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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 Kolbe & Fanning - Web Sale #6 Live Thurs., July 16

 

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 JULY 12, 2026

New subscribers this week include: Adrian Perez, courtesy Greg Bennick; and Kimberly Singer. Welcome aboard! We now have 6,428 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 NBS plans for the ANA convention, four new books, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, and more.

Other topics this week include the new Red Book, medieval pennies, Confederate notes, the Museum of American Finance, Byzantine coinage, stencil medals, world encased postage stamps, and Japanese coin-shaped sand art.

To learn more about the 2026 Semiquincentennial coin program, coinage struck by the city of Gaza under Roman rule, banknotes of New Griqualand, YMCA Canteen Chits, the Heeren Brothers, mysteriously moving mintmarks, sculptures en miniature, the Tyrant Collection, the Midwest Coin Collectors Trading Post, the Vermont Copper, medallic artist Eugene Daub, and an amphitheater of gold bars, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

NBS ACTIVITIES AT THE ANA CONVENTION

The annual ANA convention beckons, with this year's installment taking place in Pittsburgh, August 25-29. As usual, the NBS will host a club table on the bourse floor, in addition to our symposium and general meetings.

The NBS Symposium will be held Thursday, August 27, at 1pm in room 324. Cassie Brand, Rare Books Curator at Washington University in St. Louis, will be our featured speaker, on the topic Book Matters: A Brief History of the Object. Cassie shares an overview:

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WHITMAN: 2027 RED BOOK RELEASED

Whitman Brands™ announced today that the 80th edition of The Official Red Book®: A Guide Book of United States Coins is now shipping to distributors, bookstores, hobby retailers, and wholesalers throughout North America. More than a book release, the 2027 edition marks the beginning of a broader Red Book collector experience spanning premium print editions, secure eBooks, certified collectibles, exclusive bundles, and new merchandise.

Celebrating 80 years in publication and more than 26 million copies sold, the Red Book continues to be the world's most trusted and best-selling guide to United States coins while evolving to serve today's collector in more ways than ever before.

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NEW BOOK: CITY OF GAZA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD

City of Gaza in the Roman Period
The Numismatic Evidence (First Century BCE–Third Century CE)

by Yoav Farhi

This book is a comprehensive discussion examining the production and significance of the coinage struck by the city of Gaza under Roman rule from the conquest of this region by Pompey (64/3 BCE) to the end of the municipal minting in the second quarter of the third century (241/2 CE).

The data presented are based on the study of some 4,494 bronze and silver coins minted in Gaza during the Roman period. As many specimens as possible were located during some 20 years of a through and wide search, at various publications and in public and private collections especially in the Middle East, Europe and the USA. The catalogue presents 318 types with hundreds of variants and the photographs of 833 coins.

This is the first time that such comprehensive research has been conducted regarding a polis in Roman Palestine with a vast volume of minting as in the case of Gaza. This research, which examines the coinage of the largest and most important city in southern Roman Palestine, contributes not only to a better understanding of the city itself, but also can offer new perspectives on the broad subject of city coins of the Roman period, and especially those of this region.

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NEW BOOK: MEDIEVAL PENNIES PART III

The Galata Guide to MEDIEVAL PENNIES. Part III: Edward IV - Henry VII, 1461-1489
By: David I Greenhalgh

David I Greenhalgh. Published by Galata Print Ltd., Llanfyllin. 2025. PB (laminated card covers) A4 (210 x 297mm) 126 pages, illustrated throughout with enlarged photographs, in colour and b&w. ISBN 9781908715289.

Mints covered: London, Bristol, Canterbury, Durham and York. It includes a concordance with all major reference works relating to pennies.

Includes a handy 'roadmap' style introduction to the identification of types. Important identification points highlighted by photos of the actual coins.

This is the definitive guide to medieval pennies. Useful for all collectors from the absolute beginner to the most advanced researcher.

This is the final volume of the survey of over 5300 pennies in public and private collections and dealers' and auctioneers' stocks. A summary of the whole survey concludes this volume in a 6 page postscript.

