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THE FLYING EAGLETDavid Lange writes the following in response to Ben Keele's query about publications that have undergone frequent changes: "One title that comes to mind is the monthly magazine Coins, published by Krause. It began in the late 1950s as The Flying Eaglet, a house organ put out by error coin specialist Frank Spadone in Orange, New Jersey. This became Coin Press a couple of years later. When Krause Publications bought the magazine from Spadone, they renamed it Coins beginning with the January 1962 issue, and it remains in print today under the editorship of Robert Van Ryzin. Following the recent ANA Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs, I spent an entire day on the lower level of the ANA's library reading through back issues of this publication. While I didn't encounter any groundbreaking articles, it was enjoyable seeing full-page ads for the many coin folders and albums that I now collect. It was also evident that both the editorial staff and the readers understood little about how coins were made and how error coins occurred. Of course, the U. S. Mint was very secretive and even openly hostile to inquiries from collectors and researchers until years later, so this is understandable. One thing that is obvious from reading through publications from the 1950s and '60s is that collectors seemed to be enjoying their hobby more than they do today. While there were a few letters reporting the sale of overgraded coins, for the most part the published correspondence was upbeat. Most of it concerned oddities found in circulation. From the descriptions provided, these seem mostly to have been damaged or altered pieces, yet in most instances they left both the letter writers and the magazine's editor baffled. Today, we know so much more, and yet some of the magic is missing."Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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