Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is just around the corner. And by the time you read this, the WINS Christmas Auction will be well under way. Please make sure you visit the auction page for it looks to be one our best auctions ever !

The holiday season is always busy for me, especially at work. And it is busy on a personal side as well, as I know it is for all of you. But somehow I always manage to find the time to continue with the habits I have formed over the years in regard to this wonderful hobby of ours. I still manage to do my daily searches for coins and to keep a close eye on closing auctions so that I may stay in tune with the market. I also manage to visit all the various Internet coin forums on a daily basis, and of course to keep up with anything and everything to do with WINS.

I don't know about the rest of you, but WINS has become an integral part of my life. And the membership of WINS has become a part of my extended family. While I have only met a couple of you face to face - I feel that I know each and every one of you. And I hope that you in turn have come to get to know me. For even though we only communicate via the typewritten word and perhaps an occasional phone call, the real person behind those words cannot help but come through. Perhaps it is even better in a way, for communication and interaction with other people in this way allows people to be more honest in my opinion. It affords them a certain amount of anonymity and allows them to drop the masks that people often wear when in public. It allows them to be themselves. And this in turn allows others to really get to know them.

As a result, my participation in WINS has allowed me to make many new friends and to be exposed to many areas of numismatics that I knew nothing about. But perhaps the most important thing WINS has done for me is that it has allowed me to share with others that which means so much to me. Which of course brings me to the point of my message this month, and that is that I wish to extend a truly heartfelt Thank You to each and every one of you. May your holiday season truly be joyous ;-}

That's about it for now - I hope you enjoy this as well as future issues of - The Tarnished Truth.

THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER - Words of inspiration from the WINS President. Read it HERE.

FROM BEHIND THE GREEN CURTAIN - IT tidbits, auction summaries and more. Read it HERE.

MEMBER'S BIO - Rick Beitler, WINS#513 Read it HERE.

MEMBER'S ARTICLE - The 1546-1556 Real d'or Read it HERE.

TREASURER'S REPORT - The WINS PayPal account is - winstreasury@bellsouth.net

With regard to donations, all donors will be named in future Treasurer's Reports unless you ask for anonymity.