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NEW BOOK: REGISTER OF CONFEDERATE TREASURY NOTES

The Digital Register of Confederate Treasury Notes:
Introduction, Overview, and Guide

by Mr. Mark A. Coughlan (Author)

The "Digital Register of Confederate Treasury Notes 1861 - 1865" is composed of four volumes, which collectively cover the seven Issues of Treasury notes authorised by the Confederate Congress during its existence. These four volumes contain significant amounts of detail and collectively amount to over two thousand pages of information. The core financial data from Thian's Register of the Confederate Debt has been incorporated but in a simplified and more powerful manner, which reflects modern classifications such as Criswell Type. Errors found in Thian's original work have been corrected, and more than 40% of the missing data, primarily related to the Seventh Issue, has so far been reconstructed through the Author's ongoing research. Hopefully Mr. Thian would appreciate this.

Although Volume I (1861) and Volume II (1862) are materially complete and stable, the latter two volumes are subject to change as the Author's efforts to reconstruct missing data continues. It is intended that an update to Volume III (1863) will be provided once per year to reflect the sporadic discovery of missing April and November 1863 notes. However, the rate of discovery for previously undocumented Seventh Issue notes continues at a rapid pace, and the Author plans to provide an update to Volume IV (1864) once per quarter.

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NEW BOOK: 1873

In the late 19th century, the world endured a phenomenon never seen before or since: a continuous fall in prices across the globe. The long slide lasted for a quarter-century and was kicked off in 1873 by an international financial crash.

In Ahamed's expert telling, the problems began with a series of seismic movements of money: the 1848 California gold rush, the construction of railroads in the '50s and '60s, the accumulated debts of the U.S. Civil War and the payment of French reparations to newly united Germany after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Together these developments stimulated decades of growth.

Soon, more people had more cash to invest in more risky things like foreign stock markets. International loans ballooned and governments, especially in the Middle East, borrowed cheap money to fund ambitious projects of varying degrees of plausibility. Stock and banking bubbles inflated in Vienna, Berlin and New York, and they burst the way bubbles often do, when some big, corrupt firms went spectacularly bankrupt. At the same time, the custodians of the financial world made a tremendous mistake: They demonetized silver and moved to a pure gold standard.

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NEW BANKNOTE BOOK CHAPTERS PUBLISHED

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PERIODICAL: TAMS JOURNAL JULY-AUGUST 2026

Table of Contents

Articles

1859-1861 Enduring Medallic Products of the Dickeson/Lovett Collaboration
William D. Hyder and Jeff Shevlin

The Commemorative Medals Program of the Sociedad Numismática de Puerto Rico
Jorge L. Crespo Armáiz

Three Men on a Horseless Carriage
Harry Waterson

YMCA Canteen Chits and Tokens of World War I
Gary G. Ascher

 

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1917 WALKING LIBERTY HALF MINTMARK LOCATIONS

Mintmark Location Change on 1917 Walking Liberty Half Dollar

Roger Burdette recently posted on an NGC message board "A frequently asked question by collectors is ‘Why was the mintmark moved on 1917 half dollars?' Common answers cover a wide range of speculation, invention, and bluster. The real reason is revealed by these two recently digitized letters." Referring to the letters, the Director of the Mint (Raymond Baker) wrote to the Superintendent of the Philadelphia Mint on April 11, 1917, asking why the mintmark position was changed. The Director answered his own question two days letter, noting that the former Director F. J. H. von Engelken ordered the obverse to reverse change because the obverse position was too prominent and appeared as a defect in the die.

Just for fun we checked ChatGPT to see if AI was responsible for some of the "speculation, invention, and bluster" to which Roger referred. Remarkably, it provided a very detailed, accurate answer, even quoting an early letter from von Engelken that originally ordered the change.

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VIDEO: REVOLUTIONARY BONDS OF DR. SUN YAT SEN

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ERIC JENSEN INTERVIEW, PART ONE

I was honored to meet and interview Eric Jensen this last year about his extraordinary work – and unpaid volunteer work I might add – extensively documenting Canadian exonumia. Eric is a Canadian archivist who has thoroughly documented multiple major collections in Canada. Then, rather than sell the product of his labors, he puts all of this information online for the benefit of collectors.

