"I'm just as stunned as everyone else - I've been assured by Heritage that the winning bidder is a serious client of theirs, and I was also contacted by another dealer who has this winner as a good customer, and they just wanted to know any background about the die - which I could not provide.

"I bought the die in the early '80's, I believe (not sure), and I cannot recall where or who I purchased it from - I had a variety of different ones I picked up over my 50 years as a dealer."

"I would like to politely disagree with Pete Smith's comments about who struck the 7,200 White Metal restrikes of the (c. 1859) Dickeson 1776-dated Continental Dollar for the Empire Coin Co. c. 1961-62, but to do so I must also disagree with my younger self. In my June & July, 1980 article on Thomas Elder in the Numismatist I did say that Bashlow had struck the pieces for Empire, and Pete was just quoting me, but I was wrong.

"According to more recent email correspondence I have had with Q. David Bowers on the subject, most recently in 2017 (and reconfirmed this week), he said that he believed that Empire Coin Co. had gotten the dies from John J. Ford, and that he thought that the 7,200 White Metal strikes were made by John Pinches of London. Empire then sold the dies to Bashlow, who did what he did with them.

"Entirely on my own, I would speculate that if the original Dickeson dies did indeed come to Empire from Ford, and I have no reason to doubt that they did, that Ford got them from the estate of F.C.C. Boyd, which Ford purchased after Boyd died in 1958. Boyd was a close friend of Thomas L. Elder, and was mentioned on a few Elder medals.

"The ANA Museum had many Elder medals that I was told, when doing my research on Elder prior to the 1980 article, had been donated by Ford as ex-Boyd. I recall that there was one particular DeLorey number which my notes from the Elder auction catalogues said had 10 pieces struck in Red Fibre, of which the Museum had 7 of the 10!"

Thanks for the update! -Editor

"The May 8, 2022 E-Sylum had a short article about the 2016 film "Mojave" which had an 1893 Double Eagle in it. I watched a little of the film and at about 80 minutes into the film the coin appears on a table twice. I have attached two screen prints of the coin."

Thanks! -Editor

"The May 8 issue of The E-Sylum stated that Bernard Ross Hansen had been placed on the FBI Most Wanted List. I believe this is incorrect. I also believe the fault lies with the source article and not with The E-Sylum.

"One of my sources indicates that, at any one time, there are about 12,000 fugitives wanted by the FBI. I believe Hansen is one of those and not on any "Most Wanted" list.

"I once dated a local model. However, she was not a "Supermodel" so it was not a big deal. Perhaps the numismatic difference is like the difference between a dime and a disme."

That's right - the article we quoted used the term "Most Wanted". The FBI web site is easy to check and Hansen isn't on the Ten Most Wanted List, at least not anymore. According to the pages linked below Hansen and his travelling companion have been captured.

I remember reading an article about long odds - winning a PowerBall Jackpot, getting hit by lightning, dying in a plane crash, etc. All were pretty astronomical - 1 in many millions. Then I read that the chances of dating a supermodel were 1 in 40,000. So I'm thinking, hey - I got a shot! -Editor

"No, but a bunch have sold on eBay, many for $50. One sold Wednesday for $379, and there's one with an optimistic Buy It Now price of $809 because the edge is a little different."

Thanks! I'm not surprised these have found their way to eBay. That seems like a high price for a piece with 120,000 made, but Supply and Demand, baby. -Editor