Strangely enough, you're the second person to compare me with James Burke in the past 24 hours. I must have started down some dark path. Your mystery British coin sounds fascinating. I'd love to hear more about it if you can take a scan or transcribe some of the text. If it's an old one, I'm going to bet it's still got some exotic Latin stamped around the edges. Actually I just looked up a 2-bob coin with Our Liz on the front and they still do it! "ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF" (Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith". In the early 20th century (when Britain still owned India) they added to that "IND IMP" (Emperor of India). Are there many early 20th century pennies still in circulation? I'd have thought they'd be almost impossible to find, but then I don't know much about how these things circulate. That's a really cool project, though. I might try it myself…