I know, you’re constantly watching the Canadian national currency values anyways, but if you hadn’t, I’m sure you heard the news that the Canadian Dollar is neck-and-neck with the US dollar in value. In my gift to my brother on his graduation, I included a $5 Canadian bill — he eventually left it as a tip in a small-town Texas restaurant for a friend who waited on him, but I’m sure he’s kicking himself, because, after ten years of appreciation, that Fiver would be worth…um, well, five dollars today. It’s a confusing thing, you know — foreign currency markets and all that — but I’ll be focusing on a market we are a bit more familiar with: the collectibles market.

The king of Canadian collectible monies is the 1948 silver dollar. Prior to 1947, Canadian coins (under the auspices of the United Kingdom) identified their King with the phrase “Dei Gra Rex Et Ind Imp” — the last three meaning “Emperor of India.” India’s independence meant a change in currency, and due to political procrastination, the 1948 Canadian Dollar didn’t have much of a run…only 18,000 in fact. This makes it an extraordinarily rare coin, not being scarce due to a minting error or mistake in its creation. Price depending on quality has ranged from $1,000 - $2,500 on eBay recently. The dollar is the most valuable of that year, but all coins suffered smaller runs for the same reason, and are accordingly valuable.

For most people younger than their thirties, anybody but Queen Elizabeth on a coin is a curiosity — but there were several. The reigning monarch graced the obverse of nearly every coin, from Queen Victoria to Edward and the Georges of the 20th Century. This can be a quick identifier of the general time-period of a Canadian Coin without having to find the date (which moved around, depending on the coin). With long-reigning queens like Elizabeth II, her image aged appropriately as well, as you can see in the coins on the right. The earliest coin is on the left, one from the 1970s is on the top, and the bottom is a recent Canadian penny.

Aside from the changes in their monarchy, Canada has led the way in commemorative coinage, ranging from the 1967 centennial to special-issue coins for province centennials. One particular commemorative coin, the 2004 Memorial Poppy coin, should be of interest to collectors: the reverse has an added red tint to the poppy, which has been known to wear off. Good condition poppies will become rarer as they come into contact with pockets and their related spare change.

Like the US’ recent dollar coin misstrikes, Canada has had their share of minting errors. This excellent website has numerous examples of Canadian coin errors, ranging from the standard die-wear errors, to striking coin-blanks intended for other countries’ monies.
As anyone who’s heard the word “loonie” in financial terms before, Canadian paper money is scarcer these days, used only for denominations of $5 or greater. The paper $1 and $2 notes were discontinued just a few years ago, thus making them a bit more collectible. Canadian money has always used a variety of colors in the printing process, making different denominations more identifiable. Also unlike US money, the style has changed greatly in the past century since the Bank of Canada started printing the ‘modern’ currency. A variety of older notes, issued by other organizations, banks, and provinces, exists — and it quite spendy. As time passes, the older notes become rarer and more desirable to collectors.

So, look through that pile of coins that the candy machine at work won’t take — there might be something interesting in there, from a red poppy to a King George. If someone leaves you a $5 Canadian tip, take a closer look at it: it might be worth quite a bit more than it’s face value. Even if it’s a recent printing, at least you shouldn’t feel slighted: $5 Canadian is still $5, at least in the meantime.

Canadian currency resources:

• Coins and Notes of Canada, via Wikipedia
• The Bank of Canada
• The Royal Canadian Mint
• Canadian Coin News
• The Canadian Numismatic Publishing Institute

I have to wonder if our bevy of modern conveniences has made us somewhat lazy and unobservant. There was a time when the visual representation of a language was an artform - each letter a graceful network of lines and angles, lovingly applied with ink and delicate concern onto communications made of actual paper. Your handwriting would be a passageway into your innermost personality quirks, revealed by the implied motions of your hands and your approach to the creation of the page. Oh, and people had also not yet forgotten how to spell simple words. Those must have been glorious times, when people didn’t pluralize things with apostrophes at every turn. Surely, I’d have 50% less anger-induced aneurysms.

Almost universally, the handwritten letter has been relegated to a place of fanciful romance, and our appreciation of the written alphabet has declined significantly. Of course it would, with the prevalence of digital forms of communication - if you can hit a key and get a perfectly readable letter ‘N’, why wouldn’t you? It’s an amazing convenience! Moveable type, and everything that evolved form it, is absolutely one of the most crucial human inventions, and one I’m endlessly appreciative for - but I really don’t think that Johannes Gutenberg had ‘OMG R U 4 RL?’ in mind. But now, when we have fonts to emote for us, and e-mail to communicate for us, who has time for the written letter? Not even my beloved comic books use hand-lettering anymore, and as an amateur digital letterer, I’d like to thank the Mighty God of Type (I call him Type-Lor the Fontastic) for the hours that he saved me. Hitting the backspace key is like a glorious symphony compared to the soul-rending work of correction fluid and complete re-alignment of every element on the page.

