WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: FEBRUARY 23, 2025

On Tuesday, February 18, 2025 I left work a bit early and headed toward Vienna, VA, where I would pick up Kellen Hoard at the Metro Station before continuing on to the meeting of Nummis Nova, my Northern Virginia Numismatic social group. Kellen is a student at George Washington University in D.C., and he'd been coming as my guest since arriving in the area. But we hadn't seen him while he was doing a semester abroad. He really gets around. Now working an internship at the Brookings Institution, he interviewed for the position via zoom from Istanbul.

We were the last of the gang to arrive and slid onto the end of a long bench on one side of our table. While regulars Julian Leidman, Daryl Haynor, Wayne Herndon and Roger Burdette couldn't attend, most everyone was present. We were congregated in the Outback Steakhouse in Clifton, VA.

Tom Kays was among those wedged in on that cozy bench, and he offers this Aussie take on the evening.

Tom's Take
Crikey! Nummis Nova held a piss up down under at the new Outback Steakhouse in woop woop Clifton/Centerville, Virginia at the invitation of our host Steve Bishop. Heaps of rippers floated down table aside our tucker and many a cold one at this billabong. Fair dinkum mate, there were coins/tokens/medals including an 1872, copper, Argentine Republic, Shield of Valor for the assault on Curupaity; a 1912 “Military Order of the Serpent” with actual snake drop (crikey mikey) in brass from Atlantic City, New Jersey; three War of 1898 United States decorations for service in the West Indies, Spanish, and Philippines Campaigns; a Kingdom of Paeonia silver tetradrachm of Patraus (Circa 335 – 315 BC) featuring Apollo (with void at head) and horseman brandishing a spear; beautiful U.S. Silver dollars of 1795 (small eagle in Extra Fine), 1801 (Bolender-3 in AU-55), and rainbow toner uncirculated Morgan dollars of 1879-S and 1880-S; a twelve and a half cent, J. H. Marr “Pony Saloon” Token from Tombstone, Arizona (Territory); a brass token from the Philadelphia, Chestnut Street Theatre commemorating the 100th Performance of “Charley's Aunt” on February 11, 1895 (Charley's Aunt is a farce written in 1892 by Brandon Thomas, set at Oxford University and chock full of late Victoria titillation that still plays today); and aluminum die trials of Virginia Numismatic Association membership tokens from 1965. Pictured are some bonzer items.

Also, a small wooden case of random history unfolded with old coins, medals and tokens holding tales worthy of the antiquarian breadth and depth of knowledge your typical Nummis Nova inspector likely possesses. First appears a 1650 silver Ecú à la méche longue of young King Louis XIIII from Bordeaux, France; then a 1794 Calendar Token with the Sunday Figures from “toy man” James Davies of Birmingham, England; a bronze anonymous follis (Thompson Class G) of Romanus IV (circa AD 1068 – 1071) with portraits of Christ holding the Book of Gospels on one side and his mother the Virgin Mary on the other; an 1817 Portuguese colonial 960 Reis of Bahia, Brazil overstruck on an 1800-dated, Spanish colonial eight reales; a bronze two Prutot from the Jerusalem Mint of King Herod I “the Great” (circa 40 – 4 BC) showing an open diadem (crown) and on the reverse, a table of three curved legs standing on a platform in the Jewish Temple holding a vessel with two bent palm branches to either side, [the same King Herod who commanded three Wise Men to return and bring him word of the birth of any future kings] ; a 1703 silver shilling of Queen Anne of England marked with “Vigo” below bust, made from treasure captured from the Spanish Treasure Fleet at Vigo Bay in northern Spain in 1702; a curved ship's nail from the H.M.S. Bounty (one of the first artifacts recovered); a 1614 silver Half Thaler from Brunswick Wolfen-Buttel with Wildman gripping a tree; a counterfeit Hibernia copper of George III with date 17_3 (likely 1783 a year in which no such regal Irish coppers were made and with the third digit rendered ambiguous); a Death Medal for George III in white metal (Eimer 1122, circa 1820) by Thomas Wyon the Elder (Chief Engraver of Seals); an Irish copper “love token” engraved thusly: “William Richardson - Carpenter and Swan Appraiser – Newcastle Court – Temple Bar – Funerals Performed” once owned by David Schenkman / Dr. Ben Swanson / Chris Eimer; a bronze 1756-dated, Fall of Minorca Medal (Eimer 653) with legend “Brave Blakney Reward but to be given a cord – was Minorca sold for French gold” with vignette showing the payoff; and lastly a 1761 silver ducat from the Province of Zeeland in the Netherlands.

