"I found a little more information to add to the story of Charles Pletz, the Arizona assayer.

"The June 22, 1872, Weekly Arizona Miner reported that Mr. Pletz, Assayer in Cerbat, is making our money: Plenty of silver bars, worth from $6 to $25, and stamped, Wallapai District, are in circulation here and money is becoming flush in consequence.

"Pletz advertised his assaying office - this is from the November 27, 1874, Arizona Miner.

"Later in the 1890s, Pletz advertised as a Mining Engineer and Metallurgist under the name Carlos Pletz. He "fell dead" in September 1897 at the fiesta grounds after inspecting a mine and was buried in Nogales. After Pletz died, the national press reported that his son, Fred Pletz of San Francisco, was stunned to learn that his father was a wealthy mining man who had left him $50,000."

Thanks. There's always something new to discover in numismatics. -Editor

"Boggs remains a popular topic of discussion. BTW -- I recently completed an acrylic painting on canvas based on an artificial intelligence designed Hobo Nickel. I take a weekly painting class as therapy for my stroked arm."

Nice. Thanks. -Editor

"Thank you for mentioning Laurence Edwards' reminder of a significant numismatic anniversary, and the image of the week, Boulton and Watts 50 pound note. The SOHO Mint was an interesting place with many talented engravers. To further highlight James Watts and his steam press, the below Watts death medal shows a nice depiction of it.

"George Mills was one of those talented engravers at the SOHO Mint and who created this medal. Mills worked under Boulton and Watts. Mills won three gold medals for his designs from the Royal Arts Society. Unfortunately, he died young and did not fulfill his ambitions. Mills competed against William Wyon for the position of second engraver at the Royal Mint. Wyon was chosen and went on to become one of Britain's greatest engravers. The competition is an interesting story as are the other aspects of Mills' life. Sadly, Mills did not produce a medal of Boulton.

"I have been researching George Mills over the past few years and may write a book about him and his creations. If any of your readers collect Mills' medals and/or coins, I would like to hear from them."

Nice medal. Can anyone assist with the George Mills research? -Editor

"I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the last issue of The E-Sylum. There was just so much good stuff. Keep up the great writing. It is greatly appreciated.

"I found the holey auction quite interesting, being a holey collector myself. I collect early half cents. I have about five holey ones right now. I have a 1794, 1804, 1805 and 1828, and a couple others I can't think of. It's even better if I can find counter-stamped holey halves. There is something about a coin that old that was obviously used by people back then that piqued my initial interest."

"We enjoyed the article about holey coins, and the story about you having one lost, and replaced. Yes, in most cases, not all of ours, 90% is what is still there, and collectible in its own way - valuable date or not. Here is what they are:

Top left to right:
1809 Half
1876 Trade dollar (mintmark ? - fire damage)
1808 Half

Middle row:
1913-S nickel
1857 Flying Eagle Cent
1856-O Half (hole in an unusual place)

Last row:
1853 three cent silver
183? half dime (has a very strong reverse)
1890 dime (if there was a mintmark, it was punched through."

"In the last issue of the E-Sylum, you discussed your holed Hawaiian quarter and U.S. merchant counterstamp collection. You also mentioned that counterstamping small coins is hard.

"I thought you might be interested in seeing a Mexican 1/2 Real that is not only holed but has a Y.II Philippine counterstamp. I included a Roosevelt dime for size comparison. These counterstamps are normally found on 8 Reales (& sometimes 4 Reales) coins. It is quite rare to find such a counterstamp on a 1/2 Real coin."

Thanks, everyone. Fun coins. -Editor

"Like Kerry Wetterstrom, I, too, would stop by Wayne C. Phillips' table at the Long Beach coin show in the first decade of the present century. I would show him the respect due to an elder member of the community, though I now see he was a month younger than myself. And like Kerry, I would discuss the matter of his name, and that of his home town, Phillips Ranch, with him.

"After he had closed his business, he came to the Long Beach show as a customer and showed up at Tom Reynolds' table. For some 20 years or more, I have sat at Tom's table, helping prospective customers, but mostly just keeping company with whoever was subleasing that end of the table, Bill Yates or Jim McGuigan. Anyway, Wayne came to the table, he was putting together a large cent date set of moderate quality, and I began showing him coins. After 1/2 hour or so, Tom, seeing a fair number of his coins spread out on the case, came over to see what was transpiring, and Wayne said, "I'll take these." I think Tom was more than a little surprised that I knew someone, not a regular copper collector, who would buy a dozen or more coins with a value into 5 figures.

"A few years later, in October 2014, I found that Doug Bird had purchased a large cent collection from the heirs of Wayne Phillips, so I looked at the coins involved. Some were ones he had bought from Reynolds, but there was a 1797 NC-5, rarity 6 at the time (barely so, today), which Doug had not yet attributed. To buy the coin, Doug made me tell him the variety. I did, and although his eyeballs turned to dollar signs at the sound of those letters, NC, I made him give me a healthy discount for professional services, attributing the coin. I have the coin, tied CC7, in my collection. It was earlier from the Tom Wolf collection sold by the Goldbergs in 2008.

"I find it interesting that I know Kerry from his involvement with ancient coins, from the Celator to CNG, Wayne from his dealing in ancient coins and table at Long Beach, Tom and Doug from my activities in large cents, that the 5 or us are all tied to one another. Wayne and Doug have passed, Kerry is retired, but I should be seeing Tom next month at Long Beach."

"Smoke Farthings at Whitsun (Pentecost)

"In mediaeval times there was an annual farthing tax on households which had a chimney, which was paid towards the upkeep of the local cathedral. On Whit Monday people walked in a procession to the local cathedral, or if that was far away to the main church in the vicinity, and they paid what was known as the Whitsun Farthing. Amersham in Buckinghamshire was one of the designated local churches for people to process to, but the inhabitants in nearby Chesham resented going all the way to Amersham. In 1454 they petitioned the Bishop of Lincoln to allow them to hold their procession to the parish church in Chesham instead. This was agreed provided they contributed 16 pence annually to the upkeep of the cathedral. After the Reformation the tradition was to collect farthing donations at a special Whitsun service for the upkeep of church buildings generally.

"This ancient tradition continued in Amersham and Chesham until 1960. In 1957 Christ Church Waterside in Chesham, collected 14,640 farthings; and Amersham parish collected 15,092 farthings. After 1961 when farthings were no longer legal tender the tradition died with it.

"There are also references to Whit Farthings for Worcester Cathedral in 1656 and Southwell Cathedral in London in 1906."

Thank you. I hadn't heard of the Whitsun Farthing tradition. -Editor