Still, in creating a comic, there are a lot of places where you need to put big words on buildings, or draw in giant sound effects. Many artists leave these sections blank on their pages, and treat them as if they were just part of the digital text that their artists will enter later - and in many instances, these digital add-ons never look right to me. Some of the best comic art tends to disguise its own creation, and a misplaced-looking element will take you right out of the story. This is why I decided to go back to my typography studies and hand-letter any non-dialogue parts of my comics. This was never made more clear than the recent ‘Lying in the Gutters’ column over on CBR, in which a certain Nightwing panel never really got finished, leaving the whole creative team looking a bit foolish. Third panel. Wayne Enterprises needs a new designer.

Thankfully, as I approached my team’s film noir, robo-cehpalopod drama comic, I already had a significant store of vintage typography and logo books I’d been accumulating over the years. I only have a small amount of training in the art of typography (which is still important, but only for purposes of inciting people to buy things), and I have a cursory knowledge of the parts of a letter and why I should give a damn about them. In those days before computers, we had a beautiful collection of fonts for all purposes - none of which we see in regular use anymore. Like all trends of art and style, most of these vintage fonts have been phased out for more dynamic, forceful, or futuristic letterforms - but they’re damned charming, and they look great in an anachronistic crime scene.

And, as an added bonus, creating variations on the letterforms exempts you from having to pay royalties to the creator of the font. Of course, you need to know something about the mechanics of the page and the tendencies of the eye as it scans across a page, but when you happen to be a no-budget, working-from-your-cramped-bedroom comic artist, it’s well worth it. It’s not plagiarism when you create an artistic take of an artistic take on the alphabet. That font’s creator probably did the same thing.

So, the stack of typography books is a collection with a use, and when you find yourself collecting something, it had better be beautiful or utile - otherwise, you might find yourself severely over-collected. Another great source for older letterforms are older magazines and album covers. I’m finding myself snipping things to pieces just to capture the unique letters therein. Even if I don’t have a whole alphabet (which is curiously omitted from a handful of pages in even the lettering manuals), the absent letterforms can usually be implied by similar letters and a bit of formal conjecture - so even fragmented collections can prove useful.

Even if you’re not writing ‘ZOOM!’ in 6-inch tall letters across a page - which, might I add, would make your 3rd quarter profit reports a lot more exciting.

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I suppose I deserve the teasing. My youngest daughter tends to wear conservative jewelry. Gold, silver, nice semi-precious stones. She always looks wonderful and never jingles, clinks, or tinkles like I do. For I am addicted to large, dramatic, over-sized earrings. And it is partially her fault.
You see, I did not get my ears pierced until I was in my 30’s, being perfectly happy without ear decoration. Then both my daughters gave me a Christmas present. A free ear piercing and complimentary ‘studs.’ I protested at first, but gee, passing up a freebie is tough! So we went to the mall and I had it done.

You have to begin wearing ‘starter earrings’, so I wore some with little teeny pearls, so tiny, you could not see they were in there. The allotted time passed and I was able to get a somewhat larger pair, but still no ‘French wires’ since they would pull too much. But once I was able to wear whatever I wanted, the trouble began.

I like jewelry in general, so began trying to find ‘matches’ with my necklaces or pins. I found a few small ‘boutiques’ that had unusual ones and got some special pairs. I also attended a few home parties where they’d bring the jewels right to you! And then I discovered resale shops in the area.

They were in the neighborhoods with lots of money, where people change styles and colors by the season and easily tire of their jewelry. So, they’d bring in their sterling silver earrings that cost hubby $35 and I’d get them for $3. They’d bring in the Laura Burch that daughter-dear gave as a gift and I’d be there to appreciate them!

I have had my ears pierced for long enough to watch trends come and go – and when things come ‘back in style’, I am prepared. My granddaughters really appreciate my ‘sparklies’ and often comment on them.

A recent trip to a petting zoo/farm with my youngest granddaughter gave me a perfect opportunity to wear my cow earrings. She asked if she might have them one day. I told her I would think about it. These were actually a gift from a dear friend with whom I have attended numerous ‘cow chip throwing contests.’ She knew I would appreciate the sentiment.

