"The "Father and Sons" ancient coin reminded me of my favorite coin from my collection of coins that commemorate music composers, to wit: Austria 500 schilling 1999, KM-3055. Johann Strauss (vater) and Johann Strauss II, or, popularly, "Jr." (sohn), A.K.A. the Waltz King."

Thanks. Nice coin. -Editor

"We were taking inventory, and found this. Did not make the connection until a couple weeks ago. It is by J.L. Houston of Seattle. This firm made jewelry for the Alaska market featuring gold nugget overlay. Unless there is another saint that holds gold scales, my guess is that this is St. Eligius."

"It is gold nuggeted on 14K. On Alaska jewelry, jewelers would take a 10k or 14k base, and solder small gold nuggets to the base. Gold Nugget initials were very popular. Nuggeted watch bands were huge during pipeline. Here's one."

Both interesting topics. Thanks. -Editor

"I found J. P. Koning's blog Moneyness, about Bitcoin interesting. The principal arguments for it seem to be as a currency, and as an investment. However, it appears to me to be neither. Here is a reply I posted on his blog:

"Hello. I read your blog after it got into E-Sylum which I read each week, a post for numismatists, especially those interested in numismatic literature.

"The functions of money are:
1. a pricing mechanism
2. a medium of exchange
3. a store of value.

"Crypto is not a pricing mechanism. I do not see anything in any of my local stores in eastern Connecticut showing the prices of anything in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. I do not see anything priced in Bitcoin on Amazon or Walmart, the largest two internet retailers in the world. Neither accept Bitcoin to buy anything from them.

"Likewise, I have never been offered payment for anything as a medium of exchange. Currency, checks, and plastic, are the current mediums of exchange for goods and services in eastern Connecticut.

"Likewise I do not see it as a store of value as it is too volatile. From November 2021 to June 2022 it fell from $64,402 to 18,971. Who would want to be paid in a currency which could drop to 29% of its value in 7 months? That would be worse than living in Argentina!

"Thus, I do not see crypto as money. I have always had the feeling that crypto is "the emperor's new clothes". Certainly a boon for darknet and criminal dealings, but otherwise simply a Ponzi type scheme that seems to have gained traction with those who can see the emperor's clothes, which I can't."

"Although I am not a collector of large cents, I enjoyed the video entitled "The Color History of Large Cents" (noted in the December 29 E-Sylum). That item caught my attention because it relates to the color-related issue I often face of how to distinguish between certain copper and brass coins of the early Republic of China, where metallic composition may be the difference between a common and a rare coin.

"Absent metallurgical testing, collectors are generally forced to judge a coin's composition by its color, but that may introduce uncertainty. Copper coins may appear "brassy" through wear or chemical or environmental discoloration. On the other hand, the color of brass (a copper-zinc alloy) may vary from dark reddish-brown to yellow to gold to a light silvery-yellow, depending on the amounts of copper, zinc, and other metals in the alloy. A basic copper-zinc alloy will be progressively more reddish in color as the amount of zinc is reduced. Alternatively, a small amount of manganese may cause brass to weather to a chocolate brown color.

"In Tracey Woodward's book on the ten cash coins of China, he noted that Chinese mints often debased the copper used for ten and twenty cash coins by adding "foreign material" and/or old cash coins (the cast square-holed brass coins) to the alloy. As a result, judging the composition by color may be difficult. Woodward resolved this issue for purposes of his book by recognizing "only two classes of metals, the one of yellow brass, including pinchbeck, and the other to include all copper pieces, debased—such as bell-metal, bronze, etc., or otherwise." In other words, yellow- and gold-colored coins were cataloged as brass, while all others were copper, even if a particular "copper" variety was made from an alloy that qualified as brass (or some other alloy, such as bronze).

"I discuss this issue in greater detail in my recent book, The Hunan Twenty Cash Commentary, which describes 97 varieties of twenty cash coins from that province, including several brass varieties not shown in the Standard Catalog and/or Duan. (My earlier book on the general issue ten cash coins, The Ten Cash Commentary, discusses the copper/brass issue in less detail).

"I am attaching photographs I use for the chapter in my Hunan book discussing the copper versus brass issue."

Thank you. Important topic that doesn't get the level of attention it deserves. -Editor

In the NSFW department (not safe for work) is this somewhat numismatic video sent along by Ken Spindler. Thanks. -Editor

"This guy is quite funny and sometimes uses very foul language, but here's his silly innocent video about eating coins."