Some years ago in our office we had three of the five known 1885 trade dollars. One was part of a complete set of trade dollars I had formed (a set of Proofs 1873 to 1885), a set of circulation strikes 1873 to 1878, and a set of circulation strikes with Chinese chopmarks 1873 to 1878. The 1878-CC chopmark was the hardest to find.

SAGE'S CANDY COIN counterstamp on a trade dollar is another interesting item; an estimated 7 or so are known.

I am wondering if you know anything about Boston coin dealer James Skalbe. I may have missed the news in The E-Sylum, but I saw a mention in an eBay listing for one of his counterstamped coins that he had passed away in 2018. I scoured the internet but found nothing other than a legal notice for his trust, and I wrote to his family at his last known address but got no reply.

I know him from his "J. E. SKALBE / NUMISMATIST / BOSTON" counterstamps but of course he was also a noted Boston coin dealer and active in certain coin clubs and organizations.

I am curious to know if the numismatic community has any details on his passing.

If Brazil's baggage declaration forms are anything to go by, the dogs should have better luck there than in many other countries! There is a section headed "4. CURRIED CURRENCY", in which there are also several typos in the explanatory text.

By the way, the question there relates to 10,000 reais, which on 28-Nov-2019 was the equivalent of US$2345 although in February 1995 it reached a peak of nearly $11,900.

I have to admit I've never had anything to do with curried currency, nor baked, roasted, grilled, stewed or fried - only pickled!

"I love it when you show Georgies in The E-Sylum. Attached is an example of one I've been entering into circulation since 1998.

"The Viking ship was used to honor the 500th Anniversary of the Viking's discovery of America in 2000. The Eagle, globe and anchor was used to represent my USMC service from 1967-1971. The 'UFFDA' is Minnesota-speak used by the many people of Norwegian descent who live there or those of us who moved from there and still use the word, even on our automobile license plates.

"The way it was defined to me as a child was...'Uff' is a Norwegian word where the English word 'hoof' came from many moons ago. When someone asked a Norwegian farmer how many 'uffs' he had, it referred to sheep, goats, horses, cattle or bulls...any farm animal with hooves. 'Da' is something you step in while walking across a cow pasture. If you combine DA (What you step in.) with UFF (A bull for example.) you get BS.

"The modern version is more refined."

I don't have the Vermeer coin yet as only a very small number were released around Christmas, and most of the mintage is supposed to be available later this month, including my coin. They must be seen in hand to see things like the relief created by the placement of the tiles (such as on Mona's famous nose). These coins are the fruit of a collaboration between three European companies (Powercoin, Coin Invest Trust and B. H. Mayer) and staff with backgrounds in many areas besides minting.

I just visited the J.D Salinger exhibit (which is about to close) at the NY Public Library 42nd St. Main Branch. Among the items was a lucky tin of trinkets he carried during WWII, which had various pins AND an elongated cent from the 1939 World's Fair. So, The Catcher was a Collector!!