Dear Friend Of Bill K~ethe: This letter is being sent to all persons uho contributed aryicles to the final issue of Bill Kuethe's Journal Of Necromantic Numis matists. Please excuse the form letter. As a thank you to Mr. Kuethe for all the pleasure we've , recieved from his magazin~, I would like to, with you~ help, ~ssemble a special gift: The gift would be a 'second final issue' of the Journal, the contents beinq your articles, and supp lements hopefully. When Itve recieved all the arti clas, thay will be Xe1:ox8d L•y :nt- on LG bonJ pape·.r, not the usual 'slick' paper usually used, and bound into a special cover. The gift will hopefully be pr2sEn ted to Mr. Kuethe at the 1978 Collectors' Weekend ~ THE SUCCESS OF THE SURPffiISE DEPENDS ON YOU~ AR1ICLES AND SECRECY.!!!!! Do not tell anyone about this surprise, not even oth ers you are sure contributed to the last Journal,just to maintain secrecy.
Also, as a contributor, you will recievs your copy of the Journal through the mail. Your copy will be Xeroxed onto regular paper, to keep costs down. Only 20 copies of this issu~are going to be made. Thanks. ~~-. If 1;:.,.A. ,_-·,_.~ eI ' ~·tr.. I{(}.;~'!\J v Friends Of Kuethe c/o Todd Karr 23500 Coventry Woods Lane
Southfie.ld~ 48034 P.S.Some recieving this u.s • .c:. letter may not have con tributed to the final Journal, but for previous issues.
DEADLINE FOR PU B L~CATION: March 1, 1978 The Journal of NECROMANTIC NUMIS A IGS
FORMERLY I :!.~U i;!'d by Vnl1.1 ml! SECOND F. WiHi WELCOME TO THE SECOND FINAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL OF NECROMANTIC NUMISMATICS! Twenty copies of this issue are being made. Since not all people who were sent the form letter responded, the extra copies will be sent to whoever Bill Kuethe advises, which I think is a fair way of doing it. Special credits should go to the following people: MILTON KORT, who paid for half the cost of the Xeroxing of this issue BRUCE DUNN, who put together the special copy of this issue for Bill Kuethe and JOAN KARR (Todd Karr's Mother), who paid for the mailing costs of this issue Enclosed with this issue are the followin g : ******************************************* MAX GOO DALL PO KER CHIP from Max Goodall THIN PALMING DISK from Todd Karr HEY PRESTO! PROGRAM from Jon Marshall via Eddie Da@es TINY l20 BILL from Tommy Windsor via Todd Karr MOO N MONEY from Tommy Windsor via Todd Karr TOMMY WIN8SOR BRAZILIAN DOLLAR from Tommy Windsor via Todd Karr LEW DIC K DOLLAR from Lew Dick via Todd Karr *REVEE N STAGE DOLLAR from Bill Kuethe via Todd Karr *TOPPER MARTYN STAGE DOLLAR from Bill Kuethe via Todd Karr Fl.EDWIN MAIFELD STAGE DOLLAR from R.Edwin Maifeld via Todd Karr HOUDINI ELONGATED DOLLAR from Bruce Dunn HOUDINI ELONGATED DOLLA R BOOK MAR K from Bruce Dunn MAGIC LUCRE UNITS SHEET from Bruce Dunn STRETCHED KUETHE from Bruce Dunn ILLUSTRATION SHEET fOR DUNN ARTICLE from Bruce Dunn *These were originally sent to me for use as a sup plement to my Periodical For Collecting Con,jurors, but because the amount s ent was too low, they were used for this issue. ***************************************************** Also, special t.haril George Daily,Jr. Robert Lund Mont Davis, Jr. 0 r b r a J • l'l a t h e ws E d wi n A• Daw e s r•1i l to n Ko r t Terry Roses Bruce Dunn Arthur Setterington Max Goodall II Byron E.lJalker TO F.lJILLIAM KUETHE, JR. AND ~THER READERS: II - - - ENJOY!.... f:,~ _ . ,,- _J ! L - - Faking it again To be honest with you, I'm not sorry the Journal is no more. (To be honest with you, I wouldn't trust anyone who leads off with, "To be 11 honest with you ••• ) I'll miss it, of course. I learned just about everything I know about magicians' coins and tokens from the Journal, not to mention all the pieces I added to my collection, compliments of the publisher arrl contributors. Contributors, not subscribers, be cause no real money ever changed hands. Bill sent the mngazine gratis if you wrote for it. No charge beyond that. But no free ride, P.ither. No article, no copy of the m,gazine. I didn't know spit about coins and tokens before Bill started t•e Jour nal. Still don't, except what I pinched from other people. F~gar Heyl, Kuethe and Jay Marshall are the only genuine, certified, bottled-in bond experts in the United states on magicians' coins. Imagine, out of a population of 200-and-some million, only three guys qualified to oarry journeyman cards. Other guys, myself included, knew bits Bill knew what we were up to, that we were a bunch of bluffers. .Hatter of fact, he served notice on us in one issue that if we didn't 5tart turtling in some solid stuff, he was going to pack it in. So I'm not sorry the Journal has been discontinued. It's a relief not to have to concoct another fake to get on the mailinp, list for next time. Near the end, Bill carried the magaaine almost by himself. Edgar Heyl disappeared somewhere along the line. Where the hell are you, Ed? Eddie Dawes wrote some intelligent pieces and Jay Marshall was good for anr in teresting piece if you could tie him down long enough to get it on paper. But they were the only people Bill could count on. Time to quit. ~o he did. I think a file of the. Journal is going to be a pearl beyond price in years to come, if it isn't already. I say that for two reasons: (1) the very limited circulation list and, (2) because most of the contributors were coin collectors, not magazine collectors. I would guess they ~tripped the coin5 out of the magazine to put them with their coin collections. To my way of thinking, the coins were an integral part of the magazine, so if you don't have the coins, it's like having a magazine with pages missing. But that's just my notion and you don't have to go along with it. End of page. Faked it again. Robert Lund 1869 WASHINGTON, BIRMINGHAM. MICH.48009 VARIATIONS OF THS KORT COIN. I originc:illy had the ~"lea of baving tb.e c:ive-ci-;1ciy riade up in the usual manner. fhis consisted of cin aluminum rin~ with a regular copcer nenny insert. Then I han the idea of having the coin vanish bit by bit so I had several variations mride 11p, n lri tbe ghost co1 n, The~e con~ist of thP following. (1) Ghost ring with the reRular uenny. (2) Regular rimg with R ghost penny. (3) Both the ring an~ the uenny were ghost coins. (4) To do a few other effects I had the reqular aluminum ring with a conner plated 1943 penny insert so it would be used with a m;:ignet. (5) For the v ~ ry special give-a-wav I then t·arl ~ome made up with ~ol~ plRted pennies in the aluminum ring. Thus a complete set of the Kort coins consist of six different types. r·rn GI L c 0 I N s I\ N D T 0 K E N s RECENTLY COME TO LIGHT by Todd Karr *-l<--ll-**7'" *-X-*-K--X-* THIN-DISK PALMING COIN This is the type of disk that Jay Marshall described in his article