Last week's "Best of" E-Sylum issue was a gem! It brought back a lot of favorable memories of reading these notable items originally. Wayne, can you go on vacation more often?

Not if it means that much work! The special issue was a nice idea, but in practice it took almost as much time as a normal issue to compile. But it was fun and a nice change of pace.

I wish Heidi Wastweet all success. Heaven knows, we could certainly use her! But we could also use elimination of much of the verbiage that tradition or law demands that each and every coin has to carry. You can't create a decent design if your work is constantly interrupted by words, however sacred they may be. Other countries have figured out ways to give designer a chance. Why can't this one?

The Osborne Coin Company in Cincinnati is well known to collectors of encased coins. Earl Fankhauser the "Penny Man" from Fort Wayne, IN sold encased coins made by Osborne. Bryan Ryker wrote a book about Earl Fankhauser. Bryan had a website with copies of the Osborne ledgers of the Earl Fankhauser created encased pieces. I have with Bryan's permission provided the original article on Earl Fankhauser on my Encased Coins website www.encasedcoins.info/earl_fankhauser.html .

I have provided a page on the Osborne Coin Company here www.encasedcoins.info/osborne.html with links to scans of the ledgers. One of my future projects is to convert these images to an actual searchable database. There are 20 years of ledgers from 1949 -1969. Bryan was able to get access to the ledgers...perhaps other will also.

It does seem to me to be entirely too many coins suddenly coming on the market at the time of the Chicago ANA show. I just read , I believe on Legend's website, there are over 10,000 auction lots. In this economy? What effect will this auction " load" have on bourse sales?- I'd guess a heavy toll. We'll see. Most auction sessions start well before the bourse closes for the evening- something I'm astonished the ANA permitted.

I wanted to note that Syd Martin has done a fantastic job as C4 Editor! In addition to authoring a book that is now the recognized standard reference on Wood's Hibernia coinage, having another book (Rosa Americana coinage) that is just being completed and in the final editing, having several books "in the works" and being a recognized expert in most areas of colonial numismatics, Syd volunteers his time to edit and publish the C4 Newsletter. I won't embarrass him by mentioning all the not for profit organizations he's affiliated with.

Editors are an under-appreciated breed. They are in constant need of articles, put in countless hours of work and most club editors do it for the love of the hobby. All the collector sees is a finished product in their mail box (or inbox). We all too often just sit and enjoy the product without realizing what went into making it happen.

I'd just wanted to thank Syd for all his work... and you too, Wayne... and all the editors who are reading this.