Saving Antiquities For Everyone - Yeah, Right - Updated Again

Greetings,

The usual propaganda continues by the cultural property nationalists. A group called Saving Antiquities For Everyone (SAFE) misidentified a coin several months ago on it's website stating that it is a "Gold Attic-Standard Tetradrachm". Here is the coin:

The picture is on their donation page (don't give!) Now I will grant you it does have a certain pale gold patina to it but I can assure you it is not a gold coin. Since pointing this out SAFE has corrected the part of the error (it being gold) but 6 months later they still won't admit the number is wrong too. The photograph - according to numismatists with much more expertise than me is #1057 in the addendum to Pre-Kushana coins (not #1547 as described). SAFE still has it wrong - but they are not alone.

Also months after pointing out the error on ARCHAEOLOGY magazine's website, they still have not made any corrections:

Roman Coin Cache Discovered

Volume 53 Number 2, March/April 2000

by Chris Hellier

One of the terrific ironies of the article is it states the coins found were for the most part "common" and yet the AIA is opposed to collecting them!

"The haul comprises 9,212 coins, most of which are silver denarii, common coins equivalent to pennies in Roman times. Until British currency was decimalized in 1971, "pence" was represented by "d," an abbreviation for denarius." -Bold emphasis mine

But this is not much of a surprise, since coins hold little value to most archaeologists except as something useful for dating a layer of stratigraphy.

The coin was described as such, "Some of the hoard's silver denarii, equivalent to pennies in Roman Britain, show a portrait of Antoninus Pius of Caracalla (A.D. 198-217) on one side and the emperor as a charioteer on the other. (Courtesy the Trustees of The British Museum)" - endquote

Antoninus Pius of Caracalla? It leaves you with the impression that a fellow named Antoninus Pius came from a place called Caracalla. Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) and Caracalla (198-217 AD) were both Roman emperors but had little in common beyond that. After the person Julius Caesar lived and died, later emperors used his name "Caesar" as a title. Caracalla was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, later his father changed it to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and later Caracalla added Pius.

Here are 2 fully (and properly) attributed denarii of Caracalla RIC 87a (and yes, I checked it in my own copy of RIC volume IV, Part I, page 226):

Here is a typical portrait of Antoninus Pius on a gold Aureus, I chose it for it's bold detail:

Antoninus Pius' coins are typically of a thin-faced, bearded man where with Caracalla his young portraits are of a bare faced youth and his later ones are of a chubby-faced and bearded man. Only a total novice, unfamiliar with Roman coin portraiture could mistake the 2 men.

So yes Nathan, I'll STILL put my real world numismatic background (no degree) up against the professional archaeologists at SAFE and ARCHAEOLOGY on ancient coins any day!

Cheers!

Jim McGarigle
Polymath Numismatics
ANA, ANS, ACCG

Petraeus Betray Us - Huh?

Greetings,

For starters - if you have not watched the hearings yourself, you really ought to watch them. This is the turning point folks. So much so, Moveon.org (George Soros smear organization) has decided to attack a decorated public servant and only one democrat (Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman who is now an Independent Democrat) has distanced himself from the Moveon.org ad, all others asked so far have failed to denounce Moveon.org.

Here are links to the hearings on C-SPAN:

Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Hearing on the Petraeus Report - Part 1 (9/11/2007)

Senate Foreign Relations Cmte. Hearing on the Petraeus Report - Part 2 (9/11/2007)

A number of years ago Jane Fonda went to Viet-Nam and did a number of things for the Viet Cong and against our troops and somehow our government never prosecuted her. Some of what has been said about her is malarkey but much of it is true. Since she was never prosecuted and convicted for what she did, the bar is now impossibly high for what constitutes treason. Treason is defined as:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. [emphasis mine] U.S. Constitution Article III Section 3.

Generally speaking only acts of espionage or sabotage have been prosecuted in recent years. Where things have gone wrong in recent years is neither Congress nor the Supreme Court have drawn a line in the sand between principled opposition to the current war (such as the Quakers who are religious pacifists) and those who have propagandized for the enemy (such as Fonda clearly did) during the Viet-Nam war.

