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About Us The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit association devoted to the study and enjoyment of numismatic literature. For more information please see our web site at coinbooks.org Subscriptions Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers can go to the following web page Subscribe You may Unsubscribe Here Membership There is a membership application available on the web site Membership Application To join, print the application and return it with your check to the address printed on the application. Print/Digital membership is $40 to addresses in the U.S., and $60 elsewhere. A digital-only membership is available for $25. For those without web access, write to: Jeff Dickerson, Treasurer Numismatic Bibliomania Society P. O. Box 578, Weatherford, TX 76086 Asylum For Asylum mailing address changes and other membership questions, contact Jeff at this email address: treasurer@coinbooks.org Submissions To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com BUY THE BOOK BEFORE THE COIN Sale Calendar Watch here for updates!

 

Content presented in The E-Sylum is not necessarily researched or independently fact-checked, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

WAYNE'S WORDS: THE E-SYLUM DECEMBER 28, 2025

New subscribers this week include: Bob Lusk, courtesy Rich Kelly and Nancy Oliver. Welcome aboard! We now have 6,688 subscribers.

Thank you for reading The E-Sylum. If you enjoy it, please send me the email addresses of friends you think may enjoy it as well and I'll send them a subscription. Contact me at whomren@gmail.com anytime regarding your subscription, or questions, comments or suggestions about our content.

This week we open with a numismatic literature sale, new Banknote Book chapters, a periodical, notes from the Newman Numismatic Portal, and more.

Other topics this week include the importance of a numismatic library, notes from readers, seals, ANA badges & ribbons, Hugh Shull, Paul Hollis, Kevin Lipton, Jesus and Santa Claus on coins and paper money, auction previews, Victoria Cross medals, and Gaza banknote repairs.

To learn more about Napoleon and Karl Goetz medals, the Library of the Birmingham Assay Office, Confederate currency, the National Silver Dollar Roundtable, covenant coins, hacksilber, an early Croesus stater, the El Salvador "Zig-zag" countermark, the Menorah Prutah, the 1793 Chain cent, Carson City Coin Press No. 1, and Justinian's nose job, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

BRYCE BROWN DICK JOHNSON LIBRARY SALE, PART II

Part II of the Dick Johnson library features literature on United States medals, world coins and medals, and ancient coins and medals.

Fittingly, the sale starts with Johnson's annotated working copy of R.W. Julian's Medals of the United States Mint. Other notable titles include:

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NEW BANKNOTE BOOK CHAPTERS PUBLISHED

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PERIODICAL: PAPER MONEY NOV-DEC 2025

Table of Contents

• Christmas Postal Note
  by Bob Laub
• Incredible F.U.N. '26 Exhibit
• National Banks that only Issued Aldrich-Vreeland Currency
  by Peter Huntoon
• New Grant-Sherman Specimen Varieties Discovered
  by R. Melamed & R. Kravitz
• Cervanteras
  by Stephen Russell
• The Georgia Weekly Notes
  by Charles Derby
• Alabama Patton Certificates
  by David Hollander
• Good Faith Finance
  by Peter Longini
• Excelsior Bank Note Company
  by Roland Rollins

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THE IMPORTANCE OF A NUMISMATIC LIBRARY

We truly live in a great time. Thanks to technology and the internet, the world's knowledge from ancient times to now is at our fingertips. Using a small device most of us carry in our pockets, we can access information spanning time and continents. Want to know who won the men's marathon at the 1928 Summer Olympics? A quick Google Search reveals within seconds that it was Boughera El Ouafi, born in Algeria but competing for France. Or, if you need to know what the fastest route is from your house to a coin show in a neighboring state, not only will the internet tell you the route, thanks to GPS, your navigation system will guide you from door to door. In today's digital age, it is sometimes easy to forget that only a few decades ago, you probably needed to go to a library to answer the 1928 Olympics question, and had to map out your route using, gasp, an actual map!

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COTHRAN "HUGH" SHULL, JR. (1951-2025)

Cothran "Hugh" Shull Jr., 74, of Lexington passed away peacefully surrounded by loving family on December 19th, 2025. He was born November 25th, 1951 to the late Cothran H. Shull, Sr. and Dorothy Evetta Shull.

