"This short writing is my attempt to organize the marks found on ancient Chinese coins called wu zhu or "five grain" bronzes. The eleven-page text comprises a description of the marks; a chart of the marks that I have found, with a code to allow shorthand notation of each mark. A description of how to use the coding system follows. A brief description of the spreadsheet design precedes the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet contains my attempt to organize the myriad combinations of marks on varied wu zhu in a 15 column by about 1100 line format. I would be willing to email this to ones with interest in the area."

"That one got by me, dammit. Should have posted an inquiry on The E-Sylum – at least you would have caught it. Please run a "correction" ASAP, you may tease out even more earlier ones. It's to be expected.

"Michael Sullivan did a really thorough job of researching and publishing his annotated bibliography of bank histories from 1878 to 2000. Not knowing that he was working on it I didn't tell him of one from 1865 that I had. His reaction was probably the same as mine but he was too gracious to say so."

"I have immersed myself in a research project pertaining to the Dr. Lewis Roper auction sale of February 20-21, 1851, held by M. Thomas & Sons, in Philadelphia. Thanks to the outstanding research of others, there is already a great deal known about the sale and auction catalog. I believe there is more to be discovered and shared with the numismatic literature community. I am hereby reaching out to owners of any type of Lewis Roper sale catalog, with the hope of filling in some data gaps, as well as collaboratively resolving some contradictory information I have found. Please contact me at: numismatics@att.net Thank you! "

"Due to the recent tightening of in-person meetings related to Covid-19, the San Francisco International Bourse Coin Show that was scheduled for December 5th, 2020 at the SSF Conference Center has been Cancelled.

"If you know of someone coming to the Show, please reach out to them if possible to let them know.

"Although I'm deeply disappointed about this development, I remain committed to spreading the word of our wonderful hobby and creating spaces for individuals to enjoy this hobby.

"In the coming weeks, I'll be working with my partners to establish a time in Spring 2021 when we can have this special event."

"I thought I might add the following to the write-up on Edward Dean Adams.

"In addition to the medals mentioned, there is a 140mm, uniface, cast bronze plaque that I obtained from Bob Myers many years ago. It depicts an eagle on top of a rocky crag, surrounded by clouds, and the inscription To my friend / who has made one / in / Edward D Adams. Unfortunately, the plaque is not signed. "

"Thanks for showing the wonderful Dolphin Medal by Rizzello.

"This is almost certainly by Michael Gaspard Rizzello (1926-2004), who was a sculptor and designer, born in London of Italian parents. He designed coins and medals in addition to public statues and other works. [Ref.: Wikipedia]

"An image of his Apollo 11 medal is attached. (Data: 44.5 mm (1.75 inches), bronze, 44 grams.) This is one of the 50 Apollo 11 medals I displayed in my exhibit at the 2019 ANA convention in Chicago/Rosemont.

"Curiously, there is also a small (35 mm) Apollo 11 souvenir medal issued by the Rizzoli Bookstore on Fifth Avenue in New York City, which depicts an open book on the reverse! I'm also attaching an image of that medal. The medal is signed by Gregorio Sciltian (1900–1985), an Italian-Armenian artist and medallist. "

"You are correct - the obverse and reverse are virtually identical. I have since sold it to an overseas buyer."

"I am looking for information about lot 42 in Charles Hamilton's 15th Sale on November 3, 1966. It apparently describes the lot as the Property of Lucius Ruder, but I do not know what book it actually was. In any event, I am trying to run this down as I understand this might have been a lot actually consigned by John J. Ford, not Ruder, using one of Ford's tactics. I am trying to determine if that was a book that ended up in the Ford Book Sale. If one of your readers has any information on that lot or Sale, I would appreciate it."

"Further to the piece described in this week's E-Sylum (and also the recent Numismatist article), I don't think the original article made it very clear that the dates on these items aren't genuine, and that many purporting to have been issued under George III's reign (died 1820) were made as late as the 1930s! Even those with obviously fictitious dates like 1701 (the king wasn't born till 1738) were almost certainly made in the Victorian era or later. Most makers were based in Birmingham, England, as far as I know.

"So if there's any historical relevance to the "Good Old Days" as mentioned on the token, it was probably the maker harking back 80-100 years to the time of George III's reign, not looking back from 1797 to an even earlier time.

"By the way, the 1797 item illustrated was the first item I ever got of this kind, when I was about 10 years old, and it later became part of a small collection of different types of spurious guineas and half-guineas with various legends and effigies that I still find quite fascinating. I think this is probably the best quality design of the bunch."

"I got a small chuckle out of the "Gold Dinar Found in Jerusalem's Old City". I frequently see Chinese coins pictured sideways or upside down. The Arabic coinage in this article was sideways in the side picture. I had always thought the error only applied to Chinese coins. I found a moment of enlightenment."