlands Coin Company, writes: "Breen's numismatic focus tended to be narrow, with frequent consultation of selected numismatic reference books and a limited number of auction catalogs. This was a limitation, as based on a very limited survey, Walter would state ex cathedra that "only five are known" of a certain coin, whereas if he had looked further, he might have multiplied his estimates.

On the other hand, beyond numismatics, Breen could discuss anything from the philosophy of Ayn Rand (whom he had met) to the ancient plays of Aristophanes to the tidal theory of planetary formation..." (p76)