in Volume 11. I picked these up at a construction site. One is includ e d in this issue for each contributor, in the same envelope as Max Goodall's poker chip. OLJl :E :~ TERN/Fl ~·JS T[flLJALD GO OLJ L!JCK PICC [ This coin was is s ued at the suggestion of Uuke Stern, 1,d10 worked at Finsterwald Clothes. Th e occasion was their 50th Anniver~ary (1898-1948). St~rn, who may be familiar to many of you, gave these away with purchases and used them for palming. The coins ore ha lf-dol.l :ir :>ize, have no mil ling, and are brass. The obverse rea J3 :1898-194B/FINSTERLJALD/ CLOTHES/ 50th/1HH.!IVEHSAfiY/ F. The reverse pictures a wish bone, a horseshoe, and a four-leaf clover, anr says 'GOOD LUCK Tm~ EN' around the circumfl ~ rence. A Xr.rox is above. - ~ . . "" My piece, however, has the loop for the ribbon filed off, perhaps to be used as coin I knoLJ very little ab ou t this partirular piece, except what I can observe from the button its~lf.It appears to be ma d e o u ~- o f l e a d b e c a u .s e o f i ts we i g h t a n d co l o r , b u t t here is a hole through the center, and looking closely, one can se e a copper color on the sides of the hole. The desionon the button is that of the familiar I.B.M. emblem, compiote with raised lettering and designs. On the back, it is al most blank, save for the words:ST.L OUIS / BUTTOfJ CD •• I have no idea of the date the coin was produced and who distrib uted. Perhaps there i s some information on it in ear l is sues of the Linking Ring magaz ine. A Xerox is above. Also, as a note of interest, I got my button from Clare Cummings of 1:iirmingham, flichigan. THE PAPER "MONEY" O.f THE CONJURIAN :EMPIRE, 1974 through 1977 by Bruce Dunn My desire to be great is excelled only by my inability to be soo Somewhere in that chasm between aspiration and reality, the Conjurian Empire was created to serve as a bridge to fameo Initially consisting of but two "Countries"--Conjuria and Republica Satirica--the ~mpire required not only "proof" of its existance, but something to show its level of advancement, com plexity, and sophisticationo A monetary system was evolved, with the smallest unit being called a "Skill''--appropriate for a con juring Empire. This denomination has been restricted to ''postage stampso" For the financial machinations of such a civilized society, paper currency was necessaryo In the time before the Conjurian Empire was officially .known as such, Conjuria issued its first currency--the Conjurian Dollar--in Barthanian year 1974. (0ee figure 1 on the illustration sheeto) Simmultaneously, Republica Satirica issued its first currency, the Satirican Sarcastica, figure two. Both were generally released as part of ~ Image L'Majik Satirica Subscribers' Supplement Nr. 2. The Conjurian Dollar was patterned vaguely after the United States dollar, but this seemed less than originalo There is an unmistakeable and powerful Earthanian influence pervading the Empire, and anything that will give the ~mpire its own identity is considered; the "Dollar" monetary unit has been abandoned, as well as the Satirican "Sarcastica," in favor of new values. Figures 3 and 4 are the current values of currency, "H.egals," and "Valors." It has not been determined which value is higher, if indeed they ~ unequal. Commemorating the birth-anniversary of Harry Houdini one century earlier, these specimens were issued in late 1974 by the