I learned a new word today.

One way I justify (to myself, and to my wife) spending time on coin websites such as the Collectors? Society website is that it is ?educational.? While it is hard to justify all of the time I spend on the Internet looking at coins, I now have positive proof that it is educational.

I learned a new word today ? Ephemera! In case you are not familiar with the meaning of this word, it is defined as?items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.

And to prove that I have learned my lesson well, I bought an item on ebay recently that I think qualifies as ephemera. I enjoy collecting the ?lost and found? Carson City Morgan silver dollars packaged and issued by the General Services Administration during the 1970?s. As part of this program, the GSA produced many colorful and educational sales brochures to aid in their sales programs. Most people just threw these brochures in the trash, and because of that, some are actually harder to find than many of the coins. In some cases, the brochures are even worth more than the more common GSA Morgan silver dollars.

This one relates to the sale of the 1880-CC, 1881-CC and 1885-CC Morgan Silver dollars in 1973. I have been looking for this brochure (at a reasonable price) for at least 3 years. I finally got one, but I had to buy a coin to get it. Though it sounds odd, I plan on selling the coin soon, and keeping the brochure. I don?t know yet what the net cost of the brochure will be, and I won?t find out until after I sell the coin.

I have tracked ebay sales of this brochure over the last few years. Sales that I know about have occurred at $300, $280, $296, $275, and the most recent in February of 2006 at $214. It is hard to believe that the last one sold over 2 years ago.

Anyway, I am pleased to now have this rare item of ephemera related to the GSA sales, and am still looking for a few other brochures.