I’m certain many of us pick up a series or idea and start to form a collection that gets put on the back burner and only looked at now and again. Such is the case for a Roosevelt set that I started to build perhaps 15-years ago. Like most other dealers or serious collectors, I see lots of coins and over time I have built a pair of gem, untoned album sets of silver Roosevelt dimes. I’ve also owned and sold dozens of superbly toned examples, many of which were certified with very high grades.

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Each of us has a series of relationships within our lives that take us from our earliest days to our last. They run the spectrum of family, close friends, acquaintances and business associates and in these we sometimes get to witness a glimpse, or more, of the private side of each person. Most of these relationships are cordial or perhaps warm, but the rare ones bridge the gap between people to leave one fulfilled and feeling like there is something else there, as well.
In my lifetime I can state that George H. Champlin IV was one of those rare folks who bridged the gap.

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Holy Cow!  Could it have possibly been twenty-years since the green inserts disappeared?  Continue...

Who is E. E. McD. and how and where did he/she die on March 11, 1847?  Though first addressed over five-years ago in the original article, I believe it is time for an update...

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I regularly get requests to share some of the very cool items I have handled in the past, but I have hesitant about posting an archive of all sold material.  In one sense, an archive is a terrific tool to allow folks to see what might be viewed on this site and to have a solid understanding of the pieces I like.  However, I am often torn by the fact that these pieces may have found new homes and that their current owners might not want them posted here.  My new archive page will share some pieces from the past, but not those where I know the current owner would not approve.  Click below for the page...

​Archive

It seems to be an appropriate time of year to write about the colors of fall.  The leaves here in New England have turned from a thick blanket of summer green through a burst of vibrant orange, yellow, red and the occasional purple and have settled into that orange to brown spectrum that goes hand-in-hand with the smell of decay in the crisp air.

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Ben Franklin would love this!  Continue...

The Spring Baltimore show was held this past week in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore and, as always, was run superbly.  The Spring and Fall Baltimore shows are two of my favorite shows of the year while the other two shows that would rank with or ahead of them include Winter FUN (when it is in Orlando) and the Summer ANA (when it is in Chicago).  This year's show was held shortly before Opening Day for the Baltimore Orioles and I imagine that created some problems for those who waited to book rooms near the convention center.

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A bout of pneumonia and a missed FUN show left me in a foul mood.  Until....  Click to continue...

What is an image of a fountain pen doing on the top of this page?  Well, Friday, November 4 was International Fountain Pen Day; yes, it really exists.  Continue...

What follows is a pictorial diary, complete with notes from conversations with Park Rangers, over the course of three days centered around the June 26, 2016 unveiling as well as a return trip on October 23, 2016.

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Most anyone who follows my site or reads my articles will realize that I place a rather large emphasis on education.  This goes beyond simply knowing what one is doing and crosses over into sharing that information and educating others who are willing and eager to learn.  Over the years I have given away my knowledge to thousands of folks in person, in online discussions, in print and on my website.

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Numismatics allows each of us to study history, appreciate art and ponder the decisions of citizenry, politicians and government. Of course, the inner workings of coinage design and selection are not always made public, and this fact can lead to speculation or even fabrication. 

A numismatic event that I believe is fabricated is associated with a series that I have had a longstanding interest in and this is with Washington quarters. Similar to most numismatists, I have several collecting niches that overlap a certain amount and that, as a conglomerate, make my collection a whole. Two of my interests merge in the Washington quarter series and these are the series itself, one of only two series that I have ever actively sought to collect by date, and superbly toned coinage. Fortunately for me, I have over the years been able to obtain some astonishingly toned Washington quarters as shared previously.

The impetus for this post is neither superbly toned coinage nor the issued Washington quarter series. Rather, the impetus for this post is a famously rejected design for the Washington quarter series that was later used as a modern commemorative in one of the US Mint's more prescient moments.  Read more here...

As promised, the Journal of the Barber Coin Collectors' Society has published its Summer 2016 edition and a long-awaited update on my circulated Barber half dollar article appears in the issue.  The article follows this link and is very similar to that published in the Journal.

The summer (June) issue of the Barber Coin Collectors' Society Journal will have a new article that I have written specifically for the society.  It is an update from the article that appeared in Coin Values magazine 11-years ago.

Information about the article and about the Barber Coin Collectors' Society may be found by following the link...

In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth undertook an extended springtime tour of Canada that included a four-day visit to the United States.  The trip was important for all three countries involved for various and interrelated reasons.

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The spring Baltimore show was held this past week and, while I did not have high hopes for a good show prior to the start, I was pleasantly surprised by what might have been the best show in the last two years.  Continue...