Fred Michaelson writes:

In Spring of 1963, Don Taxay's Counterfeit, Mis-Struck, and Unofficial U.S. Coins, featuring the imprimatur of a respected New York publishing firm, created something of a numismatic sensation. Counterfeit coins were proliferating at the time and Taxay's book was the first in-depth American work providing-to quote its sub-title-"a guide for the detection of cast and struck counterfeits, electrotypes, and altered coins." The April 1963 first printing was followed three months later by a second printing; a third printing followed in 1975 and a fourth printing came off the press in 1976.

John J. Ford, Jr. wrote the introduction and the four printings of the book feature endorsements attributed to Eric P. Newman, Walter Breen, and Dr. George Fuld, located on the back of the dust jackets of the first two hard cover issues and on the rear covers of the last two soft cover printings. The text appears to be identical throughout but, on the first printing, a label has been affixed at the base ascribing the quotation above it to:

This label, though rather unusual, has been little commented upon over the years. If the dust jacket is held up to a strong source of light, the printing under the label dimly reveals itself, though the adhesive utilized makes the printed slip itself quite difficult to remove.

The label is impervious to water-denatured alcohol and toluene barely affect it-and it is removable only slowly with the good stuff: acetone. Allowing time for head-clearing after inhaling this witches brew of noxious chemicals, the covered-up text reveals itself:

One might surmise that the incorrect affiliation (American Numismatic Society, instead of Association) and grammatical omission ("the" missing between "of" and "foremost") account for the label, but neither explains the name change. Further, the text of both blurbs is identical. How could this be? Thus begins the tale of the tape.

Fred Michaelson adds: