Let me add a comment about the encased coins, especially the encased 1847 cent. I am not going to brag on all the neat pieces I have because I don't collect them, except to buy and sell.

I ran across one of the 1847 pieces back in the mid-1970s, I think. If you look at it, see an insurance company on a low number street in Boston, you have got to get the connection - the insurance company, begun in 1847, is celebrating its centennial in 1947! The encased coin, as wonderful as it is, is not rare, as least not in the realm of encased coins.

This is part of the attraction of encased coins - very rare but still affordable. Think about this - which would be harder to gather as a collection, a full set of MS-65 Lincoln cents or a full Lincoln set, each coin encased in an aluminum collar? I'll give you a hint. Robert King, a longtime Lincoln coin, token, medal, plaque collector recorded two encased 1909-S VDB cents in a The Numismatist issue from about 1924.

And, speaking of Robert King, I am in the final stage of finishing a complete revision of King's Lincoln in Numismatics but I'm stymied by the lack of quality pictures of any ferrotypes from Lincoln's second campaign, save the very common one. I would be delighted if a collector or two would share pictures of these ferrrotypes. There are six or more different from this campaign and they're all very scarce. If you can help, contact me at P.O. Box 1, Tecumseh, MI 49286 or by email at cunninghamchips@hotmail.com. Thank you!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MORE ON ENCASED COINS(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n06a09.html)