ABOUT THIS ISSUE: JUNE 29, 2025

One of the more frustrating (but ultimately rewarding) episodes this week was the time I spent online and on the phone working to finalize my flights for this summer's ANA convention. Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I should make it there in plenty of time to attend. I've also started mapping out my schedule. It's always tough to fit in everything one wants, but I hope to relax and enjoy the moment with my numismatic friends in between mad dashes from one event to the next.

Pulling the thread. Three articles this week resulted from what I call "pulling the thread" on a story from a "toehold" into a full article. I'd come across a news story about a local WWII vet receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor. Poking around online I found several stories about the ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. I picked what seemed to have the best writeup and excerpted it. Then I went to the other articles I'd found and added images to better tell the story. I succeeded in my #1 goal of locating at least one image of an actual gold medal that was presented.

Another article grew from a reference in an Antiques Trade Gazette email. It pictured a recently sold 1852 Franklin expedition rescue token. I don't have a subscription to the publication and couldn't reach the details. But auction houses issue press releases to get such coverage, and I felt sure I should be able to find more information elsewhere, and I did.

The third example was an AbeBooks alert that listed the book on platinum coins and medals. The listing did not include a cover image, but a web search turned one up elsewhere. I pieced together the book information that you see in this issue.

Artificial intelligence will affect nearly everything, including numismatics. I came across this article describing who scientists are archiving pre-2022 sources untouched by ChatGPT and AI contamination. Perhaps the E-Sylum and Newman Numismatic Portal archives will make their way there.
Scientists once hoarded pre-nuclear steel; now we're hoarding pre-AI content (https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/06/why-one-man-is-archiving-human-made-content-from-before-the-ai-explosion/)

Finally, I wanted to mention this Newman Numismatic Portal ad I ran across. It's from 2016. I miss these - they were part of a campaign to raise awareness of NNP following its launch. It's come a long way, baby! -Editor

Wayne Homren
Wayne Homren is the founding editor of The E-Sylum and a consultant for the Newman Numismatic Portal. His collecting interests at various times included U.S. Encased Postage Stamps, merchant counterstamps, Pittsburgh Obsolete paper money, Civil War tokens and scrip, Carnegie Hero Medals, charge coins and numismatic literature. He also collects and has given presentations on the work of Money Artist J.S.G. Boggs. In the non-numismatic world he's worked in artificial intelligence, data science, and as a Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Garrett Ziss
Garrett Ziss is a numismatic collector and researcher, with a focus on American paper money and early U.S. silver and copper coins. He is also a part-time U.S. coin cataloger for Heritage Auctions. Garrett assists Editor Wayne Homren by editing and formatting a selection of articles and images each week. When he's not engaged in numismatics, Garrett is pursuing a Master's Degree in Quantitative Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.

Pete Smith
Numismatic researcher and author Pete Smith of Minnesota has written about early American coppers, Vermont coinage, numismatic literature, tokens and medals, the history of the U.S. Mint and much more. Author of American Numismatic Biographies, he contributes original articles to The E-Sylum often highlighting interesting figures in American numismatic history.

Greg Bennick
Greg Bennick (www.gregbennick.com) is a keynote speaker and long time coin collector with a focus on major mint error coins and US counterstamps. He is on the board of both CONECA and TAMS and enjoys having in-depth conversations with prominent numismatists from all areas of the hobby. Have ideas for other interviewees? Contact him anytime on the web or via instagram @minterrors.

John Nebel
Numismatist, photographer, and ANS Board member and Fellow John Nebel of Boulder, CO helped the ANA and other clubs like NBS get online in the early days of the internet, hosting websites gratis through his Computer Systems Design Co. To this day he hosts some 50 ANA member club sites along with our coinbooks.org site, making the club and our E-Sylum archive available to collectors and researchers worldwide.

Bruce Perdue
Encased coinage collector (encasedcoins.info) Bruce Perdue of Aurora, Illinois has been the volunteer NBS webmaster from its early days and works each week to add the latest E-Sylum issue to our archive and send out the email announcement.