This week’s letters (05/15/12)

Few dealers left at CSNS show Saturday afternoon
My husband and I went to the Central States Numismatic Society coin show this past Saturday and we don’t think we will go back. With the show that ended on a Saturday, most of the dealers were packed up and gone by noon.
We couldn’t attend on the week days and I am sure that there are others who also work, go to school or for other reasons can only attend on a Saturday. But with dealers packing up and leaving, the dealers I wish I could say are missing out on sales. If they made their quota, they don’t care. But they are missing out on getting sales from all collectors, but mostly the young collectors that are needed to keep the hobby going.
When I did trade shows they had spotters checking and you were unable to start packing up until the show ended. If you started to pack up or if you left the show early you were not asked back the next year.
I don’t know how to make dealers stay. Fining them doesn’t make sense, but why attend a show if dealers leave whenever they feel like it? And we heard many other attendees express the same concern.
Sharon and Kevin Blocker
Westchester, Ill.

Let editors decide which letters to run in NN
In response to E. Meyers, I have three points to present. First, the quote quoted by Mr. Meyers is in actuality not attributed to Voltaire, rather to Evelyn Beatrice Hall writing under the pseudonym of Stephen G. Tallentry in the “The Friends of Voltaire” (1905).
Second, all things in society are directly or indirectly related to the marketplace. I don’t know how much education in economics you possess Mr. Meyers, I would advance to you that even how we perceive the value of certain coins reflects on the price and its cost in the marketplace (supply and demand), as does national healthcare, gas prices, and any number of areas of concern to the reader.
I would ask you, Mr. Meyers, to note and I will repeat, letters written pertaining to areas of concern to the reader. Third, in reference to the editors, they have been schooled in the art of journalism, and I believe most qualified to make an intelligent and informed decision on which letters to include and to which column to print them.
My suggestion to Mr. Meyers is to read Voltaire, Adam Smith and Frederic Bastiat. Also I would ask Mr Meyers to allow the editors, who may I add are more than capable, to make their decisions on any letter no matter the content on their own merit.
Kenneth Pineschi
Rockford, Ill.

Rolls of 2012 cents show up in Kentucky
Today at a NAPA parts store I received three 2012 cents. I asked if he had a roll I could have and I received one roll. I next asked what bank in town they used. It happened to be the bank I use.
I went there and asked if they had any more new cents. I was able to get 10 more rolls. They said they had a whole box. This was April 20 and the first 2012 coins I have seen this year.
Name withheld
Ewing, Ky.

Letter writer took text from published article
I was just reading the (Buzz) letters on Page 20 of the 5/1 issue of Numismatic News under “Will 2012 be the year of the collector coin and not bullion?”
When reading the letter of Chuck Schroeder of St. Petersburg, Fla., I noticed that he lifted his entire letter from my Dec. 23, 2011 “CoinWeek” article, “The Coin Analyst: 2011 Year in Coins and the Outlook for 2012”:
http://www.coinweek.com/market-reports/the-coin-analyst-2011-year-in-coins-and-the-outlook-for-2012/
His first three paragraphs are word-for-word lifted from my third though seventh paragraphs, and his last paragraph is lifted from my second to last paragraph. These are not paraphrases, they are plagiarized and no attribution is given to me.
I realize that you were not aware they came from my article, but these are copyrighted materials written exclusively for “CoinWeek.” They cannot be used without the permission of “CoinWeek” and unless attributed to me.
Please inform Mr. Schroeder that it is illegal to engage in such activities and that I am checking with “CoinWeek” regarding possible legal action.
I would appreciate it if you would run a note in an upcoming issue explaining that the letter was taken from my column. Please include the title and date of my article. I would be satisfied with that.
Louis Golino
Address withheld

Nona Moore’s greatest gift was kindness
Nona G. Moore, Numismatic Ambassador, class of 1985, passed away recently, having a massive heart attack.
She had emailed me about a week before her death, after a long hiatus, wishing me well, asking for updates, and wanting to make some donations to the California Exonumist Society (CES). As she said, “at age 92, it’s time to adjust.” Sadly, she passed away just about a week later.
Nona was “old school,” and there are not many of those left in our hobby, this world of money. She believed and practiced that our hobby was, first and foremost, about friends rather than those round metallic disks some of us pursue. In fact, until her final email, after all these years, I never really knew what she collected.
I knew that she collected ‘friends’ though. From the first time we met, and through the years, when are paths crossed in southern California, her smile, her kind and low laugh, and her openness were always evident, and something anticipated. She became your friend, and she even became my late Mother’s friend, exchanging cards and greetings with her until her passing. In fact, she remarked once that she enjoyed receiving an occasional card from my late mother. That kindness shall never be forgotten and is what our hobby, or any avocation, should be about: kindness toward others.
When we last met, she asked me to give the invocation at a dinner, a function that she had done for years. Little did I know at that time that it was symbolic of the passing from one generation of coin hobby advocates to another.
Ending, our hobby – this “hobby of kings and king of hobbies’” – has always been blessed and enriched by women, and men, as Nona. She may not have had a great collection or national stature; yet, she practiced one of the greatest of treasures: kindness toward others.
Michael S. Turrini
Vallejo, Calif.

Where are elusive six-quarter sets?
For eons or so it seems you have been listing a 2010-S six silver quarter proof set in the monthly numismatic news coin market listing. Not only are you listing the silver proof quarter set but also a six-coin 2010-S clad proof set. How many of these sets were sold? These sets are an addition to the 2010-S to the five-quarter clad and silver proof sets.
I feel I have been cheated by the U.S. Mint by them not advertising these sets but probably only selling them to special parties or the buyer network channel. I only got five quarters in the silver and clad proof sets.
I am assuming that when the 2011-S five silver proof and five clad proof quarter sets are listed in the section of proof sets, included will be the 2011-S six-quarter silver proof and clad proofs sets.
I am sure that your magazines did not make a mistake of this magnitude. I just want to know where I can purchase these six quarter silver proof and clad proof sets.
By the way, who does quality control of your magazines to ensure information is correct and factual prior to printing? This is as bad as the proof 2009 “P”and “D” Lincoln pennies!
Marco Ramius
El Paso, Texas

Editor’s note: Thanks for pointing this out. They are five-quarter sets.

Always on the look out I just received my first 2012D cent at the Lucky Store @ Petaluma, Ca. on Saturday April 21. I received it in my change and happened to notice another roll of shiny pennies waiting to put in the cashier’s drawer and asked to buy it. On getting home with my spectacles on I found it to be a roll of 2011. I was still happy to find my first shiny 2012 penny.
I enjoy reading my Numismatic News from cover to cover and especially other readers accounts of their finds. Good luck in keeping an eye out fellow numismatists!
Name withheld

I visited my bank yesterday (April 9th) on brief business. When I got to up to the teller window, I noticed that her coin tray had many, many shiny new pennies stacked in it. I asked the nice lady if she knew whether they might be the 2012s? She checked and they were all 2012 Denver mints. So I asked to swap a few from my pocket change and now am the proud owner of several.
These are the first 2012s of any denomination that I have seen here in southwest TN. However, I must admit, I do not frequent Walmart, McDonalds, Home Depot or any of those other high-turnover retail places. Maybe they got some earlier. Not many people that I have asked have seen any 2012 mintages. This seems to be quite late for first coinage to turn up - usually anywhere from late January to late Feb.
David Smith
Somerville, Tenn