"Fast approaching 80, I've long firmly believed that attaining old age is influenced greatly by having a engrossing, long-lasting hobby. Al Johnbrier and Ed Kuszmar ‘s passing at, respectively, 87 and 81 are the most recent proofs. Harvey Stack lived well into his 90's as well as Henry Beckwith at 100 and Henderschott to 104. Absent bad habits like tobacco and excessive alcohol, there's little doubt a long life is significantly due to long involvement in numismatics.

"Re the Clapp large cent collection being retained in its entirety by the Carnegie. Not true. Carnegie Curator Ray Byrne had engaged in trading or selling important large cents. I owned a superb AU 1793 S-3 Chain cent pedigreed to the Carnegie Clapp collection. Won out of a Heritage auction in the 1980's, and pedigreed to the Clapp collection only by an obverse photograph in their files, Heritage held it undelivered for several months until researcher Del Bland cleared it on paper as not proven to have been illegally deaccessioned by the Carnegie. It was the finest S-3 in the Clapp cent collection. Heritage auctioned it again out of my collection in Jan 2019. I do miss all my 1792-93's.

"Re the Rothschild numismatic background, there is a superb 1934 movie on the beginnings of the Family Rothschild history starring George Arliss and Robert Young ( of TV's Father Knows Best) and Boris Karloff as an antisemitic banker, appearing infrequently on TCM.

"On QDB's comments on series completion and the satisfaction/ depression on finishing it, there's another school of thought. I have long treasured collecting a numismatic subject that eludes completion, leaving the hunt wide open and the lure of finding and acquiring that missing link. Much more rewarding in my opinion."

Thanks on all counts. -Editor

"I've been reading in your last two issues about lucky finds made by collectors when they were young. I also had a few of those experiences when I was a boy growing up in Detroit in the early 1950s.

"But this letter is about chancing, a few years ago, to get rolls of pre-1965 silver quarters and halves from a friendly bank teller who knew I was a coin collector. She was close to retirement and did not understand the distinction between pre-1965 and post-1964 dimes, quarters, halves and dollars, even when I explained the issue of precious-metal and base-metal coinage to her.

"What happened was that a customer she didn't know brought in several rolls of quarters and halves that he had inherited from his late father. The customer must have realized, from a price guide, that none of the coins in the rolls was a numismatic rarity and so he just turned them in to the bank at face value, at a time when the market value of silver bullion exceeded $22.00 per ounce.

"When I took the coins home, I examined them for rarity and found none was rare but all were pre-1965 silver. So I returned them to the bank for my teller friend to contact the previous owner and get them back. I wrote a note for the teller and the owner explaining that the coins he had turned in at face value were worth several hundred dollars of silver bullion. But my teller friend was not there so I left the coins and note in the care of one of her younger colleagues, explaining the situation.

"Later I learned from her that she never got the coins and note -- but we did not pursue the matter since none of them could identify who the man was who had brought them in. At least, I assumed, someone was able to get the full value of the silver bullion."

"This find was not exciting, "numismatically speaking," but periodically I still see articles in Coin World in the "found in rolls" column about collectors finding individual pre-1965 silver dimes, quarters and halves hiding in rolls among the base-metal coinage. So seeing that there were still entire rolls of silver coinage "out there" in private hands, well into the Twenty-First Century, was quite a pleasant surprise."

"I was looking through The Numismatist for November 1939, page 918, and the description of an ANA convention exhibit placed by Farran Zerbe: "A number of 10-cent Meredith fractional currency after being "improved" by an artist."

Nice find! Thanks. Who knows, maybe Michael Merrill's note was once handled by Zerbe and exhibited at the show. Of course, our readers uncovered several examples, so apparently this was something common at the time. -Editor

"I have a request for information concerning George Mills. He was a medallist employed by the Soho mint from circa 1809 until his death in 1824. He produced many medals and is the subject of an in-depth look by me.

"At this point, I am particularly interested in his personal life, why he died along with his attempts to gain employment with the Royal Mint. He was employed at the Soho mint with many well known medalists including a few of the Wyons.

"I will be deeply appreciative of any information from your readers."

Great project. Can anyone help? -Editor

"I came by a publication done online by you about a book that caught my interest: Moneymakers: The Secret World of Banknote Printing by Klaus Bender.

"Unsurprisingly I can't find a copy of the book in physical or digital formats. Would you happen to know where I could purchase a copy of this?"

I've found bookfinder.com to be a useful site for searching for used books. Five hits came up, including a couple in the United States. -Editor

"As the holiday season begins, Numismatics with Kenny eBay store is rolling out our Black Friday sale which begins today and runs through December 4, 2022. All numismatic books are 50% off and a significant number of listings are up to 15% off.

"I have added and will continue to add hundreds of Masonic Tokens and So-called dollar listings as well as many new US and world coins, medals, tokens, bullion and currency listings.

"Now is a great time to add to your collection or to purchase gifts for friends and family members who collect. Check out my tokens and medal's categories to find interesting items to gift to young collectors who are beginning to show an interest in collecting. World coins and exonumia collecting began my passion for the hobby when I was younger. There are so many subjects exonumia and world coins cover that you are likely to find items that will appeal to everyone. I personally enjoy the history behind US and world coins."

"I thought readers might be amused with a saying I got in the mail."

Ain't it the truth! Thanks. -Editor