In response to Bruce Smith's request about the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society's Numismatic Bulletin, this publication was issued in magazine format only from 1948 through 1952. It is probably this series that he has seen. Since that time there has been only a conventional newsletter that continues to the present day. I was its editor during the mid-late 1980s, and I also edited the society's research publication Journal of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society, which has since been discontinued in favor of an annual paper competition. I used to have a complete set of the 1948-52 NB, but I sold it some years ago. I still have a complete collection of the Journals.

The society's present recording secretary is numismatic author William Hyder. He informs me that he can provide further information about the availability of issues and has agreed to publish his email address: bill.hyder@gmail.com.

A great number of separately published various indexes to separate Scandinavian numismatic magazines from the last 100 years are listed throughout my massive, new Scandinavian numismatic bibliography, The "Catalogue of the MEM Scandinavian numismatic library 1615-2013", Copenhagen 2014, 800 pp, A4 It also includes a mega-index to a great number of Scandinavian numismatic magazines, all compiled into one big, massive index.

This one is "Chrome Dome" by Darin Bilstad, a really good hobo nickel carver.

Just in case you weren't aware, this is also called the "St. Andrew's Cross" & is a constituent of the Union Flag (the British flag, often incorrectly called a "Union Jack" although a "Jack" is really a naval flag). In Heraldry, this is not considered a "cross" which has to be upright (i.e., "pointing north" on a map): a saltire points to the corners of the flag, e.g. the Confederate battle flag. For illustrations, see Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Jack#Since_1801

"The merk was a silver coin in use in Scotland in the 16th and 17th centuries, worth 13 shillings and 4 pence or about one English shilling. Half-merk and quarter-merk coins were also issued."

This struck me as odd, mostly because I knew that "13 & 4" is actually 2/3 of an ENGLISH pound: it turns out that's also true with respect to the SCOTTISH pound (i.e., 1 pound [Scottish] = 1.5 merks = 1.5 shillings [English]). Wikipedia bore out the text was not a typo, so it appears Scottish:English traded at 40:3.

Wikipedia says the coin was later re-evaluated as 14 shillings [Scottish] - perhaps to make it exactly two thirds of a Guinea? Great Britain standardized the Guinea at 21 shillings, i.e., 1 pound + 1 shilling.

I note the illustration you had of a 1602 merk named "Jacobus 6" = (James VI) who in 1603 became "James I" of England as well (whence Jamestown in 1607).

The annual Garden State Numismatic Association Convention will be held May 15-17 in Somerset NJ. Besides all the other reasons to attend a coin convention, there will be a joint gathering (I hate to say meeting) of Early American Coppers Inc (EAC) & Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4) members at 1:00 PM on Saturday May 17th at 1:00 PM.

Membership in either organization is not needed, the meeting is open to all. Please attend, get the latest on what's happening with EAC and C4, find out about EAC in Colorado last week, get a chance to look through the pages of EAC's first publication: Grading Guide for Early American Copper Coins, or just get a chance to rest your feet for a half hour or so. Questions will be answered and please feel free to bring something for show-n-tell.

Convention information can be found at: http://gsna.org/gsna_convention.html

Questions? Ask Ray Williams at njraywms@optonline.net