WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: JANUARY 26, 2014

Tuesday, January 14, 2014 was the monthly meeting of my Northern Virginia numismatic social group, Nummis Nova. I'm behind the times in writing up my diary, but here's an abbreviated version.

Wayne Herndon was our host, and we held the event, fittingly, in Herndon, VA. We gathered at the Bertucci's restaurant. After a slight mixup we were seated in the party room, which had both ample space and lighting, perfect for a group like ours.

I had brought along some recent issues of ANS Magazine for Chris Neuzil to review. We were trying to locate a reference he'd seen earlier, but no such luck. Perhaps another time. I'd also brought along my numismatic postcard and stereo card collection. I'd pulled it out to show Tom Kays, and even though he couldn't attend this month, I brought it along anyway for fun. I'll bring them back next time.

I thanked Wayne Herndon for calling me from Florida with the news of John Burns' death. That was a topic of conversation among the attendees, most of whom knew John from the various coin shows he attended.

Dave Schenkman and Gene Brandenburg were running late. Without Gene's expertise I was lost in picking a wine, but I took a shot on a glass of Merlot. I was pleased to see the waiter bring Gene's wine order, which included a bottle of the same Merlot. Gene kept topping off my glass the rest of the evening. I rarely imbibe outside of these monthly nights out, and really enjoyed it.

Steve Bishop passed around a group of beautifully toned Morgan dollars while I passed around my postcards. Eric Schena had a number of interesting ephemera items. He provided images for The E-Sylum and the following commentary:

To go with the theme of recent acquisitions, I brought some documents that came with a two drawer Ingle System register that I had just bought from a gentleman in Orange, Virginia.

The register in itself is a fantastic find and in great shape, but most importantly, the two drawers were stuffed with papers from the original store where the register was used, the William H. Young store in Clover Lick, Pocahontas County, WV.

Young ordered his register sometime in 1917 and was fortunately a bit of a packrat for papers. The register's drawers contained a Dayton Stencil Works token catalog (it even had the order form and return envelope) and an Ingle System confidential price list dated 1 Jan 1916, something that appears to have never been seen before.

It also included some blank forms/receipts that were ordered from Ingle. You'll see on the price list a special order "form 22" for payroll deductions - there's a pad of those with the register, as well as a pad of "form 23", which apparently came with each register ordered from Ingle. There were also cash receipts, as well, plus a pile of deposit postcards from the First National Bank of Marlinton.

I also brought one of the payroll deduction forms that was partially filled out and it was to indicate that Raines Lumber Co. was authorized to deduct $10 pay to pay W. H. Young. I am in the process of doing some more research and will be writing an article for the National Scrip Collectors Association's journal, Scrip Talk. The register was a bit of a time capsule and I hope to do it justice.

I congratulated Eric on his great purchase. My favorite item was the Dayton Stencil Works token catalog. What a great piece of ephemera, and perfect for researching old tokens!

I chatted briefly with nearly everyone before I had to rush off to get home before my wife took our oldest son to his basketball game. Others present included Jon Radel, Roger Burdette, Joe Levine, Aaron Packard, and Julian Leidman.

These meetings are always fun. When I founded the group I modelled it after The Sphinx Society, founded in Pittsburgh in 1960. I had been a member until I moved to Virginia. This week I found a great present in the mail from E-Sylum reader Duane Feisel. It was an undated Sphinx membership roster and meeting notice. Well it had a date, but no year: Sunday, September 11th, 1pm at the Mountain View Hotel, Greensburg.

The members at the time were Ray Byrne, Joe Breyer, Prosper DeVos, Duane Feisel, Ithamar B. Lando, Gordon Dodrill, Ed Szypulski, Dr. Robert J. Hudson, George Kiefer, Bob Porter, Emerson Smith, Philip Williams, and Howard Gibbs.

I met Dodrill, Porter and Smith. Byrne and Feisel had moved away from Pittsburgh by the time I became active in the local clubs. If E-Sylum readers have stories to share about any of the Sphinx members, I'd be happy to hear them. That's all for this time.

THE BOOK BAZARRE

Winner, 2013 BOOK OF THE YEAR (Society of Silver Dollar Collectors): Karen M. Lee’s award-winning Private Sketchbook of George T. Morgan, America’s Silver Dollar Artist. 192 pages, coffee-table, richly illustrated and including never-published photographs and family documents. Order online for $29.95 at Whitman.com or call 800-546-2995.