Howdy Folks - Welcome to The Tarnished Truth !

    January - brrrrr - it's been even colder than December was ! I've endured 24 straight days with it never getting above freezing. Why even my coins are turning blue ! Hmmmm - that may be a good thing though ;-}

I said last month I would be posting the winners of the gold & silver contests that were held by myself, Doug Prather, and one of our favorite members, Joe Garbarini. The winner of Joe's contest was Bill, better known to us all as longnine. Brad Meadows won the gold contest. Congratulations to both !!

Over the past few months our membership has been growing steadily and on behalf of all the members of WINS I would like to give to all the new members a hearty WELCOME ! I only hope you come to enjoy this club as much as I do.

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

CONTEST UPDATE - Speaking of contest - the voting for the WINS Society coin design contest ended on Jan. 27th. For an update on the contest please refer to The President's Corner.

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

FROM BEHIND THE GREEN CURTAIN - Interesting IT tidbits helpful to all members and more. Read it HERE.

HAPPENINGS - Want to know what's going on in the numismatic world ? This is one of the places to find out. Read it HERE.

? ? ? Trivia Question ? ? ? - In what country & when did the first currency originate ? ( For the purposes of this question I will define currency as a flexible or foldable object with a monetary value written or printed upon it. )
Answer at the bottom of this page.

EXCEPTIONAL EMAIL - An email taken from the WINS Talk List worth reading. Read it HERE.

TREASURER'S REPORT - The WINS paypal account is - joemel123@centurytel.net .

Previous Balance - $821.20

Paypal Balance - $434.99
Hardin County Bank Balance - $362.30
Sub-Total New Balance - $797.29
Current Cash Balance - $23.91
New Balance as of 12-30-03 - $821.20*

*Outstanding loan of $100.00 due to Treasurer to open the Hardin County Bank checking account.

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

? ? ? Trivia Answer ? ? ? The answer is: 118 BC: Leather money was used in China in the form of one-foot-square pieces of white deerskin with colorful borders. This could be considered the first documented type of banknote. The value of each of these banknotes was 40,000 cash.