"The exergue was actually an important feature in Roman coinage, well before the Renaissance. The area sometimes contained part of the reverse legend, but from the middle of the 3rd century AD was increasingly used for the mint mark. Thus the exergue on late Roman bronze coinage often contains markings such as ASISC or ROM-PRIMA or SMANTA. On many coins the exergue was marked out via a ‘round line’ under the reverse design."

Thanks! -Editor

Last week Ted Puls mentioned his numismatic mentors, Captain Lee, and "Uncle Max, called VRUM by locals: very rich uncle Max." I asked him for more information. -Editor

"Captain Lee was a small-time coin dealer in Ft Collins, Colorado in the 1970's and 1980's (Leroy Lengner). I met him at a coin show in Loveland where he actually let me dicker on the price of a coin. I think the coin was a Lincoln cent semi-key date that was for sale for $2 that he enjoyed letting me steal for $1.50. He was a retired Air Force captain that worked at Woodward Governors in Fort Collins. He taught me much about coins and coin dealers. We had coin dates -before this would have been seen with suspicion (his wife was nearby). He once innocently left me in his coin den where he left a high-grade Roman follis on the desk in plain sight. Off from Lincoln cents and onto an amazing world of Roman coins. I soon noted a hoard advertisement 100 vf Roman coins for $300- a vast sum for me in High school but I did work too much= lawn mowing and washing dishes so I could afford them. I learned much from attributing these and Capt. Lee sold a book. He gave me a sack of Chinese cash and a book about them (Schjoth) again giving me weeks of learning entertainment. This still is my Chinese collecting is still my passion.

"Vrum" I never knew his real name as kids didn't know such things in that day. but he was a coin dealer in Ft. Collins in a sporting goods store then pawn shop. He let me search for foreign coins in the box to be able to get a coin from every country. He was very grouchy but not to me."

"Reading your account of how you attempted to create a website with the domain name nbs.org for the Numismatic Bibliomania Society I was reminded of my own disappointment at not securing the name coinboards.com. It was already taken by a company that made pull-tab merchandise boards, a mild form of gambling in which coins or coinlike tokens are removed from their slots, revealing what the player has won. Instead, I had to go with coincollectingboards.com which, as you found with coinbooks.org, is perhaps more indicative of the website's content. I was curious to see whether the name I sought originally is still active, and I discovered that it's for sale at $24,888 or best offer. I think I'll pass."

Curious about Heritage's two-letter domain name I reached out to Jim Halperin and asked, "How did you guys pick ha.com as your domain name? Was Heritage.com already taken? I see you own it now." -Editor

"HA.com actually picked us rather than the other way around. Our site used to be heritagecoin.com, then heritagegalleries.com, then heritageauctions.com, but I always thought those addresses were a little hard to remember and too time consuming to type. We wanted to buy heritage.com but it was owned by a large regional newspaper chain and was unavailable at any price even though they never advertised it anywhere.

"So, when ha.com was offered to us at a ridiculous price, we decided it was a big improvement for our users, and made a realistic but much lower counter offer. Then every few months, we kept repeating the same offer, and after a year or two the owner realized that we weren't going to raise our offer and that nobody else was offering as much, so they accepted our offer. Several years later, the regional newspaper fell on hard times and hired a broker to sell some of their fallow assets, including heritage.com. Again, we offered a realistic but much lower price, and kept repeating the same offer every few months until they sold it to us.

"We don't advertise Heritage.com either, but quite a few people who've heard about us assume it's our URL, type it in their browsers and find us more easily that way."

Thanks - great stories. I remember working with someone from a law firm named Morgan, Lewis & Bockius - Major League Baseball made them an offer they couldn't refuse for their domain name, mlb.com. -Editor

"Campbell-Logan Bindery has made several clam shell boxes and slip cases for me of excellent quality and at a very reasonable price. Their contact information is 7615 Baker St NE, Fridley, MN 55432, (612) 332-1313."

"Any of the bookbinders should be able to produce these for you. My bookbinder, The Ohio Bookstore, has made some custom ones for me. Their website is https://www.ohiobookstore.net/"

Thanks, everyone. -Editor