Washington Numismatic Society
Tuesday night I left work with a new destination programmed into my GPS. I had been invited tospeak at the October 2014 meeting of the Washington Numismatic Society. Although I live in themetro area I had never been to the club, which meets in Washington, D.C.

The traffic and rain made for a unpleasant but luckily uneventful commute, unless you count theserpentine course my GPS system decided upon to guide me to my destination. Somehow I made it tothe right street and parked my car. I opened my umbrella against the steady rain.

I was unfamiliar with the venue, a church building on Massachusetts Avenue. I saw a light insideand walked around to the nearest door. I opened it and went inside. Rather than finding a meetingroom I observed a little old lady at work in an office. I asked her where the club meeting roomwas, and she offered to show me but asked, "How did you get in here?"

"Through the door there." "And it was unlocked??" Yep - it was unlocked. Butit wasn't supposed to be. Some workmen had forgotten to lock up. The lady was as sweet as couldbe, though. After locking the door she led me through the sanctuary and down to the basementmeeting room. She propped open the new door the workmen had just installed. It was lucky I'darrived when I did, for the club members did not have the new key.

They soon began to arrive and one of the first was my host for the night, Wayne Wilcox, who hadinvited me to speak. I helped set up some of the tables and chairs. President Simcha Kuritskyarrived as well, and he set up a projector. Around fifteen members and guests settled in for themeeting.

After holding some club business and breaking for snacks, I began my presentation on the"Past, Present and Future of Online Numismatics", a reprise of my talk at the AugustNumismatic Bibliomania Society meeting. I recapped the history of computers and the Internet,online forums like rec.collecting.coins, and the creation of The E-Sylum. Moving on to thefuture, I discussed the CoinLibrary site I'm working on.

I enjoyed meeting everyone and seeing the exhibits, which included some nice Alexandria and D.C.scrip notes. But it made for a long day and I was glad to get back home around 11pm.

The PAN Show
On Friday I worked half a day and joined my family for a trip to Pittsburgh to visit my wife'sfamily and my sister. Because our trip coincided with the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatistsshow, I was able to spend a few hours there Saturday. Thanks to Pat McBride for providing the belowphotos.

My wife dropped me off at the convention center and I soon found myself talking with a number ofold Pittsburgh numismatic friends, including Dick Gaetano, Rich Crosby, Larry Dzuibek, Ed Krivoniakand Don Carlucci. Bryce Doxson of Maryland was also on hand at the exhibit area. There are a numberof great exhibits. I didn't take notes, but two that stood out for me were one on Morse Code oncoins and medals, and an amazing one on a 13-note short snorter, which stretched several feetacross a custom-built showcase.

The 1715 Fleet Society
I also stopped at the table of Ben Costello and the 1715 Fleet Society. Ben had an absolutelyjaw-dropping exhibit of sea salvage coins and artifacts primarily from the 1715 Fleet, but also TheAtocha and other famous wrecks. I was particularly fascinated with a 50-pound silver bar from TheAtocha.

Bob Evans and the SS Central America
I sat in the front row for Bob Evans' presentation on his work recovering coins, ingots andother artifacts from the wreck of the SS Central America. I counted about 100 people in the room.It was a rapt audience that paid close attention to his first-hand accounts of REAL treasurehunting and how it's not quite like what people might envision from the Hollywood treatment ofthe subject. Bravo!

Kevin Flynn and Coin Collecting
Bob was followed by Kevin Flynn who gave a nice presentation of his own on coin collecting.Afterwards I helped out with the auction. Bob Stakeley of the Pittsburgh History Center expertlycalled the 50 lots while me, Dick Gaetano and Corleen Chesonis were the "runners" givingwinners their lots and collecting their auction dollars. I was very glad to be able to be there.Seeing the great crowd was a "George Bailey" moment for me (from one of my favoritefilms, "It's a Wonderful Life"). I'd helped start the program some twenty yearsago and it was fantastic to see it not only continuing, but thriving. Congrats to PAN for keepingthe flame of numismatics alive for the next generation of collectors.