Even though three whole weeks are still left on the calendar, the front page of this issue says that 2024 is all but over. It’s one of those quirks of the publishing schedule that started long before my employ at Amos Media. In his October 2024 cover story, Steve Roach quoted J. Oliver Amos for the reasoning behind the cover date. “We put the advanced date so that when they are delivered in the mail before the issue date, the collector wouldn’t think he was getting ‘stale’ news.”

Sometimes, it’s hard to keep it all straight, and the calendar usually wins out in the long run.

Anyway, it’s that time of year where it’s not uncommon to take stock of what has happened and what prospects may be for the future. In our January issue, we’re going to do the annual retrospective of noteworthy events that marked the year…and there are plenty of candidates. We used this space last week to solicit responses and some strong candidates have broken from the pack as front-runners. Of course, more recent events, later in the year, tend to overshadow the ones from the first quarter. It’s hard to remember what happened last January without getting it confused with something that occurred in 2023.

What about your own collecting experience? Did you acquire something that you have been chasing for years, finally finding just the right example? Did you happen to come across something meaningful that may not have been an intended goal but was very welcome?

Asking about your favorite acquisition could be like asking you to name a favorite child, but hopefully something stands out from your quest. For me, it was a novelty coin that lends itself to my potential level of immaturity (no excuses) and some coins with deep personal meaning. The two 1943 Fiji pennies shown were brought back by my grandfather who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. I was unaware of them, and my mother had them and wanted me to have them. They are two of literally one million brass pennies and hold negligible value, but these two are a connection to my past. Having them just enhances the experience. Certainly, you can say the same for something in your possession.

You can say that collecting is nothing more than intentional accumulation, but why would it be necessary to justify any objective that brings you joy?

As we say on the Coin World podcast, “Happy Collecting!” … and Happy New Year.

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