Good evening to all my wonderful friends and those who I may not know yet but soon well. �I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful Holiday Season (I had a wonderful Christmas) and a very Happy New Year.�I would love to hear of any numismatic story you had of last year or the early part of this year. �Could be about anything but would love to hear.�Mine is a couple of mini ones: 1) I was very active on the auction blocks last year. I did not realize how much until I calculated the total at year end and it was over several 4 figures. �Which to some might be a simple drop of a bucket on their purchase ( oh and I am not asking for you to share prices or expenses, that would be rude. I am giving mine because ... well read on) but for me “Whoa Nelly” had to be yelled. Whew, I had to reign in my bidding. I was not over bidding and at times I beat dealers who were bidding against me, you can tell over time. �Now many of the purchases are Cherry picked opportunities so I do intend to reholder with correct attribution to then sell, but I had to draw the line and slow my roll. I am happy to say though I will be able to use my future earnings to officially fund the future cherry picks to flip and so on and so forth. This excites me.�The other is about one of my favorite past times and that is antique mall/estate sale shopping. �Sometimes you can find really awesome deals. One of my numismatic areas is in the hobby of numismatic books. So at this particular Antique Mall, in the area I live around, I was snooping at the beginning of the year and they had a huge store wide sale at this particular dealer’s store. �I found over 13 total Numismatic books on USCurrency errors, past yearRed Books (Hard cover and spiral), Particular US Coins, etc. All for around 1-2 bucks a piece. �Also, inside this dealer’s store they rent out spaces to other dealers and specialists and tucked away in a plastic bin, back room, In 2 huge Zip Loc Bags were a bundle of Numismatic News Newspaper publications and old Coin World Newspaper Magazine publications (both of these were printed on Newspaper stock and folded like a Newspaper) �I mean a huge bundle of each and got each bundle for about 6$ a piece. I have yet to go through them, but I was so excited to see those and add to the collection. �I am working on my office to re-organize but when I am through I will make sure to post pictures so everyone can enjoy. �For me it is about not only the coins I am after but what part of my hobby’s history can I be the lucky one to find, acquire if possible, and conserve for future owners. �It is such a blast. �Well, time to go work on a few projects but until the next time, happy collecting.