Thank you for reading The E-Sylum. If you enjoy it, please send me the email addresses of friends you think may enjoy it as well and I'll send them a subscription. Contact me at whomren@gmail.com anytime regarding your subscription, or questions, comments or suggestions about our content.

We currently send two versions of the email each week. One is the regular long version, and the other is a very short one with a link to the complete version online. Some email providers (AOL, Yahoo) don't like the long version. The short version seems to get through to everyone, and next year we may stop sending the long one to reduce clutter and confusion. If you're getting both versions but haven't tried using the short one, please do so and let us know if you have any problems.

Also, since the upcoming issue dates fall on Christmas and New Year's Eve, we'll likely not publish Sunday night as usual but sometime the following day or so. Happy holidays!

This week we open with five new books, two passings, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, notes from readers, Christmas collectibles, and more.

Other topics this week include Roman Imperial Coinage, the Charlotte Mint Museum, overlettering, fixed price and auction previews, King Charles coins, dodgy toonies, medals for dishonor, St. Nicholas, bitcoin banknotes, and movie prop money.

To learn more about how to become a coin dealer, the San Fernando Book Co., Bob Lyall, Santa's helpers, sickly coins, Christmas puddings, the Boston Stamp Heists, useless papers, documents, and records, Persian hairpin money, a huge silver pentakaidekadrachm, and the rebel Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum