Scott Miller was kind enough to loan me some coin club literature at our February 2024 meeting of the New Jersey Numismatic Society. These booklets and pamphlets included examples from (1946, ex F. Gordon Frost); (November 1943, ex F. Gordon Frost); ; (1941); (Second Edition, 1903); and

Coin clubs past and present have struggled with member recruitment. The Boston NumismaticSociety (BNS) was no exception to this challenge. Founded in 1860, it thrived for a time buteventually, shrank to a meresix members by 1897. (Boston Numismatic Society, p. 6). From1899 to 1906 just one BNS meeting was held annually. Although the Society dwindled to amembership of three, Howland Wood, subsequent curator of the American Numismatic Society,led a successful rejuvenation of the Society. (BNS, p. 6). While the Boston Numismatic Societywas pulling through its membership struggles, the British Numismatic Society launched, in 1903,with members so numerous that their names spanned many pages of one of the Society'sinaugural pamphlets. (British Numismatic Society, pp. 3-9). As a stateside reader, I scanned withcuriosity the members' titles of nobility and distinction, fit to rival those of guests at anyDownton Abbey gala!

The 1946 Chautauqua booklet had a notice that caught my attention. In an advertisement for T. James Clarke, President of Box & LabelWorks Inc. of Jamestown, New York, states that (Chautauqua Coin, p. 26). Across the Atlantic, retaining minutes during the warproved to be a difficult endeavor for the Royal Numismatic Society (RNS). Fortunately, RNSFellows at that time were able to recall some of the lost information (History of the RNS,Preface, p. vii).

I enjoyed being transported back in time by reading these coin club publications. I will closewith a quotation from the Boston booklet which offers a glimpse of coin collecting from the1860s to the 1890s. (BNS, p. 6).

Looking now to thedecades ahead, as a numismatist who primarily collects coins and tokens, this foray into the pasthas expanded my idea of collecting to include coin club medals and club literature from both theUnited States and around the world.