WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: NOVEMBER 21, 2021

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 47, November 21, 2021, Article 24

On Tuesday November 16 I got moving early in the morning as usual, with a case of bedhead of Warholian proportions. Someday I'll take a selfie. But I pulled it all together, made myself presentable for work and headed to my office.

It was a productive day and afterwards I happily pointed my car toward McLean, VA where a meeting of my northern Virginia numismatic social group Nummis Nova awaited. Roger Burdette was our host and he'd made a dinner reservation at J. Gilbert's, a great steak & seafood house.

Tom Kays was the first to arrive and I walked in right behind him. We grabbed stools in the bar to wait for the others. Soon Dave Schenkman, Eric Schena, Chris Neuzil and Wayne Herndon arrived. Before long Roger came in, settled some confusion over the reservation, and soon we were all walking back to a private room.

Wayne Herndon giving the side eye to Eric Schena and Chris Neuzil

I sat across from Roger at one end of the table and someone managed to cut him off of most of the group photos I took. Like I said, terrible photographer. Blame the glass of wine in the foreground. Anyway, clockwise from front left are Mike Packard, Chris Neuzil, Tom Kays, Daryl Haynor, Julian Leidman, Steve Bishop, Wayne Herndon, Dave Schenkman, Eric Schena and Roger Burdette's arm.

A more recent acquisition for my numismatic library was a copy of The Fantastic 1804 Dollar inscribed by Ken Bressett to Walter Breen. I also brought along some Breen letters and article manuscripts.

Other items included ephemera from last month's PAN show and the new book on physical bitcoins. These are pictured below in Tom Kays' writeup.

I got to meet Bob a few times at ANA conventions. He passed away in 2005 at the age of 106. He was one of the founders of the Florida United Numismatists, Inc. in 1955, and attended the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair in person as a 6 year old. This spurred conversations about other long-lived numismatists such as Eric P. Newman, who also reached the 106 milestone.

1778 North Carolina Eighth of a Dollar Note Dave also brought along some great paper items.

"I purchased these two notes in a recent auction. They are the rarest of the known notes from this company. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone owning a five cents denomination. I've never seen one, and Earl Hughes doesn't list it in Kentucky Obsolete Notes and Scrip."

Tom's Table Talk
Tom Kays submitted this photo and writeup of his experience at the dinner. Thanks!

Our ‘saintly-appearing' host Wayne lights up the bar with a stained-glass halo of hearty welcome.

Nummis Nova members met at J. Gilbert's Steak House in McLean, Virginia for their November dinner. In person meetings seem to be rare events these days, made all the more fun by their infrequent nature. We were ushered from waiting at the bar back to our usual private room, in order not to disturb normal steakhouse diners with our ribald coin talk and numismatic shenanigans, a wise choice.

The first numismatic morsel to appear at table from our grandiloquent host Roger, was photocopy of a letter written in 1877 to O. H. La Grange, Superintendent of the U.S. Mint at San Francisco, regarding an odd double dime. The 1875 dated 20-cent piece in question had a reeded-edge and not the normal plain-edge. The writer, Director of the Mint, HR Linderman, wanted to know if it had been tampered with, or perhaps it might have been one of the first struck, something like a pattern piece? He enclosed the coin and asked for its return regardless of the answer. Do any legitimate 1875-S, reeded-edge 20-cent pieces exist? The letter raises questions to ponder.

Next at table came the Encyclopedia of Physical Bitcoins and Crypto-Currencies by Elias Ahonen which raises even more questions about types of wealth undreamed of, back when silver, 20-cent pieces circulated. And then I saw The Art and Craft of Coinmaking – A History of Minting Technology by Denis R. Cooper, a former Superintendent of the Royal Mint which floated by. This is a scarce book from the 1960s with a letter about D. R. Cooper's new digs at the London Office of Taylor & Challen Limited, St. Stephen's House, Victoria Embankement, where he continued with consulting in the design and supply of minting machinery.

