ASYLUM WINTER 2025 ISSUE PUBLISHED

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 49, 2025, Article 2

The Winter 2025 issue of The Asylum is on the way from our sponsor, the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. -Editor

Welcome to the George F. Kolbe Tribute Edition of The Asylum. Since George's passing, David and I have received many condolences and remembrances of George through email, phone calls and hand-written letters, all talking about how much he changed others' lives for the better, and I am certainly included in that group. In fact, I wouldn't be writing this editorial without his influence. George made it possible for my husband David to quit his job as the editor of a technical journal to pursue his passion for numismatic books as a business. At first I merely supported him in this risky move, but soon started helping around the office, mostly due to the fact that there were mass layoffs at the textbook publishing company where I was a designer. I was never happy working in a corporate environment, so spending my time finding ways to help the burgeoning Kolbe & Fanning grow in the former yoga studio in Gahanna was a perfect fit for me. George was a constant presence, always available to give advice and encouragement to both of us. He graciously allowed me to take over production of our catalogues, and I always admired the experimental flare he brought to many of his covers, using interesting colors and printing effects to highlight the material offered within.

I first met George in 2010 when he came to Columbus to visit, and spent time with him at NYINC shows, sometimes with his daughter Jennifer and her husband Tim, who were a great help with our live auctions at the Waldorf. I visited him and Linda at their home in Crestline in August of 2016 with David and our son Sam, then 12 years old. George showed us around his beloved mountain, and it was wonderful to see his library and how he set up his own business, and to meet the rest of his family. I was a bit nervous about the wildfire that was burning only a few miles away, and although we could see and smell the smoke, George was nonchalant about the danger. Apparently he had seen a lot worse! (See The Asylum Spring 2024 issue for more about the 2003 wildfire.)

Lately I've reflected on how wonderfully strange it is that a numismatic bookdealer in California hugely altered the life of a graphic designer working on a tiny newspaper in New York, resulting in my co-ownership of a business in a field that I had never heard of twenty-five years ago. With his support and encouragement, George has given my family a life of freedom, passion and fulfillment. I will always be grateful for George's faith in both David and me to be worthy of carrying on his legacy. We will strive to continue to bring honor to his name, the business he has built, and the field of numismatic literature, which has given us so much.

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