Ray Williams once lamented that numismatic authors, having written 90% of a book, take too long to finish that last 10% - delaying publication way too long to suit him. Here is a quick look at a slowly developing coin book that may lead to publication someday.

A fact surprising to the general public but something C4 readers know is that hundreds of old coins come to light each year found by lucky and persistent relic hunters, the quiet, successful ones - who now hold lifetime collections of dug objects amassed over half a century of happy digging. From these collections I've gathered data on one thousand early coins dug in old Virginia.

Surmises about coin origin, circulation and loss patterns by decade will be estimated in order to help reconstruct an extended true type set of circulating coins of Virginia.

Growing up I learned that my great grandfather, Earnest A. Hack, was a coin collector, turned dealer! He lived in Detroit, Mi just 20 miles from where I live. He began collecting in 1900, at the age of 11. In 1910 he opened a coin, currency and stamp shop.