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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 Workman's Books November 1, 2026

 

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 26, 2026

New subscribers this week include: Jim Bigler, courtesy Bob Feiler; Pat Moran, courtesy Larry Lee; Jim Sims, courtesy Mike Markowitz; and Stuart Simon. Welcome aboard! We now have 6,426 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 two new books, two periodicals, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal and the American Numismatic Association, notes from readers, and more.

Other topics this week include the Lincoln Cent, southern gold, sterling, AI coin grading, Bust coinage, cardboard scrip, and the submarine Turtle.

To learn more about provisional coins of the Zacatecas mint, coins in commerce during the War for Independence, imitation Kidarite gold coins, Washington's pocket piece, Persian Empire banknotes, the Trump Dollar coin, countermarks, one of the rarest Civil War tokens, and Swedish Rounding, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

 

NEW BOOK: THE LINCOLN CENT CENTURY

The Lincoln Cent Century
by Tony Richardson

What You Should Know About Collecting The World's Most Incredible Coin. For those new to collecting Lincoln Cents and to seasoned collectors, this Book lays a firm foundation on the history and evolution of the Lincoln Cent by which you will be able to recognize value, identify anomalies and grasp the enormity of the contribution the Lincoln Cent has made not only to U.S. history, but to the world.

Format: Paperback
Publisher ? : ? Independently published
Publication date ? : ? June 30, 2026
Language ? : ? English
Print length ? : ? 56 pages
ISBN-13 ? : ? 979-8184341354
Item Weight ? : ? 4.3 ounces
Dimensions ? : ? 5.5 x 0.14 x 8.5 inches

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NEW BOOK: MANIPULATING HISTORY

This book is divided into three parts. The first part will establish beyond any doubt how the Zacatecas mint was founded. It will also clarify its operations from that moment until the Crown definitively took control of the city in May of 1811.

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PERIODICAL: C4 NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2026

Table of Contents

• Collecting the Signers of the Declaration of Independence on Currency and Associated Forms of Circulating Paper — John Kraljevich
• John Trumbull and The Declaration of Independence — C4 Editors
• First Anniversary Celebration of the Declaration, 1777 — Gary Trudgen
• Two American Revolutionary War Buttons — Wayne Shelby
• 1776-Dated Domestic Coppers - Vlack 6-76A & 9-76B — Jack Howes, et al
• Patriotism in Print: Continental Currency Vignettes — Leo Shane
• Uncut Sheets of 1776-Dated Continental Currency — C4 Editors
• Coins in Commerce During the War for Independence — Thomas Kays
• C4 Club News and Announcements — Various
• The Puzzling Inimica Tyrannis — Jeffrey Pritchard
• Plates: Pattern Coppers Associated with New York Mints — Randy Clark
• Overstriking 1787 Vermont Coppers on Nova Constellatios — James Glickman

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PERIODICAL: ORIENTAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY SUMMER 2026

Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society
264 Summer 2026

Editorial
Pankaj Tandon

An Arabic countermark on a Byzantine coin discovered in Marea/Philoxenite
Barbara Zajac

Imitation Kidarite gold coins: New hoards help to resolve an old conundrum
John Deyell and Pankaj Tandon

An alternative reading of gold tankas of Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah I of Gujarat
Nikhil Dixit

A monetary microhistory of the southern Konkan region in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: The ‘pagoden tibbekijs' in the records of the Dutch East India Company and the Maratha connection
Nikhil Bellarykar

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MOUNT VERNON ACQUIRES WASHINGTON GOLD PATTERN

Mount Vernon Acquires Newman Washington President Gold Pattern

The Eric P. Newman numismatic collection was sold between 2013 and 2018 in a series of offerings presented by Heritage Auctions. Today, proceeds from these sales support the ongoing work of the Newman Numismatic Portal, which is administered by Washington University Libraries.

Of the tens of thousands of pieces in the Newman collection, his favorite was a unique 1792 gold pattern (Musante GW-31) produced with the thought of securing a coinage contract from the fledgling U.S. Mint. In his 1975 Coin World article "Unique gold pattern coin of 1792 jingled in Washington's pocket," Eric P. Newman posited that this coin landed in George Washington's hands.

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VIDEO: PERSIAN EMPIRE SPECIMEN CURRENCY

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SOUTHERN GOLD SOCIETY PRESERVES GOLD RUSH GALLERY

The Southern Gold Society (SGS) is pleased to announce that GoldRushGallery.com, one of the most respected online resources dedicated to Southern gold coins and the history of the Georgia Gold Rush, has found a permanent home under the stewardship of the society.

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ANA AWARDS NUMISMATISTS FOR HOBBY DEDICATION

Every year, the American Numismatic Association (ANA) recognizes members who go above and beyond with their service and dedication to numismatics. The following awards, presented at the World's Fair of Money®, will be allocated during the Member Awards & Donor Celebration, Thursday, August 27 from 3-4:30 p.m. in Ballroom B of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

The ANA's Medal of Merit honors individuals who have dedicated years of service to the Association and have worked to promote the hobby. This year's recipients are Mike Ellis, Steve Feltner, and David Menchell.

