Thanks for another great issue of The E-Sylum. I always look forward to receiving it! Your note on Germans saving their D-Marks hit home. My wife and I were stationed with the U.S. Army in West Germany in the mid to late 1970's. We returned with a large change purse of paper and coin D-Marks that, for the sake of nostalgia, we never converted to U.S. Dollars. I am glad to hear we are not the only ones who hung onto them.

Any customer who contacts us and requests a printed copy of the errata gets one, at no charge to them. We print it and mail it, at our expense. Call 800-258-0929. We also sent printed versions of the errata to distributors who had not yet taken possession of the books at the time we caught the omissions.

The posted pdfs are simply the quickest way to facilitate delivery. We certainly regret the error and are trying to rectify it as effectively as possible, but our books are sold through so many channels it is impossible to personally reach every buyer.

The British Museum has a Good Samaritan silver shilling in their cabinet that grades Fair - About Good condition - smooth clean wear, no damage - so someone went to a lot of trouble to make this "fabrication" look legitimate. I believe the pedigree is the Pembroke Collection going back to the early 1800's.

In 1746, it was illustrated in the series of plates depicting the Earl's coin collection. The collection was auctioned by Sotheby & Co. over a century later, in 1848, which may account for Alan's statement.

Regarding the Pembroke example of the Good Samaritan Shilling in the British Museum that Alan Weinberg alluded to: Perhaps it should be called the "Bad" Samaritan Shilling. Alan forgot to mention that the legend FAC SIMILE is present on the obverse. The Bushnell example, which was copied from the Pembroke example and omitted the FAC SIMILE legend, is a fraudulent issue. Please refer to Eric P. Newman's wonderful work, "The Secret of the Good Samaritan Shilling", published by the American Numismatic Society in 1959.

Did the Coinage Act of 1965 legalize the 1933 $20 gold?

My opinion on that is yes, and it has been so for a long time. The Courts thus far have not bought this argument, The operative section is §102 which says (in substance) that all coins and currency of the United States, regardless of when coined, are a legal tender for all debts, public and private. It also "legalized" the trade dollar.