He has been working without fanfare or attention and through this interview I would like very much to shine some light his way. We put particular focus throughout the interview on the Canadian material he has cataloged and explored his selfless work and extraordinary patience amidst an ongoing labor of love.

He has created an absolutely invaluable treasure trove of information for numismatists to refer to and from which their numismatic education can fully blossom. In a recently lecture I gave on counterstamps at the University of Calgary, I referred to Eric as "a Canadian numismatic hero" and made sure to repeat the sentiment multiple times because it is very true.

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VISITING THE BOSTON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN FINANCE

Centuries-old currency, no longer in circulation. Paul Revere's bank book. One of the earliest counterfeit checks. The first lottery in North America, started in Massachusetts. Stock certificates from the Boston Celtics and the Boston Red Sox. These are among the hundreds of historical artifacts featured in the new Museum of American Finance, a Smithsonian affiliate opening in Boston's Seaport.

The challenge is interpreting these artifacts for visitors and connecting them to the larger story of finance in America, said museum CEO and President David Cowen.

"We know finance is really intimidating and so we're going to couch that in the lessons of history," said Cowen. "We try to really make it fun and engaging with the understanding of how difficult for many people finances is as topic."

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HAMBURGER KUNSTHALLE 'SCULPTURES EN MINIATURE'

SCULPTURAL. The New Galleries is the first-ever large-scale presentation of the Hamburger Kunsthalle's sculpture collection, spanning multiple media and periods. Across an area of 1,500 square metres, over 500 sculptures, reliefs, paintings, works on paper and photographs as well as spatial and video installations from 2,500 years of art history will prompt some surprising comparisons – antiquity versus the present day, two versus three dimensions, miniature versus monumental.

A special focus is the museum's recently uncovered trove of sculptures en miniature, as the first director, Alfred Lichtwark, called these tours de force of numismatic art in the form of coins, medals and sculptural reliefs in gold, silver and bronze. These new discoveries will be exhibited alongside masterpieces in multiple media, such as larger-than-life sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Aristide Maillol, while antique portraits enter into a dialogue with contemporary photography, and reliefs by Käthe Kollwitz with body casts from the 1960s and video works by Marina Abramovic and others.

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2026 WFOM TYRANT COLLECTION BYZANTINE EXHIBIT

A never-before-exhibited portion of the rare historical coins in the unparalleled Tyrant Collection (www.TheTyrantCollection.com) will be publicly displayed together for the first time at the American Numismatic Association 2026 Pittsburgh World's Fair of Money® (www.WorldsFairofMoney.com), August 25-29, 2026.

"The multi-million-dollar exhibit of 224 significant coins certified by Professional Coin Grading Service is entitled Tyrants of the Golden Horn. It will include gold coins of virtually every Byzantine emperor, up to Constantine XI in 1453, from the late Roman period to the collapse of the Byzantine Empire," announced Ira Goldberg, President of Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, Inc. (www.GoldbergCoins.com) in Los Angeles, California.

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MIDWEST COIN COLLECTORS TRADING POST MAGAZINE

In February 2026, I purchased a set of 11 issues (Volume 1: #12; Volume 2: #3, 8–12; and Volume 3: #1–4) of the magazine "Midwest Coin Collectors Trading Post" from 1956–1957. According to the seller, this publication was rare and obscure. It does not appear in the "Periodicals" section of the Newman Numismatic Portal.

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VOCABULARY TERM: STAMP AND STENCIL MEDAL

Stamp and Stencil Medal. Medals, checks, badges and pins made by the processes and equipment of the stencil industry rather than typical medal making. Such items are often called "hollowback;" they are identified by the following characteristics: (1) thin – struck on sheet brass; (2) uniface – only one die with a design is used; (3) low relief – little depth to the design; (4) usually blanked or trimmed unusual shape (since it is just as easy to blank in unusual shape as a round piece); (5) coin finish – no finish other than that of the struck brass; (6) flat back – (if the back is the incuse of the obverse it is a shell, which these often are).

