As I set myself to recording the thoughts and reflections which follow to electronic storage, embracing that three generations of time, it is early March, the commencement of my 50th year of association with the publication.

While I had not been a recipient of that introductory issue, I had become a subscriber somewhere down the road in the mid-'50s, I don't recall just when, but it was probably in 1955 or 1956. At the time I'd been a collector for five years or so, since the late summer of 1950, and had already subscribed to the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine and The Numismatist.

Reflecting back, a few words that Chet shared with his first edition audience fit me perfectly; "Far away from the coin clubs, far away from coin shops, live thousands of collectors who rarely see another person whose interests are in harmony with his. His collecting is known to only a few and these are not especially interested except that he has so much money."

That was me in a nutshell. With the school year of 1954 winding to a close, as a freshman I joined my fellow schoolmates in the exercise of presenting that year's yearbook to friends and acquaintances for the penning of brief autographed thoughts. I recall a neighborhood schoolmate, one of the graduating seniors, offering up the wish; "May you collect all of Midas' coins." I was certainly not that fortunate, of course, but I have had the enjoyable opportunity of collecting a few.

To read the complete article, see:Numismatic News hits 60th Anniversary Milestone(www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=25359)