"In regards to your Image of the Week in the last issue, I submit both my colorized version of the 2026 Liberty dime portrait and the artificial intelligence version from that."

The first one's a beauty. Very nice. AI version? Not so much. Here's Wayne Pearson's colorized version from last week. -Editor

"I'm still getting your posts and still enjoy reading and looking. To your credit, it has been a long run and I know it takes time and effort. I love the unique and different in numismatics… that's your forte and you're good at it. At 78 now, I thought it time to let you know."

Thank you! These issues are always fun to put together, and knowing readers appreciate it is what keeps me going. -Editor

"I enjoyed the AI article about made-up citations. While AI may not be a devil's spawn created to finance more Silicon Valley mansions, it can still be a flytrap. At the risk of shameless promotion, our next issue of Scripophily will have an article on an IBSS member's experiment instructing free ChatGPT to design some fantasy stock certificates for the non-existent Two Butte & Cimarron Railway Company. The program managed to misspell one or more words in every one it created. Sic transit gloria mundi.

I was about $71,000 short of buying one of those average "last penny" sets but not really disappointed. What I really wanted was a set where each "coin" was a mint error. I'd have taken anything - but a double strike, brockage and capped die would have been best."

That wouldn't be unprecedented. "Manufacturing great numismatic rarities off the books since 1834" would be a fine U.S. Mint slogan. -Editor

A penny puzzler seen online this week: "Why do you have to "put your two cents in" when it's only a "penny for your thoughts" - where's that extra penny going to?"

Here's a cartoon found by Larry Dziubek in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Thanks. -Editor

"In reference to the Monday, December 14th E-Sylum article that Pete Smith wrote, I have some updated information on two of those mentioned as 75-year members that may still be living:

"It appears that the ANA may have made an error when they recognized Mr. Felix H. Lenard as a 75-year member in 2024. Records that I located have Mr. Lenard as passing away on 12/19/2005 at the age of 83, which would have made him a 56-year member at the time of his death. He is buried in Our Lady of Hope Cemetery in Brownstown Township, Wayne County, Michigan.

"As for Mr. Edmund DeLaurentis, I could not locate any Death Records or Obituaries confirming his passing in any searches in the Pennsylvania Vital Records office. Also, an address in Havertown, PA indicates that he is the property owner.

"Another possible clue can be found in the Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Springfield, PA, where there is that headstone on the gravesite of his mother, Nicoletta DeLaurentis who was born in 1896 and passed away in 2004 at the age of 108. Also listed on the headstone are Edmund's sister, Estella, who was born in 1927, and Edmund who was born in 1925. Neither of the two dates of death are engraved on the headstone for Estella or Edmund. If this evidence, though circumstantial, is correct, Mr. DeLaurentis just turned 100 in December 5, 2025.

Unfortunately, I could not uncover any records on Mr. David R. Denis."

Thank you. I've passed these notes on to Pete. -Editor

"I have a have a question after reading the A VIRGINIA TYPE 2 NATIONAL BANK NOTE RARITY piece in the latest E-Sylum."

"The article points out the "13775" printed on the same line as the Serial Number, and mentions that the "extra" printing makes the note special. But nowhere in the article is there an explanation for why the "13775" would be printed on Series 1929 notes during 1934 and 1935. The article mentions that most surviving examples of notes with the "extra" 13775 are from two banks, one in Chicago and one in San Francisco.

"What is the reason for the extra "13775?"

Good question. Can anyone help? -Editor

"As I was looking for my Woodin material this week, I came across an interesting 45 RPM record. The title on one side is "Wayne's Mood," recorded by The Rockway's just over fifty years ago in November 1975. It is instrumental and described as garage rock. Smarty Pants question of the week. What song is on the other side?"

Tough question. Any musicologists in the house? I thought this looked like a positively ancient artifact until I realized, wait - I was in high school in 1975, and we played stacks of 45s like this at parties and other gatherings. But I don't remember this one (or being particularly moody). -Editor

"Yes, this is coin related."

Never doubt Ron Guth. Check out the short video. -Editor