WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: DECEMBER 18, 2016

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V19 2016 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 19, Number 51, December 18, 2016, Article 20

Kid Time
Last Saturday morning December 10, 2016 I left home midmorning to go to the Annandale (VA) coin show and help run our regular kids program. I'd done some prep work the previous Tuesday when I visited Wayne Herndon's Wizard Coin Supply office and spent a couple hours organizing materials for the event - auction lots, auction dollars, giveaways, and all sorts of donated coins, medals, tokens and paper money.

When I arrived my fellow Nummis Nova members had everything well in hand. Nummis Nova is my Northern Virginia numismatic social group. Jon Radel was signing in late arrivals, auction lots and displays were in place, and Tom Kays and Joe Esposito were seated at the front behind the auction table.

At 11am I welcomed everyone and explained the format of the event - a short program with questions & answers, some prize drawings and quiz questions, followed by a break to review auction lots before holding the auction itself. Here's a picture I took of the smiling group before we started.

Our program was a panel session, with each of us talking a few minutes about how we got started in collecting, what interests us and how our collecting journey has changed. It seemed to work well and we got good questions from the audience.

Several kids came up to look at the lots before the auction. the room was quite crowded, but we made do. Here's a shot of Jon Radel calling the auction, with Tom Kays seated behind.

I acted as the auction runner for most of the sale, taking lots to the winner and collecting their auction dollars. I excused myself and took an early leave with many things left to do at home on weekend when our kids had three basketball games and our daughter had a chorus concert. Somehow I managed to produce The E-Sylum in between it all.

Party Time
Tuesday December 13, 2016 was the annual Nummis Nova holiday dinner. Spouses are invited and we keep numismatic talk to a minimum. Dave Schenkman and Brandenburg were our hosts, and they chose Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria, VA. Consisting of two buildings (a circa 1785 tavern and the 1792 City Hotel), the establishment at 138 N. Royal Street hosted meetings and social events; among its guests were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison & James Monroe. Washington frequently visited the tavern, and twice attended the annual Birthnight Ball held there in his honor.

December 2016 Nummis Nova Brandenburgs, Eric Schena

I arrived a little early but guests were already starting to trickle in. Only one table was occupied, and I sat down next to Eric Schena, whose wife Heather was home sick. Also at my table were Gene and Amelia Brandenburg, Dave and Joanne Schenkman, and Joe and Hope Esposito. Gene kindly bought a round of champagne and wine. Joe took this shot of our table showing Amelia, Gene, and Eric Schena.

Other attendees were Joe and Alice Levine, Wayne and Karin Herndon, Howard and Phung Daniel, Julian and Fran Leidman, Jon Radel, Aaron Packard, Steve Bishop, Lenny Goldberg and his guest Dale Brown, and Tom and Dot Kays.

As was the case at last year’s holiday dinner there was an appearance of the excellent (and witty) reenactor John Douglas Hall, who portrayed an early 19th century Alexandria resident. Here’s Hall as James Madison: https://www.c-span.org/video/?299215-1/president-james-madison-gadsbys-tavern

We had a lot of great conversations. At my table topics ran the gamut from our families to DC-area resident billionaires Paul and Bunny Mellon. I tried to get up and mingle a bit, but still didn't manage to see everyone. Just one numismatic display to report - an unusual Peace Dollar brought by Joe Esposito.

Here are a couple photos by Eric Schena. Thanks. Remember, we were dining in the 18th century style - by candlelight.

While my numismatic interests have moved to other areas, I still look for unusual silver dollars. I bought one at a coin show in Fairfax, Virginia on December 11. It is a 1923 Peace dollar which was found on the U.S.S. Marblehead before it was scrapped in 1946. This light cruiser saw action in World War II, notably at the Battle of Makassar Strait in the then Dutch East Indies in 1942. It was badly damaged during that battle. This silver dollar has been damaged, too. It’s unclear what happened, but the coin has significant bubbling, perhaps from intense heat. It’s an unusual artifact.

As always, it was a great night of fellowship. I ducked out a bit early. My wife had taken our son to his basketball practice, and it was my job to pick him up. I managed to get there with 15 minutes to spare. But my belly was full. The Chicken Cordon Bleu was so large I commented that it might really be an ostrich. Thanks again to Gene and Dave for organizing the event.