"At the beginning of 2020 April 18 was the date set for the Numismatic Association of Victoria's 1,077th meeting. Little did we know at that time that it would be such an unusual and fun event. Like most places around the world at this time the Australian State of Victoria has a number of restrictions on gatherings, and as such the NAV recently trialled on-line meetings.

"Having successfully conducted a committee meeting it was decided to give this format a wider audience, so on 18th April eleven members and a visitor from the Geelong Numismatic Society, attended the NAV's first virtual meeting. Topics ranged from the War of Spanish Succession to Tom & Jerry and everything in between. We've had nothing but positive responses to this format and we're looking to extend the use of this technology to other clubs throughout the State. We may even use this format even when restrictions are lifted a so more remote and interstate members can attend.

"Members without internet are not being left behind though as we'll be issuing an irregular newsletter as well as our regular publication of the Victorian Numismatic Journal (VNJ). The latest edition of the VNJ carries the important message on the back cover to "keep calm and coin on". Members have also been in contact with each other on a regular basis checking in on the more vulnerable members of our numismatic community.

"The Numismatic Association of Victoria (NAV) was founded in 1946 and since then the association's aims and activities have largely remained unchanged. Members attend monthly meetings, receive copies of our publications, and have access to our archives through our website (navic.org.au), which we've recently opened for all numismatists, wherever they're based, to access in these strange and challenging times.."

"Our May 7 – 9, 2020 Spring Coin Show is CANCELED. The State of Pennsylvania has extended the stay at home mandate to May 8th. Our next coin show will be our Fall event scheduled for October 29 – 31. We are disappointed but our concern is for the health and safety of our attendees and dealers.

"PAN will focus all of our great energy to the American Numismatic Association World's Fair of Money to be held at the David Lawrence Convention Center Pittsburgh, PA on August 4 – 8, 2020. We are the host organization and invite all of our PAN show supporters to attend."

"We've posted the recording of the CADS Money Talks on our YouTube channel. There were a total of 83 people who signed up, quite a few more (!!) than we're normally able to host at our Money Talks at Varick Street."

"The "Moneytrend" Verlag GmbH from Vienna had to file for bankruptcy!

"According to information from the Alpine Vendor Association (AKV) dated April 22, 2020, Moneytrend Verlag Gesellschaft mbH can no longer meet its current payment obligations. Bankruptcy proceedings were opened by the Vienna Commercial Court.

"The trade magazine "money trend" was first published in Switzerland in 1969.

"In 1996 it was taken over by the committed publisher Gerd-Volker Weege from Vienna, who founded his own newspaper while still at school and had been a passionate numismatist since his youth. In addition to the "money trend", more and more numismatic specialist books have now appeared in his publishing house.

"Gerd-Volker Weege died in May 2018. Since then, the publishing house has been continued by the next generation.

"The current April 2020 issue in the 52nd year of the magazine will probably remain the last issue. The number of subscribers had dropped so far for years that the magazine could no longer be economically successful. Now an insolvency administrator has to take care of the handling of the publishing house.

"With the "money trend", readers and the entire industry are losing an internationally renowned magazine for coins and paper money, which was largely shaped by Gerd-Volker Weege, who was a passionate advocate of the printed word, but also pursued new digital possibilities."

"The auction was led by Part 2 of the John Reynolds collections. His circus side show collection was just for starters. They also featured California tokens, medals and shell cards, as well as his fabulous aviation mail (and California) postal history collection of more than 10,000 covers, plus his Pioneer postcard collection. The collections contributed to a highly successful online auction.

"This may have been a record-setting auction," remarked Fred Holabird, president and owner of Holabird Western Americana Collections. "Over time, we have mined many statistical patterns associated with collector interests, bidding practices and Internet visibility. We used this data to guide our marketing for this sale, and it was a near absolute success. The numbers bore this out."

"Holabird likened the auction room to "a war room," commenting, "With no live bidding in our gallery because of COVID-19, the room contained a complex array of computers and operators, with all phone participation handled by Zoom and our employees working remotely from home around the country. This high-tech approach to the business may well be the wave of the future."

"Following are additional highlights from the auction, which attracted more than 6,000 registered bidders, with just under 600 successful winning bidders and over 550 people participating online live over the course of the four days (with a high of just under 1,000 people online live at a time). The sale had less than ten lots reserved.

"Day 4 also topped the 750-lot mark, with categories that included tokens, numismatics, cowboy and Western, and bargains and dealer specials in multiple categories. Coin lovers were drawn to lot 4270 – a nicely organized hoard of Indian head pennies covering the years 1858-1909, about 1,450 pieces total, all sorted ($2,625). It was a wide variety archive, with most coins post-1880."

"More than $33.6 million in rare coins and currency changed hands during the Central States actions, which were moved from Chicago to Heritage Auctions' global headquarters in Dallas, April 23-26 due to the cancellation of the Central States Numismatic Society Convention (CSNS), April 23-26.

"Considering the worldwide coronavirus crisis, participation was stellar, with more than 6,800 people participating in the auction online," said Jim Halperin, Co-founder of Heritage Auctions. "We watched top specimens receive numerous bids and there was exceptional interest in Colonial coins. The auction was 97 percent sold, by both number of lots and by dollar value."

Heritage also enjoys the highest Online dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: Hiscox Report). The Internet's most popular auction-house website, HA.com, has more than 1,250,000 registered bidder-members and searchable free archives of five million past auction records with prices realized, descriptions and enlargeable photos. "

"This U.S. Mint numismatic sales report covers the week ending April 26, 2020. The Mint's best-selling product this week was the Andrew Jackson Presidential silver medal (S807), which sold 10,026 units. In second place was the 2020-S U.S. Mint Silver Proof Set (plus 2020-W Reverse Proof nickel) (20RH) with 7,486 sold. "

"I attach a photo of a recent purchase. Although it is a medallion from the Nineteenth Century it appears to demonstrate social distancing. The rider on the right is about to be arrested by a police officer for breaching the rules. The people on left are queuing for toilet rolls!"

"People are using the word lockdown because they don't know how to spell kwarinteen.

"Ontario has banned groups larger than 5. If you're a family of 6, you're all about to find out who's the least favorite!

"If you get an email with the subject "Knock Knock,"... it's a Jehovah Witness working from home.

Day 36 of social isolation at home, and it's like being in Las Vegas. I'm losing money by the minute. Cocktails are acceptable at any hour. Nobody knows what time it is."