"Thank you for the retrospective look at The E-Sylum and the interesting little nugget that there were 49 people in the initial mailing back in 1998. At the time I was working at Humber College in Toronto so had internet connectivity through that institution. I was petch@humberc.on.ca and I see you were whomren@telerama.com!

"I have always done my own archiving, so I have quite the collection of back issues ... always useful for automated searching."

That's a trip down Internet memory lane. Telerama was one of the first Internet service providers (ISP) in the world, with roots at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University. I remember being in touch with its founder Doug Luce. I'd taught myself HTML coding and built the NBS website shortly before starting The E-Sylum. I also applied what I'd learned to projects for my employer, and built one of the first commercial webpages for telecom company U.S West - it was a simple form where people could sign up for DSL service to their home. -Editor

"You ask "What's not to like about Zeppelins?" Perhaps high on the list of answers would be their use to bomb England during World War I. Google tells me that the 52 raids on England killed 556 and injured 1,357."

Well, there's that. And the Hindenburg disaster. But one can still appreciate the history and beauty of a nice Zeppelin medal. Here are a few we've illustrated before. -Editor

Last week I asked if there was a primary source such as a newspaper article documenting the story of H. Alvin Sharpe creating the first Mardi Gras doubloons in anodized aluminum. -Editor

"The first Mardi Gras Doubloons were distributed in 1960. The earliest newspaper articles I could find were dated 1966. By then the doubloons were already collectable."

Thanks for checking. -Editor

"A few issues ago, you mentioned that the History Channel will be showing the discovery of the S.S. America, which will be shown at the time you are sending out the E-Sylum.

"I saw it a week ago on the Canadian channel of the History Channel and was somewhat disappointed. They showed underwater scenes of clumps of coins and bars, but I was hoping for some closeups of cleaned (archively restored) pieces."

This is definitely disappointing from a numismatic perspective. For further discussion, please see Bob Evans' review elsewhere in this issue. -Garrett