"Another great issue as always. The news of the sale of the 1794 no stars pattern dollar was quite interesting to me. $840,000! The Pollock book of US Patterns lists the previous sale of that coin in 1989 as $21,000. Wow, what a way to invest your money, as well as pride of ownership of a unique coin. The consigner had to be all smiles!

"I was looking at the list of the former owners of the coin. It seemed curious to me that in 1890 it changed hands two times within six months, both times by the same company, New York Stamp and Coin. I pulled my catalog of the R. Coulton Davis sale, Jan. 1890. The obv. of the coin is plated on plate 3, but the plate is rather dark. David Proskey described the coin as "good for the period, unique." The coin realized $35. The buyer's name is listed as Lelay. I do not recognize that name. It may be in code. Just thinking, perhaps Parmelee was not the buyer, but another who returned the coin to NY because of condition. Then Proskey put the coin in the Parmelee sale in June 1890. He changed his description a bit to say "planchet not smooth." , which is consistent with the Heritage description as "excavated at the mint." The coin realized $20 in the Parmelee sale."

Thanks! It's always interesting to trace the provenance of a coin and see whose hands it passed through over the years. Does "Lelay" ring a bell for anyone? I've come up empty in the Newman Portal. -Editor

"Looks like obverse 4 to me which would make it an Overton 104."

Thanks! -Editor

"Seeing as it's the 75th anniversary of the Red Book, I wondered if you could poll your subscribers to see if anybody has an updated list of Special, or Limited Editions. The trail ends for me in 2009 when Frank Colletti's "A Guide Book of The Official Red Book Of United States Coins" was published. I really wish Frank or someone else would update this book."

I reached out directly to Dennis Tucker at Whitman Publishing. -Editor

"In Ken Bressett's upcoming A Penny Saved: R.S. Yeoman and His Remarkable Red Book we have a current listing of all Red Books including Limited Editions.

"Frank Colletti's Guide Book of the Official Red Book of United States Coins goes into more depth as an edition-by-edition study . . . although, as Mr. Seldon notes, its coverage ends in 2009.

"We do get quite a few queries from collectors who want an updated second edition of Frank's book. Pressure is building! I'll keep you and the NBS posted as we consider how to make that happen."

"I was saddened to hear of Bill McKivor's passing. I never actually met Bill, but he and I transacted some business several years ago (2010) while I was deep into the Confederate Cent.

"As a part of his business, Bill had purchased some amount of the British coins Robert Bashlow had gathered in his business. As a part of this, Bill had possession of several of the thin Bashlow Restrike Confederate cent pieces as well as a couple of the new Confederate cent pieces Bashlow and David Latise had made in London. He made me a great offer and I bought all.

"My sincere condolences to his family. It is a little unsettling to find he and I were born in the same year."

Thank you - great story; interesting connection. -Editor

"Regarding Ken Spindler's article about the holed Eight Reales coins. In The E-Sylum: Volume 11, Number 14, April 6, 2008, Article 11, you will find an article (More on Arras Tokens) by me explaining some of the reasons as to why the coins contain holes."

Thanks. Here's Ken's description. See the article linked below for the initial discussion. -Editor

"I've thought of making an arras with 13 holed 8 Reales coins."

"Regarding "The Holiest Coin Collection," Robert Hoge's article in The Numismatist of June, 1997 concerned a donation to the ANA Museum, of US small cents 1857-1879 gathered by a Pennsylvania farmer who pulled them from circulation, holed each one, and nailed each to his kitchen's wall. (The farmer died in early 1880.) "The front cover has a photograph of one of the coins."

Cringeworthy for collectors, but interesting nonetheless. Thanks. -Editor

In response to a reader's question Pete Smith submitted these notes clarifying the difference between photos and portraits of early American coin collector Isaiah Quinby Lukens of Philadelphia. Thanks. -Editor

"I bought this unusual Mott token long ago from colonial dealer Tom Rinaldo.

"It comes on an extremely constricted planchet, with a diameter ranging from 5.0 to 5.4 mm. Normal diameter is 6.7 mm.

"The Central portion of the thick Edge is raised around its entire circumference, sloping downward toward the rim on each side.

"Because the peripheral lettering on both sides is sharp and undistorted yet significantly higher than the plane of the rest of the coin, my conclusion is that the planchet was upset subsequent to striking rather than prior to. In any event it seems clear that the bars used in the upsetting process were spaced much too closely during the production of this particular piece.

"I welcome the opinion of others here. "

Interesting item. What do readers think? -Editor