Perhaps you have similar bundles of world history in your coin collections, I hope better curated than these incoming oddments found stuck together in the same little box awaiting sorting and filing at their respective bank vaults.

Seeing as how we are bright sparks with nary a brogan between us, Nummis Nova folks also brought paper ephemera including a State of Missouri, One-Dollar Bearer Note (Secured by Pledge of Good Health), payable at the Laboratory of Dr. J. H. McLean – Homeopathic Maker of Liver and Kidney Balm for People and Vegetable Condition Powders for Horses and Cattle at Broadway and Biddle Streets in St Louis and a $5000 (in Gold Coin) Certificate of April 1892 from the American Exchange on deposit with the Bankers Association of Buffalo, New York.

Half-handy literature included: How Money is Coined: A Visit to the United States Mint, New Orleans by Greg Lambousy, The Fugio Coppers – A Simple Method for Identifying the Varieties with Rarity, Listing, and Price Guide by Alan Kessler, Small Change – California Small Denomination Gold and the Wreck of the Winfield Scott by The Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly, Volume 48, #1, The Shenandoah Pottery by A. H. Rice, with over 100 illustrations from 1929, and Coinage of Roman Egypt by Mike Markowitz, 2025.

From our evening in the Outback I give an Australian salute (wards off bush flies) and say, ‘G'day!

Wayne's Numismatic Literature

As usual, I brought some numismatic literature to the meeting (and more than usual since I missed January). While it's not unusual to include periodicals, this issue of the MCA Advisory from the Medal Collectors of America is different - I had it printed on demand after following a link on the club's website. This is a great option for clubs saving money by distributing their publication only electronically. I was curious about the quality, and was quite pleased. Bibliophiles can continue to build and bind their periodical runs.

The remaining items reflect my evolution as a collector. After having sold much of my numismatic library through Kolbe & Fanning, I had no plans to start collecting rarities again, and had literally sworn off collecting modern numismatic ephemera. But I caved and justified the ephemera because "it won't take up much space." Then I had a chance to acquire some older ephemera and justified that because they were items I hadn't had in my collection before. So when I saw offerings of books and pamphlets I hadn't owned before, it was easy to cave on those, too. New rule! So here are some recent purchases.

This 2009 publication from the University of Louisiana includes a short essay by Greg Lambousy on the history and operations of the New Orleans Mint. The bulk of the publication is a reprint of "How Money is Coined... A Visit to the United States Mint, New Orleans," an 1897 picture book published by E. S. Gardner of Des Moines, IA. I've never seen an original, and the Newman Portal does not have one. Do any of our readers have a copy?

Periodicals, especially those from historical societies, can hold a wealth of numismatic information not always found elsewhere. This issue of The Ventura County Historical Society Quarterly examines the California small denomination gold recovered from the wreck of the steamship Winfield Scott, which wrecked in December 1853. It includes an essay by Jack Totheroh, color coin images, notes and a bibliography, plus appendices with transcriptions of relevant contemporary letters.

When my daughter asked me for a Christmas list, the first thing I told her about was this new "Money in Art" book. I love money in art and since this includes a piece by my old friend J.S.G Boggs, I could add it to my Boggs shelf. I've been reading it off and on, and it's very well done. Given some free time I might write up a review someday. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.

