"As you may know, we at Central States have begun an exciting program of bringing one of our thirteen states into the spotlight each year at our convention. We call it the "State Showcase" program. Well, 2025 will be Nebraska. We are looking for articles about some of Nebraska premiere numismatic personalities particularly Aubrey Bebee and J. Hewitt Judd, both of whom are from Nebraska. Both making and having an important impact on the hobby. We are looking for articles!

"If any of your readers have or can share a biographical article about either or both of the aforementioned Nebraska Numismatic dignitaries, may I request that they submit their proposal to our editor, Barbara Gregory for inclusion in our magazine The Centinel? Please email editor@csns.org. Thank you!"

Great project. Can anyone help? -Editor

"Regarding your inquiry about the medal in the box with the Louisiana Purchase, it is actually a skippet, or box used to house a wax seal. The giveaway is the cords attached to it."

Well I'll be - I learned a new word! I wasn't aware of that, but it makes sense given the fragility of wax seals. Thanks! Scott provided these examples. -Editor

"Here is another view of the box and skippet from the National Archives website"

"Here is an example of a grant of arms and nobility with the skippet opened to show the wax seal."

Felix Bronstein passed along these articles on the US Mutilated Coin Program. Thanks. -Editor

"A while ago, I meant to submit some comments about a potential Roman coin of Sponsianus. I suppose better late than never.

"Based on everything that I have seen so far, I do not believe that Sponsianus was a Roman Emperor. I do not believe that the item is a Roman coin. I do, however, believe that the item was minted in Dacia around 270CE. I believe that the item was made as a wedding gift by a local jeweler for a friend.

"I base this on the following observations. I had read that the metallurgy is consistent with the impurities from the Dacia gold mines around 270CE. When I do a Google translate from Latin to English for spons, sponsi, sponsia, etc. the results are betrothed, bridegroom, spouse. The figure to the left of the honorific column seems to be projectile vomiting on the column (not honoring Rome). The weight is not consistent with a Roman coin of that time. The style is different. If someone were making a fake, the reverse type would not be consistent with what would be expected at the purported time of Sponsianus."

Thanks. Interesting option. What do readers think? -Editor

"To answer your question, these are some lots sold by Heritage from the Randy Bachman collection. No coins—just entertainment memorabilia. Besides the auction mentioned in the video, there were consignments of guitars, signed items, etc."

Thanks. So maybe the BTO guitarist isn't a celebrity numismatist. -Editor