Thanks for sharing the Web Site of the week. I love Swedish Coppers but for some reason this site never came up in my searches. Hopefully they are still working on this site. It is very well done in my opinion.

I want to thank you for mentioning my website, www.swedishcoppers.com in your weekly e-mail. This was brought to my attention by Chris Bower who visited it and dropped me a line. I had been on the NBS site at some earlier point. This brought me back and I am now a member. I started my site as a way to aggregate and save information that was hard for me to come by and then share it with others. I certainly sympathize with the mission of the NBS.

I look forward to reading my first issue of The Asylum.

In a new indoor world record I am ALMOST caught up on my E-Sylum issues -- I guess the chillier winter nights in Southern California (yes, 55 degrees is considered winter here!) is good for something -- it allows me to stay home and catch up on coin stuff.

As always, John Lupia's biographical details on numismatists of yore are fascinating. The recent one on Horace Grant even more so, since I don't recall ever seeing a photograph of the gentleman before. Grant is well known to the colonial collectors today, having issued a very pleasing copy of the Rhode Island Ship Medal in 1936. His initials HMG can be seen in the middle of the waves below Admiral Howe's ship. The medals were issued in an antiqued bronze that is quite attractive -- and also in silver, which is extremely rare. I'm sure his Providence, Rhode Island Hobby Shop had plenty of these restrikes on display.

Thanks, Ken Berger — Good insights on numbering books. I agree that signing books without being requested to do so lacks humility. I am tempted to avoid adding a personal note if the buyer is not known in the numismatic field. I can see the reasoning on both your part and Editor Wayne’s who favors books which have been signed to a noteworthy numismatist. I will think of your ‘manual mode’ late this month as I ker-chunk, ker-chunk the numbers into my 1000 books the day the printer completes them.

Is there anyone there who could tell me something about this coin? I acquired it in Croatia in 1997. It measures 32mm in diameter, weighs 9.73 grams and is 1.5mm thick. Unsure of it's metal makeup. I am wondering if it is authentic in its date or whether it is a early 20th Century copy. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Why didn’t the government or the Reserve Bank of India consider printing the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes at foreign printing presses as a means of overcoming the current shortage of new notes? According to senior banking officials, a six-year push towards greater indigenisation, initial misplanning and a handful of past, controversial outsourcing incidents may have put off the RBI.

Ever since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes was announced on November 8, the printing of new notes and increased circulation of old notes (Rs 100, Rs 50 and Rs 10) has severely lagged behind demand.