mushroomed to include such highlights as writing a book on the history of Bermuda's paper currency, serving as a consultant to the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), and even seeing part of his greatly expanded collection fetch many thousands of dollars at a Christie's auction.

A self-confessed Bermudaphile, Dr. Aspen's fascination with our currency, and the Island, began when he met Bermudian Mr. Jay Stubbs while the two were students at college in South Carolina in 1946.

"Jay was my first contact with Bermuda, though it wasn't until 1959 that I actually came here,'' he related. "This is my 57th trip. Sometimes I stay for a week, sometimes for a month.'' No stranger to glittering events, he was recently among the guests attending a black tie dinner hosted by the Bermuda Maritime Museum, during which an exhibit of Bermuda notes and coins sponsored by the Bermuda Monetary Authority was opened at Dockyard.

An orthopaedic surgeon by profession, Dr. Aspen has parlayed his life-long interest in currency into outstanding coin and paper money collections. In fact, he owned one of the few complete sets of Bermuda notes in existence.

And it was through mutual membership in the International College of Surgeons, of which Bermuda's celebrated Dr. Bill Tucker was also a member, that the two became fast friends, and ultimately members of the International Orthopaedic Club of Bermuda, which Dr. Tucker founded in 1967.

In the mid-70s, at a meeting of the American Numismatists Association, Dr.

Aspen met two more Bermudians, Mr. Ray Williams, a founder member of the Bermuda Coin Club, and Mr. Paynter Trott, one of its presidents.

"About 1973 I was becoming interested in currency -- and my definition of currency, incidentally, is paper money (although the official word is syngraphics) because if you go to the bank to make a deposit the slip says currency and coins, doesn't it? -- and that meeting got me interested in currency as well as coins,'' Dr. Aspen related.

"So I spent a lot of time talking to Ray about that, having also organised the Currency Club of Chester County in 1971.'' Whenever Dr. Aspen arrived here for a medical seminar, he also brought along Bermuda coin and currency specimens which he had acquired, and began adding to those with trips to the local banks.

"By 1979 I was among the few to own a complete collection of Bermuda notes, so I decided to write a book,'' the surgeon said.

He began by visiting the Bermuda Monetary Authority's offices in the Warner Building, where he politely asked to see the archives. To his astonishment there were none.

"There were no monetary archives depicting the history of Bermuda's coins and currency because when the switch occurred from the Colonial Treasury to the Bermuda Monetary Authority, and to the decimal system from sterling, the archives were lost. That is why I decided to write the book,'' he explained.

The idea met with an enthusiastic reception from BMA managing director, Mr.

Alan Humphries.

"And it was also what led me to becoming a numismatic consultant to the Bermuda Monetary Authority,'' Dr. Aspen said.

Thus, in 1980, after much painstaking work, A History of Bermuda and its Paper Money became reality.

The first 22 copies of the book were numbered for selective distribution, with number one being sent to the Queen for her library.

Still available today, it takes the reader on a fascinating journey from the first sterling notes of 1910 to the dollar currency of 1979, including full colour photographs of each note.

With a wry smile, the author noted that, at the time his book was published, "there were only five serious collectors in the world,'' whereas now, thanks to Bermuda Monetary Authority's efforts in attending various numismatic shows abroad, the market has improved to such an extent that the BMA mailing list is now in three figures.

"But the reason for my writing the book was not to make money. It was just the love of collecting Bermuda currency, and the fact that the Bermudians really did need something about the Bermuda heritage,'' Dr. Aspen said.

Taking that philosophy a step further, he then approached the BMA about creating a currency museum at its headquarters, where the concept was well received by board chairman Mr. Freddie Yearwood and then-general manager Mr.

Merlin Trued.

But how would they obtain the required currency for such a museum? Mr.

Yearwood had the answer.

"He suggested a public appeal, for which the BMA would pay the highest possible price according to grading so that no-one could say the Bermuda Government was taking advantage of them,'' Dr. Aspen said. "You have to respect a guy like that, and he became my hero.'' Response to the appeal was good, and the basis of a collection was solidly formed. But before they could be displayed, the notes had to be treated to preserve them.

With a rueful smile, Dr. Aspen related how he undertook to complete the task himself, and carefully set up the appropriate equipment and chemicals in the kitchen of the BMA offices. ("It looked like Frankenstein's laboratory!'').

Imagine his astonishment, therefore, when, after the first day's work, he returned to his makeshift lab to find the entire contents had been swept into oblivion by the office cleaners! "I then set up a new lab using the office china, and we got the job done,'' he laughed. From small beginnings in a cedar cabinet at the BMA offices, the concept of a currency museum has culminated in the recent opening of a new display at Dockyard entitled, "Ships' pennies and years of Change''.

"The BMA wanted to get a part of their museum into an area where the public could view it easily,'' Dr. Aspen explained. "With the assistance of Ms June Barker of the Bank of England, who was responsible for setting up the display, it was opened in the Keep Yard on Columbus Day in the presence of the Governor and a descendant of Columbus.'' And what of the future? "My fondest hope is that some day the Bermuda Monetary Authority will have its own building and its own museum, with everything under one roof so that students of numismatics and syngraphics throughout the world may come, examine and study the collection,'' the surgeon responded.

LABOUR OF LOVE -- Dr. Nelson Aspen, author of "A History of Bermuda and its Paper Money'', now plans to update the publication, probably including a section on local coinage.