Welcome to the latest edition of Dave's Notes. The holiday season is upon us. All of us here at Stack’s we wish you and your family a very cheerful, comforting time. It is at once an occasion to appreciate the blessings we have and to share with others. The New Year is in the offing. Time flies, amazingly so.

Coming up in January we will be having five sales by auction catalogues, plus additional offerings on the Internet. Never before in our 73-year history have so many events taken place within such a short time! The secret is diversity. Each catalogue is significantly different from the others, one concentrating on ancient coins, another emphasizing gold of the world, still another with obsolete currency, and a further featuring Americana. These New York events are heralded by a comprehensive offering of United States coins in our Orlando sale in the second week of January. If you are among our regular bidders, you will be very busy! If you are not a bidder yet, use the next week or two to check our offerings on the Internet at www.stacks.com, then either bid that way, or order a catalogue for enjoyment and permanent reference.

Adding coins, tokens, medals, and paper money to your collection at the price you want to pay is an exciting and rewarding experience. Thousands of different auction lots await you!

Apart from auctions, the best value in all of numismatics, past or present, is a useful, interesting book. And, we certainly have a nice selection of these! Particularly popular during the holiday season has been our trio of “The 100 Greatest” books, offered at a very special price. These comprise The 100 Greatest United States Coins (by Ron Guth and Jeff Garrett), The 100 Greatest American Currency Notes (Q. David Bowers and David M. Sundman), and The 100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens (by Katherine Jaeger and Q. David Bowers). While these “coffee table” books are interesting to look through, I view them as much more valuable: as an introduction to each of the series. In addition to interesting pictures and prices, there is much useful reading material that will educate, inform, and inspire you.

I dare say that if you obtain The 100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens book and spend an hour with it, all of a sudden your numismatic horizons will have expanded beyond, perhaps, United States coins, and you will have a new world to explore. Ditto if you acquire The 100 Greatest American Currency Notes. This is not speculation on my part, for I have quite a few letters from recipients of these books who have had this happen!

Best Wishes,