A while back, friends of ours attended an auction and bid on, and won, the honor of having a local TV weather program filmed at their home. They invited us to attend the show. I thought and thought – what would be a good ‘weather-type’ earring? Then it came to me – and I hit ebay. There I found the perfect pair – silver umbrellas! As luck would have it, the weather stayed beautiful during the filming, but they caused quite a stir.

A while back, my daughter traveled to Australia. She returned with a charming gift for me, a pair of earrings with duckbill platypus on them! When I opened them I squealed, and then, just for my son-in-law, who teases me mercilessly, said “oh, I already have a pair of platypus earrings!” He was stupefied until I smiled widely.

It may seem hard to believe, but I have made matches quite often. For example, I purchased this charming pair with monkeys in Florida. They were from a very expensive boutique – I just had to have them, but could not spend the $45 for the matching necklace. About a month later, I found the necklace for $2 at a yard sale!

About a year ago, I bought this silver pin with a rather ‘funky/artsy’ style. Last weekend, at a flea market, I found the matching earrings!

While shopping with a friend at a fancy store in the Caribbean, I got a silk blouse with lots of dogs – oodles of poodles I called it. The lady at the counter admired it and said – now you’ll have to march right out and find some dog earrings. I just smiled; I already have 2 pair with doggies!

Recently, I had a rather unusual experience. I attended a wake for a friend’s step-mother. She was in her 90s and had lived a full life. While standing near the casket, I noticed a basket filled with plastic baggies. I leaned closer and found each one had costume jewelry in it.

A relative of the lady said to me “help yourself, she had so much, we did not know what to do with it all.” I was astounded, who ever heard of getting a gift at a funeral! I was very considerate, taking only one pair of earrings, leaving the rest. I just may have them do that at my funeral, who knows!
I consider it a rather harmless addiction. No one gets hurt (unless they try to sell them off) and most times they are very inexpensive. So, let my daughter pick on me, have my grandkids try to pry them out of my stubborn fingers, I just love them and will do so until I croak. I’ve already instructed my girls to change my earrings every 15 minutes when I am in the casket. They are grossed out by it, but I must die as I lived, a costume jewelry nut!
Anyone else out there with a jewelry addiction?’ I thought so! Enjoy!
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When I moved to North Dakota from Wisconsin I experienced some culture shock. Following the Green Bay Packers is nearly a religion, so moving to a state without an NFL team felt strange. What do people do without it? I wondered.

Soon I had my answer: Local school sports.

In fact, people here are so devoted to their college and even high school sports that prime-time television shows are bumped for coverage of local games. At first this seemed crazy — and annoying. I hated it when I had to wait until after the 10 o’clock news to see my show — why didn’t the moms, dads, grandparents and other family folks get off their butts and go see the teams play live? And then it clicked. The high school teams have more fans than just the families of the players and the current student population; nearly everyone in the community is a fan.

I knew what football meant to me and my family; now I was discovering what it meant to this community. The shared love of football made me feel more at home here.

I’m such a football fan that when I attended the MPMA conference I sat in on a session called Grabbing Gridiron Glory. In that session curators of the Kansas State Historical Society, Laura Vannorsdel and Murl Riedel, discussed how they used sports memorabilia to illustrate cultural concepts.

Curators are generally concerned with the overall quality of their collection, and in this case the subject of sports came up. I’m not sure which came first in this ‘chicken or the egg’ scenario, and it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the museum staff saw a connection between sports and community — and that they set out to document it.

This exhibit (on display at the Kansas Museum of History) is called Game Faces, and part of it focuses on high school football. The simple story behind the high school football part of the exhibit is that in Kansas, like many areas in our country, folks are moving from rural areas to the cities for jobs and whatnot, leaving many schools without enough students for traditional 11-man football teams. However, the passion for football will not be denied.

Schools (either as individual schools or several schools coming together to form a team) have adapted to the lower student population by playing football with less players. Eight players, to be exact, hence the name 8-man football.

Eight-man (and it’s relative, 6-man football) date back to the Great Depression but there’s nothing depressing or less-than about the game. Sure, communities don’t like to close or combine their schools, and yes, college coaches aren’t absolutely thrilled to re-train new players in the proper practice of 11-man football — but in 8-man football not only do the kids get to play, but all the glory (cheering), pageantry (tailgating), and pride (gloating) are intact.

This means the collecting of local sports memorabilia is alive and well too and that’s what makes the Kansas Historical Society’s exhibit fascinating and exciting. It’s great that the historical society is looking at the issues of geography, economics and Rural Depopulation; but what’s really cool for me to see is that this ’stuff’ is collected and preserved.