Next a framed J. S. G. Boggs ‘Boggs Bill' listing Wayne K. Homren as Treasurer of United States Art passed in review. Its serial number (16061993) made it extra special as a date note from June 16, 1993. It is an ‘error note' with mismatched serial numbers as well, but you might expect such surprises from high art.

Eric sent along a Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival Lucky Encased Cent from Winchester, VA with a high grade 1931 Lincoln Cent enclosed. This comes from a ‘local' site next door to his house, associated with the long traditions of the Town of Winchester and with Patsy Cline the country singer and a hometown girl.

You may appreciate the diversity and depth of interest that we all bring to dinners by what we think worthy of show-and-shares. Everything has a story to tell. Along came The Fantastic 1804 Dollar by Eric Newman and Kenneth E. Bressett with a dedication page written to Walter Breen in 1962. This started much discussion about Walter Breen and his wife, the noted author Marion Zimmer Bradley, author of The Mists of Avalon.

A dinner menu from the recent Annual Fall Banquet of the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) combined both coins and dinner in a wonderful manner, having been pasted into blue Whitman coin folders by Tom Uram to celebrate the Centennial of Morgan/Peace Dollars of 1921 by reissue of both in 2021.

Assortments of random numismatic objects began whizzing past quickly before the appetizers and bread and butter were served, as we do not want greasy fingerprints on our treasures. The feeling is something like opening the door of Doctor Who's TARDIS, not knowing where or when the next thing you see hails from.

Piling up on my right was a collection of miscellany including a post card with an image of The World's Greatest Travel Car, a Model-T sporting a coin shop on wheels in its bed, then North Carolina Colonial Currency from the Eric P. Newman Collection including a note signed by notable, James Davis in 1778. Also a ten-dollar Boone Furnace - Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company note from Kentucky of 1874 and then ‘A Round TUIT wooden nickel issued in Portland, Oregon in 1998 by Robert L. Hendershott, Numismatist and Expert on the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair appeared, followed by a catalog from the Tyrant Collection of U.S. Type Coins – The World's Most Valuable Private Coin Collection.

I saw fine old silver coins (New Purchases or NEWPs) including French Diximes and Douzains of Louis XIV and XV, old Spanish cobs, pillars, and portraits from Philip III to Ferdinand VII, full and half Leeuwendaalders of the Low Countries ("How low were they?" someone asked) and some early U.S. coins including bust Half Dollars among other numismatic objects of note, each having a tale to tell, but not having time enough to share all their stories before the hungry dinner crowd dug in.

Personally, I no longer bring such commonplace things as two-headed large cents to show and share, since the normal ambiance of fine dinner lighting keeps their ruddy copper toned oddities in the dark. In fact, I brought and wore a hands-free, head mounted LED Miner's Lamp during the pre-dinner round-to be able to see and be able to tell you all about the curiosities passing along my end of the table, all the while minding not to glance up and blind my cross table dinner partners when they spoke. Sorry Wayne!

I talked at length with Wayne Herndon (the other Wayne) of Wizard Coin Supply who told of how the U.S. Mint Fulfillment Center in Memphis, Tennessee sent him a sealed truck and dedicated driver, to carry a single pallet, slightly filled at the bottom with his American Innovation Dollar coin order. While well worth the $4.95 shipping charge, the delivery failed to come with keys or instructions on how to open the steel-bar reinforced, official U.S. Mint Seal locking the back of the truck, used to keep the driver, or anyone else from tampering with the order en route. Hammers and crow bars would not cut it, so that you will have to ask Wayne for how this story involving innovation turns out.

