"I would like to comment on the 50th anniversary of the first Bowers and Ruddy Public sale, Public meaning live bidders in the auction room. However, I have a catalog of a mail bid sale that they had almost 15 years earlier. This was held under the name The Penn-New York Auction company Q David Bowers - James F Ruddy. Inside the back cover is an announcement of future auction sales. However none took place.

"Dave was still a teenager at the time of that 1957 sale. Although he had been already been selling coins for two years through advertisements."

I sent my early Bowers periodicals to the Newman Numismatic Portal for scanning. Here's what the 1957 Penn-New York sale looks like. Great numismatic ephemera, and hard to find today. -Editor

"The second counterstamped Chinese coin in the 8/14 E-Sylum is actually a Japanese coin. It is listed as Hartill 4.102. minted from 1668 .AD. It is sought after as it was made from a Daibutsu or Buddha statue that was destroyed in an earthquake. As part of Buddhist practice, gold leaf was attached by the faithful thus the coin may have a gold content. All this lead to the belief that this coin if cast into a pipe would protect the user from the ill effects of smoking. What a fun coin."

"Perhaps some readers may have encountered cash countermarks such as those below.

"My surmise is that it is a membership token of a political nature, probably Communist, with the numbers below being a unit designation or a serialization for individual membership.

"I've collected Chinese cash for 70 years and have only encountered one such item."

Thanks, everyone. Can anyone help with this countermark? -Editor

"The Lily Ebert note's a 10 Mark Allied Payment Certificate. The fives are smaller and the twenties are larger. The MPC experts may be able to provide more information, it's not my specialty."

Thank you. -Editor

"Regarding the 3-cent token and its mysterious MEX inscription, that may be an abbreviation for "medium of exchange." It's just a guess on my part."

Hmmm. Could be, I guess. Better than any of my guesses (I didn't really have any). Other thoughts, anyone? -Editor

"Caleb Black has received the Numismatic Poet Society's 2022 award for Best Original Poem in a Numismatic Exhibit at the Georgia Numismatic Association Show. The award is a 2022 Proof American Silver Eagle in a Congratulations Set. Caleb is a Young Numismatist member of several organizations and a regular contributor to the ANA Member Blog. He has also exhibited, attended and paged at regional coin shows. The Award was Presented by John Phipps, founding member of the NPS. Also in the picture is Tom Youngblood, president of the GNA His poem is a haiku related to his interest in Chinese Silver Panda. Here is his winning poem.

Panda Coin Haiku by Caleb Black

Chinese panda coins

forty years minted

"The Numismatic Poets Society was started in 2012. A lifetime membership is available to any poet that writes and submits an original numismatic related poem and agrees to let it be distributed to all members. Membership is currently at 10 poets."

I like it. Congratulations. -Editor

"In the August 14 E-Sylum, Nathan Markowitz wrote about Indian Peace Medals and how the provenance info is difficult to obtain. I found this true when writing an article "Indian Peace Medals... did they help keep the peace?" in the Summer 2022 issue of The California Numismatist. I described (all?) 30 IPMs, and found the story of Chief Honkapkna's IPM especially interesting.

"I had described that medal this way: "Another remarkable example of the 1862 President Lincoln medal is in the collection of the American Numismatic Society. This piece has a bullet embedded in its reverse, and is said to have belonged to the Ute Indian chief Honkapkna, who probably received it in 1864 after a series of treaties created a reservation for the Ute tribe in what is now Utah. The chief had been shot in battle, probably in the Black Hawk War (1865–1872), but the medal saved his life by preventing the bullet from penetrating his body. Nevertheless, Honkapkna reputedly sold the medal in disgust in 1872 in its present condition because he had expected its medicine to have completely shielded him from harm. In this case, perhaps a Peace Medal saved at least one life."

"Another famous medal was the Chief "Three Fingers" engraving on a Benjamin Harrison IPM, undated but struck around 1890, the last of the original IPM series. This medal was originally presented to Chief Buffalo Meat of the Southern Cheyenne. It eventually became the property of Buffalo Meat's contemporary Chief Three Fingers. The eradicated name "Buffalo Meat" cold be partially read at the place where Three Fingers' name was then added. The medal was reportedly later acquired in a yard sale. (Provenance known, then lost!)

"Here is the Three Fingers medal reverse, and a photo of the chief wearing it."

"As to the dies used in 1922 this is the information from the Mint report. Probably not enough detail, but I thought I would still share."

Thank you. -Editor

"Would any of your readers have a copy of a sale catalogue 110 by a Belgian firm called Charles Dupriez who sold the August Moyaux collection? I am trying to research Captain Ernest Swan who had an extensive railway medallion collection."

Can anyone help? -Editor

"I searched the NNP for Reakirt and I found this terrific write up of the rare sale catalog in the 19th mail bid sale of numismatic literature by The Money Tree (Rocky River, Ohio)."

Thank you! -Editor