"The changes to the 2026 Red Book look interesting but confusing, particularly the commemorative section. The classic commemoratives will once again be listed alphabetically instead of chronologically. They were originally listed alphabetically but switched to chronologically in the 1960's. I personally think listing by date of issue made the series "flow" better and many readers have since gotten used to this format. Continuing to list the modern commemoratives by date is logical, but next to the classic series may bring confusion.

"Imagine if they listed every category alphabetically? For dollars we'd have: American Innovation, Anthony, Capped Bust, Draped Bust, Eisenhower, Flowing Hair, Gobrecht, Morgan, Native American, Peace, Presidential, Sacagawea, Seated Liberty, and finally Trade. Yikes!

"They fooled around with Coca Cola once (remember New Coke?) and look what happened. If it works don't fix it."

Ron Guth posted a new video on the 1840 Quarter Eagle. -Editor

"I went to get a book from my library and these fell down. Both were taken at a show in Singapore some 30 or more years ago. The top one shows Richard Lobel and his lovely wife Clare and myself And the bottom shows Edward Baldwin and Richard Ponterio walking around the street during Chinese New Year."

Thanks for sharing these! Is that Ron Gillio next to Richard Lobel? -Editor

"I have one of these plaques and I found most of the information regarding this them on your website. I would be interested in selling this."

If any reader is interested in purchasing or auctioning the shield, let me know and I'll put you in touch. -Editor

In my E-Sylum post on October 13th, 2024, about AI coin analysis, I predicted that: "AI is now just two steps away from surpassing human graders. The next step is AI being able to analyze a live video feed. The final step is integrating live video into a robotics platform. The AI would be able to analyze a coin in real-time. Like a human, it can dynamically rotate a coin to see all angles."

I'm excited to share that we have taken a significant stride toward talking step one.

On January 31, 2025, OpenAI introduced its groundbreaking o3-mini model, a frontier reasoning model capable of live video analysis. I tested its capabilities using two ANACS slabs, focusing on grading accuracy and accessibility for users to analyze coins live with AI.

Check out this video recording of my conversation with o3-mini on 03/02/2025, in which I prompted it to analyze, evaluate, and grade a coin based on what it saw.

This development promises to transform the way we interact with and evaluate coins. Although I tested only two coins and do not claim that flawless AI coin analysis is here yet, it's clear that AI advancements are accelerating rapidly.

I did observe some significant limitations during testing:

• I had to prompt the AI to move on to the next step; it did not proactively suggest adjusting the coin's angle or lighting like a human would
• The model does not appear to process a continuous live stream but takes an image every few frames. I'm excited to see when true livestream is implemented.