WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: APRIL 7, 2024

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V27 2024 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 27, Number 14, April 7, 2024, Article 20

weschler Boggs A Comedy of Values book cover

This week brought a special treat - a trip to the Newman Numismatic Portal offices at Washington University in St. Louis. I got moving before sunup on Wednesday, making it to my gate at Dulles airport with plenty of time to spare. I was tired, but got a second wind while on the airplane, and spent much of the flight rereading Lawrence Weschler's book, Boggs: A Comedy of Values. It would be a refresher for my Wednesday talk on money artist J.S.G. Boggs in conjunction with the exhibit of his works from my collection.

It had been a long time since I'd opened my copy of the book, and I was delighted to see it had been signed by both Boggs himself and Tom Hipschen, the B.E.P. portrait engraver who created the delightful cover portrait of Boggs.

The flight and subsequent taxi ride were uneventful, and I was delighted a second time upon entering my room at the recently-renovated Charles F. Knight center at Wash. U. I settled in, got some work done and had lunch while waiting for NNP Project Coordinator Len Augsburger to arrive from Chicago. We took an Uber ride to the NNP offices on the North Campus. Piles of incoming material awaited processing.

Digitization Supervisor Kimberly Dumas showed us the recently renovated digitization lab with its newly painted walls and ceilings to reduce stray light reflections. Two students were busily at work with the latest digitization projects, possibly minutes and archives of the New Jersey Numismatic Society.

Kim drove the three of us back over to the main campus where we viewed the current NNP exhibit at Olin Library. We started with the case highlighting the digitization process, featuring the rare Hart plate loaned by Joel Orosz, and the first seven volumes of The Numismatist loaned by Len. A very well-made video of the scanning process played on a large screen above the exhibit case.

Medals and Money in Black America was the theme of a nearby case of material lent by John Kraljevich. Some amazing and rarely-seen material. I'm looking forward to his book on the subject.

Washington medals were lent by the American Numismatic Association Edward C. Rochette Money Museum. Washington University in St. Louis's Wulfing Collection of ancient coins contributed a selection of pieces. We were unable to see a case in another room which was closed for the day by the time we arrived. But fear not - all exhibit items have been photographed and a catalog is in preparation.

Len and I walked back to the hotel and had a nice dinner at the noisy bar. After breakfast the next day we went back to the NNP offices where I worked on my presentation on money artist J.S.G. Boggs.

I'd brought with me some donated items for scanning, including a slide presentation on tokens by Dave Schenkman and a Mint-themed piece of sheet music from Nick Graver. The sheet music turned out to be unneeded as it was just a photocopy and an original had been digitized elsewhere. Sing along, everyone!

I made a hundred thousand dollars yesterday at noon,

I might have made a million if I didn't quit too soon;

But the whistle blew for dinner, Now can't you take the hint,

When I tell you I'm the man that makes the money in the mint.

After lunch Len gave me a tour of the NNP "cage", a storage area where books are held before and after digitization.

My Boggs presentation was at 5pm back at the Olin Library, just down the hall from the exhibit. I was pleasantly surprised to see past Numismatic Bibliomania Society President Tom Harrison had driven in. Jeff Starck of Coin World was also on hand as were some NNP staffers and members of the Missouri Numismatic Society. Lianna Spurrier was there to record a video which will also be part of the upcoming NNP Symposium. I'll zoom in remotely for the Q&A portion.

Wednesday's audience was attentive and asked lots of great questions. I enjoyed reminiscing about my old friend and his art. He was quite a unique character, as much a philosopher as an artist. I'd updated my title to "Why Boggs? Why Now?" to reflect his growing cultural importance - he's now seen as a spiritual father of cryptocurrency and his thoughts on artist copyright have new relevance in today's world of generative artificial intelligence.

Several of us met afterwards for dinner at a nice restaurant. It was a great way to wrap up my visit. Much of Thursday was taken up with travel back home to Virginia. Friday brought a little more numismatics as I toured Washington D.C. with my sister who'd come to see what's left of the cherry blossoms.

Outside the Lincoln Memorial I recalled learning about the state names on the back of the five dollar bill (shown on the outside of the Memorial), and how Lincoln appears on BOTH sides of the five and the Memorial Cent (peering out from inside the Memorial).

I also found some numismatic items on display at the National Portrait Gallery and at the Holocaust Museum shop. No numismatic connection to the Hopper painting, but enjoy the photo anyway.