"I found an interesting and unexpected use for the Newman Numismatic Portal. I'm a past editor of Coins magazine and am currently writing a column for Numismatic News called "Past Times With Coins." It features items from the first issue of the magazine from 1962, when it became Coins, onward.

"I'm currently up to the 1963 volume and am working on a column with info on Francis Henning and his fake nickels.

"I have a nicely bound set of the magazines through 1982 but what I don't have is a complete index of its contents.

"Trying to get the story of Henning right, I searched newspaper archives and the Internet. The Internet search led me to NNP, where I found a good reference to the Henning story in the September 1964 issue of Coins.

"NNP is worth checking out -- at least it was for me."

Having a great numismatic library only gets you so far if you can't find what you're looking for. A number of in-copyright publications such as Coins, Coin World and soon Numismatic News are digitized on NNP but on a restricted basis - while you can't read the publication on the site you can still search the content to find where to look. Search engines are electronically compiled indexes, enabling users to start with the key words or phrases of interest and quickly locate instances of that text in millions of pages of content. -Editor

"I am familiar with the 1794 Starred Reverse Cent, having written a book on the topic that was published in 1986. In the past thirty-five years I have compiled three updates that were published in Penny-Wise, the journal of the Early American Coppers Club. In recent years, Al Boka has maintained the census of known pieces but he and I continue to collaborate on the subject.

"It is frustrating to devote so many years to study and so much effort to keep the information current only to find that it is ignored. An example is in the recent auction catalog mentioned in the February 28 issue of The E-Sylum.

"The article mentions this from the catalog description, "Its scarcity has also stood the test of time for today only 60 or so examples are believed extant, the actual total perhaps as low as 50 to 55 coins." The number known is a bit fuzzy as some previously reported pieces are not represented by photos and may have been sold later without a pedigree match. The most recent update of the census was published in Penny-Wise in 2020. At that time Al Boka and I agreed that the number known is now 72.

"The cataloguer makes a statement about the number of known pieces, as though they are an authority on the topic and no source is mentioned. When such a statement is in error, it should be challenged.

"My criticism is not just of the current catalog but of auction catalogs in general. My recent interest has been the 1792 half disme. In almost every catalog description I see, there is some error indicating that the cataloguer did not have the most up-to-date information. That is the nature of cataloguing with the purpose of realizing the most for the coin and not necessarily reporting the most current information."

Pete beat me to my own planned comment - primary goal of the auction company is to sell the coin. While up-to-date information is also a goal, cataloguers operate under extremely tight deadlines and corners do get cut. I share Pete's frustration. The rest of us must always do the homework to ensure our knowledge is up-to-date. -Editor

"Since you've been covering these no-tip pieces I thought you might like to know of this one - it's 38mm diameter, aluminum and a nice copy of the Confederate 50c. I've had this for a fairly short while."

Interesting. I've seen plenty of Confederate Half Dollar copies, but none like this one. Thanks! -Editor

"Dave Lange's image of the March of Dimes Lapel Pin reminded me of a couple of items in my collection. Both encased dimes. One in plastic one in brass."

Thanks! here are Bruce's images. -Editor

"This is an 1897 5 1/4" x 2 1/2" cloth bag tag from "Philada." Mint. Times have changed. Today, "Philly" is used, as in famous cheesesteak hoagie, not yet invented way back then."

Cool. Thanks. I'd never seen one of these before, but I guess they became common when the Treasury began releasing dollar bags in the 1960s. But how many people bothered to save them? -Editor

"Do you know anyone that is specializing in exonumia books as Rich Hartzog (World Exonumia Press) used to? I think this might be a question that many would like to know the answer to!"

I'm afraid I don't know of any such dealer.  I miss Rich.  He was a great resource.  It's a hard business to make money in.  You have to do it on the side, like Rich did.  Especially today, when people seem to think the internet has all the info you'll need.  That's not at all true, especially when it comes to exonumia.  Most of the books are under copyright.  -Editor

"With the loss of Fred Lake, who frequently carried a nice selection of exonumia books in his auctions, we seem to be left primarily with internet options for purchasing these often inexpensive, but valuable books."

Token seller Steve Hayden does offer some books on his website, but it's a very small selection compared to what Rich had. Len Augsburger recommends Abebooks and Bookfinder, linked below. See also the article elsewhere in this issue about UsedBookSearch, a site that aggregates results from multiple used book websites. -Editor

"The books were handled by a local guy who worked for Rich for many years. He worked diligently to sell most of the salable books long ago. Myself, Paul Cunningham and many others purchased titles from him that fit our customer bases. He also sold and perhaps still does sell on eBay. Bottom line is that most are sold except for some Rich had massive quantities of, particularly ones that have been superseded with more recent editions."

"Can anyone shed light on this coin hoard? I have a countermarked US Large Cent with a coin holder that references this hoard. My guess is that it may have been a US Large Cent hoard? An internet search does not turn up anything useful. My copy of the Dave Bowers coin hoard book is not accessible at the moment. If someone has information they can share, then please email me at bm19425@yahoo.com. Thank you!"

Can anyone help? I'm not familiar with the "Romano Worthy hoard." Don Corrado Romano was a Massachusetts coin dealer, as was J.J. Teaparty. Romano operated the Worthy Coin Company. -Editor

"A perfect reply to banks that have put limits on teller transactions that can be done with a bank card."

Funny, and spot-on. Check it out. -Editor

"You'll undoubtedly be besieged with outraged submissions of Wednesday's installment of the "Dennis the Menace" comic.

"Apparently Mr. Wilson has described his Morgan silver dollars as being in "Mint State," and his non-numismatic nemesis gets it all wrong—with a predictable decline in market value.

"You'd think that after seventy years (yes, "Dennis the Menace" debuted seventy years ago, on March 12, 1951!), Mr. Wilson would know better than to show Dennis his collection without gloves, a face-mask, a padded surface to protect accidentally dropped coins, and a paid-in-advance insurance premium."

Ouch! -Editor