Empire, but general distribution was with New Image L'Majik Satirica Nr. 4, January, 1975. Figure 5 is a lone survivor of an abandoned idea once pro posed for New Image L'Majik Satirica, a "humorous" satirical magic periodical. A rather lengthly history is attatched to this insignificient itemo•ooin the June, 1965 issue of Hade-E-Gram, Micky Hades editorialized on one way to achieve fame in magic: THE TOP OF THB HEAP DO YOU WANT TO BB A BIG NAME IN MAGIC? It's as simple as doing a sloppy job with the Chinese Stickso Learn a few tricks, join as many magic clubs as pos sible, befriend a lot of influential people, use every op portunity to brag about your possessions, throw plenty of =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=1 The paper "money"of the Conjurian .Emnire + + + +-+-+-+-+ 1 + + + + +-+-+~+-+- - - = - - - - - 2 0/\'t .HU/\'1J!U1J Magician o ~('I ('~ ! .~· · //tur 3 ,._..~ 'OIJ= 4 * e..J l~~£~~.::.. -'1J t0!_E"Yf.£.~~1 One Hundred Valors == -== =~ =0 e--= 5 =e..J 6 = 7 STRETCHED KUETHE ~ 1874 HARRY HOUOll'lh - Conjurian Hlan:ey ( 2) dollars around and be free with. advise to the i :gnorant.,., Just think. How wonderful it w.ould be to be able t;0 stick dozens of initials after your name, to get flatter ing letters from foreign lands, to win the admiration of t.M unfortunates who would greatfully accept the junk you saa. vage from. the i trash CBI). Think of how great it would 'Ge ~ sit there right on top of the heaps The Satirica idea was to provide the means whereby one couiliil attain such a position by joining "The Top of the Heap Magic :Cful.ift.:• . " Among the materials to be distributed would have been "plenty o~ dollars" to throw around, but the "dollars" would have been the "Magic Lucre Uni ts. II This specimen had not been intended to ob.e the final product, but "blanks" to which would be added severatl high values, each value then pasted-up and printed on a larger sheet, to be cut then assembled into packets for the "Club" m~em ber. The double year dates would not have appeared on the fin ished Units, but only the actual year of publication. The is 0 suing "Country" would have been Republica Satirica. This "blarlt. ' was but a small part of Subscribers' Supplement Nr. 2. Figure 6: an unfinished 1000-Regal Note, and is shown far "lfi!re. first time anywhere. This had been partially constructed in l'9n,, but work on it has been temporarily suspended. It is reproduce& in actual size from the paste-up, and when printed for issuan.oe will be reduced 25 per cento The "Kingdom of Elongia" is part of ·the Conjurian Empi1re, b"eiing one of the Satirican Islands. King Kueth€ is its ruler, but he ira:s not one whit of control over the issuances of paper money th-eT Eigure 9--the Houdini Elongated Dollar Book l'1ark. This ~ a whimsical after-thought, actually, and, unlike the other money,,, has no monetary validity. Issued as part -0f Subscribers' Sup plement Nr. 2, a fake "vru::iant" can be made by -cutting off the words "Book Mark." Figure 10--the SUPER Houdini Elongat:ed Dollar. This is Magic Cauldron supplement no. 53-C, and was issued to out-.elco.ng the regular Houdini blongated ~ollar. * Thus is the state of Conjurian Bmpire paper money through 1!977. # George Daily Jr. 3320 Spondin Drive York, Penna. 