The Caseys had formerly operated camera stores in Syracuse and Rochester, NY, and were then established in Liberace Plaza, having their rent collected by the entertainer himself! We went to Binion's for a great steak dinner. All the restaurants and hotels in Las Vegas were partly subsidized by the gambling casinos. Imagine the 'cost' of having the million dollars just sitting there, earning no interest.

Of course I know that numismatists would be well aware of the difference between gold certificates and Federal Reserve Notes with a gold redemption clause. It was my impression that the popular press was being quoted as saying that the Binion notes were "gold notes," and I was suggesting that the gold clause could well have been interpreted that way by an unversed writer.

Q: Is Binion's new million-dollar display the original $10,000 bills? I thought they sold them.

A: Yes, Becky Behnen, when she took over Binion's Horseshoe more than a decade ago, sold off the hundred $10,000 bills in the original million-dollar display. The new owner of Binion's, Terry Caudill (who also owns the Four Queens across Fremont Street), has put up a new display of a million dollars.

It's displayed in an acrylic pyramid atop a poker table in the center of the casino and consists of $270,000 in $100 bills, $688,000 in $20 bills, and $42,000 in $1 bills. The cash is viewable from 10 am to 10 pm daily; during off hours it's locked under a stainless-steel shell. A Binion's spokesman said that restoring the original display of one-hundred $10,000 bills would have cost $16 million or more