WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: JUNE 23, 2024

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V27 2024 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 27, Number 25, June 23, 2024, Article 17

First, a little catch-up. Last Friday, June 14 (Flag Day!) I spent the afternoon in Baltimore at the Whitman Summer Expo. This is the smallest and slowest of the three annual shows, but still a good opportunity to catch up with people - at least, if you don't arrive late, which I did following a longer than expected pitstop for routine car maintenance.

I parked at the nearby Sheraton hotel and was amused by this sign. Luckily I didn't need to hoof it up that set of stairs.

Once I registered and got into the bourse around 2pm I scouted the periphery and a number of dealers were closing up shop or already gone for the day. Some E-Sylum supporters were still in attendance - I spoke briefly with Julian Leidman, but Wayne Herndon and Jon Sullivan were busy with customers. I talked a while with Melissa Kahn about Robert Powers' latest variety guide books and some ANA Convention medals I was tracking down for a friend.

Next I met up with Newman Numismatic Portal Project Coordinator Len Augsburger, and we sat on a couple empty chairs to catch up on some new and potential content, including videos, transcripts and archival material. Len is also the President of our sponsor the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, and we switched gears to sync up on advertising and content for The E-Sylum, including the great work Garrett Ziss has been doing to assist me as editor. We wrapped up with activities planned for the ANA World's Fair of Money® convention in August.

It was a short coin show visit. Len had a plane to catch and I was going to meet my family and visiting relatives for dinner back in Virginia. So I headed home, but not before snapping photos of a couple more signs.

On my way out, all of us in the convention center lobby were surprised by the roar of jet engines close overhead. The airport isn't THAT close. It turns out that Flag Day brought "Maryland Fleet Week & Flyover Baltimore presented by Northrop Grumman" to the city with fighter jets rocketing over the harbor and downtown. Some show attendees stood outside taking photos.

Montpelier Mansion
Moving ahead to this past week, Tuesday June 18th brought the regular dinner meeting of my northern Virginia numismatic social group Nummis Nova. But I had the opportunity to leave work early that day, and with a little time to kill I made a short side trip to an historic site in Laurel, MD.

Montpelier Mansion was built in the early 1780s and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970, primarily for its architecture. The home and 70 acres remain of what was once a slave plantation.

This was a real spur-of-the-moment decision, and I arrived to learn that the mansion was closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But all was not lost - I was able to tour the grounds under the sweltering hot sunshine. Here are some photos.

200 year old tree, and the 1794 Summer House (or belvedere)

I'll have to come back another time to tour the mansion. Check it out if you're ever in the area.

Nummis Nova
Traffic was interesting. I was stopped at a traffic light only a couple miles away from the restaurant when two police cars pulled off the shoulder and blocked the road ahead. One officer got out and came over to tell me it was going to be closed a long while and that I "might want to take that ramp..." That ramp put me on a highway in a very different direction, but after going about six miles my GPS directed me to some winding local roads that eventually got me to the destination.

Our host Jon Radel chose the Afghan restaurant Aracosia McLean, where we'd dined a couple times before. The place was busy with a number of parties already seated when I arrived around 6pm. Robert Hoppensteadt and Mike Markowitz came in next. Robert had had traffic issues too, passing a couple accidents and a procession that had all the trappings of a presidential motorcade, which might have been the cause of my detour. Not an uncommon sight here in the Washington area.

Mike and Robert are our ancient coin experts, and we had a good discussion about recent auctions, a new exhibit and friendly curator at Dumbarton Oaks, and Mike's recent trip to Greece, where he visited the Numismatic Museum. Before long we were joined by my guest Jonas Denenberg, Julian Leidman, Jon, Daryl Haynor, Wayne Herndon and his guest Evan Saltis. The last seat was filled by another guest, an old friend who just moved to Alexandria, VA - John Kraljevich, Director of Numismatic Americana at Stack's Bowers Galleries.

Wayne Herndon and Daryl Haynor contemplate their menus

Robert Hoppensteadt as Mike Markowitz, Jonas Denenberg and Julian Leidman get the conversation started

Group photo by a friendly fellow diner using Daryl's phone. Clockwise from left: Julian, John, Evan, Wayne, Daryl, me, Jon, Robert, Mike and Jonas

Wayne's Numismatic Literature
I brought along some literature to pass around.

I also brought along the catalog of the Kolbe & Fanning auction of the second part of my numismatic library. The sale did very well.

To the right is another book I'd purchased recently, after a tip from Richard Lobel of Coincraft. The 1974 biography of white collar con man Patsy Lepera spills the beans on dozens of financial scams involving fake stocks, sunken treasure, gold shipments, bankers, stock brokers, and the coin dealer he helped take public in an overpriced stock offering.

Here are some of the numismatic items passed around the table. See below for more details.

First Struck 1909 Indian Cent
Daryl Haynor passed along this info about his first struck 1909 Indian Cent.

The 1909 Indian Head Cent is graded MS64 BN and is accompanied by an original cardboard tag on which is written THE FIRST CENT COINED / AT THE UNITED STATES MINT / AT PHILADELPHIA ON JAN. 2'', / (signed) RHINE R. FREED, COINER. Also included in this lot is the original auction envelope from this coin's sale in Wayte Raymond's auction of April 29, 1941, on which is written 1909 CENT INDIAN HEAD [lot number] 933 / FIRST PIECE COINED AT / PHILA. MINT IN THAT / YEAR. IN CARD SIGNED BY / THE COINER.

LEFT: the "Black Stone of Paphos". RIGHT: Slabbed First Struck 1909 Indian Cent

Robert's Ancients
Robert passed along these photos and descriptions of his ancient coins.

Cyprus, Paphos, Geta Geta Æ32 of Cyprus. AD 198-212. Laureate heroic bust of Geta right in high relief / Temple of Paphian Aphrodite within which cone (a meteorite that can still be seen at the Cypress museum) , crescent and star on top of temple, roofed wing on each side within which candelabrum stands, dove on roof of each wing, paved semicircular court before temple. SNG Copenhagen -; RPC -; BMC -; SNG von Aulock -; SNG Turkey -; SNG Levante -; Cf. SNG Copenhagen 92 var. 16.15g, 31mm, 5h.

Sold as apparently unique and misidentified as Caracalla. But another (holed) example is illustrated in Daniella Parks The Roman Coinage of Cyprus and a third was sold by Naumann a few years ago.

Second one - Fairly common AE34 from Amasia struck for Severus Alexander. This has a scarcer bust type and one of my favorites from the series that uses the whole flan. Reverse Altar of Zeus Stratios with tree to the left, topped by an eagle and facing quadriga. Very little wear on this example, hair is sharp as are the bricks on the altar. High relief in hand. RPC VI 6475.29 this coin.