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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 04/25/2026 Workman's Book Sale 8

 

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 APRIL 5, 2026

New subscribers this week include: Richard Long. Welcome aboard! We now have 6,584 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 three literature sales, three books and one book review, an obituary, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, notes from readers and more.

Other topics this week include the Michigan State Numismatic Society Spring show events, signet medals, Paul Vitry, Paul Balan, Renaissance medals, fixed price and auction highlights, Maundy coins, another medal for Trump, Wyoming's gold stash, and a found Purple Heart.

To learn more about the Treasure of the Atocha, Capped Bust half dollars, Oregon Centennial Municipal Trade Tokens and Medals, world trade currencies, Taiwan Pattern Coins, Randy Campbell, the 1865 SS Pewabic shipwreck, Indian banknotes recovered from the 1922 wreck of the SS Egypt, Civil War Soldier Identification Discs, Encased Postage Stamps, chickens on ancient coins, and "the Hebrew Hammer", read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

KOLBE & FANNING BCD LIBRARY WEB SALE #2

Second BCD Web Sale April 16

Kolbe & Fanning Numismatic Booksellers are pleased to announce that we will be holding the second Web Sale devoted to selections from the outstanding BCD Library on Thursday, April 16. The BCD Library is famous for its extraordinary depth, particularly in works pertaining to ancient Greek coinage and culture. Carefully formed over the course of half a century, the library includes thousands of titles on various aspects of Greek life, art and coinage.

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WORKMAN'S BOOKS SALE 8 SELECTIONS

Workman's Books is pleased to present its eighth sale, featuring a substantial and carefully curated selection of literary material and related media focused on Spanish American, United States, Ancient, and World numismatics, as well as buried and sunken treasure, metal detecting, treasure hunting, underwater archaeology, and piracy. The auction includes a number of rare and desirable works bearing author signatures or inscriptions, with notable names such as Mel Fisher, Kip Wagner, Mendel Peterson, Robert Marx, and "Frogfoot" Weller represented. This single-session sale will begin closing at 10:00 AM EDT on April 25, 2026, and will offer 503 lots, including rare, vintage, and out-of-print books, post-auction catalogs, magazines and journals, maps, postcards, and vintage media formats such as VHS tapes and DVDs.

This bid sale is being held through the online venue iCollector, and all registrations, approvals, and bids will be handled there. For this bid sale the lots will be closing on a timed interval with extensions of 1 minute for any bids placed within 1 minute of closing. If you already have an iCollector account, you still must "GET APPROVED" to bid for each sale by entering and confirming your information for this bid sale, like reviewing your shipping information and choosing your preferred way of payment. Remember, tie bids go to the earliest bidders, so don't wait for the lots to close to bid on anything for which you have a strict number in mind.

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HOLABIRD RESEARCH LITERATURE SALE, PART 2

Wow! I was really excited after my first duplicate book list went out. I tried to put little notes here and there, as well as try to keep the prices reasonable to cheap, except great rarities. I've gone through another round, added about 100 more, and deleted those sold from the first go-round. I've got more boxes to go through yet. When I combined two libraries of decades in the making, there were bound to be duplicates, many of complete surprise to me, like the Truckee directory, and some of the Gold Rush stuff.

You can view my updated book list and prices here.

For years, I have been after the contents. The info out of that author's brain is what I'm after. I also have been after signed copies from the great geologists and mining men. I might be the only collector… well, maybe…

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WHITMAN ACQUIRES RIGHTS TO OVERTON BOOK

Whitman Brands™, a leading full-service provider of data, media, and product distribution for the numismatics and collectibles marketplace, announces the landmark acquisition of the rights to the esteemed works of Al C. Overton and Donald L. Parsley. This acquisition secures the future of the definitive authority on the Capped Bust Half Dollar series: Early Half Dollar Die Varieties 1794–1836.

For over half a century, the Overton numbers have served as the universal language for collectors of early American silver. By bringing this foundational research into the Whitman portfolio, the company ensures that the legacy of meticulous scholarship established by Al Overton and continued by Donald Parsley will be preserved and expanded for future generations of numismatists.