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2026 ANA WFOM ANCIENT ATHENS COINS EXHIBIT

A Southern California woman's fascination with artistic jewelry and other small, finely crafted objects has led her to assemble an outstanding collection of ancient Greek silver coins struck over 2,400 years ago in Athens and other historic, ancient Greek city-states. Fourteen of the Athenian coins from collector Eva Qin's Arcadia Collection will be displayed for the first time anywhere at the American Numismatic Association 2026 World's Fair of Money® in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 25-29.

"The Arcadia Collection is one of the most carefully assembled private collections of ancient Greek classical-period coinage in recent years. This collection is not only about Athenian silver, but we're only showing this part for the time being. The exhibit, in the ANA's Museum Showcase area (booth #1430), includes one of the finest known surviving examples of the iconic dekadrachm of Athens," stated Vera Liu, Marketing and Consignments Manager at Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. (www.CNGcoins.com), who has assisted Qin in building the collection.

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NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JULY 26, 2026

Dennis Boggs (aka Abraham Lincoln)
David Crenshaw writes:

To donate, see:
Show Love for Dennis, Our Abraham Lincoln (https://www.gofundme.com/f/show-love-for-dennis-our-abraham-lincoln)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: JULY 19, 2026 : Fundraising for Dennis Boggs (aka Abraham Lincoln) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v29/esylum_v29n29a09.html)

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VOCABULARY TERM: STERLING

Sterling. A fineness of silver, 925 parts per 1000 (alloyed with 75 parts copper for hardness). Sterling was legally set as a standard based on British silver coinage, silver coins of Great Britain were struck in this fineness from 1763 to 1919 (Maundy coins were continued to be struck in sterling after this date). But the sterling standard ended in 1920 when British coinage was dropped to 500 silver for all circulating silver coins; this continued until 1947 when copper-nickel (British cupro-nickel) replaced all silver coins, effectively ending all relationship between British coinage and the term sterling.

Silver of .925 fine is now called "standard" in Great Britain but continues to be called "sterling" or sterling silver in America. Standards are not uniform throughout the world – sterling, for example, is .935 fine in modern Israel.

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ERIC JENSEN INTERVIEW, PART THREE

Greg Bennick
Canadian love tokens?

Eric Jensen
Yes. Canadian love tokens specifically. And I said, yes, and asked him if we could meet? I met with him and his daughter. He was here yesterday. A super individual. I cataloged her collection. The really good part there is that she had sorted it and tried to figure out the layering on each coin, because that is one of the hardest things with love tokens: what does it say? What's the order of the letters?

She did all that, and I cataloged it. It's on the website as well. I put it on under his name, her name and my name, because it's their stuff. It was just great. I got that done. And then one day, I was talking to Ronald Green. He's got a tremendous database and made his database print out available to anybody that would donate to the JD Ferguson Foundation, which he was the head of, and people would buy this. But it was just a word description, and again as a result, you couldn't tell if this or that was your token or if it was a different token?

I happened to be talking to him one day, and I asked if he had ever been on the Saskatoon Coin Club website? I mentioned that the fellows there have put all of the merchant tokens known in Saskatchewan on that website, along with a lot of great articles and more. We talked about it and realized that no one had done this for British Columbia material. I told him that I can't do websites but said that if he was willing to use my format and send me images, that I would do it. Well, he did. Four and a half years later, we put it on the website.

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VARDERA'S AI COIN IDENTIFICATION AND GRADING

Vardera builds computer-vision infrastructure for collectibles and condition-dependent goods. Today we are publicly sharing benchmark results for our coin identification and grading model, tested head-to-head against six of the most capable frontier AI models in the world.

Vardera identifies US and World coins with 98.5% accuracy and grades them with 96% accuracy, in under two seconds. On grading and identification combined, the best frontier model still makes roughly 10x more errors than Vardera.

This post explains why that gap exists, presents the full benchmark data, and describes what it means for the future of coin commerce.

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JUSTIN HINH ON THE BUSINESS OF COIN GRADING

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NUMISMAGRAM MEDAL SELECTIONS: JULY 26, 2026

103659 | ITALY. Pietro Aretino of Venice bronze Medal. Issued 1537 (37mm, 26.08 g, 12h). By Leone Leoni at the Venice mint.

DIVVS • P • ARRETINVS • FLAGELLVM • PRINCIPVM • (the divine Pietro Aretino, the Scourge of Princes), draped bust left // VERITAS / ODIVM / PARIT (truth engenders hate [—adapted from Andria by Terentius]) in three lines within wreath; 1537 above, LEO (artist's signature) below wreath ties. Edge: A few scattered marks and typical striking irregularities, otherwise plain.