Hugh was an Air Force veteran who loved his country. He enjoyed his time in Thailand serving as Chief Base Cashier. After leaving the Air Force, he worked under the GI Bill for Mr. Weem's Coin Shop in Gulfport, Mississippi. His love of coin collecting began at the age of seven. Through the coin shop, he learned about obsolete paper money. This became a 45+ year passion as a collector and dealer.

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WASHINGTON'S CHRISTMAS RESIGNATION

Washington's Christmas Resignation

December 23 marked the 242nd anniversary of the resignation of General George Washington, which occurred in 1783 at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, where the Continental Congress was meeting. The well-known artistic recreation of the event, by the painter John Trumbull, now hangs in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, along with other Trumbull works – indeed, of the eight Rotunda paintings, Trumbull created four. Equally familiar is the conclusion of Washington's resignation speech: "Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action, and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life."

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VIDEO: NATIONAL SILVER DOLLAR ROUNDTABLE

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RARER THAN A 1909-S V.D.B. LINCOLN CENT

Robert Van Ryzin writes:

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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: DECEMBER 28, 2025

Number Blunder
Pete Smith writes:

Nick Graver writes:

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VOCABULARY TERM: SEAL

Seal. A metallic bas-relief object, much like a medal, the possession and use of which indicates authority. To provide this authentication the engraved relief seal is used to make a wax impression (later impressed on paper) attached to some letter, contract or document. This may have been in imitation of the Oriental custom of stamping (with ink) a document with a personal seal, often a name only in Oriental letters. This practice still continues. (The use of the notary seal performs this practice today.)

While the seal was in relief, the wax impression would be negative, leading to the use of a negative seal (called the matrix seal) to impress positive wax seals. More important papers or documents were impressed with a seal in metal, called a bulla (particularly in warm climates where wax would be impermanent). The bulla was often attached by a cord to the document, and infrequently, on treaties, or on select important documents, the seal would be impressed in molten precious metal. The impression, wax or metal, could be housed in a metal case called a skippet.

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ANA CONVENTION BADGES AND RIBBONS

The American Numismatic Association (ANA) has "Association" as part of the name. Any object produced for the ANA could be considered an "Association Item" and many people, including me, collect them. This is the second in a series of articles about association items that relate to American numismatists. The first image shows ribbons and convention badges for the American Numismatic Association that include the name of an ANA president. There have been articles in The Numismatist about convention badges, but I am not aware of articles about convention ribbons.

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ARTICLE PROFILES PAUL HOLLIS

At every major life event, Paul Hollis carries a coin his grandmother wore around her neck while she was alive.

It's not worth much, said the 53-year-old coin expert, who has handled million-dollar sales of rare coins, but it's his favorite.

The 1925 U.S. Indian Head Quarter Eagle, minted in Denver with a face value of $2.50, is worth about $350 today. The coin was in Hollis' pocket when he graduated LSU in 1994; when he got married in 1996; when his two children were born in 2003 and 2013; when he was elected to the Legislature in 2011; and then in 2023 when he won a position on the Board of Elementary & Secondary Education.

Then he held the coin on Dec. 18, when the U.S. Senate confirmed him as the 41st director of the U.S. Mint, the first from Louisiana.

Hollis, of Mandeville, also will be the first mint director who makes his living buying and selling coins. He wrote a book, published in 2012. "American Numismatist" recounts the history of coins in context with what was happening in the United States at the time of their production.

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HERITAGE: NYINC WORLD AND ANCIENT COINS

A magnificent Lydian "Missing Link" Early Croesus Stater from the Cambridge Collection is among the extraordinary treasures that will find new homes when they are sold Jan. 12 in Heritage's NYINC World & Ancient Coins Platinum Session and Signature® Auction.

"The Cambridge Collection represents an opportunity for advanced collectors to pursue a remarkable array of artistically and numismatically significant early Greek coins," says Kyle Johnson, Managing Director of World and Ancient Coins at Heritage Auctions. "Most importantly, this session offers every denomination of gold and silver coinage from Croesus's lifetime and the light standard coins that were produced in his design after his death, with each selection a veritable highlight to any serious cabinet."

