Neither Eric P. Newman nor I ever stated that the Continental Dollars were bought and sold in England, or that they were created as medals. In our July 2014 article in The Numismatist, "18th-Century Writings on the Continental Currency Dollar Coin," we wrote that the earliest print mention and illustration of the coin was in a 1783 German almanac featuring a chronicle of the American Revolution written by prominent historian M.C. Sprengel. Nowhere did we suggest anything but an American origin.

You have a photo error in the Feisel section. You have two “paradise” items and no Cheyenne Agency token.

Thanks to George Kolbe's help we now know there are at least nine leatherbound French catalogs around. Can anyone who has seen George Clapp's copy, I think it's at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, share with the readers whether his was also in leather and whether his name was stamped on the front cover? I know B. Max Mehl and Clapp were not close !

Do you have a range in years that the plaster cast method was used?

I found same in the Ceylon Coins and Currency book published in 1924:
http://coins.lakdiva.org/museum_cc/cnm_ccc55.html .

Jan Lingen gave some possible reasons on that page but not that the coins would have been to shiny.

Is that because the film sensitivity was low and the object had to be highly illuminated to photograph? However, since a coin is nearly flat couldn't a wider aperture and longer exposure could be used if that was the case? I am trying to understand all the reasons for the use of a plaster cast method.

No! Previously known as testoons, but of a similar twelve pence value, they originated c.1504 under Henry VII. However, I expect that quite a lot of your English correspondents will be telling you similarly.

Marcel Jovine is the artist in question

Well now I am curious (even though it is not numismatics) — The bar-bell shaped piece in the display case at Ben Costello's 1715 Fleet Treasure Coins display is marked with “What is it?” unlike all the other pieces which are identified. I can’t tell if the display is going after audience involvement or the exhibitor does not know that that piece is.

I believe that is an invention cannoneers created centuries ago hoping to tear away a sailing ship’s rigging and canvas. It was supposed to whirl through the air and rip away a vessel’s ability to sail properly. But in reality the pieces just flew straight and punched out a round hole in the sail rather than ripping great gashes in the material aloft. That’s my memory from somewhere — and after all, I was in the U.S. Air Force not the Navy.