RWB

Whitman does mostly hobby shelf books for retail trade. Larger or more complicated books are rare. Wit Mr. Anderson gone, not sure what will happen....

Hold the camera or computer backwards, or photograph the coin off a mirror reflection.....Clashes are often interesting and do not normally reduce a coin's value. This might help a little.....

The ones from Lulu Lemon look nice...and they certainly appear air tite. :)

No. Legal standing is simple to establish by any aggrieved party or organization representing such parties - that's where the Federal charter adds weight. (You might be confusing this with "grading" where lack of standards gets most cases thrown out.

"Mr. Wizard Chemistry Set" Included materials and instructions for making very crude gunpowder. All it did was fizz a little. They did not disclose the "secret" to making the good stuff.

Use in a well ventilated space away from flames or sparks. Acetone is an organic solvent. It might loosen some surface crud by dissolving the underlying oils.

Making a counterfeit is a crime in and of itself. Uttering it is another, separate criminal act. An opinion is the continuing presence of large quantities of counterfeits is tolerated because there are no Federal resources to prosecute all the "little guys." Also, there is no national organization (such as ANA) that will take a leadership role in using provisions of the Hobby Protection Act to aggressively enforce the law. Pretend, if you will, that a Federally Chartered collector organization contacted every seller of fakes on ebay, Craig's List and other sites. They informed the seller of the law, explained HPA requirements, and offered a one-time amnesty from prosecution on a cease and desist instruction. If the counterfeiter persisted, they would be prosecuted under HPA. Use of HPA is important. It permits individuals and organizations to bring direct prosecution against violators, AND to recover all revenue from counterfeiting AND request confiscation and disposal of all equipment, dies, materials and apparatus related to counterfeiting. This can make HPA a self-funding vehicle for cleaning out fakes regardless of country or state of origin. The legal tools to wipe out most counterfeits are available - but the hobby/business does not use them.

This might be a key factor - my experience is that few in the hobby or business care if information, descriptions, sources, and so forth are accurate or factually supported. The site I'm considering would have to be self-supporting, so the number of paying users is critical. But site visits pushed by search results require awareness by the diffuse cadre of collectors and other potential users. A circular argument -- or at least oval. (FYI - I've delayed two books largely due to lack of funds.)

In any event, I appreciate members' candid comments.

To respond to a couple of comments: All site material would be under my control or public domain, so there would be no copyright problems. The cost of articles would be low to encourage access, and generate enough to approach paying basic hosting/server/security, etc. There would be no direct access to my database for obvious security control. A set of search results on a topic can be generated in a few seconds and a time-based cost estimate can be based on that. Time is required to assemble relevant files and arrange delivery to a user. Collectors and hobby clubs would probably be charged from $0 to $5 or $10 depending on number of files involved. Businesses would pay full rates. Some background - I currently receive an average of 6 data requests per month. Most are from individuals who are researching a specific subject, but who are not doing "hard core" research. (Think of club slide shows or personal curiosity.) I also get information requests from auction companies and dealers. I view the site concept as a way to get information into the hands of potential users. Paper publication remains overly expensive and slow, plus many smaller topics of potential collector interest never get in print. This site could help dissemination. But.....

Shhhhhh...it's a mystical secret. Look in the eyeball. Seraphim are in there dancing by the thousands.

As most here know I've written a bunch of books and 100 or so articles, etc., etc. Several people have urged consideration of an independent web site that would: 1. Allow low cost access to articles in PDF format. 2. Permit requests for documents relevant to a specific American numismatic subject from my database at low cost. 3. Post responses to user questions that are more detailed than possible on a commercial message board or "chat room." 4. Solicit topics of collector interest for future research and publication. 5. Encourage collector involvement in subjects of long-term collector interest, but that change at a very slow rate. My question to members is: Does this sound like something of broad enough interest in the hobby/business to be more than a "blip," or would it be more like the failed JNR publication? [FYI Journal of Numismatic Research (JNR) was an attempt to give research authors a place to publish their detailed work and conclusions without restrictions on length or preconcieved doctrine. There were minimum citation and peer review standards. It went flop, flop, flop like a fish on the boat deck.]

After that "nice start," one needs only a little honey and an ant or two.

Oooooh....slicing with a 'serifated' steak knife, Mr. VKurtB !

"Seraph" is a singular "seraphim." These are mythical angelic beings associated with light, ardor, and purity in psudo-christianity. Might have come from the OP's "mystical reading."

Very nice. Anxious to read more.

The building was not designed with a regular flow of visitors in mind. This resulted in visitors and employees sometimes using the same corridors simultaneously. This was the core of Snowden's complaints. Unlike at present, the Mints were end-to-end factories with weighing, melting, ingot casting, rolling, stamping and the other operations working most of the day. Some were off limits - such as adjusting - but it was nothing like the sterile shiny boxes shown today.

Thought Jordan said that while visiting a local tavern....?

Coin sales are diverse and diffuse. They are spread over a very wide range of prices, and are also scattered largely among many private transactions. Public, no reserve auctions are the best data sources, but they can take years to cover even one series. They also are strongly skewed to higher cost coins. Curiously, for all the claims of reliability in price guides, I've never seen any of them discuss data collection, statistical analysis or error margins. Maybe the whole thing is too ephemeral for that....?

Is that miles per gallon....?

Public officials had to keep travel records, but no one then,or now, tracked people minute-to-minute - whether public or private employee or officer.

Here is a sample page dated October 17, 1848. This is from RG104 Entry 158. "VISITOR'S REGISTER." 1836-37, 1839-48, 1850-71, 1935-36. 21 vols., 7 ft. Registers show name and address of visitor and dates of visits to the Philadelphia Mint. Arranged chronologically.

PS: In FY 1895 there were 105,384 visitors to the Philadelphia Mint, plus an unspecified number of VIPs, special guests, and employee relatives.

Here is an excerpt from his September 1876 letter on the subject: The great mass of the people passing through are undoubtedly honest, but there are many dishonest scoundrels who take advantage of such crowds to ply their nefarious vocations. This is also made manifest by your own action in having placards put up through the Mint, calling upon Visitors to “Beware of Pickpockets.” I have as much sympathy with the laudable curiosity of the public to see the operations of the mint, as anyone, as I would make as many sacrifices as anyone else to gratify them, but I really feel that this cannot be done with the present great crowds pressing upon us, without seriously embarrassing, and restricting the work, and at the same time endangering the bullion entrusted to my care.

This is the unknown "closed oyster" variety, which explains why the "pearls" never made it to the coin.