A Legacy of Family and Scholarship

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NEW BOOK: OREGON CENTENNIAL TOKENS AND MEDALS

Jan Monroe writes:

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NEW BOOK: MONEY BEYOND BORDERS

Doubts about the international dominance of the dollar are only growing amid worries about tariffs, political dysfunction, and fraying international alliances. Will the dollar continue to reign supreme? In Money Beyond Borders, the leading authority on international currencies, Barry Eichengreen, puts the dollar's prospects in deep historical perspective by chronicling the entire history of cross-border currencies, from the invention of coins in the seventh century BCE to the cryptocurrencies of today and the central bank digital currencies of tomorrow.

Money Beyond Borders recounts how Greek and Roman coins became the first true international currencies. It tells how the Florentine gold florin became the "greenback of the Renaissance," and how it was succeeded by Spanish silver and a Dutch fiat currency. The book explains why the British pound dominated the international economy in the nineteenth century, why the dollar rose to the top during World War II, and why the dollar has survived predictions of the imminent loss of its preeminence since the 1970s.

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BOOK REVIEW: TAIWAN PATTERN COINS, 1949–1987

Wang, Yung-Ching 王永慶.
Taiwan yang bi, 1949 – 1987 台灣樣幣, 一九四九 – 一九八七
Taiwan Pattern Coins, 1949–1987

Taipei City: Author, 2025
Hardcover, 18.5cm x 26cm, 272 pages, full color throughout: photos, facsimiles.
ISBN: 978-626-01-3899-8
Largely bilingual (Chinese and English)

Price: US$199, includes shipping; or for E-Sylum readers contacting the seller directly, US$179, includes shipping
Contact: tigercoins@gmail.com

The Taiwan coin-collecting community was surprised and delighted in March of 2025 by the publication of Wang Yung-Ching's work: Taiwan Patterns, 1949-1987.

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MARTIN ANTHONY LOGIES (1960-2025)

Martin A. Logies
October 20, 1960 ~ March 6, 2025

Martin A. Logies, 64, of Middlefield, OH, passed away Thursday morning, March 6th, 2025 at UH-Geauga Medical Center. He was born in Cleveland, OH on October 25th, 1960 to the late Raymond C. and Joan R. (Pishnery) Logies.

Martin was a graduate of Case-Western Weatherhead School of Management and a CPA, a long-time owner of his own firm in Sunnyvale, California. He was also a well-known author and numismatist, specializing in rare Early American coins, and an avid floriculturist, growing and photographing roses and orchids.

 

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2026 NEWMAN GRANT APPLICATIONS DUE

Newman Grant Application Deadline

The deadline for applications to this year's Newman Grants program is April 15. These grants are intended to subsidize the costs of numismatic research such as traveling, graphics arts and reproduction costs, or electronic database access. Awarded amounts are typically in the $1,000 to $5,000 range. Applications may be found on the Newman Numismatic Portal at https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/530553?Year=2026 and should be submitted to NNPCurator@wustl.edu.

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VIDEO: NUMISMATIC PROFILE: RANDY CAMPBELL

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MORE ON NUMORUM HUNGARIAE TRANSILVANIAE

From our Sale 151:

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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 5, 2026

Thoughts on the Ed Schedler Counterstamp

Regarding the question from Adrian Gonzalez-Salinas, Bill Groom writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
ED SCHEDLER COUNTERSTAMP INFORMATION SOUGHT (https://www.coinbooks.org/v29/esylum_v29n13a11.html)

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MSNS SPRING 2026 SPEAKERS AND MEETINGS

Michigan State Numismatic Society is pleased to announce its lineup for the Spring Convention, held from April 17-19, 2026. Below is the schedule for speakers and meetings for Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18.

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VOCABULARY TERM: SIGNET MEDAL

Signet Medal. A medal used like a signet ring to press into molten wax to make a wax seal. Signet medals are always negative (so any wax impression would be positive) and are usually coin size and uniface. Often they are diestruck to be mounted on a ring, otherwise they would be mounted on a handle (of varying ornateness, from plain wood to carved metal or ivory). In 1874 the United States Mint struck signet medals in silver for the Order of Mutual Protection (RF-8). These were undoubtedly distributed to members who could use it for their correspondence. Signet medals could be struck from a hub (rather than a die) for the intaglio relief.

