"Every time I see one of David's videos on early copper on The E-Sylum, I have to laugh. His logo at the introductions is made up of (mostly) early copper coins in a pile.

"He didn't create that. It served as the back cover that I had created for the 2005 Annapolis EAC convention brochure. He cut it in half along the middle and used the right half for the left side and the left half for the right side of his title pages.

"When I saw him later, I asked him if he was aware that he had usurped (I didn't use that word; I just like it) copyrighted material without attribution. After he blanched noticeably, I told him he had permission henceforth to use it for free. He relaxed and kept using the image for as long as he did videos at EAC shows.

"Here is an image of the original brochure cover. The boat image came from Red Henry, and about six of the coins on the reverse were from my own collection at the time; the rest were used with permission from auction companies. It's always a joy to see the old friends in the videos and old copper friends in the introductions to the videos."

Great story! Thanks. Nice work on the brochure - no wonder it saw new life. Great coins. -Editor

I reached out to Jon Lusk for an update on the NumiStudy software for researching die varieties of early American copper coins. -Editor

NumiStudy is still being updated and sold. The original three are still in the saddle. (Myself [computer stuff], Bill Noyes [photography, grading and comments], and Dan Demeo [pedigrees]) We have released version 6 and are working on the next one, due out late next year. The program itself has seen major upgrades to its functionality.

Individual databases are priced as follows:

OR All databases with program for $3,000

It's a lot of money I realize, but when a user comes up at a show and says
"Thanks - the database just saved me $5,000 when it showed me what the coin I was about to buy looked like 5 years ago and the current picture of the coin today!"

or
"The dealer tells me it's 5th finest and I see pictures of 11 coins that are better...."

or
"It was great to see the price history on a coin I was looking at. Helped with my decision."

Thanks. For inquiries, Jon can be reached at jon@lusk.cc . -Editor

"I wanted to bring up a topic that I think readers would find both interesting as well as giving them a chance to add their own perspective to the matter.

"On Friday, Microsoft updated Bing's AI art generator model to Dalle-E 3 and it's a massive leap forward. I played around with it to see if it could create photorealistic images of coins and the results are staggering. This was what I created in 15 seconds. We're not there yet, but we're getting darn close.

"That got me thinking about what the ramifications will be once anyone anywhere can generate a realistic image of any coin in any grade. I thought I would toss out this question to your readers to see what issues they see with this tool being released to the world once it's perfected. I'm curious about what we coin collectors should be wary of once AI images are indistinguishable from real images."

Interesting! Thanks. Impressive at first glance. These things are destined to get better over time. Here's an interesting article I came across this week. -Editor

"In the past, I both lived and traveled to various countries in Asia. It is quite common in many countries for less than perfect bank notes to be rejected. I once had trouble converting a $100 bill in Hong Kong (before its turn over to mainland China) because it had gotten wet. In addition, smaller bills are harder to convert than larger ones. I only convert $100 bills.

"Also, besides being in pristine condition, the note should be of the latest series. In the Philippines (unlike in the U.S.), when a new series is issued, the old series is no longer valid. Because of this, money changers in the Philippines will not accept anything but the latest series because they believe that other countries treat older series notes in a similar manner. During my last trip to the Philippines, I met some Chinese tourists in a restaurant. They had the equivalent of a few hundred dollars U.S. in Philippine bank notes from an earlier visit. They were both shocked and disappointed to learn that all their older Philippine bank notes were now worthless.

"So, in summary, only convert large bills of the latest series in pristine condition."

Thanks for the advice! -Editor

"I grew up in Astoria (specifically Hallet's Cove), one and a half blocks from the East River. Everybody was familiar with the story regarding the gold coins. However, I have always understood that the treasure is now buried under tons of landfill when the shoreline was expanded. So, people searching for it in the water are wasting their time."

"I am thrilled that the three volumes on Morgan dollars are going to be made available in digital format. However, I know absolutely nothing about Amazon's Kindle, let alone how to get it on my computer. Perhaps in you could elaborate for us newbies on how it works and how to get it on our machines."

Well, it's not as simple as downloading a .pdf of the book you purchased - Amazon doesn't want to let anyone share their e-books. But there are options which don't require the Kindle device. Here's what Amazon says. -Editor

That second link is the Kindle Cloud Reader - e-books that you purchase from Amazon will appear here and you can read them directly in your browser without downloading a thing. -Editor

Nobody asked, so I will. What is the source for the motto "We Shall Persevere" on the 2023 American Liberty silver medal? As a medal and not a (bullion) coin, it needn't include all the inscriptions required by law on coins. But it's an interesting juxtaposition to see the gold coin and silver medal obverses side-by-side, one with "In God We Trust" and the other without it. -Editor