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STACK'S BOWERS: NYINC ANCIENT AND WORLD COINS

SICILY. Leontini. AR Tetradrachm (17.30 gms), ca. 425-415 B.C. NGC AU, Strike: 4/5 Surface: 4/5. Fine Style. HGC-2, 671; SNG ANS-256-7. Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo left; Reverse: Head of roaring lion left; leaf to right, three barley grains around. Pleasingly toned and with some alluring brilliance peeking out from below, this well centered and well struck example no doubt stands as a fine style representative of the emission.

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KUENKER AUCTION SALE 437, PART TWO

German States

The geographical range of the issues from the German States offered at Künker's Berlin Auction Sale covers everything from Anhalt to Würzburg. Fans of multiple gold coins in perfect condition are spoilt for choice. How about a Hamburg bankportugalöser with a detailed city view? Or a 10-fold ducat from Nuremberg that was intended to be a diplomatic gift? Or rather a piece from Regensburg? Not to forget, there is a magnificent example of one of the first portugalösers minted in Germany – a coin commissioned by Johann Adolf von Holstein-Gottorp. Lovers of yield and mining coins can look forward to an extremely rare 1855 ducat made of gold from Goldkronach. And those looking for Brunswick lösers will find plenty of opportunities.

Be it Saxon coins and medals, "lamb ducats" from Nuremberg, rare talers or ducats – no matter what field of the German States you are interested in, you are sure to find the piece of your dreams!

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JESUS CHRIST ON ANCIENT COINS

Justinian II, Part 1
Justinian II came to the throne in 685 at the age of 16. Heraclius, who ruled 610-41, was his great-great grandfather. Justinian's early coinage was conventional, bearing his portrait (often beautifully executed by a talented master engraver) on the obverse and a cross on steps reverse. But in 692 he introduced an extraordinary innovation: placing a bearded, long-haired portrait of Christ on the obverse of the coin, with the Latin inscription "Jesus Christ, King of Those Who Reign" (IHS CRISTOS REX REGNANTIUM).

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ROMAN ERA HOARD FOUND NEAR BORSUM, GERMANY

In Lower Saxony, officials confirmed a Roman era hoard find that includes 450 silver coins, one gold ring, one gold coin, and several silver bars near Borsum.

The cache comes from the early Roman Imperial period and was recovered during a controlled archaeological sweep after the late report.

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CELTIC SILVER COINS LEAD TO STONE FORTRESS

When a hoard of looted Celtic silver coins popped up on the black market thanks to some metal detectorists, researchers at the University of Zagreb took notice. The team tracked the site of the coin's discovery to the top of Mount Papuk, roughly 2,000 feet above sea level, and spent two years in search of a reason for why that spot was chosen to stash a hoard of coins. What they found was an astonishing 3,200-year-old stone fortress.

"At this place, we did not expect anything like this," Hrvoje Potrebica, a professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Zagreb, said in a translated statement, "and it increases our amazement. In my 25-year career, I have never seen anything like this. Today we hit the jackpot."

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SEAL MEDAL OF KING FREDERIK III

In 1660, at the end of the Dano-Swedish War of 1658-1660, King Frederik III of Denmark-Norway had become unusually popular among the citizenry of Copenhagen due to staying in the city during the long siege by the Swedish army. The King took advantage of his popularity and outmanoeuvred the privy council at the Rigsdag, granting him absolute powers. Before then, the king had to answer to the privy council and the nobility, but now all power was in the hands of the king. He was an absolute monarch.

The transferral of all power to the king took place in many European royal houses at that time, but in Denmark, quite unusually, it was written down and made into law. This law, the King's Act, was signed in 1665 and attached to it was the newly made Royal Seal, big and imposing to reflect the new powers of the king.

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1793 FLOWING HAIR CENT, AMERI. CHAIN REVERSE

With our recent sale of the final circulation strike "pennies" making international headlines for their strong prices realized, it might interest some who participated in the sale to see what started it all 232 years ago! We are also pleased to be offering a very Choice EF example of the first circulating cent in our February 2026 Showcase Auction.

The United States Mint was established by an Act of Congress dated April 12, 1792. The legislation authorized not just the construction of the facility, but also established by law the circulating denominations, which following Thomas Jefferson's suggestion of a decimalized system, a revolutionary idea for the time. The basic unit was the silver dollar, with fractions thereof. The first coins to be struck for circulation under the auspices of this Act were produced in small quantities in John Harper's shop in 1792. In early 1793, with the Mint facilities constructed, the first cents and half cents were struck.

