No dotted line here

A reader contacted me not long ago about doing a short snorter.

This is a piece of paper money signed by a group brought together for certain reasons such as travel and is most commonly associated with the military.

Now the request to me doesn’t quite follow the plan of everybody being in the same airplane or military unit. I was asked if I would be willing to sign a $1 Federal Reserve Note and perhaps collect another signature or two if I thought it appropriate.

What’s the unifying factor?

Well, in this case it has to do with organized numismatics specifically and Krause Publications generally.

When the note arrived in my mail it had already been signed by Alan Herbert, our numismatic answer man and writer of the "Coin Clinic." He lives in South Dakota.

I was carrying the note around this week and obtained Clifford Mishler and Fred Borgmann’s signatures on Monday at lunch.

Clifford is a former president of the American Numismatic Association, but he also put in 40 years here and crowned his career by heading Krause Publications. Back in 1978 when I was hired, he was the one who conducted my first interview and called to offer me a job.

Borgmann was the new issues editor for 31 years, the gateway to the Standard Catalog of World Coins.

Yesterday I dropped by Chet Krause’s office downtown to get his signature. He has been long absent from the hallways of the firm, but then he is 88 years old. He founded Numismatic News 60 years ago and was delighted to sign the note. He actually chuckled when I brought the matter up.

Today I will send the note back to the reader after collecting another signature or two around the office.

Who knows where it will go from there.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."