"I've come to believe in Curator DNA and I'm a carrier.

"It's a shame when family history is lost and an item such as a medal becomes mundane. I consider myself to not be an owner, but a Custodian.

"In 1978 a former neighbor died and his 2 Sons sold everything at a garage sale including the 4 medals in the left top. They were $3.00 for the group and I felt obligated to do something else other than treat them as collectibles. I documented his name and what little else I knew. All I need now is a bit of time and some internet research to fill in the details.

"Below that are 5 coins that also have a story. I built a desk drawer for a WW2 veteran in 2007 and came upon the coins in a box. He had served in North Africa in an aircraft repair facility and had kept the coins together probably because they couldn't be spent easily. He said I could have them.

"A few notes were made of his stories and experiences that made him become a Minister and a proponent for peace and social justice. A nicer holder is needed.

"The last medal and MPC's belonged to my father (Korea 1952 to 1953). There is also paperwork that supports all promotions, assignments, dates and places.

"Over 200 photos were condensed to the top 40 that had captions added. These were shown on Monday at a open house of the USS Hornet in Alameda CA. Collections of this type need to be shared so history won't be lost."

Thank you! -Editor

"It may be of interest to the E-Sylum readers, particularly those who are current subscribers to Owen's The Banknote Book, that CDN's acquisition of this work will result in one significant change that in my view is not being fully and clearly outlined in the recent news release.

"In the past, current Banknote Book (BNB) subscribers have been able to freely download copies of BNB's newly added and/or revised country chapters from the ContentShelf website as they wished. Everyone should be aware that this ability to download desired chapters will no longer be allowed by CDN going forward.

"I noted this when I signed on to the CDN site and found the downloading ability was gone. This fact was confirmed to me yesterday in an e-mail exchange with CDN's Patrick Perez who stated that "in the future we will not allow the downloading of PDF chapters because everything will be in database format".

"I think that this change was hinted at previously by Owen when he first advised BNB subscribers that this acquisition by CDN had taken place. He had mentioned that if anyone wanted or needed to download any chapters, that they should go to the ContentShelf website (where BNB currently resides) and do so before July 1st, when subscriber access to BNB on ContentShelf will end."

The move to a database format is definitely a big change, but ultimately one for the better, I think. But it will take some getting used to, especially in the interim. -Editor

"The first coin that got me really interested was an 1835 dime that my father received in change while I was shopping with him at around 9-10 years old, in 1961. He noticed it only because it was physically larger than contemporary dimes. I still own it and consider it to be a family heirloom, like whatever is left of my Polish grandfather's large foreign coins accumulation, integrated into my 20K coin world 1837-to-date type collection. The 1835 dime was (and still is) in AG, due to very uneven but partly heavy wear. Not 126 years of wear. Obviously, someone had recently spent it out of an inheritance, or out of their family member's coin collection, or a collector was trying to recruit a new collector, and I guess succeeded.

Well, yesterday in change I noticed a coin in my hand that immediately reminded me of the slick "Mercury" dimes from the teens and '20s, that I used to get in circulation frequently, when I checked my parents' change every night. It also reminded me of the 1835. It's a 200?-D U.S. dime that is worn almost slick, mostly peripherally, on both sides. It doesn't look like a pocket piece and would be a very unlikely one anyway."

Great story. I think the earliest coin I ever found in circulation was a 1909-S Lincoln Cent (sadly, not a VDB). -Editor

"I grew up in Bethesda, MD and attended Walter Johnson High School. Also attending was Nils Lofgren, who later came to fame as a rock guitarist. He had a great coin collection, inherited from his grandfather. Like, complete, very high-grade sets of Indians and Lincoln cents. He dropped out after 11th grade, but to focus on his guitar, not his coins."

Still, another name for our list of celebrity numismatists! -Editor