Some things won’t change

The Internet can do many things.

It has made life easier. It has increased the pace of doing certain things. It has connected people together in ways we’ve never been connected before

Everyone has an opinion on whether this is good or bad.

What I don’t know is whether 43 years from now in 2058 some future editor will recieve a communication of similar nature to one I got from a reader by old-fashioned snail-mail last week.

Enclosed in the envelope was a photocopy of an article with my byline on it that had been published in February 1972 in Coins Magazine.

I had written the piece about Liberty Head nickels as a submission to the monthly writing contest then being sponsored by the magazine.

It brought back fond memories and I wondered how such an old article happened to turn up.

The letter writer begins with these three paragraphs:

“To the Class of ’63 – or if the enclosed is really your work, then hello to the class of ’72. Yes, this is from the February 1972 issue of Coins Magazine – Page 23, Chester Krause publisher and Cliff Mishler editor.

“Why do I have this magazine? No idea! This may be the oldest thing in this house – other than me. you shared this issue with an article by Walter Breen.

“Feeling older yet?”

Why yes it does make me feel older, but in a good way.

The article is indeed my work.

It was the second one that I had written that was actually published.

Publication is the ultimate purpose of any article. Seeing one’s name in print is a boost to the ego and an incentive to keep writing.

I have been hard at it now for 44 years.

The rest of the letter was a positive reflection on the monthly Coin Market price guide that appears in Numismatic News and how it came to be.

There is also a lament that the publication no longer is printed on paper each and every week.

Now there are 19 electronic issues.

Nostalgia does have a pull on all of us.

I wonder if a new form of communication in 2058 will cause that generation to think wistfully about the many articles that appeared electonically in Numismatic News Express, which has taken the place of some of the paper issues of Numismatic News.

I hope so.

You can sign up for it by registering online at: News.net/Numismatic-News-Express

In 2058 we will probably still be asking what the price of gold is and whether the cent will be abolished.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2014 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."