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PAUL VITRY (1872-1941)

In The E-Sylum last week, Trey Todd asked about citations to Vitry related to medals of Pierre Roche. Many of the prospective references are in French and not available in The Newman Numismatic Portal. This is what I found.

As an art historian and museum curator, he produced many catalogs on architecture, sculpture and their artists. Of special interest was the study of French Gothic cathedrals. He was one of the founders of the French historical method in art history. Among his topics were the war medals of Pierre Roche.

Eugene Paul Vitry was born in Paris on November 11, 1872. He graduated from the Sorbonne in 1892 with a degree in literature. He later graduated from the Ecole du Louvre in 1897.

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MORE ON PAUL VITRY CATALOGUES

Scott Miller writes:

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PHILIPPINE COIN DESIGNER PAUL BALAN

Paul Balan, a renowned painter and designer from Paete, Laguna, now holds the distinction of being the first Filipino and first Asian artist in the prestigious United States Mint's Artistic Infusion Program (AIP).

His success, which includes designing circulating coins and congressional medals, followed a challenging journey that began when he immigrated to the United States with only $5 in his pocket.

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ANS ANNOUNCES RENAISSANCE MEDALS ONLINE

The ANS is pleased to announce the launch of Renaissance Medals Online (RMO), a new, open-source research tool focused on the beginnings of medallic art in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The resource gathers known specimens of medals from both public and private collections, as well as from publications, including old catalogues and auction records. RMO is the result of an international collaboration between Agnieszka Smolucha-Sladkowska (Curator of Medals at the numismatic cabinet of the National Museum in Kraków), Ethan Gruber (ANS Director of Data Science), Peter van Alfen (ANS Chief Curator), and Karsten Dahmen (Deputy Director of the Coin Cabinet, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin).

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NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: APRIL 5, 2026

103512 | FRANCE. Automobile-Club de France gilt silver Award Medal. Issued circa mid 20th century and awarded to "Soulat" (68mm, 125.24 g, 12h). By Jean-Baptiste Daniel-Dupuis at the Paris mint.

Seminude female holding torch and reclining right in horseless carriage, with wings on front wheel and being drawn among the clouds; 1894–1895 below // AUTOMOBILE • CLUB • DE • FRANCE / SOCIETE / D'ENCOURAGEMENT, central plaque embossed "SOULAT" and within decorative garnishing; gear below with garlanded oak and laurel branches. Edge: «cornucopia» 1 ARGENT.

Cf. Maier 117 (for a uniface plaque with a similar obverse design); MdP –; cf. Silich III, 978 (for a similar gilt silver example for a different awardee). Choice Mint State. Wondrous golden-yellow matte surfaces; only a few stray marks at the bottom of the reverse prevent a higher gem designation. Includes original case of issue. No doubt one of the finest examples of the type extant, and an excellent Beaux-Arts commemorative from the dawn of the automobile era.

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ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL SALE 112 SELECTIONS

Bielefeld..., Germany, 1922. Lot of 3 Issued Notgeld printed on linen and silk, Includes: 500 Mark linen Notgeld from the Not-Opferkonto Leinenfonds; 1000 Mark linen Notgeld; and 1000 Mark silk Notgeld, Notes feature bright colors and bold designs and range from EX to UNC condition. Notes were issued by the Stadtsparkasse Bielefeld during the German hyperinflation period. (3). Sold "AS IS" no returns accepted.

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ST. JAMES AUCTION 120 SELECTIONS

Elizabeth I, first to fourth issues, half pound, mm. cross crosslet (1560-1561), crowned bust l., rev. crowned shield of arms, ER at sides (S.2520; N.1982), certified and graded by NGC as About Uncirculated 55

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STACK'S BOWERS: APRIL 2026 WORLD PAPER MONEY

ALGERIA. Banque de l'Algerie. 1000 Francs, 18.7.1939. P-83a. PMG About Uncirculated 50. Estimate: $750 - $1,250.

