I only wish I could have attended the many activities described in last week's issue, but I'm always chained to our booth or the grading room during bourse hours.

As noted in your introduction, Barbara Gregory has indeed been editor of The Numismatist since 1987, the person to hold that position the longest. Among her first actions after assuming the editorship was recruiting me to write a column about USA coins and related matters. It's had several names over the years but has been running under one title or another since the February 1988 issue. 27 years is probably half the time that Dave Bowers' column has appeared, but it seems like a long ride to me.

My column in The Numismatist remains my primary public presence as a numismatic writer, and I cherish it as such. I write anonymously about coins daily for NGC's websites and customers. My books are complex enough that I'm able to publish them only once every few years, and they also have a limited market. Ditto for my quarterly newsletter, Coin Board News.

On another note, I've taken down my website coincollectingboards.com, but this is only a temporary action. The existing template is no longer supported by the website building software, and this didn't permit me to update the site. The company's current program has so many unnecessary bells and whistles that my attempts to rebuild the site were exasperating. I even had a professional attempt to use the program, and she, too, gave up on it. When I find something more user friendly, I'll be up and running again. In the meantime, anyone seeking old coin boards or albums may still contact me by email at &npsp; langedw@msn.com. Recommendations from E-Sylum readers on manageable website building programs will be most welcomed.

To read last week's complete E-Sylum, see:
Volume 18, Number 33, August 16, 2015 (www.coinbooks.org/club_nbs_esylum_v18n33.html)