Those who wish to defend Fonda often say she was young and idealistic and was led astray when she did what she did in 1972. Well, in 1972, she was 34 or 35 - Fonda was born in 1937 - do the math. The average age of a Viet-Nam soldier was 19. Fonda knew what she was doing.

As I see it we as a country have 3 choices right now:

1) Impeach Bush for lying to get us into war with Iraq.
(Not my personal choice)

2) Prosecute people like George Soros and Michael Moore for treason.
(An idea I am warming up to)

3) Put aside our divisions and finish the war in Iraq when we have
achieved victory.
(What I really want)

Senator John McCain said something insightful a while back; he said political parties don't loose wars, NATIONS loose wars. It used to be that our differences ended at the shoreline, political parties used to only focus on domestic differences at times of war and unite behind the President and our troops in wartime. The left wing of the Democratic Party chucked that principle aside with Viet-Nam and chucked it aside as a whole (because now liberal = Democrat) with the Iraq war.

I REALLY wonder (I do!) what a President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John Edwards will do if we withdraw from Iraq, leave Iran alone and suddenly we face another September 11th? Will they call for a putting aside of differences and ask Americans to unite behind them and put our troops in harms way afresh?

I sincerely hope we never have to find out.

Saving Antiquities For Everyone - Yeah, Right - Updated Again

Greetings,

The usual propaganda continues by the cultural property nationalists. A group called Saving Antiquities For Everyone (SAFE) recently put a misidentified coin up on it's website stating that it is a "Gold Attic-Standard Tetradrachm". Here is the coin:

The picture is on their donation page (don't give!) Now I will grant you it does have a certain gold patina to it but I can assure you it is not a gold coin. A tetradrachm (for those of you who do not collect ancient coins) is normally a SILVER denomination. A tetradrachm is a denomination that is the equivalent of 4 drachms. A drachm is usally made of silver, billon (heavily debased silver), potin (an alloy of copper, tin and lead) or bronze - just about any metal but gold! There were some gold tetradrachms issued by the Ptolemies but they were much closer to the Gold Stater by weight. A stater weighed about 8 to 9 grams and a tetradrachm weighed about 14 to 17 grams. The dies appearance for both gold staters and silver tetradrachms were as you can see, quite similar.

Here is a very similar coin, identified as Bopearachchi 147:












Gee, do you think they meant the above coin was a gold STATER? Or were they still confused ? Here is a silver tetradrachm of Diodotus:

Apparently the cultural property nationalists are now cultural property alchemists because they have just turned a silver coin into a gold one! As you can plainly see, a serious coin collector (like myself) who is actually interested in Seleukid (or Seleucid if you prefer) coins (which I do collect) can tell the difference between a gold stater and silver tetradrachm (or tetradrachma if you prefer) better than an employee of a so-called archaeological organization.

But this is not much of a surprise, it is just like the many misattributions that Archaeology Magazine has done in their magazine, like this one:

The coin was described as such, "Some of the hoard's silver denarii, equivalent to pennies in Roman Britain, show a portrait of Antoninus Pius of Caracalla (A.D. 198-217) on one side and the emperor as a charioteer on the other. (Courtesy the Trustees of The British Museum)" - endquote

Antoninus Pius of Caracalla? It leaves you with the impression that a fellow named Antoninus Pius came from a place called Caracalla. Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) and Caracalla (198-217 AD) were both Roman emperors but had little in common beyond that. Where the confusion lies is in a custom of taking a famous name and making a title out of it. After the person Julius Caesar lived and died, later emperors used his name "Caesar" as a title. Caracalla was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, later his father changed it to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and later Caracalla added Pius, hence conferring the names of both Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius upon himself as titular names, but neither was his given birth name.

Here are 2 fully (and properly) attributed examples:

Here is a typical portrait of Antoninus Pius on a gold Aureus, I chose it for it's bold detail:

Antoninus Pius' coins are typically of a thin-faced, bearded man where with Caracalla his young portraits are of a bare faced youth and his later ones are of a chubby-faced and bearded man. Only a total novice, unfamiliar with Roman coin portraiture could mistake the 2 men.

I'll put my real world numismatic background (no degree) up against the professional archaeologists at SAFE and ARCHAEOLOGY on ancient coins any day. I have no doubt that some degreed expert made both of these errors.

