ABOUT THIS ISSUE: APRIL 27, 2025

In the I-KNEW-I-was-forgetting-something department, I realized after publishing last week's issue that I'd missed including the latest installment of Bob Evans' articles on his experience with the S.S. Central America. Not this time, and this week's article is a humdinger.

I've been making plans for next month's PAN Show near Pittsburgh, and I expect to see a number of E-Sylum readers and supporters there, both at the show and Thursday night's banquet.

We often discuss coins and other money seen in popular culture, such as movies or TV shows. Friday night I went to see the new Ryan Coogler film "Sinners", and like "Gladiator II", some gold coins play a part. They flashed by quickly on the screen, so if anyone has more information or an image of them, please let us know.

"Sinners" is a blues-meets-vampires horror movie, set mostly in 1930's Mississippi. Great soundtrack, and worthwhile for any fan of Blues music. Buddy Guy even has a cameo in a mid-credits scene. I was a bit haunted myself to hear "Wang Dang Doodle" early in the film. It was a signature song of Koko Taylor, "The Queen of the Blues", who I had the pleasure of meeting in between sets when she played with her band in a small Pittsburgh club back in my single days. She was about as old then as I am now, and she could still belt 'em out, drenched in sweat as we spoke. Blues Royalty.

Anyway, back to "Sinners." Below is Google's AI overview. -Editor

In the movie "Sinners," gold coins are primarily used by Remmick (played by Jack O'Connell) as a form of currency or, more accurately, as an offer of temptation. He uses them to lure potential victims, promising them wealth and power in exchange for their souls. The gold coins are symbolic of the corrupting influence of wealth and the Faustian deals that characters are tempted to make.

For a New York Times review article, see:
The Symbolism in ‘Sinners' (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/movies/sinners-symbolism.html)

Wayne Homren
Wayne Homren is the founding editor of The E-Sylum and a consultant for the Newman Numismatic Portal. His collecting interests at various times included U.S. Encased Postage Stamps, merchant counterstamps, Pittsburgh Obsolete paper money, Civil War tokens and scrip, Carnegie Hero Medals, charge coins and numismatic literature. He also collects and has given presentations on the work of Money Artist J.S.G. Boggs. In the non-numismatic world he's worked in artificial intelligence, data science, and as a Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Garrett Ziss
Garrett Ziss is a numismatic collector and researcher, with a focus on American paper money and early U.S. silver and copper coins. He is also a part-time U.S. coin cataloger for Heritage Auctions. Garrett assists Editor Wayne Homren by editing and formatting a selection of articles and images each week. When he's not engaged in numismatics, Garrett is a Senior Honors student at the University of Pittsburgh.

Pete Smith
Numismatic researcher and author Pete Smith of Minnesota has written about early American coppers, Vermont coinage, numismatic literature, tokens and medals, the history of the U.S. Mint and much more. Author of American Numismatic Biographies, he contributes original articles to The E-Sylum often highlighting interesting figures in American numismatic history.

Greg Bennick
Greg Bennick (www.gregbennick.com) is a keynote speaker and long time coin collector with a focus on major mint error coins and US counterstamps. He is on the board of both CONECA and TAMS and enjoys having in-depth conversations with prominent numismatists from all areas of the hobby. Have ideas for other interviewees? Contact him anytime on the web or via instagram @minterrors.

John Nebel
Numismatist, photographer, and ANS Board member and Fellow John Nebel of Boulder, CO helped the ANA and other clubs like NBS get online in the early days of the internet, hosting websites gratis through his Computer Systems Design Co. To this day he hosts some 50 ANA member club sites along with our coinbooks.org site, making the club and our E-Sylum archive available to collectors and researchers worldwide.

Bruce Perdue
Encased coinage collector (encasedcoins.info) Bruce Perdue of Aurora, Illinois has been the volunteer NBS webmaster from its early days and works each week to add the latest E-Sylum issue to our archive and send out the email announcement.