Welcome to the latest edition of my notes. The past two weeks have been wonderful and active-both at the same time. A trip to the Smithsonian Institution for research was very enjoyable, as always. On the ground floor of the Museum of American History there is a small but rarity-laden display of coins, tokens, medals, and paper money from the National Coin Collection-well worth visiting if your travels take you to Washington.

Then it was off to Philadelphia to attend the Whitman Coins & Collectibles Expo, the first such show ever. Although the Whitman Expo has been a dynamic success in Baltimore, Philadelphia was an experiment, to see how it went. The answer is that it went spectacularly! Attendance on the first day in Philadelphia was significantly more than double that of the most recent first day at the most recent (June) Whitman Baltimore show-and, as the entire numismatic community knows, the Baltimore shows are in the top rank in terms of activity, popularity, and attendance.

Stack's had a large bourse table opposite the entrance, where I was much of the time, meeting, greeting, and chatting with friends, old and new. Several came from the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania, and were current members of the Wilkes-Barre Coin Club, which I belonged to when I was a young teenager. It seems that the club is as active as ever, perhaps more so. It was nice to reminisce about the old days.

Opposite Stack's was the Whitman display, a series of shelves, comfortable chairs, and more-a magnet for attendees. About every other minute-well, not quite that often-someone would buy a book at Whitman, walk a few feet over to the Stack's table, and have me autograph it for them. I am always happy to do that.

In the meantime, and also after the show during the evening, Stack's Americana Sale, presented in two catalogues, was one of the most exciting auctions in a long time. The Chester Krause Collection of Wisconsin Obsolete Paper Money led the event, with Chet there in person to watch the proceedings. As you may know, Chet founded Numismatic News in 1952, which grew to become Krause Publishing, a veritable empire with dozens of different magazines and newspapers and hundreds of books.

Chet has been retired for some time, but still maintains his interest in numismatics, as I think we all do after we catch the "coin bug." Participation was by floor bidders, and, much more widely, on the Internet. Record after record was broken as the notes crossed the block, all of them interesting, some of them rare, others very rare, and some unique. The term "once in a lifetime opportunity" is certainly appropriate.

More about the "Philly" show will be found here and there among this week's features.

Sincerely yours,