Assuming the best, assuming that SAFE made an honest mistake that would require the person to be color blind and ignorant of the difference between a Stater and a Tetradrachm - this is being charitable. Assume the worst and they are liars and propagandists.

This brings to memory an unscrupulous online coin dealer (now kicked off both eBay© and Overstock.com©) who would take brass gambing tokens with the portrait of King George III and sell them as GENUINE GOLD GUINEAS! Here is a George III Brass gambling Token:












Here is a real George III Gold Guinea:












Not a perfect parallel, but worth sharing. ;-)

Of course what I really want to know is does Osmund Bopearachchi, Director of Research, at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris know that a group opposed to private coin collecting is using an incomplete quote of his on their website on their fundraising page? This is a man whose publications main buyers are not archaeologists but private collectors of ancient coins. It would be worth checking into, would it not?

Mr. Bopearachchi is a highly esteemed and well published professional numismatist, the way the picture of a coin and his quote are used imply he is in common cause with SAFE. I am agnostic of whether he favors SAFE's position which is opposed to collectors rights and favors import restrictions on coins or that of an organization such as the ANA or ACCG which favor collectors rights and are opposed to import restrictions.

Jim McGarigle
Polymath Numismatics
ANA, ANS, ACCG

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PS: I received confirmation from a well known numismatic author that SAFE did indeed misidentify the coin:

The photographed coin is a silver tetradrachm (not gold), #1057 in the addendum to Pre-Kushana coins (not #1547 as described). The variety is unique, at least they got that part right. This coin is illustrated on the cover of the book. Bopearachchi of course has it right, it is SAFE that got it wrong.

The same person also told me that Bopearachchi is "very collector friendly" - so one wonders what Mr. Bopearachchi's reaction might be to an anti-collecting organization using a quote of his on their fund raising page might be.

ADDENDUM 07-19-07:

SAFE has corrected their citation error recently by deleting the word 'Gold' and correcting the citation from Bopearachchi 1547 to 1057. So SAFE who is opposed to ancient coin collecting has corrected it's fundraising page in accordance with collectors criticisms. The irony is amazing.

Cheer Or Cry? Immigration Bill Hits The Wall

Greetings all,

Today the Senate immigration bill failed to pass - good or bad?

Good - the bill had some bad compromises in it.

Bad - the status quo has been maintained.

Democrats are likely popping the bubbly right now, the status quo remains and on top of it, the GOP has managed to help confirm it's negative image as the party of WASPS, Rednecks, and bigots of the Archie Bunker sort. There is a lesson in this mess - touch this issue and you are politically dead in the water. Look at the Republican Presidential hopefuls - John McCain was the one candidate who stuck out his neck and said he favored a very centrist approach - i.e., comprehensive immigration reform. He aligned himself with the President and Ted Kennedy and is now trailing in Iowa and in fundraising. On the opposite end, Tom Tancredo, Duncun Hunter, et al who have been verbally very tough can't get any traction in support or money. What is the lesson for the GOP? Shut up is the lesson. Embrace either amnesty or comprehensive immigration reform too loudly and you are toast.

In the beginning the President was right, at least in his rhetoric. President Bush said we needed a solution that respected the law and our values. He was also pragmatic, it would turn America upside down if we took every single Mexican (and I guess some poorer Canadians) and deported them overnight. REMEMBER, we only have 4 to 5% unemployment here in the USA, do you think 100% of that 4 to 5% all want to work? A temporary guest worker program with good record keeping is really needed. Some years ago I worked for a printing company and attended meetings where we discussed how to get enough employees to fit the companies printing contracts. The personnel person said, "There are 221 people in ______ County who are completely unemployable. We have worked with the local government and temp services and have determined there are 221 people in ______ County who will never be able to hold down a job so we have to look outside of town whatever we do." The solution? The company spent money to bus in college students (the bus was free for them to ride) to meet the demand. In the words of Robin Williams as Aladdin's genie, "Still, not enough!"

