In the April 9 issue you asked about a French Colonies coin -- the envelope was typed by none other than Bob Vlack, and I had quite a few from him over the years (indeed, my interest in the series started with looking at examples he had in his case at one of the ANA shows in the 1980's). Bob would set up at the Colonia Coin Collectors CLub (C4) gatherings until his health deteriorated, and he was always my first stop so that I could look at the French Colonies pieces he had out, which were always duplicates from his collection.

I've seen his envelopes in black, green and red ink, and some of the earlier ones feature the flying witch motif from the 19th century token that reads "WE ALL HAVE OUR HOBBIES" -- quite fitting since his address at the time was near Salem, Massachusetts! Hopefully people recognize the importance of these envelopes in establishing pedigree -- and it couldn't help but add value to the coin when you know it was in the collection of the man who wrote the book on the series!

Thanks again for all you do for this journal -- and how amazing that the run from 2000 to 3000 readers went a LOT faster than the 1000 to 2000 mark did! And thanks for the Jamestown blurb as well -- hopefully more people will put this into their travel plans, especially if they are going to see Colonial Williamsburg.

Regarding the 1955-1982 perpetual calendar medal: that design and format must have been used for a long time. I remember getting one in the Philadelphia's Franklin Institute gift shop in 1975, 20 years after the medal shown. They must have updated these every year, because the medal I got covered the period 1975-2002. I wonder how long these things were made?

You said "Beautiful medal. Unfortunately, only the obverse is shown." So take a look at this...

This coin weight was not very carefully catalogued – it is for a half guinea, "coined since 1772", and could not have been made before August 1773.

And, by the way, at $175.00 it is heavily over-priced – in that condition, I think the seller would be very lucky to get 20% of the asking figure!

The Mint was required to produce 89 guineas from 2 pounds troy of standard gold, so the theoretical weight (as struck) of a guinea would be 5 pennyweights and 9.438 grains, with the half-guinea at 2 pennyweights and 16.719 grains.

On 23 July 1773 the Treasury issued an Order (published in the London Gazette on 31 July 1773) specifying a minimum acceptable weight of 2 pennyweights (Dwt) and 16 grains (Gr), i.e. 4.147 grams, for coins in circulation if dated 1772 onwards.

See the last paragraph on "page 108" of the nice article at http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/2004_BNJ_74_10.pdf .

Another good article is at http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/2001_BNJ_71_11.pdf .

The best reference for our (British) coin weights is Paul and Bente Withers, "British Coin-Weights" (Llanfyllin, 1993)

SPRING Maastrich Report......THE BUZZ IS BACK!!!!!

I have just returned from my 41st Maastricht Show in the Netherlands and am still bumping into walls, but wanted to get my comments posted before anyone else yelled at me for being lazy.

This show was the best, most active show in at least 10 years and maybe EVER. It was my good fortune to pick up some nice fresh material from an old time collection and it virtually flew off the shelves as soon as the notes were acquired. This year, the pre-bourse (where the REAL action is) was held in the same venue as the show and it added to the BUZZ and overall level of activity. Because of the change in venue, we stayed at a different hotel and it was great (thanks, Dennis for making all the arrangements). A couple of new (to us) restaurants which were also great.

The mantra remains..."Fresh, scarce material is in tremendous demand." The Russians, Chinese and Eastern Europeans seemed to be the most aggressive buyers, but this time they were buying "The World" rather than just their native countries. Better British Colonial and French Colonial, along with Middle East seemed to be market leaders as has been the trend lately.

Overall, the show was superb, the people were as crazy as ever, and the laughs were more than plentiful. A "special thanks" to Dennis Hengeveld, Jeremy Steinberg, Mike Findlay, Paul Walters, Jaime Sanz and too many others to mention, for making my trip so enjoyable. You guys are the best!