By KAREN W. ARENSON for the NY Times

When Stanley J. Seeger gave Princeton $2 million for Hellenic studies nearly three decades ago, the gift’s income paid for two courses in modern Greek and trips to Greece for five.

But the Seeger money, which must be spent only on matters Greek, is now worth $33 million, multiplying through aggressive investing like the rest of Princeton’s endowment. So the university offers Greek, Greek and more Greek — 13 courses this semester, including “The Image of Greece in European Cinema” and “Problems in Greek History: Greek Democracy,” as well as trips to Greece and nearby areas for more than 90 students and faculty members last year. The history department recently hired its second Byzantine specialist. And the fund paid half the cost of a collection of 800 rare coins from medieval Greece.

“Institutions do get shaped by the interests of donors,” said Robert K. Durkee, vice president and secretary of Princeton.

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A “PRICELESS” coin collection and other precious artifacts in the trust of Sefton Council are feared to have been stolen from the public.

Council bosses admit they have no idea what has become of the Dethick-Brown collection of rare Roman coins, which was housed at the Botanic Gardens Museum, and have reported the loss to the police. A host of other items including rare Victorian and early American coins, Egyptian antiquities, oil paintings and birds’ eggs are said to be missing or damaged.

Tory candidate for Meols ward in the May elections, Mike Swift, has accused public officials of being “asleep at the wheel”. At the Southport Area Committee last Wednesday he asked for reassurance that efforts would be made to find the missing items.

Mr Swift was told about the missing artifacts by coin expert Alan Dawson, secretary of Ormskirk and West Lancs Numismatic Society, who reported the apparent loss of the Dethick-Brown collection to the council in November.

His reply from head of leisure services, John Taylor, said: “Despite a thorough search of the museum and the art gallery, the strong rooms at Bootle and Southport Town Halls and enquires made at other museums likely to have been interested in borrowing it at the time, the collection has not been found. Read full Champion Newspapers Article

The Santa Clara Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo to be held on April 10 – 13, 2008, will be displaying the finest 1915-S Panama-Pacific International Exposition 5 coin set known.

The historic coins and accompanying documents related to the famous 1915 exposition will be exhibited by Steven L. Contursi of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California.

The display includes the original Shreve & Co. copper and glass frame and original box that housed the coins when they were sold. In addition a $200 invoice to a buyer in Kansas dated July 29, 1915, signed by Farran Zerbe, chief of the Coin and Medal Department for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, along with the June 8, 1940, signed letter and $575 invoice from Texas dealer, B. Max Mehl, who resold the set to a Los Angeles buyer.

The coins in the set in the exhibit are certified by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation as follows:

• 1915-S silver half dollar, NGC Mint State 66
• 1915-S gold dollar, NGC MS-67
• 1915-S gold $2.50 quarter eagle, NGC MS-67
• 1915-S gold $50 octagonal coin, NGC MS-65
• 1915-S gold $50 round coin, NGC MS-67

“The octagonal $50 denomination gold coin is one of five superb condition Panama-Pacific gold and silver San Francisco Mint coins that were registered by Panama-Pacific officials as the sixth of only 24 complete coin sets produced for the event in 1915,” said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman. “The ‘Pan-Pac’ set that will be displayed at the show includes the original $200 invoice, but the coins and their original copper and glass frame are valued today at about $700,000.” (more…)