Next they brought in felons from the nearby prison. That did not bother the men so much but it did bother the women and in the end the felons did not work out well. They tried to play hooky, had poor work habits, lied habitually to co-workers. What to do next? Hire immigrants, even if they don't speak English well. In the end, the company hired large numbers of Somalians and Mexicans and guess what? It worked out OK. There was a period of adjustment, safety signs had to be posted in multiple languages and English lessons were given at company expense to the Mexicans and Somalians but it ended up working out OK. Better than white, American felons for sure. I know, I trained in somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 or so of the Mexican and Somalian workers myself. Many of them were trying to fit in too. They started to watch football and NASCAR and a few Somalians were learning to fish for the 1st time. One Somalian who was older and somewhat educated told me one day, "If I fish enough, I can buy fewer groceries and save money."

Fiscally conservative Republicans are fond of a certain Chinese Proverb that goes, "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

I say let the productive, law-abiding immigrants stay but make them Americans, integrate them into our traditions, our great melting pot. America is not about color, ethnicity, language, religion, or any of those things that divide us, rather it is an idea about Freedom - Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press, Freedom of Assembly. It is also about the Rule of Law, Rugged Individualism and a hopeful optimism to be able to achieve your dreams without being held down by concepts like station of birth, caste or nobility nor permission from a warlord, dictator or king.

Yes, let them stay, make them Americans and teach them to fish.

Jim

New Dollar Coin Looks Like Rush Limbaugh!

Greetings Readers,

Recently in a liberal Wisconsin blog, it was declared that the new John Adams dollar looks like "Rush Limbaugh with a mullet". I went to the bank, got a roll and plucked out a couple to see for myself and plunked them down on my scanner. I think it might be a rare die variety, look for yourself:

The "Rush with a mullet" variety is on the right - of course.

;-)

Jim McGarigle
Polymath Numismatics
ANA, ANS, ACCG

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Wisconsin GOP Convention

Greetings,

I just attended the Wisconsin Republican State Convention, held this year in Lake Geneva at the Grand Geneva Resort, formerly the Playboy Club. I got to hear the stump speeches of two Presidential hopefuls, Senator Sam Brownback and former Governor Tommy Thompson. Both men gave good stump speeches. Brownback hit all the right high points but did not say anything new as far as policy goes. Brownback said he wanted to rebuild the family and tax the current tax code "behind the woodshed and kill it with a dull axe" - good applause line. Thompson by contrast is running as a quintessential "Midwestern Dreamer" with big ideas, I just don't know how his ideas would play nationally. Thompson reminded the croud of his conservative credentials as the governor who cut taxes, invented welfare reform, helped start school voucher programs and signed a partial birth abortion ban and later as President Bush's Health & Human Secretary fought AIDS and strengthened or health preparedness in case of another attack by means of Anthrax & similar risks working together with the Dept of Homeland Security.

Time will tell, Thompson faces some real challenges, while I thought his healthcare diplomacy idea showed real promise, non-interventionist conservatives were not amused. Thompson has traveled the world and is "sick and tired of anti-Americanism". He has seen attitudes change in places like Africa where he has helped fight AIDS and in Afghanistan where he made sure some decent hospitals were built. He has seen people say, "Thank you America" and Thompson can't help but see paralels I'm sure between this and his success with changing hearts and minds of inner city poor people about Republicans as he did with his successful welfare and educational reform programs of the 1980s & 90s. Thompson's aspirations all boil down to Iowa right now. Thompson has placed all his eggs in the basket of the Iowa caucuses. That may not be a bad strategy either. I am quite sure that Thompson can do far better than Rudy Guiliani in Iowa for both regional and ideological reasons.

Matter of fact, the gloves are just really beginning to come off for Guiliani and Romney as stories are hitting both the liberal and conservative media outlets about how both of them have given money to Planned Parenthood. There is a difference in their donations though, Mayor Guiliani and his ex-wife gave 6 times, Romney - or rather more specifically, his wife gave once.

The truly big speculation at the Wisconsinn convention was who will run for governor again in 2010. Congressman Mark Green has recently been cleared entirely of the charges laid against him by Gov. Doyle. Not only that but all charges were entirely dismissed with prejudice as "hogwash, pure hogwash" by the panel of judges deciding the case. Green's former opponent, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker was serving coffee and pancakes Saturday morning and State Senator Ted Kanavas of Brookfield, Wisconsin was the only officeholder besides newly minted Atty General J. B. Van Hollen to hold a hospitality room which begged the question, "What is he running for?" Senate? Governor? Time will tell.

