WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: JUNE 1, 2025, PART TWO

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 22, 2025, Article 18

The Andy Warhol Museum
I came looking for some of Warhol's money-related works, but I'll open with his iconic Marilyn Monroe.

Warhol was a prolific collector. Above is just a sampling of the everyday objects he acquired, often at weekend flea markets around New York City. Below is a sampling of his Time Capsules. Periodically he would empty the contents of his desk into a box, seal it and send it off to storage. The collection is a work of art in itself, and a trove of information about Warhol's daily routines.

I got a kick out of this article headline. We're still being told machines are taking over. Maybe someday the headlines will be right.

The rain had let up a bit by the time I left the museum. I couldn't help but notice the "love locks" attached to the bridge railings, in imitation of the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris. Things got out of hand in Paris, but we'll see where this leads. Imitation is a sincere form of flattery, so why not? It seemed an apt metaphor for Warhol, who relentlessly used the work of others as the starting point for his own.

I took a shortcut on the way back to my car, walking the river trail alongside the Pittsburgh Convention Center. After passing the Center I took this interesting footpath to a neighboring parking lot.

After a stop back at my hotel I headed off again to meet my sister for dinner at an old Mexican restaurant in the North Hills - the Franklin Inn. the place was packed when I arrived but we got a table and had a nice time catching up over dinner.

PAN Show
I spent Thursday morning at the hotel working on email and The E-Sylum again. On the way to the show I stopped at the Barnes & Noble in Monroeville Mall to look for a copy of the book on Pittsburgh's steps. Turns out there are not one, but TWO books on the topic. I bought one and later gifted it to Garrett when I saw him at the show.

I drove over to the Monroeville Convention Center and couldn't find a parking spot for the life of me. I ended up next to the closed Doubletree hotel next door. The convention center lot was packed with cars from all over, including Maryland. Michigan, Connecticut, and even (scratches head...) Hawaii.

The bourse was bustling and larger than ever. PAN has expanded to use both halves of the convention center. This has become a major national show and you're missing out if you haven't attended. Consider the October 2025 show!

While I wasn't expecting to make a purchase, it didn't take me long to add a piece to my collection. I've been collecting error coins lately and bought this clipped-planchet error 1795 Half Cent at David Kahn's table.

Later in the day I stopped at the Great Collections table, where Consignment Director Andy Wedding indulged me to take this photo of my new coin alongside another (more expensive!) 1795 mint product. Thanks!

I stopped at a number of other dealer tables, including Dave Berg, Pat Vetter, Larry Korchnak, and Bob Hurst (above). At the CONECA table I had multiple visits with Greg Bennick, where we talked about future interviews for NNP and items from my numismatic library in this week's Kolbe & Fanning sale. He also approved of my 1795 Half Cent purchase.

Exhibits
There were some great exhibits in an area of the south hall. Here are some that caught my eye. Sorry 'bout the ceiling light glare.

PAN Banquet
The PAN Banquet is a classy affair, taking place at one of the best restaurants in town, the Le Mont atop Mt. Washington, featuring a unique commanding view of the city. I took the shuttle bus from my hotel. My fellow travelers included ANA Board member David Heinrich, George and Martha Washington, Ben Franklin, and Abe Lincoln. Here are some restaurant views before dinner commenced.

I was seated in the far corner at Ben Costello's table, which also included Bob Evans, Greg Darnstaedt and Russ Augustin of RARCOA.

Conversation at my table was enjoyable, and the food delicious. I was surprised to receive the American Numismatic Association Presidential Award from Tom Uram. A number of people including Jeff and Mary Lynn Garrett congratulated me afterwards, and I was most delighted to see my old friend PAN Chairman of the Board Don Carlucci.

It had been a long day and I nearly fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel.

Friday morning was also spent on email and some E-Sylum work. The rain had stopped for a while and with the sun shining I took a walk around the hotel's plaza. After lunch I went straight to the show for the rest of the afternoon, spending most of my time on the south hall attending educational presentations.

The Great Kentucky Hoard of U.S. Gold
The first event I attended was Jeff Garrett's talk on the Great Kentucky Hoard. He'd given a similar talk at the Central States show where it was recorded for the NNP Symposium. But I'd missed the streaming event and hadn't found time to watch the video yet, so I was happy to hear it in person from Jeff.

That's Garrett Ziss and Bill Bierly in the front row next to my empty seat, with Richard Crosby behind them in the yellow shirt.

Jeff displayed a group of coins he'd purchased from the hoard. It was a great talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The hoard finder couldn't have chosen a better representative than Jeff; he assembled an A-team of advisors and partners to handle this marvelous hoard of some 800 mostly gold coins likely hidden during the Civil War.

Coins and Artifacts from the S.S. Central America, Ship of Gold
I enjoyed the double-team talk from Bob Evans and Greg Darnstaedt. Here's Bob discussing the ship's bell. More next week on this topic - I'll share a number of photos taken at the duo's educational exhibit.

I had to go home after the S.S. Central America talk. On the way out of the convention center I was happy to run into former PAN President Kathy Sarosi of Johnstown, PA, who was outside having a smoke.

The drive home to Virginia was mostly in the rain, but traffic flowed smoothly and I was greeted by a nice rainbow as I neared home.

This diary is dedicated to the physicists who invented "the charge-coupled device, or CCD — a technology that is an essential component of nearly every telescope, medical scanner, photocopier and digital camera in use today."

It took them an hour, they later said, to come up with the concept and design. They wrote up the idea in a 1970 paper and filed a patent for it, which was registered in 1974.

One of the great advantages of the device is that it distinguishes, measures and records almost every photon of light, making it possible to take far more precise and detailed photographs, particularly of intergalactic bodies, than had been possible with film.

"The challenge when designing an image sensor was to gather and read out the signals in a large number of image points, or pixels, in a short time," the Nobel committee said, adding that the two men's invention had "transformed photography, as sight could now be captured electronically instead of on film."