"I tried the newly-launched IKMK museum coins website. I entered Siebenburgen 20 Kreuzer (Transylvania), which was obscure enough to be a good test and relevant to likely Austrian holdings. The return was a single coin, a very rare 10 Kreuzer. So the website has some degree of flexibility in that it substituted another denomination. Oddly it did not return any of the "common" (relatively) coins of this principality. One doesn't know whether these are missing from the museum holdings or the search engine was lacking.

The site was easy to use and the image (obverse and reverse) of the 10 kreuzer was very good. It was a real treat. In 55 years of collecting this material I had never seen another. I still collect some European coins. It's been a bit fruitless the last decade or so as nobody offers anything I've not already seen - and when they do, it's 4 figures. I've migrated over to scripophily, which is a far better deal from the point of view of rarity and prices (which are laughably low considering populations).

IKMK is quite a contrast to the Smithsonian effort. I hope they consider the IKMK site to be something to shoot for."

The site was slow to load the coin's page for me, but the link below will take you to it. It's nicely done. Above are lower-resolution versions of the coin images. -Editor

"The Washington silver piece was struck by the late Robert Bashlow and David Laties of Educational Coin Co., N.Y."

Thank you! -Editor

"Some time ago there was a discussion in The E-Sylum about the term testoon and whether it was the same as the shilling which came along shortly after testoons were discontinued.

"I am working my way through the massive trilogy "The Hidden Treasures of This Happy Island" and noted that Andrew Burnett stated the term testoon came from Italian.

"It appears the Italian coin was a testone, which was adopted in France and possibly other 15th and 16th century European usages. The English then apparently went with the idea and introduced the testoon. This kind of reinforces my idea that a testoon was not really the same as a shilling even though I am sure the matter remains of dispute. Of course, shilling seems to come from Old English scilling meaning a 20th of a pound. It is just that its use as a coin name came after testoon."

Thank you. I haven't seen Andrew's book set yet, but it sounds like a great work. -Editor

"In the absence for the second year in a row of the ANA summer seminar, Seth Chandler from Witter Coin in San Francisco should be congratulated for filling in the void to a certain degree. 25 lucky young ones aged 13 to 21 will be chosen to attend all expenses paid. There is an appeal for funds that I think many of your readers will be willing to help out with."

As of this writing 46 supporters have kicked in to raise about half of the required funds. Please do consider a donation for the next generation of numismatists. See: https://www.wittercoinfund.com/ . -Editor

"Mr Rausch says that this project has taken "the best part of a lifetime. It consists of a collection of rare coins fastened to a large copper urn." The urn is completely covered with this collection. The description of each coin can be read." The coins are fastened to the urn with solder and bolts, and each coin can be removed without injuring its condition."

"There are coins from the Christian era down to the present time in many different metals.

"The catalog is 39 pages, listing all the coins on the urn. This was the method of one man to show his collection. I believe that this catalog was printed around 1910 (no date on it)."

"The collection of Mr Rausch was sold by Tom Elder in two sales in 1938. No mention is made of the urn.

"I only saw this catalog sold one other time. That was in a David Sklow sale some years ago. It realized $20.

Great numismatic Americana! I don't believe I've ever seen this catalog.

Gengerke lists just the two sales for Edward Rausch, both by Thomas Elder in 1938 (February 26 and May 14). The February sale lists "Siege and Necessity and Other Curious Coins from the E. Rausch Collection." The May sale is Part II of the consignment. "Mr. Rausch collected this odd and curious collection of Siege Pieces, Klippes, Siege Pieces, Necessity Coins etc. between the years 1881 and 1903." Both are digitized by the Newman Numismatic Portal. I did not see mention of the urn either.

If each coin could indeed be "removed without injuring its condition", then perhaps some coins in the Elder sales came from the urn. -Editor