The Presidential straw poll favored the Thompson twins - Fred and Tommy. Fred got 95 votes, Tommy got 84. Complete Results:

2007 STRAW POLL QUESTIONS, RESULTS 306 total ballots cast

**Which Republican candidate do you support for president in 2008?

-Sam Brownback 14
-Jim Gilmore 0
-Newt Gingrich 12
-Rudy Giuliani 35
-Chuck Hagel 0
-Mike Huckabee 0
-Duncan Hunter 3
-John McCain 10
-Mitt Romney 41
-Ron Paul 1
-Tom Tancredo 8
-Fred Thompson 95
-Tommy Thompson 84
-No response 2
-Write in 1

** If a 2010 primary for governor were being held today, which Republican would you choose to be the party's nominee?

-Scott Fitzgerald 3
-Rick Graber 0
-Mark Green 62
-Mike Huebsch 3
-Ted Kanavas 5
-Bill McCoshen 3
-Paul Ryan 24
-J.B. Van Hollen 42
-Scott Walker 142
-Write in 18
-No response 4
Results Courtesy of Wispolitics.com

I guess President Bush was not the only one who wanted to see Rick Graber leave Wisconsin and become an ambassador to the Czech Republic! Even though I never got along with Rick, I wished him well when he left in an email and pointed him to some nice Lutheran churches being served by pastors who were Wisconsin natives over there if he ever got homesick and needed someone to talk to about the Green Bay Packers.

As usual, there were some complaints about the convention. Due to the sheer size of the resort, many convention goers had sore feet because you had to walk back and forth so far everywhere. It would have been more desirable if everything had been held in one section of the resort complex. There were also complaints about the food, not the quality, the quality was excellent but a piece of broiled chicken the size of a small child's fist just seems a bit ridiculous for $50. Whatever happened to choice too like do you want ham, poultry or steak? Of course as one delegate said to me, "That is what hospitality rooms are for." Ted Kanavas' mini-Gyros, cut veggies and New Glarus Beer filled a real hole in many peoples guts. People also had fun singing Karaoke and dancing and yours truly was among the late night cigar crowd talking issues and drinking beer... just as it should be.

The big highlight for me though was listening to the luncheon speaker for the Wisconsin Federation of Republican Women - a very pretty and totally hilarious "Catfish Queen Reject" - Nancy French. Nancy is an conservative pundit who occasionally appears on NPR who has a great fish-out-of-water story about moving out of the South and attending NYU and living in cities like Ithaca, NY and Philadelphia, PA and discovering deep cultural differences. I liked her so much I bought her book and it is a good read but Nancy is far funnier listened to. Between her deep southern accent (pardon my Yankee upbringing) and the inflection and comic timing she brings to it - she makes a really, really funny storyteller. Some stories would be really funny if it were not the fact that they involved real people, like the mom she met on the playground who dressed her son as a girl or the people she met who never met a conservative, a Christian or a Republican before and beleived every caricature and negative stereotype of the aforesaid because certain parts of America are becoming increasingly ideologically segregated just as much as many have become racially desegregated. What I found uniquely refreshing about French is she both wants to win the culture war and win over liberals. A hopeful note for the future as she is only 32, if she commits to what she is doing now for the long run, she can be a hopeful alternative to the Pat Buchanan types who are currently regaining ground in the GOP. Illegal immigration is a real problem but turning to anachronistic, legalistic and overzealous policies - some couched in anti-Latino racism as opposed to genuine concerns about National Security will loose more votes than it will gain and also is an unequal fit to the GOP's heritage as the party who ended slavery and gave America the 1964 Civil Rights Act which is based upon the Republican Party Platform of 1872 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875, it took the Northern wing of the Democratic Party 90 years to catch up.

We would do well to return to our roots:

That the Republican party is opposed to any change in our naturalization laws or any state legislation by which the rights of citizens hitherto accorded to immigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired; and in favor of giving a full and efficient protection to the rights of all classes of citizens, whether native or naturalized, both at home and abroad.
Republican Party Platform 1860, Paragraph 14.

