Silver dollar shows heroes not forgotten

Juggling is a word to describe my first day back in the office following a week away at the World Money Fair in Berlin Germany.

Even when all flights are on schedule as mine were, there does not seem to be enough time.

Or enough sleep.

But emails beckon.

Deadlines await.

Covers need designing.

It is almost enough to make me forget my jet lag.

I would like to congratulate the United States Mint for its two Coin of the Year trophies.

Though the Mint did not win the top COTY award this year, the Kisatchie quarter was recognized as the Best Circulating Coin. The March of Dimes silver dollar was named Most Inspirational.

Both 2015-dated issues touched me in different ways.

When the quarter won, it brought a smile to my face.

Following the release of this Louisiana design, I had received an email from a reader ripping it up one side and down the other as ugly.

The only polite response I could make at the time was that turkeys look like this in Wisconsin, too.

Judges must have thought the same when they voted it Best Circulating Coin.

The March of Dimes silver dollar reminds us of heroes.

American success at conquering polio is something that reflects all the best about us and our country.

The judges recognized this.

I have written before of my high school classmate who was in a wheelchair because of polio.

All others in her family had been vaccinated, but she was not because doctors judged a newborn too young to receive it.

She was a victim of the last major outbreak in the United States.

Realization of this has always made me appreciate how lucky I was.

I could not be more pleased that the March of Dimes commemorative silver dollar won.

The two Coin of the Year trophies are heavy.

At the World Money Fair in Berlin Feb. 4 I gave both to Jon Cameron, the associate director of Numismatics and Bullion at the United States Mint.

Carrying at the same time two of the obelisks, which have separate stone bases, is surprisingly difficult.

It is another form of juggling, but a happy one.

Please allow me now to get back to juggling my other assignments.

However hectic the day will turn out to be, there still is no place like home.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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