About the NBS, founders and early members, I have a list of charter members, with numbers. Jack Collins is #1. George Kolbe is #2. The next group of numbers is marked reserved. Cal Wilson is #14. Then it starts in alphabetical order. John Adams #15 to R. Zander #86. Then a second alphabetical list brings the list to 100 members. I am #92 on the second list.

When I became Secretary-Treasurer in 1996, I got a list of paid up members at that time. Some of the original members were gone from that list. They had either passed away, or had been dropped, I guess, for non payment of dues.

This medal is from Saint Ignatius College which became the University of San Francisco. The Jesuit high school in San Francisco remains with this name or more commonly "SI".

Sal Falcone came to the 1131th meeting July 28, 2010 of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society to speak about the medals of the Jesuit colleges. In addition to Saint Ignatius, Santa Clara College issued a similar medal.

The claims that the 50 pound note is not being scrapped, but will simply be redesigned as a polymer note to provide better security, is a Trojan horse aimed at the underground economy and at the billions of pounds hidden for decades in mattresses and safety deposit boxes. The problem is that the UK does not treat its currency as a permanent obligation to the citizens. Here in the US older currency is not devalued and declared illegal when new designs emerge, but that is the norm in the UK.

I go to London a couple of times a year to buy antiques. Not only do I routinely use 50 pound notes, but I was dismayed a year or so ago to discover that during my six month absence the lowly ten pound note had been replaced with a new polymer series, and that after a grace period of a few months the old notes were no longer legal tender. Fortunately I only had a couple of them in the currency I had taken home on the previous trip.

The redesign proposal for the 50 pound note is mainly a ploy to force people to bring out cash they have put away over the years and expose it to government prying.

Does anyone know if there is still a "Latvian Numismatic Society"? I found them with a Journal, published in Houston, from the 1980's using an internet search, but nothing current. Any information with a contact address or person would be welcome.

I've been a coin collector since about 1970, seriously getting into the high grade MS stuff about 1989. My exploits in that realm culminated in my 15 minutes of fame in 2000, when I auctioned off my complete set of MS Barber Quarters. A year or two before that, I discovered the Book and the medals of Karl Goetz. I've been heavily involved ever since, now hold over 1500.

Since the early '80's I had been in the securities world, as a broker, and also raising money. There were too many times that the deals didnt work out the way they were supposed to, and I began to feel I could do better in the collecting arena I had become kind of an expert in-- and maybe have some fun too! It seems many times it's always the same old dealers, and the same old collectors.

I have been attempting to introduce Goetz medals to the brokerage world... why not diversify a bit into hard assets/collectables, and maybe have a little fun doing so? And maybe we can get some new blood into the collecting world at the same time!

My email (going back to my Barber quarter days) is Barber25@aol.com .
Phone number is 989-239-4655.
Website is tangibleassetsllc.com
Also on Facebook at private portable wealth