Congratulations to all the Registry Award winners.

Today was a big day at work. In late 2009, a loved and respected leader at the Space Telescope Science Institute passed away. An annual award in his memory was set up, and the first honorees were named today. They are two of my friends, with whom I work closely on a regular basis. In the words of another co-worker, the selection committee chose wisely.

With the events of the day in the back of my mind, I got home, went grocery shopping, made and ate dinner, and finally went to the computer to take care of end-of-week business and to check email.

One email immediately caught my attention. It was from a Collectors Society friend. "Oh yeah", I thought, "Today is the announcement of the Registry awards." I figured that if my journals were worthy of an award last year, that the judges must have decided that more of the same was worthy again. So the message surprised me: I was being congratulated for my large cent collection.

I logged in, and sure enough, my set of late date large cents has a new icon. Last year, I did try to improve the descriptions of my coins and provide photographs of all of them. Many descriptions remain to be done, and many of the pictures could be better. But I was able to finish descriptions of all my large cents.

My goal was to provide a common format for all the descriptions. They start with the basics of service and grade, with any CAC approvals noted. Then variety, die state, and condition census data are provided. After that, I generally have two or three more sections: The first gives my description of the coin. The second tells the story of how I acquired it. The third, if present, gives more of my thoughts about it, or an auction catalog description. I will try to update more of my coins' descriptions to that format in the coming year.

To the judges: Thank you.

To all the award winners: Congratulations!

To all who make this an interesting, informative, and enjoyable place to spend some time: Thank you! You are the heart and soul of this Society.

Happy New Year, and Happy Collecting to all...

And yes, I have bought more silver...

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