I assume Paul Sosco was really Paul Bosco in this issue.

As another comment on the passing of Thai dealer Lee Shin Song - when Howard Daniel was preparing his collection to go to Bangkok, he asked Mr Lee whether he wanted the counterfeit notes, which Howard had going back almost a century. Mr Lee said he had no market for them there, and Howard could dispose of them elsewhere if he desired. That meant that they now are in the Boling collection for teaching counterfeit detection. I never met Mr Lee, but I am grateful for his generosity.

Regarding the tax deductibility of surcharges on modern commemorative coins, when I inquired about that a few years ago I was told that the enabling legislation specifically prohibits using these surcharges as tax deductions. I presume there is piece of boilerplate that gets inserted into every coin bill to cover this topic. As Anne said, Congress makes the laws. Take it up with your legislators.

The counterfeit dollar coins are not being made to use here - they are going to places like Ecuador that are using US dollars as national currency. In my opinion, the threat of counterfeiting metallic dollars is minuscule (and insignificant) compared to the threat from counterfeiting $10 and $20 notes on 2% of teenager's desks.

Digital copies of US notes circulate freely until they hit the Fed and are sorted out - way after the maker has turned her profit. And then there are the high-quality lithographed C-notes coming from South America and the supernotes coming from North Korea and other points undisclosed. Your article mentioned the spread of counterfeit coins in Europe - I am sure that fake 50-euro notes make up a far larger pool of boodle than the coins can approach.

Here's an interesting post on the smuggling of ancient coins.

An American will become an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

After hiring her son Alex to work in my coin store in Alexandria, Elvira ("Elsie") Clain Stefanelli invited me to lunch at the Smithsonian one day. I was given a back room tour of the "holy of holies", including the 1933 saints. I remember one having a better obverse (fewer bag marks) than reverse and another the complete opposite (both had that faint green hue found on older uncleaned U.S. gold). Displayed together, the pair would have shown well.

Far more interesting (to me) was the unique 1849 $20 liberty. It is a proof with a plain edge that's slightly circulated and a bit "baggy", a truly unique coin. I also saw tray upon tray of ancients that was numbing in scope. I didn't realize it at the time but holding those rarities in my hand was possibly the highlight of my rather non-illustrious career. It's a shame that this wonderful accumulation is generally vaulted from view.

Upon perusing the latest edition of Krause's 19th century world coin catalogue, I discovered a new country listing I've never seen before - "COLUMBIA" ! Excitedly, I scanned the coin listings looking to see new spheroids, wondering where this newly discovered country was, what language they spoke, what denominations their money was valued in, etc.

It dawned on me (not quickly, I'm rather old and slowing) that I had seen these items before - I recognized faces, shapes, denominations, even the language ! Fortunately having older editions of the catalogue (not as useless as one might think - they assist in personal hygiene in emergencies), I found very similar listings from the country of "COLOMBIA".

Now totally confused, I Googled repeatedly - trying to find out when & where COLOMBIA disappeared and COLUMBIA emerged in the 19th century. Google suffered a rare failure, there seems to be no record of the event ever happening. Can any E-Sylum readers help with this mystery ?

I was similarly confused years back when the entire country of French Guiana disappeared from a Krause 18th century world coin catalogue - only to re-appear in the next edition. How did France do that? Wouldn't someone have complained? Again, any help would be appreciated and thank you in advance (uh, has anyone seen my glasses?).

Since we've partnered with the Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission, they'll have a special exhibit at each of our shows this year. Thinking ahead to the June and November shows, we thought an exhibit of the medals honoring the War of 1812 leaders would be great to display. Of course, the challenge is to find someone that owns the medals willing to lead them to us for such an exhibit. Do any E-Sylum readers own one, several, or all of these medals? I can be reached at (404) 235-5322 or info@whitmanexpo.com.

In the February 19th article entitled "Numismatic Bookie" it was mentioned that people who collect books should be called maniacs. I personally feel that if they are that smart they should be called "brainiacs" instead!

I am deeply sorry to hear about loss of Ken Bressett's wife Bert. I remember a good number of years ago when they were out here in California for an all day educational symposium. After it was over with I drove them all over Los Angeles giving them a tour of the city. Before taking them back to their hotel I bought them a wonderful dinner that they both loved and raved about and Ken remembered it still when I saw him at the last ANA in Los Angeles.