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EARLY AMERICAN APRIL 2026 HISTORY AUCTION

ELIAS BOUDINOT (1740-1821). 10th President of the Continental Congress (1782-1783); a Founding Father; Member of the Continental Congress who served in the First Congress of 1789; Signed the "Treaty of Paris" with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War; Member of the Committee on Correspondence; New Jersey Provincial Congress; Commissary-General of Prisoners; in 1795 Appointed Third Director of the United States Mint by George Washington; founded the American Bible Society and began "Thanksgiving" in America as a National Holiday. December 16, 1790, Newark (New Jersey) First Presbyterian Church in Newark, Signed "E Boudinot" as Church president, Private Four Pence Small Change Note, Newman page 266, Wait 1410, PCGS graded Very Fine-25. This Church money series was printed by Kollock and is clearly Signed in brown ink by Elias Boudinot.

An American Revolutionary War era Statesman, Elias Boudinot was a close friend of George Washington, and was a tireless supporter of the Revolution and the fledgling Federal government. Despite not signing the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or the Articles of Confederation, he is one of the more important political figures from the American Revolutionary Era.

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SEDWICK AUCTION 39 AND WINTER PARK SHOW

We're excited to welcome you to this new event and bring everyone together in a relaxed, well-organized setting where dealers, collectors, and bidders can connect and do business comfortably. Our goal is to create a smooth, enjoyable experience with the right balance of professionalism and ease, making it worthwhile for everyone involved. Admission is free (ID required).

This is the inaugural edition of this event, and we are excited to introduce this new format. If everything develops as expected, we anticipate expanding into a significantly larger show next year upon the completion of a new event center adjacent to the Marriott.

If you wish to view lots in advance of the auction before the show, we can accommodate private viewing appointments at our office as follows.

• Monday, May 4, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM
• Tuesday, May 5, 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Lot viewing will also be available during the show, next to the bourse.

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CHICKENS ON ANCIENT COINS

Chickens may seem ordinary today. However, in antiquity, they carried deep meaning.

Modern chickens descend from jungle fowl native to Southeast Asia. Archaeology shows that the Phoenicians introduced domesticated chickens to the Mediterranean around 2000 BCE. From there, their importance spread quickly.

At first, chickens symbolized wealth. Both meat and eggs counted as luxury foods. Soon after, they gained religious and cultural meaning.

By 700 BCE, chickens appeared in Western art. Corinthian pottery provides the earliest known depictions. Not long after, they entered the world of coinage.

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THE 2026 ROYAL MAUNDY MONEY CEREMONY

Hundreds of people gathered at St Asaph Cathedral on Thursday for the annual Royal Maundy service, held in Wales for only the second time in the service's 800-year history.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla attended the ceremony, where 77 men and 77 women were honoured with Maundy gifts in recognition of longstanding Christian service to their communities. Most recipients were from Wales, with others drawn from dioceses across the United Kingdom..

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OLYMPIAN GIVES TRUMP HER ORDER OF IKKOS

At a White House event celebrating Women's History Month on March 12, U.S. Olympic bobsledder Kaillie Humphries presented President Donald Trump with her Order of Ikkos medal.

Humphries, a naturalized citizen who won two bronze medals for Team USA at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, became emotional while explaining the gesture.

The Order of Ikkos is a medal that Team USA medalists can award to a coach, mentor, or individual who was instrumental in their success.

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BANKNOTES SALVAGED FROM THE SS EGYPT

On a foggy evening in May 1922, somewhere in the grey waters of the Atlantic Ocean, a tragedy unfolded that would echo through maritime and numismatic history for decades. It involved a luxury passenger liner, a cargo of precious metals worth a fortune, and thousands of Indian banknotes that would spend ten long years at the bottom of the sea. When they were finally recovered, these fragile pieces of paper, once destined to circulate in the Princely State of Hyderabad, would emerge as some of the most unusual banknotes ever known. They would come to be remembered simply as the Hyderabad's sea-sunk notes from the SS Egypt.

Deep inside the ship's strongroom lay an extraordinary consignment of treasure. There were seven tonnes of gold bars, 43 tonnes of silver bullion, and 1,65,979 gold sovereign coins destined for India. The precious cargo alone was valued at more than one million pounds sterling, a staggering sum in the early 20th century.