The last book is non-numismatic (as far as I know - Banksy has done money art, but I'm not sure if that is covered here). I was one class short of a minor in Art History in college, and I'm looking forward to reading this one.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: MONEY IN ART (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n38a03.html)

Advertising Note: Laboratory of Dr. J. H. McLean
Dave Schenkman brought this colorful advertising note for Dr. J. H. McLean's Homeopathic Liver & Kidney Balm. Nice vignette.

1895 Charley's Aunt Performance Token
Dave also brought an interesting theatre token.

"The February 3, 1895 issue of The Philadelphia Times announced that “the contract for the handsome solid silver souvenirs for the one hundredth performance of Charley's Aunt, at the Chestnut Street Theatre, on Monday of next week, was given to a well-known Philadelphia firm of jewelers.” The company referred to was possibly Joseph K. Davison, a manufacturing jeweler located at 929 Chestnut Street, who struck numerous tokens and medals during his years in business. Four days later the theatre advertised that “solid silver souvenirs of very handsome design will be given to all ladies having reserved seat coupons.”

In the first edition of Tokens of the Gay Nineties 1890-1900, Rulau lists it as Phl 15 and gives the metal as brass; later editions list it as silver. An example described as silver “with loop and ring for suspension, as issued” was sold as lot 2800 in the June 1984 Bowers & Merena sale of the Admiral Dodson collection. My token, which is 25.3mm, is gilt plated, and I assume it is on silver. If any E-Sylum reader owns one of these tokens, I'd be interested in knowing its weight."

Schena's Scrip
Eric Schena brought some interesting paper items I'd never seen before.

"I brought two pieces of panic/depression scrip that I thought were neat. The first is a cancelled $5,000 clearing house certificate from the period of the Panic of 1893. It was used much the same way as the much better known $10,000 gold certificates: they were used to move gold in between member banks. The image of a sack of gold coins on the reverse is particularly neat. It was thoroughly cancelled in 1899. I also brought a piece of Canadian Depression scrip, not something that is often encountered."

Virginia Numismatic Association Tokens
Eric also passed along photos of two interesting tokens from the Virginia Numismatic Association. These and the Patent office token in the next section were brought to the meeting by Dave Schenkman.

More Tokens and Medals
Finally, Eric's show-and-tell included these items as well.

"When it was located in the area of Crystal City, the patent office used tokens to operate the xerox machines. I spent a number of days there in the 1970s, so used quite a few of them. I had to go to another building to purchase them, and as I recall they were 25¢ each. I recently found two of that I didn't use, and thought Eric would like them. As I recall, the VNA tokens were made by Jim Ross, who worked at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., and he made them using equipment at the shipyard. He gave them to me in the 1960s, along with some tokens from Edenton, NC that he made."

"I also brought a couple of medals, including a 1912 Atlantic City Convocation badge for the Military Order of the Serpent (also known as the "Snaix") Probably the neatest looking badge I have seen, it was for an allied veteran's association that was essentially a "less serious" adjunct of the United Spanish War Veterans. I also brought a trio of related early campaign medals: US Army Philippine Insurrection Medal with a No. number on rim, Army War With Spain Medal with the second pattern ribbon and M. No. number on rim, and a Navy West Indies Medal with first pattern ribbon and M. No. on rim."

Steve's Types and Toners
Steve brought several U.S. coins, and he provided some photos, which don't always do them justice. They look nice in hand.

From left: Steve Bishop,Jon Radel, Eric Schena, Dave Schenkman, Mike Packard, Mike Markowitz, Erik Douglas, Tom Kays, Chris Neuzil, Kellen Hoard

Clockwise from bottom right: Eric Schena, Dave Schenkman, Mike Packard, Mike Markowitz, Erik Douglas

No wonder I felt something was missing last month. No month is complete without an evening of numismatic fellowship. I'm already looking forward to March.