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THE ABOLITION OF COINS

What appears on circulating coinage is not just a visual choice. It is a statement about whose stories are considered foundational enough to be woven into the ordinary rituals of national life. It signals which histories we believe belong not only to museums or commemorations, but also to the nation's shared civic identity.

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, those design choices carry extraordinary weight.

Anniversaries are never neutral. They are acts of storytelling. They reveal not only what a nation honors, but what it chooses to leave out. At moments like this, remembrance becomes a test of conscience. It asks whether we are willing to tell the full story of who we are, or only the parts that make us comfortable.

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ASH­CROFT DECRIES GAL­LERY REPLACEMENT

THE Imper­ial War Museum has been accused of neg­lect­ing Vic­toria Cross her­oes in favour of trans­gender his­tory.

The upper floor of the museum once housed the world's largest collec­tion of the medals, which are Bri­tain's highest mil­it­ary honour.

However, the museum announced earlier this year that the exhib­i­tion would be closed, and cur­at­ors have been accused of pivot­ing to focus on LGBT his­tory. A vir­tual tour titled Refrac­ted His­tor­ies: Explor­ing LGBTQ+ Stor­ies in Times of Con­flict has been launched, allow­ing vis­it­ors to learn about the "LGBTQ+ com­munity" that has "always been present dur­ing times of con­flict".

Sub­jects in the new self-guided LGBT tour include "drag shows" in POW camps,

Lord Ash­croft, who owns the Vic­toria Cross col­lec­tion, was aghast at the decision to remove the on-loan medals, and has now accused the museum of being "bey­ond par­ody".

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TYPES OF SANTA CLAUS VIGNETTES

Happy Holidays! One of the most surprising aspects of collecting currency is that Santa Claus was quite a popular subject of private banknote companies during the 1850s and 1860s. These depictions are very popular with collectors and can be next to impossible to find on certain issued notes. A breakdown of the various Santa Claus vignettes may be found below in detail:

Type I: A favorite of banks like the White Mountain Bank of Lancaster in New Hampshire. This vignette depicts a rotund Santa Claus seated in his sleigh attempting to takeoff from a snowy roof while his reindeer collectively struggle to gain altitude in the process. This vignette is by far the most common of the Santa Claus vignettes and can readily be had thanks to the aforementioned bank in New Hampshire or the well-made Contemporary Counterfeits that imitate the notes issued by the Howard Banking Company of Boston such as the example we sold in our November 2024 Showcase Auction (lot 7035) for $1,620.

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ANOTHER GAZA BANKNOTE REPAIRMAN

In a bustling Gaza City market, a money repairer expertly inspects a worn, yellow 100 shekel ($30.50; £23.10) note. He straightens it out and enhances its faded colour with careful strokes of a pencil.

Baraa Abu al-Aoun should have been studying at university - but instead he ekes out a living from a table he has set up at the roadside, taking a small sum to help keep cash in circulation.

Fixing banknotes is a thriving new business in Gaza.

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PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN HONUS WAGNER CARD

Chris writes:

An example of the iconic and rare T206 Honus Wagner baseball card is going to auction next month after being held by the same family for 116 years.

According to Goldin Auctions founder and CEO Ken Goldin, whose company is handling the sale, "this is the biggest discovery in the hobby in the past 50 years" because of how extraordinary it is for a publicly unaccounted T206 Wagner card to come to light.

The card was consigned by the Shields family, descendants of Morton Bernstein, who owned a silver manufacturing plant and started collecting trading cards in the early 1900s. Bernstein pulled the Wagner card from an original cigarette pack around that time. It was kept as part of a framed collection, passed down through the family and preserved by Bernstein's grandsons, Dennis and Douglas Shields.

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LOOSE CHANGE: DECEMBER 28, 2025

ANS Headquarters History

To read the complete article, see:
ANS relocates to Ohio (https://www.sixbid.com/en/blog/the-end-of-an-era-ans-relocates-to-ohio/)

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE: DECEMBER 28, 2025

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