I Was very much looking forward to going back to Slovakia, for the second time this year. Not only because of the numismatic plans I had for which I didn’t have time when I was there in March, but also some of my childhood memories bring me back to this country. For those of you who are looking for some museum descriptions, I have to say, nothing happened. Those, who would like to understand the not always successful aspects of numismatic tourism, I’d like to tell you about the not so good as well, just so you get a more complete picture of what it takes, and the mistakes you can make. Fortunately, not harmful, only annoying ones.
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The Museum of the National Bank of Romania
Sitting in a hotel room in Bucharest, with so much information in my head after the visit to the Museum of the National Bank of Romania. It is too late now to do anything, late even for a meal or a drink, but I definitely want to dump my brain hoping to capture as much as possible from what I heard today.
It started as always, when I found out I would be working in Romania, I wrote to the museum of the National Bank, and Oana Sticlaru immediately got back to me and scheduled a meeting for me.
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Presenting in Columbus
Last year, after I spoke at the Chicago Coin Club, I got an email from Gerry Tebben, from the Central Ohio Numismatic Association asking me to speak at their club as well. It was the middle of winter, and traveling to Columbus is not the easiest thing from here, so we agreed that I’ll try my best to either take a trip when the weather gets warmer, or when work takes me there. Unexpectedly, I got a work assignment in Columbus, so I called Gerry if they were available that week. This is how I got to present at the CONA Coin Club. When I got the original invitation, I had no idea that one of the best clubs was asking me to speak at their meeting.
Gerry Tebben, who invited me, is a columnist at Coin World. So, I was excited when he offered to pick me up from my hotel, so we had some time to talk on the way. I also received an invitation to join some of the club members at their traditional before meeting dinner. I particularly enjoyed that people have such a wide variety of knowledge about different types of coins. The club is 110 years old, amongst other things they have educational presentations. A couple of the members are also writing at Coin World.
My presentation was about enjoying coins by touch, a modified version of what I presented in Chicago. In general, I don’t like to present the same thing, especially when I have a chance to meet the participants of my presentation, because based on the conversation I can get a better sense of what it is they would be interested in.
I don’t want to get into the details of my presentation, people who read this blog have a general idea of what I have to say about collecting by touch, however, I did bring a few coins to show, including the 2017 Hungarian Irinyi commemorative, as well as a 1510 .
I got to touch two very interesting things at the show and tell. One was a small gold nougat, and a fake Morgan Dollar. I have touched interesting gold pieces, but never an original nougat. The fake coin was interesting too, it wasn’t even silver, and the plating was coming off of it. Fortunately there was a real Morgan floating around, so it was interesting to hold them side by side. Dropping both on the table it was obvious which was the fake one, but just by holding them not necessarily. One felt newer and more beaten as well, which was the fake.
After the meeting, we had another nice chat with Gerry on the way home. Before I left Columbus, I got an invitation to get more work done, so hopefully I’ll have a chance to visit the club again, and hear one of the presentations.
On the way home, I couldn’t miss stopping by the German village and have a few sausages. That part of town felt really old; bumpy and narrow roads, as I got out of the Uber, I could hear German music and people waiting at the door to get a table in lunch time. It was definitely worth the 20 minutes wait.
Back to Dublin
After a short stay in Cambridge, it was time to leave for Dublin for the rest of the week. Things didn’t exactly turn out as planned, but I had a great time. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get to London to get to my flight, so I left too early. Fortunately. I looked around at the airport when I got there. You might wonder how. Well, I have an app on my phone which is able to tell me about all places sorted by distance, starting with the nearest one.
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The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge
The next trip including numismatic interests led to Cambridge, UK. I’m spending a couple of days here and traveling on to Ireland this week. This time, I wanted to check out the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum. Currently they have a display of Indian coinage extending through the last two millennia. However, this time, I was not able to contact anybody at the museum. I tried through email and Twitter, but I didn’t even get a response. Fortunately, things turned out much better than it looked when I arrived, but more about that later. First, let me start with a few thoughts on travel which maybe interesting, not necessarily numismatic related, but part of the journey of a blind collector.
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Getting kids interested in coin collecting
Recently I read an interesting article on Coinweek, about how difficult it is to win the next generation for the hobby. I just started to write up my thoughts on the subject, not necessarily a response, when I came across another interesting piece, which argues that the best recruit is the middle-aged collector. I don’t want to respond to this one either though it may sound that way, but I would like to add my own $0.02. I believe kids are still good recruits if approached well. I don’t think it is an all or nothing deal, kids can enjoy collecting before they become numismatists.
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Interview with the Numismatourist
Over the last months I had a few conversations with Dr. Howard Berlin, the Numismatourist. I think the story around his book is just as interesting as the book. I am happy to announce, he agreed to an interview on this blog. I thought my readers would be interested in the background story as well. So, for a lack of better interviewer, I had the pleasure to ask him a few questions.
Book review – Money Talks : British Monarchs and History in Coins
It is hard to talk about coin collecting without understanding the history that surrounds coins. Often, the way it happens is that we know about certain facts of history, and when we get a coin from the same age and location, we can put it into perspective. Or, we can take the other approach. Take a random coin, and examine the era and the country the coin is from. They are both interesting, but time consuming approaches. We either have to hunt for particular coins, or read up on the background of a coin.
When it comes to the British Isles, Bob Whittington takes the guessing work out of the process, and helps us obtain the information we are looking for much faster, so we can enjoy the coins and the history together.
His book, Money Talks : British Monarchs and History in Coins, is the perfect companion for a coin collector.
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Visiting the ANS
I have been to New York several times during the past year, but for some reason, I could never arrange a visit to the American Numismatic Society. I either didn’t have time, or it wasn’t open when I was there. This time, my trip got scheduled so close to departure that I could only call the day before I left. I had no hopes, but never hurts to try, especially because this was something I really wanted to do. I got to talk with Emma Pratte, the membership assistant. I explained the situation, and she promised she will see what she could do. In a few minutes my phone rang: they can see me at a two days advance notice. I was lucky again. But what can I do, I always have to schedule my trips last minute.
The Money Museum in Chicago and Primitive Money
Just a few days after visiting the Money Museum in Cleveland, we traveled to Chicago with my daughter. Amongst many things, we had a chance to visit the money museum, with my friend, Carl Wolf. I couldn’t help but comparing it to the one in Cleveland, after all, both museums are maintained by the Federal Reserve.
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