Cf. Scher Coll. 164 (for a cast from circa 1550); Armand I 162.3; Pollard [Bargello] 716; Voltolina 294; Serenissima Coll. 99; Forrer III, p. 402. Choice Extremely Fine. Exceptional chocolate brown surfaces, with some hints of brilliance remaining among the fields and darker aspects highlighting the devices. A wondrous example that is the version which features the artist's signature upon the reverse, and a superior specimen compared to the slightly later cast example in the Scher collection, which is the format in which this type is generally encountered.

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HERITAGE: JULY 2026 BUST COINAGE SHOWCASE

1795 H10C V-5, LM-8, R.3, VF20 ANACS. Housed in a small-sized holder. Mintage 78,660.

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HERITAGE: JULY 2026 WORLD MEDALS & TOKENS

Papal States. Marcellus II silver Medal ND (1555) MS61 NGC, Modesti-463. 30mm. MARCELLVS II PONT MAX Bust facing left // HILARITAS / PONTIFICIA, Hilaritas standing facing forward, holding a cornucopia and a palm branch; in the exergue: ROMA .

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WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: JULY 26, 2026

Tuesday was the July 2026 meeting night of my Northern Virginia numismatic social group Nummis Nova. Mike Packard was our host and he'd chosen the Courtside Thai restaurant in Fairfax City. Some folks were already there when I arrived around 6:15. Other attendees were Daryl Haynor, John Kraljevich, Erik Douglas, Julian Leidman, Jon Radel, Mike Markowitz and his guest Jim Sims.

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DR. O.G. KEITTERIDGE CIVIL WAR TOKEN

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SEATED LIBERTY DIME CARDBOARD SCRIP

I was intrigued by the illustrated chits when they appeared in a Heritage auction, and according to my records I purchased the lot for $450. Their cataloger noted that "We have seen only one other example on this mercantile firm that was founded in 1858. It was a 10¢ piece that realized $500 in 2006. The 10¢ uses a vignette of the reverse of a Seated Liberty Dime, while the two other pieces are utilitarian in nature. All three are printed on cardstock with the 10¢ having a thinner cardstock. The other two larger denominations use a different spelling of the first listed owner's name. All three examples have Roman numeral counters for the denomination. This trio is not graded, but we do not see any bends or creases. They were once mounted. The backs are signed below the ‘Redeemable in current bank bills' clause."

R. M. Smythe and Company was the auction firm referred to in the Heritage comments. The chit was lot 2593 in their December 13, 2006 sale, where it was noted that "McCune and Peters was a New York mercantile firm, founded in 1858." It sold for $500 plus the buyer's fee, on a $200-$400 estimate; an astonishingly high price for a cardboard chit, even by today's standards.

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SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL SUBMARINE TURTLE MEDAL

Jim Licaretz, one of the winners of the MEDALS250 competition, has created a Semiquincentennial art medal that departs from the usual themes of people, places, protests, and battles. Instead, it honors the innovative Revolutionary War submarine Turtle.

On the night of September 7, 1776, American Sergeant Ezra Lee piloted the Turtle into New York Harbor in an attempt to attack the British flagship, HMS Eagle. Unfortunately, the mission failed. The operator struggled with the intense currents, and upon reaching the flagship, the submarine's hand-operated drill could not penetrate the ship's metal-reinforced hull. Lee was forced to abort the mission, and the Turtle was eventually lost at sea.

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HERITAGE: VIGNETTES IN ANTI-COUNTERFEITING

Counterfeit currency has always been a problem for governments past and present. This is especially true for U.S. paper currency, where both state and Federal governments attempting to thwart counterfeiters since the very beginning of paper currency production. Today, the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving (BEP) uses a plethora of devices and techniques to prevent counterfeiting from using special paper and security strips embedded in the paper, to unique designs, microprinting, and special watermarks for each denomination printed. Today, people less often use physical paper currency in their day-to-day transactions, however for consumers (in the U.S. and abroad) to maintain their trust in the U.S. Dollar, the BEP and Secret Service must maintain their standards of security and control of U.S. paper currency production. But how did previous governments in the United States combat counterfeiting without the benefit of today's modern technology?

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LOOSE CHANGE: JULY 26, 2026

Common Cents Act Passes House

It looks like we might finally have an answer regarding the future of our 1-cent "penny." On July 14, the House of Representatives voted to end production of the denomination once and for all…well, not exactly. House bill HR 3074 ("Common Cents Act") allows production of the denomination to continue, but only as a collector's item. This mirrors the end of production of the Trade Dollar; a coin struck for circulation through 1878 but struck in Proof only between 1879 and 1885.

The legislation also imposes a federally mandated rounding rule through which cash purchases would be rounded up or down to the nearest five cents when exact change isn't available. This is called Swedish Rounding in other countries; it was introduced in Sweden first. Payments made using any non-cash method will continue to be calculated to the exact cent, something of importance especially when calculating sales tax.

To read the complete article, see:
The Penny Isn't Going Away—But It's Changing (https://www.numismaticnews.net/the-penny-isnt-going-away-but-its-changing)

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ABOUT THIS ISSUE: JULY 26, 2026

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