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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jaceravone, post: 597422, member: 9474&quot;]My wife and I just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary down in Aruba and while we were there, I convinced her to go with me to see Aruba&#039;s Numismatic Museum.&nbsp; &nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The museum was in a fairly decent part of town, but as we walked up, we got the strange feeling that nobody was home, nor had there been anyone there for some time.&nbsp; I actually started to get bummed out, because I had been really looking forward to this little visit.&nbsp; Once we approached the door, there was a sign that said please push buzzer for entrance.</p><p><br /></p><p>We were greeted by the curator of the museum who worked there by himself.&nbsp; His father-in-law was the person who started the museum over 50 years ago and was a very well respected and honored person on the island.&nbsp; He had passed away several years ago, and he had decided to keep the museum open and try to follow in his footsteps.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>You could tell that a lot of time had been put into building the museum.&nbsp; It was not the Smithsonian by any means, but given the location and apparent lack of interest on the island, it was still impressive.&nbsp; Although I was expecting a museum filled with coins dating back to the 16 and 1500&#039;s, there was much more to be seen. They had put together a worldly collection of all coins and paper currency.&nbsp; So even though you had a small section of the museum dedicated to Aruban numismatic history, there was even a larger portion that was filled with coins from all over the world.&nbsp; Of course I was thoroughly impressed with all the early silver and gold from the Spanish and Portuguese armadas.&nbsp; All the way in the back of the building was this gentleman&#039;s work station.&nbsp; He had surrounded himself with numismatic books and magazines from all over the world.&nbsp; He was proud of this as he was digging through showing me his Standard Catalogs of World Coins and many issues of the Numismatist along with other numismatic publications.&nbsp; He was basically teaching himself from scratch.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>He had these wonderfully built display cases where there was a glass top, then about 10 drawers underneath that when pulled out exposed other glassed covered sections that were filled with coins.&nbsp; Each one of these display cases were nicely labeled with each country of origin.&nbsp; It was basically a Standard Catalog of World Coins up close and personal.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, it was a pleasant tour and I could tell that my wife had been ready to leave 5 minutes before we even got there, so we said our good buys and left.&nbsp; Here is a bit of advice to anyone..... when doing something like this.....make sure you do it alone unless of course your significant other is really into coins, then thats ok.&nbsp; I wish I had more time to spend there, because there was so may neat things to look at.&nbsp; So it gives me something to look forward to if I ever travel down there again.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>It wasn&#039;t until afterwards that my wife asked me why I didn&#039;t take any pictures inside.&nbsp; I told her that they probably weren&#039;t allowed, but we never did see any signs.&nbsp; So I have two pics for you.&nbsp; Sorry.&nbsp; But please stay tuned for part 2 of my story.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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