During many springs I would leave the MPC Fest in Port Clinton, Ohio and drive down to Fort Wayne. First I would see one of my old aunts, who has since passed away, then drive to Neil Soward's old store. After going through the tokens and medals stock books, I would have a nearby lunch with two Vietnam War veteran friends of mine.

After lunch, I would go to Fairfield Rare Coins. As I walked in, I would go all the way around the coin and paper money counters and walk up to a wall display that included some Southeast Asian pieces I wanted to buy. Before I could turn around, Jim would tell me, as he did every time, "It is not for sale." I am sure Jim will be looking down at me the next time I am in his store and telling me it is still not for sale. I am already missing him.

The AT (and ATT) is the "cent" part of a Siamese Tical; a Thai Baht; or a Lao Kip.

The LAT is the bullion ingot for the Lao and neighboring peoples. It can be silver, silver/copper, copper/bronze or just copper. Those with a intricate design on the top are often called Tiger Tongues, which is a name created to interest tourists into buying them in Bangkok, but the design is actually taken from the back of a crocodile. Their weights are based on the Tamlung of 60 grams and are usually found in 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, etc. Tamlung.

I just thought I’d drop a quick note to say that after The E-Sylum ran the piece on Susan Taylor winning the American Medal of the Year for her piece “Remembrance” I had contacted her to have my name added to the list of folks interested in acquiring one. She dutifully did so, and it arrived today.

She had relayed in the interval that there were some trials and tribulations in the production process (having done a piece on the Lusitania I was familiar with such “fun”), but in the end, holding the specimen in my hands, I was quite pleased that she had persevered and produced the beautifully patinated and quite nicely done piece. Anyway, a tip of my hat to Ms. Taylor. She did a wonderful job and should be justifiably proud of the final result.

I thought the readers of The E-Sylum would find this video as fascinating as I did (at least the ones who don't hold auctions on a regular basis might).

I have just read last week's E-Sylum and Dick Johnson seems to have misconstrued the brief note about "center point", as if he took it personally. Now you see why I prefaced my comment "I refrained from elaborating on the alternate terms since it is quite trivial and some can be easily vexed by a presentation of a myriad of alternative terms, especially those who insist on a single term with intolerance to the use or display of others. So apologies to these sensitive readers. "

Somehow Dick takes umbrage with the statement : "Numismatic writers and catalogers should develop their own style and stick with whatever term they feel helps them and their audience understand what they wish to mean when describing a dot."

He writes, "Here’s why I disagree with that statement: If each writer or cataloger used a different term from others we have a numismatic Tower of Bable. Far better to have a form or definition accepted by all, the standard everyone will use and understand."

To use different words that mean the same thing can hardly be construed as a Tower of Babel, which, by the way, has no alternate spelling. The meaning of words are found in lexicons popularly called dictionaries in America, when they provide a pronunciation or diction key for speaking purposes, hence the name, dictionary. We will always find several words having the exact same meaning without confusing the general listener or reader. Hopefully, people will always enjoy the freedom to choose whichever word might suit them best for their purpose. One can still have a preference even when words have exactly the same meaning since the need might be for sound or its character might be thought to brighten up a phrase. It is rare we have paucity of vocabulary to choose from when wishing to say something or describe something where only a single word universally accepted and understood says it all. I doubt "center point" will ever be numbered among such exclusive terminology.