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TREASURE TALK WITH BOB EVANS, EPISODE 15

The celebration on October 5, 1989, was memorable, when we arrived with a ton of treasure at the dock in Norfolk (See Treasure Talk Episode 1.) The throng of onlookers included investment partners, relatives (my wife Jane, my parents, and brother Bill were there,) reporters, and curious locals who had seen the morning TV news as we were coming into port.

The Herndon High School Band (a very excellent award-winning marching band) was playing rousing music and attracting the attention of anyone within several city blocks. The whole scene was heavily guarded by three separate but coordinated armed entities: the Norfolk Police Department, the United States Marshals Service, and the Brinks guards. My crewmates and I each carried at least one box of treasure off the ship and to the back of the armored truck.

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HERITAGE: JULY 2026 EARLY COPPER & COLONIAL COINS

1723 Rosa Americana Penny, M. 2.7-Eb.3, W-1278, R.4, AU53 NGC. W-1278. Ex. Ford-Long Island Collection. CDN: $540 Whsle. Bid for NGC/PCGS AU53.
Ex: Waldo Newcomer; E.H.R. Green; F.C.C. Boyd; F.C.C. Boyd Estate; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part IX (Stack's, 5/2005), lot 140; Long Island Collection (Heritage, 4/2022), lot 44037.

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HERITAGE: 2026 SUMMER FUN SIGNATURE

1888 $20 JD-1, R.6, PR64 Deep Cameo PCGS. In my opinion, this is the crown jewel of the Summer FUN Signature® auction. There is a complete set of 1888 proof gold pieces in this auction, offered as individual lots, which was all raw when it was consigned to us. The double eagle is my favorite coin among the gold pieces, and it is most attractive with deep contrast and mirrors. Close study will reveal a few faint coppery spots, but none are in prime focal areas, and they instead simply endorse the originality of the coin. Proof Liberty double eagles of the 1880s and earlier are some of the rarest gold pieces in the U.S. series. The 1888, offered here, is one of just 20 to 25 examples of this proof issue known to survive today.

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WORLD ENCASED POSTAGE STAMPS

Algeria

The only issue from Algeria originated with the Exposition d'Alger in April and May of 1921. The history of the fair is a bit vague today, as some references seem to classify it as a World's Fair, and others not. In any event, it clearly was an important exposition which was organized by the General Confederation of Algerian Farmers under the honorary presidency of the Governor General. Featured attractions included a modern art gallery, an automobile show, trade and industry exhibits (including indigenous industries), horse racing, tourism caravans, Moorish festivals, flower competitions, etc.

Argentina

There were only two issues from Argentina. The more common one is from Framacia Franco-inglese, which billed itself as the largest pharmacy in the world. Two denominations were issued, the 1-centavo and 5-centavos. The other piece is rare and was produced for Allemandi D.D.T. insect poison, a 5-centavos issue.

 

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TWO BRENNER PRESIDENTIAL MEDALS

As I have said before, one of the greatest parts of my job is working with the wide range of people who own numismatic material. And working at Stack's Bowers Galleries, that means I get to work with numismatic material as diverse as the folks who collected it. The subject of this week's U.S. Coin of the Week blog is the Charles Prioleau Collection, an incredible assemblage of the medallic work of famed American artist Victor David Brenner. Among numismatists, the ubiquitous Lincoln cent is his most well known work, but Brenner was prolific in his career, creating medals on a wide range of subjects.

Among the many great (and often quite rare) pieces in the Charles Prioleau Collection were two that really caught my eye. If you collect Brenner or presidential material be sure to check out our Summer Global Showcase Auction, as well as our September TAMS Collectors Choice Auction and November Showcase Auction.

