NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

Your piece on the pine tree shilling resonated for me as I have one, holed, in nearly same die state of Noe-1. While my coin is more worn it is clearly the same die. But the wear is deceptive as much of the appearance is due to the worn and broken die. My coin is likely clipped as well as its weight is just 62.1 grains. Can you tell which coin is in the later state? Close examination shows that the one you pictured in The E-Sylum is a bit later.

While in Boston recently I visited the joint grave of John Hull the mintmaster who produced the pine tree shillings. I refer you to the great short story "The Pine Tree Shilling" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I love the charm of the pine tree shilling and this one in particular.

The item about the $2 bill brought to mind my late husband's story that while stationed at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in the late 1950's, all the post GI's one month received their pay in $2 bills. The reason? to show the town of Aberdeen, Maryland the positive impact of the GI's on the town's economy as they spent their pay, to counter any negatives they apparently brought on the town! Money talks!

Military Pay in $2 Bills
I was looking through my dad's coin and currency collection with my mom. He had saved several $2 bills (consecutive years) from the mid 1950's.

My mom said it was from his military pay. The local town was bitching about the airmen in their midst. To make a point, the base started paying the men in $2 bills. Within days that whole town was covered up in two dollar bills. Every merchant had them in their cash register. Very obvious, because cash drawers don't have a slot for $2 bills. They must have done it for several years because dad had save a bill from each year. It was a reminder of what the base did for the local economy.

This was probably at Eaker Air Force Base (Blytheville, AR) when I was a baby. Or maybe NAS Pensacola when they were dating and first married.

Civil Rights Money Mark
During the early days of the Civil Rights battle, I remember one city telling its black folks to make a specific mark on every bill that went through their hands. Pretty soon, every bill had that mark.

Your article brought back many memories of this fine gentleman. He carried a pad of paper with him so one could communicate more easily with him. I remember meeting him on a street in London England many years ago. Now as a reader of old issues of Numismatic Scrapbook, I have come to recognize and appreciate his numismatic experience and insight.

Congratulations on the splendid life of the late Arlie Slabaugh. I knew him from several organizations with which both of us were associated and through Numismatic Scrapbook, of which I was the last executive editor. I understood that he worked as linotypist for Lee Hewitt who recalled that Arlie's mind worked so fast that as he set type, he would become aware of a gap coming up at the end of a column and formulate a short to fill in the space before he came to it.

At the Numismatic Literary Guild, he received the Clemy and went on to present the award to the late Eric P. Newman. As I understand it, Arlie could not hear his own words but proceeded slowly with an eye to his audience. Clemy presenters generally wrote elaborate introductions replete with hints from the recipient's past before the name was revealed. Margo Russell, for example, spun out a lengthy tale until noting "Keene, New Hampshire" to a delighted recipient. "Mr. Redbook" Ken Bressett.

Here, Arlie presented a lengthy introduction expressed entirely in the English of the King James Bible. He noted that the Lord Jesus called as his Apostles "a Fisherman," Saint Peter; a physician, Evangelist Saint Luke; and on and on. He himself had picked "a cobbler," referring to Eric P. Newman's lifetime in shoe manufacture. The audience was astounded and cheered loudly! And, oh yes, Arlie's remarkable speech brought the new NLG Executive Director (me) one of those "I was not at the meeting" denunciations of "a blasphemous parody of Sacred Scripture..." Ah well.