Lisot videos show us who we are

I was a regular attendee at the International Paper Money Shows in Memphis, Tenn., for many years.

It moved this year to Kansas City, Mo.

I was unable to be there, June 8-11, but fortunately David Lisot was.

He recorded some of the event.

He emailed me the result.

I checked out show owner Lyn Knight on Lisot’s video.

Take a look at it.

Not only does it make me regret my inability to attend, but it makes me think about the future.

Lisot’s work will be the single biggest video record of the last three decades of numismatic activity.

He was recording events before the Internet was available to the public.

In the future, this video record will probably be used as primary resource material to illustrate the condition of the numismatic hobby/business in the late 20th century and in the early 21st century.

Surely there will be some intrepid scholars who will read the written records left behind, but most collectors will simply view.

What will they be interested in?

There will be the usual things.

They will see us in our funny clothes compared to what they will be wearing in 2067.

They will marvel that we traveled from city to city just to attend coin and paper money shows.

With holograms and ever more powerful computers, collectors will probably be able to walk on virtual bourse floors and bid in virtual auction rooms.

If there had been someone to record the bourses of the early 1960s, collectors today would note how cool everyone looked in their narrow ties and lapels.

Why it looks just like 2017 – well, maybe not.

We wear suits much less often than we used to.

Will people still know what paper money even is in 2067?

Or will they be sending images of bank notes to each other with messages that if you remember these, you must really be old.

Or watching videos recorded by David Lisot.