<sorry folks if this is a duplicate--still getting the addresses sorted out>

>>This makes the assumption that the "128 and up" rule applies to 
font resources just like any other.  I don't actually know if this is the 
case.  Maybe someone else can verify that.  But it has not failed me yet.<<

Whew. You took a _big_ risk; some of those "128 and up" numbers are reserved.
I checked IM (table 4.1 in the online version of IM: Text): the font ID
numbers available to you, me and Adobe Systems are the range 1024-16382. Newer
font utilities go by name before number, but there don't seem to be many
guidelines on this.