NUMISMATICS FOR LOCAL HISTORY

Coin and currency enthusiast Alex Armstrong of Hillsborough, North Carolina, has a sentiment in which I strongly endorse. Alex believes local areas should have examples of numismatic items used in that area in the past. If the locale does not have a local history museum, there should be some repository for locally used numismatic items.

A news story was published this week that Alex donated eight coins -- British pennies and halfpennies -- to the town as a gift to be viewed by the residents. The story reveals the coins were not that rare or expensive, but were significant. These were the coins that circulated in the area in the 1700s.

Alex Armstrong has designed archival containers for major coin collections at the Smithsonian as well as for universities such as Harvard and Princeton. He creates these for both coins and currency. But for his hometown he donated coins a resident could touch, to feel the history in their hands, perhaps to be influenced by its heritage.

To Alex's concept of coins and paper money, I would like to add the wider scope of medals. Local museums should have medals of local events and local people. Medallic portraits alone are as informative as any other museum artifact. Thank you Alex.

To view the article, click on: ‘Give it as a gift to the town' (www.aconews.com/articles/2011/04/08/noc/news/news2.txt)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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