By now food orders were assembled and entrees appeared, causing us to put show and shares away and stifling our conversation to a polite, mouth-filled standstill, while we supped on steaks and sundries. Now this is what a Nummis Nova dinner should do. Fill us with stories of numismatic variety and with gustatory delight. After a fine steak dinner the rest of the evening was a pleasant blur of digestion and camaraderie with ever intruding thoughts of returning to the real world tomorrow morning. Some of us needed to drive large commercial vehicles loaded with coin supplies to the Whitman Coin Show in Baltimore for dealer set-up at a major sales event the next day. Such is the life of the coin enthusiast.

My numismatic adventures for the week were only beginning. After a morning meeting at the office I headed up to Baltimore for the Whitman Expo. One of my first stops was the table of Sheridan Downey - he's compiling electronic files of his catalogs and pricelists for the Newman Numismatic Portal.

I also ran into NBS Board Member Dave Steine, who was speaking with Doug Winter at Doug's table. We discussed the utility and value of priced and named auction catalogs and whether their presence on NNP reduces their value. While it does remove some otherwise interested buyers from the market, Doug and I were in the camp of those interested in physical copies as a tangible connection to the hobby's past. Much as I love the Portal, in the end it's just a photo album with pictures of things we bibliophiles value - there's no substitute for the real item.

Other NBS Officers I spoke to at the show were David Fanning and Len Augsburger. I caught up with David at the table of John Kraljevich and helper Erik Goldstein. The four of us would have dinner that evening along with Charlie Davis and Neil Musante. We had to scramble when I learned that Sullivan's, where Len and I often dine, was closed. And Morton's was booked until nearly 8pm. With JK's help we found a nice Italian place a few blocks up Charles Street.

But I digress. My main mission was to make the rounds and visit our E-Sylum advertisers; we couldn't keep this going without their support. Doug Winter has been a stalwart from the beginning of our HTML era, when we could include images and offer more than just text-based ads. In addition to Doug, David and Charlie, at the show were Harry Laibstain Rare Coins, Julian Leidman, Bob Rhue, Northeast Numismatics, Dave and Melissa Kahn, Pierre Fricke, Daniel Frank Sedwick, Classical Numismatics Group, Dennis Hengeveld of World Banknote Auctions, Jeff Garrett, and more.

Some folks were not at their tables when I stopped (David Michaels of CNG, and Bob Rhue, for instance), but others were just busy with customers (such as Dennis Hengeveld, Pierre Fricke and Don Kagin). I spent much of my time talking with others between customers, and didn't get around to taking many photos.

Among the advertisers and other friends I spoke with at the show were Julian Leidman, Chris Neuzil, Rick Lank and Becky Rush, Dave Lange, Jesse Kraft of ANS, Dan Friedus, Charlie and Neil, Alan Weinberg, Julia Casey, Chris McDowell, and Melissa Kahn. Somehow I managed to miss Wayne Herndon's table.

One unplanned interlude occurred at the back of the hall where I heard a noise and turned to see that a showgoer had fallen onto the concrete floor. A wheeled cart was caught on the leg of a chair and may have been what caused him to lose balance. Four or five of us managed to lift him up and onto a chair. It took every last one of us - the guy must've weighed 300 pounds. Expo Center security staff came quickly and were quite professional. They helped the man get back on his way.

We'd recently discussed Global Certification Services holders and I came across this one in one of their cases. I also had a conversation with Jeff Garrett about these - see his note about these elsewhere in this issue.

Dinner and Farewell
Our dinner was at Sotto Sopra. Len and I walked the few cold blocks up Charles where John, Erik and David were already seated at a back table. Neil and Charlie joined us a bit later.

Conversation flowed about numismatics, the show, and everything else in the world. Everyone speculated on the meaning of the "Women's Exchange" building sign on Charles street - "How exactly does that work, anyway?" Turns out the Woman's Industrial Exchange of Baltimore City had been in operation there for 140 years, providing work and assistance for needy Baltimore women.

Having awoken at 4am it had been a long day for me. It was a great show and dinner, but I marched back to my car for the hour-long drive home. I'll look forward to seeing people again at the next major show.