"Regarding Pete Smith's article in the recent E-Sylum, I thought I would chime in to say that he is not the only person interested in numismatic advertising mirrors! While I don't quite have a collection of them, I do have one example which is a Maurice M. Gould advertising mirror with an encased 1974-D cent. As Pete mentioned in the article, they are an interesting area of numismatic history that brings to light numismatic individuals who might otherwise be forgotten."

Thanks! Glad to hear it! Interesting piece - kind of a combination mirror / encased cent. Nice. -Editor

"The Gould mirror is also a "Good For" trade mirror. That gives it a link to trade mirrors from the 1890's."

"The nice reference to the oldest mint (I think this in the second or third bit about this in The E-Sylum) was fun but the photo of a coin mold had nothing to do with the article. The coin mold shown was labeled as being from the Eastern Han dynasty, which wasn't clear from the photo but the Wu Zhu were not even invented until 119B.C. 300 years after the closing of the mint. The Eastern Han didn't start for hundreds of years after the era of the mint described.

I find it humorous when cast Chinese coins are described as struck as in this article. Also the bone cowrie money shown in the referenced article, wasn't struck but carved supposedly from deer bone, and without archeologic evidence, only opinion, suspect that this type may have been made during the Xin dynasty revival of ancient forms between the Western and Eastern Han."

Thanks. Sometimes images are added by people other than the authors. I do it often to provide some visual spice to an article. But that coin mold image was in the original piece. I don't see it in the earlier articles we published or referenced. Above is an image from our original article. -Editor

"In the recent E-Sylum announcement of Raúl Olazar's Paraguay book he mentions in the dedication Miquel Pratt - who I did not know passed away. As I wrote to his daughter Arami.... Miquel was an outstanding person who I remember fondly from his days at MTB (as my office was next to Rockefeller Center) and from all subsequent Coin Shows the World Over, be it here in the US or in Hong Kong etc. He was always so pleasant. Sincere condolences."

"He was ultimately responsible for bringing Paraguay collecting to the outside world. He would frequently bring me numismatic related items, like coin decorated gaucho belts or this long (15") silver poncho pin with a coin and figurine attached etc."

Thanks. Steve included a picture and mention of Miquel in his earlier 9/11 submission. -Editor

"Noticed an ad for a standing coin collector in the August 1963 issue of Coins magazine, while working on my column for Numismatic News. The figure sold for $2.95, was hand painted and stood 7 inches high. It, like a stamp collector version, was "for the collector who has most everything." Though the ad image is poor, it appears to show the coin collector examining a coin or medal, using a magnifying glass. The base reads "Coin Collector," in case you couldn't tell what the long-coated gentleman was doing."

Thanks! -Editor

Nick Graver passed along this Heritage lot of a 1639 Rembrandt Etching called "The Gold Weigher". Thanks. -Editor

"I was interested to see the discussion of Global holders in recent E-Sylums because the service made a few sample slabs in their time. I only own one as they are rather rare. You'll notice that its label as a sample is relatively hard to spot; at the bottom of the reverse, right side of the slab it is marked SAMPLE."

Interesting - thanks. -Editor