17402 February 10th, 1978 Dear Todd: It is both an honor, and a privilege for me to contribute this article to the 0 second final issue 0 of the Journal. Bill Kuethe is not only a dear friend of mine, but a man who is largely re sponsible for many aspect of my magic collecting today, and wholly responsible for my interest in magic coins and tokens. He must truly be considered the "Premier Magic Coin and Token Collector" in the world today. Jashumon Magic Club Coin In the last issue of the · Journal I wrote my article on Japanese magic tokens. The last ~oken mentioned in that.article was the Jashumon piece. At that time I had never seen this coin myself, but can now report a fine example of this piece now resides in my collection. The following additional facts recently received from my Japanese correspondent might prove of interest. " I heard that the Jashumon golden coins were allotted to the performers, the silver ones to the club members, and the copper or the German silver ones to the spectators at the Jashumon club convention in 1964. The coins were minted by the club and de signed by one of the club members at that time. I think the obverse design is the crane, and the reverse is the side view of the chrysanthemum as these designs are the traditional ones in Japan. "Jashumon" is not a city's name, but the name of an amateur magicians club. It's original meaning is the heretical region in the Japanese dictionary." The coin itself is $ size with a milled edge. My example is German silver. The artwork, relief, and general appearence is outstanding. The coin is one of the highlights of my collection. Although my Japanese friend describes the bird on the obverse as a crane, to me it looks more like the Phoenix, the mythological bird which revives from its own ashes every 500 years. -~...... -, , ...... '. ~·,..JI 11.Jt~ / • ~r ~~.· ""t . I• l \ ~ :·\r ,. .,. ' P ' , I 1 _ =' • j \\. \t,fJ,i// \,• / /. OBVERSE REVERSE ... A number ©f rny nmr1is;-;12c,ic cG>l1ectin;:: friends Lovr: ;·un6cTcc: :!_ ('I cFr:1_' ;-· · c~c: ~e of a marical c©in.1.1ell I nersonialJ~~ h2ve never u;r;(- :-:-uc;~ :-..,--, :; ~:e 1 _ ·~ 1 i-t I Gig make use._, @f an inter0stine;- ossociation coin.I~nclosc'' ',:j_ ~; tl·:' :-: :i ~ :1:c ~--,, will find the cbj_ps I v.>e in my cein wmrl:.I h0ve acJ0rtecl tl:c r:i 2~·1.cy Fo'·~cr chip for this use-as I consider the Playboy rabbit tbene to be t:1 'bit ~ 12 c:i. c2l in i t:-oe:i_ : The poker chips:are 38111m,macJe in plnstic an.cl are s1 :1 00tl1 ecl::_:;cc1.'::'1:c:ro 2Tc ti1rec ciifferent tyDeS of tbes e chins, dis tinr;L1j_ shed 1:;7 t~w fri ct thn t "c'. 1 c" 1·r;rr: i '.:' :uccJ in three col~rs-whi te, li>lc::ck ~nd red. The Gbvers'e @f Uwsc chi;•:-: h~-~ the: sto~1rJ2rcl F'layboy rabbit head facinc t® the 1eft.7lie reverse b.:::-' cin oc1 c-: ~ - .D. !"'~:-- - 'r: c:c::i'."'.11 arni this is likely some e;o©Gl luck symb@l. -_\oth sirles or tl~r:: ch::i_i; l r:vr :- i' j_:1_ler1 ©r groveo clesicsn along the cclEes,uhich rinJces these:; cli:in::: c<'S~: ' ~; u :i ~ ·,c· - .~ ;,.,-r. I use these pieces f0r coin tricks they con ;:.:ife\;/ ~ ~ 0 c0 1 Jc(1 C":c:·;:nci;c:l~ir: · ccj_n:::. These poker chips really do ri.2'.-:e nice pa1r:-linc coins, ;;rrl t!1c :e~-c' i 1 -~, :, l~i-c- ..,r,~ very light oakes them all the eosier t® honclle.Tho~r ,'lr0 ::i_ntcr 0 :-'~-.--i1·:- --.:0cr::-! 1 T). 