But among this glittering treasure lay something less obvious yet historically remarkable. Packed in carefully sealed containers were 1,65,000 newly printed banknotes commissioned by the Nizam of Hyderabad from the renowned London printers Waterlow & Sons.

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WYOMING'S GOLD STASH

There's treasure inside a low-slung building on the outskirts of Casper, Wyo.—roughly $11.6 million in state-owned gold bars.

Wyoming bought the gold in December after passing a law requiring the state's investment portfolio to add precious metals as a hedge against economic turmoil. Among the worries are rising federal debt, inflation and a weak U.S. dollar—but also more extreme calamities, according to Bob Ide, a Republican state senator and lead sponsor of the "Wyoming Gold Act." The state legislature passed the bill last year with widespread support.

"I can't put a timeline on it, but there's gonna be a sovereign-debt crisis," Ide said. "There's no will to rein in spending."

A sovereign-debt crisis would mean the U.S. can't pay its debts, or there is such widespread fear of default that interest rates soar and the economy nosedives.

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LOOSE CHANGE: APRIL 5, 2026

Innovations in Numismatics

Coin technology and design have made major strides in recent years. A prominent example is Germany's introduction of polymer-coated coins. Since 2016, the Federal Republic has issued €5 commemorative coins featuring a colored polymer ring, followed in 2019 by €10 coins with a transparent polymer ring. These innovative pieces combine metal and plastic, enhancing both security against counterfeiting and visual appeal. But what comes after the polymer ring?

In recent years, mints around the world have introduced a wide range of innovations that enrich both the technology of coin production and the design of circulation and collector coins. Here is an overview that looks at new materials, security features, striking technologies, and design methods that have been implemented in series production since 2020—not mere prototypes or decades-old concepts revived on paper

Laser-Engraved Micro Features
Since 2020, modern coins have increasingly incorporated microscopic structures for anti-counterfeiting, made possible by precision laser-engraving processes. One pioneer is the 2021 Britannia bullion coin from the Royal Mint, equipped with four new security features. These include a latent image that shifts between a padlock and Neptune's trident depending on the angle, like a holographic effect. The coin also carries micro-lettering that encircles the figure of Britannia with the Latin inscription "DECUS ET TUTAMEN" (an ornament and a safeguard), rendered in tiny text that is barely visible to the naked eye. A further innovation is a laser-generated surface pattern that makes the background appear as moving waves when the coin is tilted in the light.

This "surface animation" is created using nano-engraving with ultra-short picosecond laser pulses that cut grooves into the dies up to 200 times thinner than a human hair. The Royal Mint was one of the first mints to deploy such high-resolution lasers, which are otherwise used in fields like medicine and aerospace. The result is a set of security elements (latent image, micro-text, dynamic lines) that are visually compelling and extremely difficult to reproduce with conventional methods. Similar micro-engraving techniques are now used worldwide; many countries equip circulation coins with tiny laser-applied marks, images, or text because, once the process is set up, they can be mass-produced on standard presses yet remain very hard to imitate.

To read the complete article, see:
Innovations in Numismatics: What Comes After the Polymer Ring? (https://www.numismaticnews.net/innovations-in-numismatics-what-comes-after-the-polymer-ring)

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PURPLE HEART MEDAL FOUND IN LOCKER

He took a long look at the intel generated by a computer program he had developed with ChatGPT. It listed storage units that had been abandoned by people whose names had appeared at some point in the news. One was connected to a politician in Piscataway, N.J. Another locker had belonged to a minor celebrity: "Rapper known as ‘Ackquille Pollard' or ‘Bobby Shmurda,'" the listing read.

Michael's mother, Anna Haskell, was in her study, reading The Wall Street Journal. "It all started in middle school," Ms. Haskell, an investor, said. "Michael would go to book fairs, where he discovered he could buy books by the bag and resell them. Then he started researching Legos that were going out of production, and he started buying those up, reselling them as they got more valuable. Then he saw ‘Storage Wars.'"

"I don't know what he could be one day, but what he's doing is almost like distressed investing, buying distressed assets," she added. "Maybe he'll go into the investment path."

Ms. Haskell considered what her son might be gaining from his locker dives, aside from money.

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE: APRIL 5, 2026

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