There is a case of mistaken identity in the Standard Catalogue of Hard Times Tokens, at the bottom of page 113. On the left is an image of a Servant Tag “HT 500, SERVANT, 1811 in toothed rectangle …” But the Diamond Shape tells us it can’t be an 1811 or it would be rectangular with scalloped corners with a LAFAR hallmark on the reverse. The most readily identified 1811 SERVANT badge is from the Stack’s Auction 1993 Lot No. 1167 of the John J. Ford Jr. Collection that had been damaged with the badge number broken off with the bottom third of the badge. The badge on page 113 of the Standard Catalogue is a John Mood SERVANT Badge 1841, (not 1811) as evidenced by the serrated border of the date which is referred to as the ‘toothed rectangle’ date.� A Mood 1841 SERVANT would be: HT#500 R5. The Lafar 1811 SERVANT would be: HT#513 Rarity R6. Big difference.

I so much enjoyed this article in this month's "The Numismatist," because I have one of these medals and often wondered what it was all about. A big thank you to Tom Lopez Ph. D.My copy of the medal appears to be bronzed, but the lead is beginning to show through in places.�It bears the inscription:�� � � � To Duncan Davidson, Esq.� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � DL� � � � � � � � � � � � �Sept. 30th 1895I don't know what the significance of "DL" is. I acquired it almost 35 years ago in London, because it had my name (Davidson) on it, although I'm absolutely sure that the Davidson on the medal is not related to me.�Anybody else got one of these? We should let the author know, so he can update his list of them.�

I recently noticed that Amazon Prime had added Space 1999 to their lineup and as a child who both watched the program, had the toys, and later collected the trading cards I decided to watch the series again.� Of course the many years between those fond memories and now I found the premise of our moon being pulled violently away from earth’s orbit to travel madly across space encountering other planets along the way, well it almost sets my teeth on edge.� I know it is supposed to be entertainment so I try to push aside what I know, or at least think I know as I am by no means an astrophysicist, to once again try to enjoy this fictional world imagined in the early seventies.� So what does this have to do with numismatics, well nothing and at this time of the year maybe everything?�

� �I am going to keep this short as my hand has had some surgery. I was looking for a 1893 Morgan dollar for my type set album the other day. This coin is a bit pricey as there were only 378,000 minted in Philly. I ran into this cast hobo type dollar, I am calling it. I am a fan of the Mexican holiday of “Dia de los Muertos” or Day of the Dead,� and Hobo Nickels after meeting "Tiny" at a Summer Seminar, so I picked it up.

Hi everyone!����� I'm sure we all have those certain coins that we long for.� They are on our "Wish List"... they're not totally out of reach, we just haven't quite bit the bullet yet and pushed that "Buy now" button.� Two of those coins for me is a $20 Double Eagle Saint-Gaudens and the $50 Gold American Buffalo Bullion Coin.�� So in the meantime until I find those perfect coins that "talk" to me I have added these silver bullion examples to my collection.� One of these days I'll blog about a newly acquired� "Wish List" Gold Coin, but for now I hope you enjoy these silver beauties as I have.� Whats your "special" coin that you hope to add to your collection in the future?�� Thanks for reading my blog. � All comments are welcomed.� ; )