"I was struck by the quite critical tone of the references to Fred Reinfeld and Burton Hobson in last week's E-Sylum. Their Catalog of the World's Most Popular Coins was a volume I read cover to cover as a child, several times over on repeated borrowings from my local library, and some decades later I acquired a copy of my own to dip into in an attempt to recapture some of the fascination the book held for me almost 50 years ago.

"On a quick search of my numismatic book list I have five titles published by Sterling, all of which have either Reinfeld or Hobson as one of the authors, though not the one mentioned in your "overdue book" item. I accept they're at the "populist" end of the scale, but is that the only objection, or is there more to it than that?

"Curious!"

I didn't see last week's comments as overly critical - they were simply acknowledging the "populist" nature of many of the titles. I do agree that Catalog of the World's Most Popular Coins was a useful work at the time. -Editor

Mel Wacks submitted this update to the upcoming AINA Zoom Forum with Dr. David Jacobson on "Antioch and Jerusalem, the Seleucids and Maccabees in Coins." -Editor

"We’re excited to be running our second ‘Festival of Coins’ from 17 to 26 September this year at www.allaboutcoins.co.uk, and I wondered if you or any of your colleagues had any content you would like to put forward. Content ideas could include special articles, videos, coin galleries, exclusive insight into a collection and any special offers for collectors. I look forward to your thoughts on this idea and would very much welcome your involvement."

The Festival of Coins is a nice online event, allowing for participation from both sides of the Atlantic. Consider contributing. -Editor

Col. E.H.R. "Ned" Green accumulated one of the greatest coin collections of all time with money inherited from his mother, the richest woman in America - Hetty Green. Chip Howell passed along this recent YouTube video from The History Guy about Hetty Green. There's nothing much numismatic here, but there is an interesting connection; Hetty bought deprecated U.S. greenbacks at 50 cents on the dollar, and made a handsome profit when they were ultimately redeemed at face value. But how much more would they be worth now in the collector market? -Editor