11 ' 1 G cJ 1 l G • ,, 'i 1 . CQ 1 • L l . •_ )@ eys o@ uc c •l ve-~~-1:a r c~in Cml. ~ill Boley is a m:>tee magician-ventril@qui;.t :::incJ enc Gf I>ntnc'·:·;· o;t natecl nerform.ers.For yenrs he has been octive in tc0chinc ··:::i.r;ic to ~to1 1 'Ysti:;rs and was one of the foundinc fathers ®f the Lnp,ical :~r:rnth;: Intcr1vU_G1:ol.T?1 } "177 Bill issue@l Cl cO©d lucl;: c@in te be given :JS c: ;:otmen5_r of '. 1 :i_;: '' ':1<'0r 1 ~;q•1cC'~~. T ! 1 c ..,.l•n l• S ffi~,,'.Je "'f a ,--.C)Q....1 rtr"dA e'!\f 1-'r"'S'" l. f':" ') ~ Y'>,.,,-., f""'l'l:9(1 i ... .-:c C"' · , 1~0.Ll'"' {")rlr·rr- ·;·'l,0 c ·-... i -. ""t~,-..Y'r(; C <:I · e-; \el <'1 &, -· U b U U <:; "' . . J c_, ;::; f ~' .) W J - ' !.! ' Cl -""- - [ Jc_,; , " ' "' _ l,. I G • ' ; - , _ o -- l ; • ·"- , __: ~ , _ ~ 1 reads: Col. Rill B0ley/2~ol~/Fl0rence .:>t./~loPkinsvi1le,/i::'/· l, :-·;:>l·r /( ;.r,;-,) ~ · 5-:--:i~;; Lagician-Ventriloquist.Tho reverse bas D fe>Ur 1ecif C©vcr L: th-~ r:c:ini:r_;-..':'._1,,... '-nrJ 1 Good appears at the top 0f the coin,ancl the 1:©rcJ Luc> ot tl~c rYi:tr;-- r'" f} 1 •: c:oin. On the right and left side!s three,five p@intccJ stE1rs are 81101·.'J'.:::r· :.rn1 '.:c,rr; t1D ·write t© l3ill I'm sure h~ v1@uleil send y®u ©ne of these coins, enc~ \:r:i to it n ff as an advertisine; expense. This is the best rlesicnecl [OHDcl lucl: yiiccc; 011r: it is !lYJ ;;;rea t cs in fre>m an even ere3 ter man. A 1 ntnresti ''r'. to hen to sn:• tl-o :i _oG; t. In recent years there have been a nunbor of co1 rir.1c; 1cro ti ve cc::i r_; '.·i tl- ', ---~j_ c- ians on the:-:1.But it 'H3S not until recently dj_cl I THE M.\GI r, I AN "1 T ':'>CS ' BY MONT DAVIS, JR. Revco Drug Stores sell an attra~tlve carde~ item by the name of, M~GIC SHO ~ . The card has a see-through plastic front that contains four different magic tricks. The Magic Show sets arc made ~n long Kong . There are two different Magic Show sets: .,,ortune no. l OJJ and no. 1004. Pla3tic 1iscs' of di f ferent designs and colors, can be found in these two sets. Three trans- D3rent discs' are suDolied with the Magic ')how set, F'ortune no. 1 '10). There are three ·Hfferent sizes of the discs' in a set. The Magic key (nuzzle) is suppliPd with ~a ~ ic ~ how set, Portune no. 1004. The puzzle consist of several oeices, incl \lding two colored discs' that are 8.llke in design. The disc has a small hole in it. This nlas tic disc is sli3htly larger in diameter than a quirter-dollar, and about the sa~e thickness. Collecting these and other ma g ic dis~s' can be fun. (Ed.Note-See also my article on page on t he ?iafill' :~ u i1j· c:: t .) MAGICAL PRODUCTIONS UNLIMITED Terry L. Roses 2715 Jefferson st. February 14, 1978 Duluth, Minnesota 55812 U.SoAo Of Interest To Token Collectors ••• It should b e no te d that Or. Ro bert J . Al ba , in his fine book, Oriental Magic Of The Bambergs, has an exact replica of the Okito paper seal embossed into the frontace pag~ The quality is superb. The size is two times larger than the cr iginal paper seal, and this may be for better clarity. T~Q~ Terr Roses ***************************************************************** MORE PLASTIC MAGIC COINS IN MODERN SETS by Todd Karr 1 ) Th e '.:ti i k e d Co i n' c o i n that I men tioned in the 1 9 7 7 J ourna l in my a r ticle also come s in t ranslucen t y ellow, as we ll a s re d . ).Imperial Toy Corp. is s ues tricks i n b l is ter packs an d thG be low coin s 2 'have been included with some of the mo r e r ece n t o ne s ••• a-A half-dollar size to k en o f gre en p lastic-Th e Na