The doctrine of Great Britain and other European powers, that because a man is once a subject, he is always so, must be resisted, at every hazard, by the United States, as a relic of the feudal times, not authorized by the law of nations, and at war with our national honor and independence. Naturalized citizens are entitled to be protected in all their rights of citizenship, as though they were native-born; and no citizen of the United States, native or naturalized, must be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any foreign power, for acts done or words spoken in this country; and, if so arrested and imprisoned, it is the duty of the Government to interfere in his behalf.
Republican Party Platform 1868, Paragraph 9.

Foreign immigration, which in the past, has added so much to the wealth, development of resources, and increase of power to this nation—the asylum of the oppressed of all nations—should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.
Republican Party Platform 1868, Paragraph 11.

The Pacific railroad and similar vast enterprises have been generously aided and successfully conducted, the public lands freely given to actual settlers, immigration protected and encouraged, and a full acknowledgment of the naturalized citizens' rights secured from European Powers.
Republican Party Platform 1872, Paragraph 2, Sentence 5.

Food for thought Republicans, chew on it a little.

Jim McGarigle
Polymath Numismatics
ANA, ANS, ACCG

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CICF Trip

Greetings readers,

I left for Chicago early Friday morning and my oldest kid Jackie with me. We got a little lost near the airport but then we got off on Mannheim road and my radar "kicked in" and we found our hotel, the Motel 6 (only $47 a night compared to $120 a night at the Crown Plaza)and checked in then went straight to the show. Upon arriving we attended the ACCG meeting and listened to Wayne Sayles' presentation and I got my award at the end and talked for about 5-10 minutes.

To be sure, I had plenty of help along the way. Wayne, Peter and Dave all helped as we fleshed out the right legalese and so forth for wording it. Cliff Mishler, formerly of Krause publishing was instrumental in helping secure help from 2 members of Congress, house reps Mark Green & Tom Petri. Cliff gave of his time (and gas) as he and I drove around the state in 1 day - as far south as Janesville and as far north as Green Bay (almost) giving awards to 3 members of Congress who supported the ACCG.

My role was essentially as front-man and mouthpiece for collectors who are increasingly feeling at odds with certain sectors of the archaeological community and with our government. I was happy to do my part to help bring things around.

All that said - after the meeting, my daughter said in the tone you would expect from a twelve yr old, "Now let the fun begin!" We went in and 1st table we saw was Harlan J. Berk's. My daughter collects world coins and Harlan had an offer for 1 lb bags for $5. Jackie asked for one and as I was tendering a $5 bill the nice lady who gave her the bag told her it was free, they had decided to give them free to all the kids. Then we went to Harlan's pick pins and Jackie picked up a Canadian silver proof
dollar and we moved on.

We went to the lot viewing area for the Ponterio Auction and looked at some high grade modern world gold, some Spanish pillar dollars and the ancients bulk lots they had. I did not win any bids this year but it was loads of fun for my daughter to see coins of this quality up close - the kind you rarely get to actually see up close much less handle.

We went out to dinner Friday night with Wayne and Doris Sayles and several other friends. I was a little worried Jackie might get bored at dinner but it was actually one of the high points of the trip for her. Wayne and the others were talking for a while about Caesar, Antony, Cleopatra, Brutus, etc., which is a part of history that Jackie is into and that and some funny snake charmer stories of Doris' made the night lots of fun for Jackie.

I did not have a huge buying trip for myself, I let Jackie spend about go a little crazy on world coins and then I bought 2 neat Reformation coins for myself and about some ancients for resale. Here's one of them:












We left about noonish on Saturday when we had funds enough to get gas and eat. This was the 1 bummer of the trip. I had difficulty with my bank allowing me to spend MY OWN MONEY! Next yr I bring my checkbook and much more cash. The ATM was this trip's enemy.

Even with that 1 hitch and also getting lost briefly on the way out of Chicago (there are parts of the freeway near the airport where you can be going eastbound and westbound simultaneously!) I asked Jackie if she would want to go back again and she said, "DEFINITELY!"

So we will be back next year.

Jim McGarigle
Polymath Numismatics
ANA, ANS, ACCG

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