die having been somewhat worn by the many transfers,
has its lines deepened. The result is always a commoner-looking
stamp than the original, and if the same ink is used, the
re-engraved looks much darker and heavier. An article on the
different kinds of paper will probably be printed soon.

J. HARING.--Probably no $1 U.S. coin was issued in 1904. The die
was prepared but not used. About fifty years ago the die
disappeared from the Mint, but was returned after an interval of
some months. Ever since that time, at long intervals, one of the
coins comes upon the market. The first one brought $1000, the last
one about $500.

A. R. KETCHAM.--Always send a 2c. stamp if you wish an answer, or,
still better, a self-addressed stamped envelope.

PHILATUS.

BOUGHT HIS OWN FURNITURE.

An amusing story is told of a gentleman living in London. As the
anecdote goes, it seems that he had a passion for the purchase of
second-hand furniture at auctions, and that in making "good bargains" he
had filled his house with antiquated and almost useless articles. Upon
one occasion his wife took the responsibility, without consulting her
husband, to have a portion of the least useful of the pieces removed to
an auction-room to be sold. Great was her dismay when, on the evening of
the day of the sale, the majority of the articles came back to the
house. The husband had stumbled into the auction-room, and, not knowing
his own furniture, had purchased it at a better bargain than at first.

INDIA-RUBBER BAIT.

According to a Troy fisherman, the latest triumph of Yankee inventive
genius is an India-rubber fish-worm. It is said to be a remarkably good
imitation of the common earthworm, is indestructible, and in actual use
proves as alluring to the fishes as the genuine article. The old
fisherman will be quick to see its advantages. One can equip himself for
a day's sport without digging over a whole garden in his search for
bait. A handful of India-rubber worms will last him a whole season, and
there will be no necessity for pulling up the line every few minutes to
see if the small-fry nibblers have left the hook bare. It is possibly
hardly necessary to add here that the fisherman who tells of this
invention may be like other fishermen, in which case the reader need not
believe the story unless he wants to.

QUICK WIT.

A comedian in a French theatre once m