il Bo x-n o design b-A quarter size token of gre e n pl a sti c -Th e fiagic Coin Case- no design ii- A q u a r t e r s i z e t o k e n o f y e 11 o w p l a s t i c - T h e ffa g i c C o i n C a ci c - n o d e s j g n n_A quarter size token of red plastic-The rlagic Coi n Case-no desig n c-A half-dollar size token of clear plastic-The Mag ic D is k - ~o design "-A quarter size token of clear plastic-The l"lag i c Disk - no design "-A penny size token of cle ar pl as ti c-Th e f'lag i c Di sk-n o dosig n 3):The Larami Corp. also issues t rick s in bli s te r pa c ks mu ch l ike the Im - p e r i a l To y Co r p • • Th e "'1 o n e y Tr a y' wa s i s s u e d wi t h a h i ~J h l y - e n l a r 1J e d r e - verse of a mercury dime (in silver paper) ov e r the trick in t h e package. I t i s n o t a ma g i c c o i n i n th e t r u e s e n s e o f t h c LJ o r d , s o 1.1 h c t h c r o r n o t you includ e it i n your coll e c ti on i s up t o y ou. 4 ) : Th e F o r t u n e 1 f'I a g i c S h ow ' h ad c o i n s e x a c t l y l i k e ,/ 2 b , a 1 t r' o u n h i t w a s referred to in th e i nstructions as 'Th e Magi c Di se ', an obvious t yp o graphical error on the part of the compa ny. Also, as an additional note to thi s articl e , I will po s e the f o l lowing query to the readers of this is s ue: In tricks such as th e above, should the c oin s be ke p t t o gether wi t h the rest of the s et, or should t he r est o f t h e tr ir,k be cons id e red an 'accomplice' to the co i ns ?? ??? Llhat do you think about this????? ~flJTNllfS 116 N. HIDGEWOOD DnlVE - SEBRINC3, Fl _QRIDA--XX&X-K*X- P~ - t. F113 / 38S-Il!J? 33870 AN EPITAPH THE HEADLINES READaoaTHE EVENING HERALD DIES. REASONS ARE DECLINING CtRCULATION FEWER ADVERTISERS HIGHER LABOR COSTS UNREASONABLE OVERHEAD How WITH HEAVY HEARTS WE LEARN THAT OUR GOOD FRIEND BILL KuETHE HAS LAID TO REST THE "JOURNAL OF NECROMANTIC NUMISMATIST S o" AND IT CAN 1 T BE FOR ANY OF THE ABOVE REASONSo HE STARTED OUT WITH A LOW CIRCULATIONo LOWEST OF ANY PUBLICATION IN THE WORLDo OF COURSE HE NEVER ESTABLISHED ANY ADVERTISING RATES.eaCOULD THIS BE THE CAUSE OF DEATH? NOoooAS NO ONE EVER ADVERTISED. I KNOW THE LABOR COST OF HIS HIGHLY SKILLED ANO ABLE WRITERS DON 1 T ENTER THE PICTUREo IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE OVERHEADo AFTER ELEVEN ISSUES HE IS GIVING UP THE GHOST ANO GOING BACK TO WORK FOR A LIVING. DEAR BILL, ALL KIDDING ASIDE WE CERTAINLY HATE TO SEE YOU GIVE UP PUBLISHING THE "JOURNAL OF NECROMANTIC NUMISMATISTS." I HAVE ENJOYED SO MUCH THE FEW ISSUES THAT I HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO RECEIVE. ALL THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE JOURNAL HAO TO ENJOY IT OR THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ANY CONTRIBUTIONSo THIS IN ITSELF SHOWS THE ltflEREST IT HAD GAINED AMONG THE MAGICIAN TOKEN COLLECTORS. I KNOW FROM MY OWN COLLECTION THAT I HAVE NOT ADDED ANY FOR OVER TWO VEARs ••• BUT I AM STILL LOOKING AND I AM STILL A COLLECTORo IT IS A VERY UNIQUE ANO INTERESTING HOBBYe I WILL STAY WITH IT. FOR IT IS CERTAIN THAT YOU WILL BE IN TOUCH WITH US AND WE WITH YOU AS WE ARE ALL STILL COLLECTORS. SHOULD YOU EVER RESURRECT THE "JOURNAL OF NECROMANTIC NUMISMATISTS" WE WOULD ALL LOOK FORWARD TO IT WITH ZEALo KEEP IN TOUCH ANO MAY Goo BLESS YOUo YOUR FR I E ND , 0RBRA J. MATHEWS 116 NORTH RIDGEWOOD DRIVE SEBRING, FLORIDA JJ870 BYRON f.. WALl SAt-J l€.P1NDR,,0 1 CA. 9¥5?8 U-.. S. A. (415) 35)..