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WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: APRIL 25, 2021The evening of Tuesday April 20, 2021 I was at the scene of a long-awaited event - the return of in-person dinners for my Northern Virginia numismatic social group, Nummis Nova. While a few of our regulars are still awaiting to be fully vaccinated, eight vaxxed members and a guest came out for our first meeting since the pandemic began just over a year ago. Robert Hoppensteadt was our host and he'd made a reservation at Delia's Mediterranean Grill & Brick Oven Pizza in Alexandria. As it happened, this was the site of our last in-person event in February 2020. So we were picking up right where we'd been before we were so rudely interrupted. I arrived early and waited outside where I could breathe easier without my mask. A masked young man approached me and asked if I was there for the coin meeting. I introduced myself and put on my mask. It was Garrett Prenda, Wayne Herndon's guest for the evening. We'd never met before, but he works weekends at Wayne's warehouse with my sons Chris and Tyler, picking and shipping orders from his Wizard Coin Supply website. We had a good conversation about coin collecting and how he ended up with the job. He'd gone to the Indeed website to check local job listings, and the first to pop up was an opening at Wayne's business. As a coin collector, Garrett jumped on it immediately. What are the odds of that? Next to arrive was Wayne himself, loaded down with three boxes of supplies ordered by fellow members. We helped him carry them in. Dave Schenkman and Eric Schena were already seated at our table. Soon to arrive were Chris Neuzil, Julian Leidman, and Steve Bishop. Masks were required when entering and walking about the restaurant. I didn't get any masked photos but took some unmasked shots later. My back was to the rest of the restaurant, but it was nearly deserted except for our group. 
Dave Schenkman, Julian Leidman, Chris Neuzil, Eric Schena 
LEFT: Wayne Herndon RIGHT: Dave, Steve, Robert, Julian, Chris, Eric
Whitman Colonial Books 
Andrew Carnegie Pan-American Building Medal 
"It is silver and marked Tiffany & Co. Makers Fine Silver on the edge. I found the following in the May 1911 issue of The Numismatist: "On May 5th a gold medal was presented to Andrew Carnegie in the Pan-American Building in Washington, D. C., in recognition of his services as a philanthropist and of his gift of the funds which provide for the erection of the new home of the Pan-American Union in that city. The medal was voted to Mr. Carnegie by a unanimous resolution of the Fourth International Conference of American States which was held in Buenos Aires last summer. The design is by Sally James Farnham of New York. The medal is three and a half inches in diameter and one-quarter of an inch in thickness. One side is a portrait of Mr. Carnegie and the words "Benefactor of Humanity." The other side has this inscription: "The American Republics to Andrew Carnegie, I911," with the names of the twenty-one American Republics around the border. In the centre is a figure of a woman representing America pointing to the Pan-American building as evidence of Mr. Carnegie's interest in the promotion of peace, commerce and friendship among the American Republics." Dave adds: "No mention is made of medals in silver. I’d love to know why this one has a blob of metal (solder?) on the reverse."
So-Called Half Dollar Salesman's Sample Medals 
Dave had this interesting set of so-called dollars. -Editor Dave writes: "In 1947 Boston coin dealer Charles F. Smith had a set of eight “So-Called Half Dollar” medals struck in nickel-silver by the Whitehead & Hoag company. One of them commemorated the 1935 diamond jubilee of the Pony Express, and it was actually a reissue of a medal struck in 1935 for the Oregon Trail Memorial Association. They were advertised for sale at 25¢ each by the Scott Stamp & Coin Company of New York in the July 1935 issue of The Numismatist. "The illustrated set of ten medals each has the reverse of the Pony Express medal on one side; the other side is blank except for the name of the metal in which it was struck, in incuse lettering. It was probably a salesman’s sample set, made to show the various metals that Whitehead & Hoag could use to strike other medals."
Fortuna Medal 
Dave writes: "It is silver, 39mm. According to Google's translator, the side with the cards reads “just more to this beautiful three” while the other side translates as “oh luck stay true to me today.”"
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
Cardboard Scrip 
Dave writes: "I illustrated one of them in a recent article I wrote for CWTS on Civil War round cardboard scrip. As I mentioned, “John Kammiter is listed in the 1863-4 New York City directory as owner of a grocery store at 22 Minetta Street. The following year he moved his business to a different address."
Housatonic Bank Cash Book 
Chris, Eric, Wayne, Garrett, Dave, Steve What a wonderful night of numismatic fellowship. It was so great to see everyone after more than a year, but it felt like we'd never been away. And the food was top-notch. While I've crawled back into my socially distanced COVID hole, I'll look forward to next month, where I hope to see additional members of our great little group. THE BOOK BAZARREWayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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