"Larry Casey was a great buddy and could be found at our office for days on end. He'd often help out at shows, and on weekends he'd hang out at the house, doing the odd construction/repair job or just talking notes or doing nothing on the lanai.

He was sweet and gentle, and I only saw him lose it once (mea culpa). Our condolences to his nephew, whom he often spoke about, also his sister and brother-in-law. He had a glimmer in his eyes and a voice that was un-mistakenly, Larry Casey."

"In On Eating Banknotes, Bob Leuver asks what does one serve or drink with this dish?"

Why Coin-treau, Bob, of course. "

Touché! -Editor

"Regarding Brian Hendelson's 1839 US Mint -struck Daniel Morgan Comitia Americana $960K gold medal:

"I distinctly recall a 1970's NYC Sotheby's auction of another gold Revolutionary War Comitia Americana medal - must've been the General Anthony Wayne gold medal - for $50,000. I attended that auction and remember then- Sotheby's employee Mike Hodder standing up front by the dais, his hands crossed in front of him. I didn't know who he was back then. That gold medal has not resurfaced on the auction block since then. Acquired by whom ? "

Does anyone know of the medal's whereabouts today? -Editor

"The 50th anniversary notice is totally incorrect, as they have the children's names are wrong. I'm sure the wedding announcement is correct. "

Here's Pete Smith's response. -Editor

" I remember that Mr. Thompson was almost immediately sued by a bunch of Insurance companies. The judge in that case threw most of them out as they had no paperwork to prove their claims. He also noted that Mr. Thompson was entitled to full salvage rights as the ship was in international waters.

"I believe some descendents were also suing claiming that a share of the money found was theirs. The question was well how much did your Great,Great Grandpa have on board with him? Hmmm. Now, if some of Mr. Thompson's investors are embroiled with him in a lawsuit that is indeed a different matter.

"I believe that the judge in the current case is way out of line as the article is correct about the max sentence now allowed for civil contempt. Back in the day a judge could keep you in the pokey forever on civil contempt.But not on Criminal contempt! That got changed after the Pentagon Papers case where a judge kept doing the same thing this one is doing. That means this judge is in contempt himself as well as a being scofflaw. "

A great big multi-decade mess. -Editor

"65 years overdue is really pretty tame ... a recent local San Francisco Bay Area news story highlighted a 96 year old return. Mental Floss has some other U S stories up to 221 years, but according to Guinness the world record seems to be 288 years."

What a record!" -Editor

"The curved needle information in the last issue of the newsletter brought back memories of my Dad.

"Dad was a carpetlayer and as a youngster of 10-16 years old I often went with him on "moonlighting" jobs to help. In the "old" days before the advent of hot tape carpet seaming the two pieces of carpeting had to be sewn together. Pop had a selection of curved needles in his tool box for this operation. I can remember him sitting on the floor sewing carpeting together on some of those jobs. It was a terrible task needing patience and calluses on the fingers to do without inflicting pain on the operator. Later in "our" career there was the hot glue method of seaming where a pre-measured amount of glue was on a roll of tape which could be easily cut to the length needed for the seam. A hot iron was then placed on the tape melting the glue and as you slowly advanced the iron the two pieces of carpet would fall into place on the melted glue which soon dried bonding the seam. What a time, and finger, saver!

"So, curved needles aren't just for book binding..."

"The mention of your "NoVa" dining group reminds me of one particular disaster in American marketing. Chevrolet at one point tried to introduce one of their models into the Mexican market, this being the well-known Chevy Nova. Problem is: they did not conducer the name--No va is Spanish for "It doesn't go". Oops!"