-1054 THE "WORLD OF THE UNEXPLAINED" COIN One of the many attractions of Fisherman's vVharf in San Fr;:rnr i sco is an establishment called "The World of the Unexplained . This step into the unknown, catering primarily to tourists, consists prirn::i rily of a museum for which adrrlission is charged and a gene ra 1 m The magic shop is skillfully located after the last display of the m useum so it must be passed through before returning to the street. This shop carries a general line of magician's tricks, books , C1nd acccssor·ics al prices commensurate with this high r e nt distric t. Then; is 8lwa_y s ::it least one demonstrator on hand willing to pe rforrn such mysteries as th e color vision box, glorpy, or a Svengali deck routine. Among the items offered for sale is a "World of the Unexplained" coin. The coin is between quarter and half-dollar in size. One side has~ 1 .horse shoe, ;i wish bone, ten stars, and the word s "GOUD LUCI< ' and 11 11 11 SOUVENIR • The more interesting side has WO!\.L!J OF TllE 1 UNEXPLAINED", "SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA ', CJ. number of strange symbols, and an unusual looking character with such ph1·ascs as "p yram1'd p ow2r 11 • "M ag1c. 11 , II E''S P 11 , 11 Parapsychology " , "A strolugy I' 11 and "Psychic Plants growing out of his elaborate h~r style. I can think of no one who has done more to promote the C()llecting and preservation of magicana than Bill Kuethe and I am proud t o call him my friend. I am enclosing m y duplicate of this coin for· Todd K0rr to present to Bill at the 1978 Collector's WeekenJ in Chicag<>. Any ntlier thaumaturgical numismatists may want to purchase one of l hcsc unusual @) coins on their next trip to San Francisco. (, -~ ' ·, \ - ==- ---::. - ' , . Arthur Settering ton, 31, Denaby Gourt, Eol d erne ss q oad, Hull. North Humbersi d e, En ~ l a nd. B!TS and PIE C ~S ------ It is surprising how often, wh e n re ~~ i nc a boo ~ or ma g azine of a non-mag ical nature, one aiscovers s n m et hi~ ~ of interest to the mag ical enthusiast. "The Greatect Faith Ever Known", is a bouk written by Fulton Oursler, and Aril Uursler Armstronc.The l a tter completed the book started by her f a ther, after his death on i)rd. May lj5i. In the toreward to ·c; h c b ook , Mrs. Ar ms tr0n ,n describe ::; how she stood at tne L a rrr e to.b 1e UG~d Icy he r f·!t u .. ~· a s a d e s k . ~ h e go e ti on t o d e ,, c r i b e s om e o f t h e a r t i c l e ~ ' -1 n the desk, and included amon r; them are .... -· t h t" '.",a~ ic coi ri s he used to practise sleight of han d ". F'u1ton Uur s l'"'r w,., ,_ also known in maG ic a l circles as Sam ri Frik e 1 1 • ...... There is a commercial sho.vn o n n ri t ish Tetevisi on which advertises ~omepride Flour. A ~u~ ber o f littl'"' men in black suits and bowler hats are shown r radin ~ t h e f1 ou r. ~ecent1y we received some ba d g es on which one of t h ese characteri:; it> d~t_Jicted, wJ..th the c ap tion , ''lLJT7l e ur u 1t; ·r e~ · i~ You''.We used :::iome of these as c ivcaway s a t c h il d r en s' parties...... Another giveaway item we .have used is the "'1 ar.-ic i,:i n' s Assistant" badces obtainable from Ha milton Kaye of D..1: o n 1i~l c1 , Yorkshire.The badg es are attractively made 01 rei pl a sti c , and the words are printed in CT Old ictteri n~ .