"I don't know whom she resembles most, but thankfully the woman on the dollar is, by far, the most beautiful of them all."

"I was there, as I was at all Superior auctions, from their beginning, thru 1988, when I moved back to NJ.

"Buddy was at the sale of his collection & a gracious host. I talked one on one with him for quite a few minutes.

"He was lamenting the fact that he was paid very little compared to stars of TV show being paid today. He mentioned that the last episode of Barnaby Jones, his last major series, was only $150,000 per episode for him, the star. Contrast that with the fact that Jerry Seinfeld, was paid multimillions per episode, only a few years later.

"I sadly neglected to ask Buddy to sign my catalog. A true icon of show business, he was asked to play the Tinman in The Wizard of Oz but could not, due to illness."

Well, Jerry was also the writer, producer and major owner of his show, together with Larry David. But it's true that even an "average" TV show star makes much more today. Yet $150,000 for just one episode is far more than most audience members would have made in a year. -Editor

"I had met Buddy Ebsen before his coin sale, as well as all the cast of the Beverly Hillbillies [Jethro—Max Baer, Ellie May—Donna Douglas, Granny—Irene Ryan], when they all came to a UCLA fair in 1971, just as the show ended [1962-1971]. It was enjoyable as we got to talk with all. I was just ending my graduate school at UCLA, when I earned my Doctoral degree.

"My other show business thrill, was when I got to interview, for about an hour, Moe Howard, leader of the Three Stooges. This was in 1972, when I was writing my Doctoral thesis. None of us knew, at the time, that Moe was to pass away of lung cancer, in 1975, not long after his colleague, Larry Fine also passed away."

"Regarding the image of William T. Anton, Senior’s post card, I’m probably one of the few surviving numismatists, other than Harvey Stack, who remembered Bill, Sr. During my high school summers, I worked for Bill, Sr at his home construction site. It was grueling work - the 1st week I thought I can’t do this but I persevered and by the 2nd week I was tossing wheelbarrows full of construction debris like they were toys. I still have my Anton scar on my wrist from putting my hand thru a window.

"Aside from the Garrett Family of 3-4 generations, is there any other American Family that can boast three generations of serious numismatists like the Anton Family? (I think the Norwebs only have 2 generations). Bill III is seriously carrying on Bill Jr’s numismatic pursuits while auctioning duplicates and series of collections Bill Jr collected but in which Bill III has no interest. I knew Bill Jr very well and he, Dick Picker and the ANS’s then curator Hillel Kaslove’s tutelage (who is in his mid 80’s in Canada) are equally responsible for me still being a serious collector as I fast approach 78."

Great question. I thought of NBS Past President Marc Ricard, and Alan clarified that rather than families where the grandparent, parent and grandchildren still collect, he was referring to major US numismatic collections still intact into the 3rd generation. -Editor

"My great-great grandfather was J.C. Lighthouse, who passed away in 1909, was an early member of the A.N.A. and had a large collection of U.S. coins. My great uncle was Charles N. Ricard was a founding member of the Token and Medal Society and an officer in the Cleveland Coin Club. My father was Charles J. Ricard, 60-year member and ANA Farran Zerbe Award winner with J.C. Lighthouse and Charles N. Ricard. I am a Past President of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society and a Board member of TAMS. I am a numismatic literature specialist and a collector of portrait medals. So if I am considering the generations correctly, the Lighthouse-Ricard family has four generations of serious numismatists.

"My great-grandmother received coins from the Lighthouse Collection, which my grandmother retained in her collection until her death. My father then inherited those from her. Upon his death, I received those selections from my dad. Those pieces remain in my collection."

"Ah yes, the Stack Family with Morton & Joseph, Harvey/ Norman and Larry Stack. But Morton & Joseph were not collectors, just dealers, Norman only was a significant US type collector and Larry was a major collector of US type & English hammered but he has sold his collections."

Great topic. What other families around the world have retained their numismatic holdings across multiple generations? Queen Elizabeth II has a family stamp collection; are there more such numismatic collections? -Editor

"This brings up an interesting point. The rod of Asclepius, not the caduceus represents medicine.

"The caduceus (a winged rod with two snakes winding around it) is the traditional staff of Hermes (Mecury in Roman mythology). Hermes is a herald and messenger of the gods, and protects travellers, thieves, and merchants. With his winged sandals, Hermes can move quickly between heaven and earth. Some of his attributes are the caduceus, winged sandals and helmet, a rooster, a tortoise, and a satchel.

"The sign for medicine was not originally the caduceus, but the rod of Asclepius, with a single snake and no wings. Asclepius was the Greek god of healing and medicine.

"In 1856 the US army hospital stewards sported a caduceus on their chevrons.

"In 1871, the Surgeon General designated the caduceus on the seal of the US Public Health Service. In 1902, the US Army Medical department adoped it despite this controversy about its significance. Those in favor pointed to the neutrality of merchant ships acting as hopspital ships which often flew a caduceus. Also, merchants supplying soldiers, were themselves neutral, like the medical corps. The medical corps wanted to portray itself as a neutral merchant. Thus the US ambulance service used the caduceus rather than the correct rod of Asclepius as an ensignia. And the rest is history!"

   
The Caduceus and the Rod of Asclepius

Thank you! Interesting history. -Editor

"As a previous ham radio operator, I noticed that several Morse code letters on the reverse of the Chubbuck Telegraph token looked wrong. This led to a little research:

"Samuel Morse invented the electric telegraph in 1832 and in 1838 produced a standard code to communicate by telegraphy.

"American Morse code, standardized in 1844, developed among railroad telegraphers, also called railroad Morse, further developed by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail.

"People called it American because the rest of the world later changed. First, the German Friedrich Gerke, changed it in 1848, eliminating spacing within letters, allowing only dots and dashes. Then in 1865 the International Telecommunication Union changed the code again to account for different character frequencies in other languages. This is the code we know today.

"The Chubbuck Telegraph Token, issued in the 1850s correctly illustrated American Morse code from 1844 ("railroad Morse"). Eleven letters of the alphabet, and nine of ten numerals are different in today's International Morse code when compared to railroad Morse."

More great history! Thanks. -Editor

   

"You ended up commenting, "I guess I wouldn't be surprised if more examples turn up." I've now stumbled across two more."

   

While not entirely numismatic in nature, it's still interesting to see how universally accepted the image is. Ron also supplied two related book covers. Thanks! -Editor

"The first one is rather different, although the picture is on a very similar theme. The second one uses a detail from the first."

   

Ron also discovered the images on stamps. Nice! -Editor

   

"Here's a new YouTube video I posted about the $7.68 million 1804 Silver Dollar. There were only three of us in the audience, and I don't know if Stack's/Bowers posted their own video, but there can't be too many video records of the event."

As auctions moved online, this was the inevitable result. Where once there were throngs of participants and peanut-gallery occupants, there are now empty chairs. The people are still there, only online from elsewhere. A very different experience. -Editor