I knew him for about 30 years and we wrote on a regular basis. Howard mentioned cigarettes but that was not a cigarette. He smoked really nastycigars. Sometime when you visited him you sat outside his screen door while he sat just inside and smoked. If he sent you a letter, you took it outside andhung it on a clothesline to air out.

He was merchant marine during the war and much of his collection was built by sailing from one port to another and just buying as he went. I have a lot ofhis personal books and they sometimes took a year or two to get the stink out of. Having said all that, he was a hell of a researcher. I was writing a seriesof about 30 articles for the IBNS and other magazines in those days and we would fight and debate over things. Even now when I buy some of Niel's lots fromCookie Jar I find some of my old letters and articles in his files. His strength was the Philippines and China. He was pretty good on Vietnam too.

Sometimes he would send me stuff and ask me to write an article and I would tell him there was not enough data and then he would get mad and sulk for awhile. But, he was a great guy to know and you could learn a lot listening to him.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
C. M. NIELSEN, PHILIPPINE GUERRILLA CURRENCY RESEARCHER(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n33a13.html)
CONRAD MOWER NIELSEN (1922-2008) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n19a13.html)
PHILIPPINE PAPER MONEY RESEARCHER "NIEL" NIELSEN(https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n31a18.html)