My final day as senior numismatist and chief cataloger for Teletrade numismatic auctions was on Thursday June 20th; I medically retired.

I had been with the company nine years and a month. While I am only 53 my health has begun to deteriorate, but rest assured to quote Monty Python; "I'm not dead yet." I have a few more years in which to enjoy life according to the oncologist and thanks to both the Federal Government through social security disability and the thoughtfulness of Spectrum Group International of which Teletrade is a division and their forethought to have a long term disability plan through their insurer and my 401k. My close friends joke had I done drugs or smoked or even womanized I would be fine, but cancer regardless is not choosy.

For 14 years prior to joining Teletrade I had the pleasure to serve a wide variety of clients through my business of numismatic consultancy; I will however refrain from numismatics upon my retirement and follow my passion of photography.

In the near future I expect to find myself in the eastern Sierras imaging rutting elk and then through the kindness of a close friend I will have the chance to photograph California condor in the wild and to top it all off in the coming year I hope to find myself in Banff, Alberta seeking a moose in the wild to grace my web site.

Yes, all along in my numismatic carrier in California I have had the pleasure to have a photography web site through the gracious generosity of John Nebel and Susie Nulty of Computer Systems Design Company of Boulder, Colorado. My friendship with both began in numismatics and now flourishes by sharing my images with the world - since 2005.

I sell nothing, just a place to view and I will add more to it as time permits. The site address is www.garphoto.com

Thank you for the newsletter; it is always a pleasure to see what is happening in the world of numismatics and to contribute insights when I can.

Gar adds: