More than 114 years ago this appeared in The Numismatist, contributed by Jonathan Oldbuck. Sounds like a nom de plume, but it is a bit too late to find out!
Jonathan Oldbuck
The Numismatist, June 1900
There is no occupation which gives more pleasure, aside from one’s regular employment, than that of forming a collection. It is all very well for those who have never undertaken such work to laugh at it as useless, or as a hobby. But it is not useless to gather a cabinet of coins, and familiarize one’s self with their history, their characteristics and peculiarities, and to study, even although with no great labor and research, the numberless branching ways into which the science of numismatics leads its votaries.
The mythology of the ancient coins, the devices of the earliest and the most modern, the heraldry of the medieval, the mysterious emblems displayed on the medals of the alchemists, the mystics, the Freemasons, and various younger secret societies, the grips and sarcasm of satirical pieces, the story of wars and their privations suggested by siege pieces and coins necessity, the designs of decorations and our Order of Crosses, of medals of merit, an award, even the simplest changes shown in our national coins, furnish endless topics of interest, full of voices to those who will understand and will listen.
