Joseph A. Esposito is an adjunct associate professor at Northern Virginia Community College. He currently teaches courses on Western civilization, world history, Asian history and research methods. He is currently working on a book, The Dinner of the Century, about the 1962 dinner that President and Mrs. Kennedy held for Nobel Prize winners and other intellectuals at the White House.

He has taught at Regent University and in the social foundations of education program at the University of Virginia's Northern Virginia Center.

Previously, he served in three presidential administrations, most recently as a Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education.

As with many Baby Boomers, my interest in numismatics began in my youth with collecting coins for the blue penny boards. Much of what appeals to me today in coin collecting began with my reading of Coin World and poring over the Red Books in the early 1960s. While there were periods of my life when my engagement in coins rose and fell, I have had a basic interest for more than a half-century.

My first coin acquired not from circulation was a badly worn 1825 Coronet Liberty Head Half Cent, purchased at Gimbel's department store in Philadelphia in 1959; I still have it. I soon added two uncirculated half dimes, which I also still have.

As a young adult, I purchased coins from the Bowers & Ruddy firm, Steve Ivy and other dealers in the 1970s and 1980s. In the years to come my interests were largely in diverse accumulations, acquiring what interested me. But in the last few years I have concentrated on completing collections, most recently finishing the entire run of Peace Dollars and then Morgan Dollars, acquiring the 1893-S dollar a few months ago.

Recently, I have reverted back to an interest in colonial coins. Earlier, I had collected a number of Virginia and New Jersey coins. My current goal is to assemble, as much as possible, a type set of colonial coins. Among new purchases have been two coins which especially fascinate me: a pine tree threepence and the Rhode Island Ship Token; I would like to do some serious research and perhaps writing on the latter.

I also have an interest in so-called dollars--putting the great Erie Canal completion medal at the top of my wish list-and miscellaneous medals. My newest numismatic item is an Admiral Vernon medal which was in the Newman IV collection. Finally, perhaps as a result of being an active book collector, I have a fairly extensive numismatic library which includes many classics, old and modern, as well as auction catalogues. I was even able to acquire a few books from the Armand Champa sale in 1994 and 1995.

Coins intrigue me largely because of my lifelong interest in history, especially American history. I also am a writer, and I am now interested in doing some numismatic writing. In recent months, I have joined the Colonial Coin Collectors Club and The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (I was a passive member in the 1990s).