In the year 2000, I made a trip down to Jakarta to visit with the local numismatic society; the national museum's numismatic department; and the numismatic museum of the national bank.

The society had some great numismatists in it and I was their guest speaker for that meeting. I challenged the members to produce more comprehensive catalogs and that an American or other foreigners should not be writing their catalogs. Four of the members promised me they would work on it.

The national museum has a fabulous collection and the curators all speak English and some other languages besides their own. I am sure they will have the information Jim Duncan is seeking about the Sourabaya Mintmaster. Their website is at http://musuemnasional.org/numismatic.html and their email is musuemnasional@indo.com. Yes, one ends in .com and the other ends in .org.

The national bank's musuem was nice but the staff was mostly into displaying the pieces and not researching them. Their sergeant of the guard at the bank's main entrance also tried to steal my Rolex but I got it back from after a little tussle! He was not a happy camper and I am sure he was the person reporting me to the immigrations and customs people who questioned me at length on my activities in the country and thoroughly searched me and my baggage!

If Jim does not receive a response from the national musuem, the Library of Congress has an office in Jakarta and they are in frequently contact with the museum. The director is an old friend and I will ask him to assist Jim, if he runs into any difficulties.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:QUERY: INFORMATION ON SOURABAYA MINTMASTER JOHANN ANTHONIE ZWEKKERT SOUGHT(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v12n48a10.html)