LOOSE CHANGE: NOVEMBER 5, 2023

In 19th-century America and parts of Europe, a more sophisticated and deceptive method came into use along with the large influx of new gold from California and Australia. This used a real coin, such as a $10 eagle or a $20 double eagle, and preserved the faces and most of the edge in original condition. The counterfeiter did not attempt to copy the coin; rather, gold was removed from inside. Visually, the coin appeared genuine, but in reality it had been hollowed out, the gold removed, and the cavity filled with a cheap heavy metal such as platinum.

Pure platinum, at 21.45 grams per cubic centimeter, was noticeably denser than pure gold's 19.3 g/cc, but native platinum contained impurities (including palladium) that reduced its density enough to make it a good replacement for gold in counterfeiting.

Notice that until 1890 it was only one-fifth or less per ounce than the price of gold. It was not until about 1901 that platinum equaled, and then exceeded, gold's price.

To read the complete article, see:
Counterfeit Gold Coins Filled With Platinum: Hollow Gold (https://coinweek.com/counterfeit-gold-coins-filled-with-platinum-hollow-gold/)

But the really fortunate part of this numismatic fun happened at the 1987 ANA convention. Concurrently, each year, the Professional Numismatists Guild held its annual banquet. After a round of drinks and the usual conversation, we all settled down to a table for dinner and the usual festivities. The seat next to me was vacant, and soon, a dignified older fellow sat down and began a polite conversation. His dress was a conservative suit and tie, and we talked quietly about the banquet and the number of people attending. After a few minutes, it dawned on me that this was Richard S. Yeoman. I excused myself and said, You must be Richard Yeoman, of Red Book fame. I had never met him in person, so I introduced myself.

To read the complete article, see:
Red Book Recollections: Richard Schwary (https://news.coinupdate.com/red-book-recollections-richard-schwary/)

The British Library is suffering a technology outage after it was hit by a cyber-attack, which is affecting services online and its sites in London and Yorkshire.

Access to the website, as well as the catalogue and digital collections, is temporarily unavailable. The collection of items ordered on or after 27 October, new collection item orders via digital catalogues and reading room PCs are also inaccessible, it said. Reader registration is also unavailable.

To read the complete article, see:
British Library suffering major technology outage after cyber-attack (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/31/british-library-suffering-major-technology-outage-after-cyber-attack)

Also see:
An Apparent Cyberattack Hushes the British Library (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/arts/british-library-cyber-attack.html)
https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/british-toronto-libraries-struggle-after-cyber-incidents (https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/british-toronto-libraries-struggle-after-cyber-incidents)

For the descendants of Elijah Reels, an area of coastal North Carolina in Carteret County has been their sanctuary – where they could raise their families, earn a living, and enjoy the bounty and the pleasures of the waterways.

But in recent decades, those descendants — Gertrude Reels, her children, and their children — have been trying to hold onto the family land, caught up in a legal system that historically advantages white interests over those of African Americans like the Reels.

The family's long struggle — which has seen two members of the family, Melvin Davis and Licurtis Reels, jailed for years for defying a court order — is told in the documentary Silver Dollar Road. The film directed by Oscar nominee Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) is now streaming on Prime Video.

To read the complete article, see:
Welcome To ‘Silver Dollar Road,' Where Prime Black Land Becomes Target Of White Control (https://deadline.com/2023/10/silver-dollar-road-director-raoul-peck-interview-1235586843/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LOOSE CHANGE: NOVEMBER 29, 2020 : Moneyed Street Names (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n48a34.html)

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