After reading about Roger Burdette's book, I feel inadequate ;) At least I can afford it, unlike the following book on India coinage.

I'm absolutely DELIGHTED to report that I just received an advance copy of the second edition of my book, PICTURES FROM A DISTANT COUNTRY, an examination of nineteenth-century America via the medium of the imagery on its obsolete currency. The book is full-color, coffee table-size, nearly three hundred pages, will hit the stores next month, retailing for $24.95. Forward by Dave Bowers, published by Whitman, who really did me proud. How on earth they're bringing it out for that price (and it's made in USA!), I have no idea. It's the best thing I've ever written, and I ought to know. Amazing- the first glimmers of an idea for this book came about in '93; and now, finally, here it is in the form I hoped for. And it WORKS!!! Who knew?

I will be looking for the Whitman booth at the Central States show and hope that Doty's new book will be available. It sounds compelling (as in, I am compelled to buy it, and maybe to give it as gifts).

Thank you for contacting us regarding Q. David Bowers' new Encyclopedia of United States Silver Dollars 1794-1804. We are offering an early bird special of $39.95 plus a shipping and handling fee of $10 to United States addresses. Please feel free to call 866-811-1804 Monday through Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EDT to arrange payment by credit card or you can mail a check for $49.95 to Stack's Bowers, Silver Dollar Book, PO Box 1804, Wolfeboro, NH 03894. Please be sure to include your correct shipping address.

Regarding vermeil medals, in philatelic exhibiting one of the award levels is vermeil (between gold and silver, as you would expect).

I bought world coins from Norman Shultz back in the '70s. I may be confusing him with someone else, but as I recall he had Chinese cash coins by individual reign title in any quantity you might want. He had brought buckets of them home from service in China, and on the trip back by slow boat he sorted them on a board with nails on which he hung the best condition pieces. The lower quality pieces he threw overboard.

Thanks for running this story. Just to keep the record straight, "Yung Lo" is just another transcription into Latin letters of the Chinese pronunciation (same as "Yongle" or Yong-le"). The Japanese reading is Eiraku - the character readings actually derive from the Chinese though it's not immediately obvious and is something of a long story. To Japanese collectors these pieces are known as "Eiraku-sen", i.e. "coins of Eiraku/Yongle".

I thought the illustrations of the three coins shown on this site looked familiar - twelve years ago Prof. Fontanille submitted an article to the New Zealand Numismatic Journal (no. 79, December 2001) with almost identical wording to the featured website.