Mercury

At the first NPL convention we attended, 1977 Buffalo, Philana (already nomed) was a member but I was not. Someone at the convention nomed me Anaphil, based on Philana's nom. Appreciating the noming effort but not the nom, I chose Mercury on our drive back home to Indiana and joined later that year. Mercury is “a conductor of travelers,” which is what I felt I was doing in driving Philana to the convention. Also, my dad was a professional coin dealer and I've always thought the U.S. Mercury dime was one of our nation's most beautiful coin designs. There were a few other reasons for choosing my nom, but I've forgotten what they were.

Mercury lends itself well to logos. For a letterhead, I use a periodic table logo that Philana created that magnifies the element Hg. For my NPL return address labels, I use a scan of a Mercury dime. I've also used a thermometer for a letterhead. Additionally, Minimus has given me quicksilver items over the years, so there's plenty of Mercury-related material available that I can pretend was created especially to honor me.