In keeping with the evening's theme of food and drink (sans Chuck E. Cheese tokens), I brought a $1 note from the so-called "First National Oyster Bank" from Monaskon in Lancaster County, VA. The lower denominations are seen every now and again, but the $1 is somewhat scarcer, though a very small number have turned up lately. I have never seen an issued example. It's listed in the Jones/Littlefield Virginia obsolete book (PM60-08 as a 6F) and also the Vlack book on advertising notes (Vlack 4300), which does not list the 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, or $2 notes. I am trying to dig up more information on this rather enigmatic Northern Neck institution.

I also brought a pair of somewhat mysterious Maryland scrip items: 50¢ and $1 National Savings Systems "cash savings checks" issued by the Cumberland Savings Bank of Maryland. The notes are copyrighted 1915 by the National Savings Systems Company of Harrisburg, PA and bear interest up to July 1918. I have so far not seen any other items like these, nor have I been able to find any more info on National Savings Systems. I brought them since there were a few Maryland numismatists present, but no one seems to have seen anything like them. Anyone else seen these things before? Did they function like Postal Savings System certificates from roughly the same era?

He found it at Stack's online. Q. David B. goofed. The obverse image of the Newman 4E in his pretty Whitman Encyclopedia is wrong. I do have a 4E according to Mike. Good to know.

Anyway, it gave me a thrill to have a colonial coin not listed in the Whitman / Bowers Encyclopedia, if even for an evening. Now I am waiting for the EAC Grading Guide to come out so I can figure out for myself what the most discriminating copper graders would agree it rates. I guess you can’t believe everything written in books, like we can the Internet.

Long story. In 1915 my grandfather and his older brother were fed up with cold winters in Ohio, and so they took off on foot to hike the Appalachian Trail down to the southern end and kept going. The left coast of Florida always seemed nice to him after that.

In 1967 Florida land was being purchased by Walt Disney on the QT. My grandfather wanted to buy a parcel down there too and hit upon the idea of roll searching for silver coins, in the hopes they would one day be worth more than face. He had me doing some looking back in the late 1960s, when 4 to 7 silvers were found on average in every roll and 40% was thrown back in the hopes of better.

In 1972 he cashed in and bought his ten acres of sand with silver going for about 1.6 times face. I began “stacking” as he had taught me, on a much smaller scale. Things went real well through the 1970s until the Hunt brothers cornered the market. Silver jumped from 25 times face to near 50 times and then the silver balloon turned to lead, dropping down to around 3 times face at the bottom. It was then I learned not to buy and hold bullion. You buy and sell bullion. You buy and hold rare coins.

I bought a pair of odd variety Fugios in an auction in 1980 and kept going gathering an inexpensive colonial type set, per the front pages of the Red Book. Some of those coins have never been attributed till this last weekend, when I matched them up with the Easy Finder’s Guide in QDB’s Encyclopedia. I still haven’t gotten through the 1787 Connecticut coppers, as they most all look alike to me. Heresy.

I think they are undervalued, and some of the modern master carvers are doing wonderful little, URS-1 masterpieces.

The first were three emissions from Frank B. Butler of St. Augustine Florida. Frank Butler came from very modest beginnings in Georgia and as a young adult moved to St. Augustine. There he learned the Grocer's trade, saved his money, and opened his own Grocery. With the success of his Grocery business he was able to establish a multitude of other business ventures.

Butler was an African American. I found his story compelling because of his humble beginnings, the era, and because it is less frequent to encounter numismatic stories featuring African American merchants. Butler's tokens are patent scrip (Ingle system).

I wrote an article about Butler and his tokens. It appeared in the May 2013 edition of the Florida Token Society's quarterly newsletter 'TokeNews.' The article in its entirety can be found here: www.novanumismatics.com/numismatic-sketches/entrepreneur-frank-b-butler-his-palace-market-tokens/

The second was an emission from the Smith & Wick's Canning Co of Baltimore MD. Smith and Wick's (a partnership) were very innovative for their day -- not only for their canning processes, but also their ability to reach out to agricultural sources and organize bulk-supply agreements.

For example, Smith & Wick's ventured to The Bahamas, and were able to negotiate a continuous supply of pineapples. This agreement enabled them to offer the American public a steady supply of canned pineapple fruit. Until that time, it was a fruit not frequently enjoyed by many Americans.

The story about Smith & Wicks can be found here: www.novanumismatics.com/numismatics-american-labor/the-smith-wicks-canning-token-of-baltimore-md/