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2009 NOBEL PRIZE MEDAL IN PHYSICS

Nobel Prize medal, struck in 18 karat gold plated in 24 karat gold, designed by Erik Lindberg and manufactured by the Swedish Royal Mint. Obverse with bust of Alfred Nobel left, in field left, ALFR·/ NOBEL; behind head to right, NAT·/MDCCC/ XXXIII/ OB·/ MDCCC/ XCVI; at left edge, before bust, E· LINDBERG 1902. Reverse with, INVENTAS · VITAM · IUVAT · EXCOLUISSE · PER · ARTES (Life is enhanced through the arts of discovery) — REG · ACAD · — SCIENT · SUEC · (The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences); below, incuse, on tablet in exergue, W · S· BOYLE / MMIX, Nature, in the form of a goddess, standing left, her right arm holding a cornucopia, a figure representing the Genius of Science, standing right, holding up the veil of Science; in field, left, NATURA, in field, right SCIENTIA / ERIK / LINDBERG; the edge marked MV / G (Myntverket and Assay); weight: 178 g.; diameter: 65 mm (2 9/16 in.). Housed in the original red morocco case, top of case with border of a double-gilt dotted rule, "N" tool in corners, and centered with recipient's name (W.S. BOYLE); the fitted interior lined with suede and yellow satin; interior case edges with gilt dentelles.

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JAPANESE COIN-SHAPED SAND ART MYSTERY

On a white sandy beach along the Seto Inland Sea, a giant sand sculp­ture depict­ing an ancient coin emerges from behind a pine forest.

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LOOSE CHANGE: JULY 12, 2026

The Nation's Commemorative Coins

From the very beginning, one of the main purposes of the United States commemorative coin program was rooted in making a nod to the nation's history. It's what separates the special issues from the circulating coinage that serve their purposes for commerce.

Many commemorative coins were created long before the United States seized the idea in earnest in the 1890s. Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins traces the use of special issues to ancient Greeks and Romans. Over time, there came a need to better differentiate, which Breen explained, "the greatest difference is that commemoratives are increasingly often NCLT's (noncirculating legal tender coins) sold at a premium to coin collectors or the general public, though theoretically able to circulate."

The commemorative has proven to be a suitable means of promoting historic persons, places and events and the variety of commemorative coins seen in the course of American history offers strong evidence of that.

A list of the most impactful commemoratives that represent the nation's 250 years of growth and development is subject to debate and certainly could be more inclusive. We have selected a representative sample from the classic and modern commemoratives that have been brought forth, through approval of the legislative bodies and executive branch approval into the nation's conscience. Your own list may be different and that's OK, for the nation was built on differences.

To read the complete article, see:
Tracing the Nation's History Through Commemorative Coins (https://www.greysheet.com/news/story/tracing-the-nations-history-through-commemorative-coins)

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LIBRARIES, BOOKS AND BIBLOPHILES

Too Many Books?

For a young Jewish scholar and writer named Mendel Uminer, books are the wellspring of enlightenment. So when he scored a studio apartment a block away from Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side a year ago, he brought his books with him — all 10,000 of them. What followed, at least for a little while, was a charmed existence in his 600-square-foot temple of knowledge.

He worked as a freelance Hebrew translator and used the apartment as the headquarters for his fledgling literary journal, Notarikon Review, hosting parties that gained a reputation among quarters of New York's literary underclass. Striving writers drank beer among the teetering stacks while arguing over foreign affairs and Greek poetry.

The stacks kept rising as Uminer added his hauls from thrift shops, book dealers and eBay deliveries. "I don't think of myself as a hoarder," he said, "but I guess my building did."

This past winter, he received a notice from building management. "You are violating a substantial obligation of your tenancy," it began. "You are maintaining the Premises in a severely overcluttered condition; permitting the over-accumulation of books in the Premises; creating a fire hazard by over-accumulating combustible books in the Premises."

After months of slow legal jousting, Uminer finally resigned himself to moving out of 6 East 65th Street, which is owned by the Hakim Organization, a company founded by the New York real estate magnate Kamran Hakim.

"I don't want to be here if I'm not wanted," he said.

To read the complete article, see:
Too Many Books? (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/style/too-many-books-new-york-city-apartment-scholar-landlord.html)

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE: JULY 12, 2026

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