The collection includes uniforms, programs, game souvenirs, photographs, and audio recordings, which, due to it’s local community nature, isn’t what most of us would call ‘valuable artifacts’. But there is importance in these things, no matter how small or new the objects may seem. As Murl Riedel, Assistant Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society said, “This is history; it’s happened.” And as collectors, we know that the value of all these things will increase with the passing of time.

It’s true that the few items from a couple of local schools may not compel folks from Los Angeles to hop on a plane to Topeka *, but that’s not quite the point. These shouldn’t just be valued as individual objects, but rather evaluated as a whole collection. Together these objects do more than speak of Kansas. They do more than preserve the game of football, traditions, and the sense of community. I say the collection preserves our identity as Americans.

Just as I’ve adapted my love of the Green Bay Packers into support for my local school football teams, fostering a sense of belonging in my new community, so the adaptation of 8-man football by rural communities illustrates their desire to continue to feel at home as their communities change.

The economy can suck, we can feel separated by our differences &/or geography, and we can even feel that we are reduced to just a color on a demographic pie chart; but we’re adaptive Americans. We’re football fans.

* The Game Faces exhibit also includes items from famous Kansas sports figures, such as footballs signed by Barry Sanders and John Riggins, an NFL helmet and jacket worn by Jack Christiansen, and Wilt Chamberlain’s basketball jersey; so if you are near Topeka before the end of the year, check it out. If not, check out your local museum and see what nifty exhibits await you.

All images copyright Kansas State Historical Society; used with permission.

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I wasn’t expecting it to happen, folks - it genuinely caught me unaware. As I wandered the hallowed halls of the remodeled Toys ‘R’ Us this past weekend, waiting for my niece to pick out a new set of Barbie clothes for her own vast collection, they finally reclaimed my soul.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

And as I walked with my set of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo action figures to the counter, it felt comfortable. Like falling into the world’s biggest bed, and then being surrounded by affectionate kittens and an endless supply of hot cocoa. I tried to rationalize myself out of buying them - “if they don’t have the whole team, I’ll leave them here”, “I don’t have the room”, “what are you, 10?”…. but as I dug through the pegs and revealed that final red-masked Turtle at the back of the shelf, I knew that they were coming home with me. As I remarked to my family as I reunited with them in the Littlest Pet Shop section, “You left me alone for too long.”

Of course, these aren’t the exact same Turtles of yore - these are the digitally-animated Turtles of 2007, which are fundamentally similar in everything from color to expression to weaponry, fortunately. TMNT has always been a goofy franchise - never taking itself too seriously (except for the live Radio City Music Hall musical performance, which caused me to cringe so hard that I actually turned inside-out), and perhaps that’s the enduring appeal. Four Turtles with distinct personalities, bumbling villains, fighting action, and action figures produced in mass, ridiculous quantities. Secret agent Turtles, Star Trek Turtles, Wild West Turtles, Turtle Trolls… yes, the variety of basic Turtles was even more ridiculous than the Hydro-Mech-Squirrel-Ketchup-Assault Batman figures out there - but they made a lot more sense, because they weren’t really supposed to make sense in the first place.

TMNT has accompanied the modern resurgence of key toy and cartoon properties from the 1980s and early 1990s. So far, we’ve had re-released He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers and Star Wars figures, all using similar or identical molds to those used in their original production, and even using nearly identical packaging. While Ninja Turtles have not been yet re-released in their original, bulky form, a vast majority of the original figures are still very inexpensive, if not well-played with. Playmates has taken the figural helm once again and produced a copious amount of figures based on the current animated show - which has already lasted over five successful seasons, and into the aforementioned animated movie, making it perhaps the most vibrantly enduring television cartoon property of all time.

Ninja Turtles were some of the first heroic drawings I made, and some of the most frequently played video games in the stash, even if I could never make it past the swimming level with the deadly pink electro-seaweed. In fact, my earliest action figure was an extra Casey Jones that my friend and neighbor got as a birthday present and passed along to me. We’d spend long hours sending the giant eyeball atop the spherical Technodrome rolling down the pop-out ramp, using Turtles for target practice. And still, I never considered myself a serious collector or aficionado at the time.

It wasn’t until I brought these Turtles home, opened them up, and displayed them in fighting poses on my drawing table that I realized that I actually have a TMNT collection already. Original figures, a handful of newer figures, Pez dispensers, video games, some video tapes, trading cards… when those four sets of two-toed footprints were no longer walking next to me on that beach, well… they were probably in the Turtle Van, but they were still there.

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