http://coinpeople.com/index.php?showtopic=4201

Could you consider posting all of the publishable essays?

Personally, I hate writing "on spec" and I do not do it. In other words, if someone wants something, they have to offer me something more than "maybe." I know that life has few guarantees and I have had stuff canceled after I wrote it. And editors have rejected articles they asked for. (Ouch! ) So, there is all of that. Still, the efforts apparently deserve to be rewarded, especially considering the general context here at CoinPeople.

I can live with one first place winner. I just hate to see good work go unused, mine of course, but other people's as well, certainly.

And it is not even the money -- though the money is nice: thanks, to Jorge for being generous. I would do this for a $25 Penny in a 2x2 with "First Place" written on it in ballpoint.

If you want to go with three or four "places" I can make the certificates. It is just that "third place" sounds so chintzy. How about
1. First Place Award
2. Honors Award
3. Worthy Award
4. Notable Award

I have some Pennies to with them, all large from the early 1960s and all nominally uncirculateds.

I'm not that interested in any award, i wrote mine for free.


I do alot of stuff for free, i'm not fussy.

Michael, we'll post all of the essays here, if that's ok with Jorg.

I just did mine for funsies and I wanted to see if I could actually write a few hundred words in a short amount of time on a topic I knew nothing about before I started. Last place or no place is fine with me.

Nothing I write will ever go unused as I am always my own publisher even if the entire rest of the world rejects my work. I don't need no stinkin' editors.

Best policy Stu.

I wrote mine from the cuff, ie without looking for the books I got this inane information with, frankly, because I couldn't find them in the piles of books I am getting ready to move to my new house.

I cant spell worth a darn!, Counts me out!

Either can I! If it wasn't for spell checkers, you would have no idea what I am saying. Sometimes, with spell checkers, it is probably tough to figure it out.

My problem with spelling is that I learned to spell the British/Canadian way, ie colour instead of color and lettre instead of letter. This is a bit of a problem now that I am doing a lot of html coding, I have to be very careful with spelling convention especially with the word color/colour, I usually type the latter and then nothing works.

Wow i didn't know Canadians spelt letter like that!

Spelled or spelt? i can't remember which is correct there.

I have gotten myself into the bad habbit of spelling luster as lustre more often than not. But that is about it for that kind of stuff.

While were on the subject of spelling things. I don't know why, but I have always spelled surprise with a z. Surprized, Surprize. I have realized I have been doing this for a long time. The s doesn't make sense to me. Prize, Prise? English, wacky.

I'm afraid i use the 's' for the vast majority of things (even when it should be a 'z'). I agree the 's' makes less sense than the 'z', but i don't like 'z's much, they look too modern.

I have returned. Thanks for the responses and the feedback.
First off, I have no issues with people posting the essays here on anywhere else I just want to be able to use the winning one and maybe more

I am in agreement with the general theme of Michael's post about the internet and print publishing. I don't think print will die but the online world will eventually dominate. The lower production costs, the better reach, cheaper advertsing (so far), and ever advancing technology are definitely creating ever more rich content online.

That's great for numismatics and most everything else. The contest was just the first though on how to spur a few people to write a little bit about coins

Easy Enough!

I do a lot of thinking (that gets me in trouble) and one thing I'd like to be able to do is pay for articles outright. Matchign 5-10 cents per word for a feature and a couple of articles per month would probably not be too hard. Placing it into an appropriate site would take some more work, my web building strategies areen't top notch and only slowly improvong.

Enough about this for now. After 20 hours on German trains, Frankfurt checkpoints, Newark checkpoints, S-Bahns, and Minnesota taxi drivers I am frazzled. The wife and kids are much smarter and allready sleeping. I am going to get some groceries and hopefully join them.

I look forward to reading the entries tomorrow now that I can once more touch the online world.

Welcome back to the digital world.

Thanks. Though I don't know if that's a good thing. I actually managed to read Christianizing the Roman Empire and making quite a bit of headway in Ammianus Marcellinus' history while dragging the family through a foreign land. The computer does impede my reading.