WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: AUGUST 17, 2025

Tuesday August 12 brought the monthly meeting of my Northern Virginia numismatic social group, Nummis Nova. We were meeting a week early to avoid a conflict with this week's American Numismatic Association convention, and because our host was Julian Leidman of Maryland, we met at one of his favorite restaurants, Jerry's Seafood in Bowie, MD. Since it's summer and a long drive for our Virginia regulars, we had a smaller turnout. But it was nice to have a group small enough where we could see and converse with everyone present. It was also nice to have a private room.

I arrived early, shortly after 6pm. Soon Jon Radel arrived and they seated us early. We had a good chat before others entered the room - Roger Burdette, John "JK" Kravjevich and Julian himself. Julian had a large purple shiner around his right eye, and I shied away from taking group photos. When we were done teasing Julian for "pinching the wrong woman's bottom", he told us he'd been to the same restaurant a few nights earlier and taken a spill on the way out. Ouch! Luckily he didn't break anything, but that black eye will take a while to heal.

When our food came JK took this photo of my dinner - Jerry's specialty, the Crab Bomb.

 

Wayne's Books
I brought along a couple of new books. Well, the first one, Quarterama isn't new, but it's new to my library. If it looks familiar I'd brought a softcovered one to last month's meeting. I upgraded to the hardbound version. It's a nicely done combination album/book with a compilation of stories behind the 50 State Quarter series.

The second one is Peter Jones' new book on Greek coinage. See the earlier article (linked below) for more information. It's a thorough work that I expect will sell well.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: GREEK COIN ART (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n31a03.html)

Maryland 1780 Tenth Dollar
The next two items were brought by John. The first is a very rare Maryland colonial note from the Eric P. Newman collection - an October 17, 1780 bill for one tenth of a dollar.

 

 

Fred. Douglas Medal
John also brought this unusual medal. I remarked that I'd "never seen a 'Fred Douglas' medal before." The name of Frederick Douglas is rarely shortened to "Fred". I'd never seen this particular medal, either.

 

Pop Quiz: What's in Your Pocket?
The small turnout and the half-empty table inspired me to declare a pop quiz - I asked everyone to show us their pocket change. Not surprisingly, not even numismatists carry a lot of change - not all of us anyway. But everyone had folding money, so we changed the rules.

 
Wayne

 
John/JK

 
Jon

 
Julian

 
Roger

So I guess my usual vendors (and vending machines) are well stocked with the latest products of the U.S. Mint. I also do still use cash fairly often. John and I appreciated the composition of the new Maria Tallchief quarter design and we passed one around the room.

Jon's Euros were unexpected, as was the paper clip. But nothing would surprise me with this group, not even Conder tokens or potty dollars.

Coin Talk
Conversation around the table naturally revolved around the newly announced Class III 1804 Dollar. John had seen it and confirmed that it's such high grade that as once described, it "looks still warm from the coin press." And no, it's not a product of Daniel Carr's Midnight Mint.

I reminded John of a conversation we'd had over dinner at a Baltimore show a few years back. I'd wondered if he thought there were many great collections or rarities that hadn't already been brought to the numismatic marketplace - had all the treasures been found? He said no - the world's a big place and finds are still out there for the finding. He was right, although at the time I don't think either of us dreamed of another 1804 dollar.

Another discussion topic was the gold 1945 FDR Inaugural Medal struck for the historic Yalta Conference. The one offered by Stack's Bowers (see the article elsewhere in this issue) is from the collection of Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross. The whereabouts of the gold medals that President Roosevelt distributed at Yalta to Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Joseph Stalin, and Vyacheslav Molotov are unknown. I asked, "Does Putin have any gold teeth?"

Another topic of conversation was a new purchase of mine, pictured here - a U.S. Treasury Department employee notebook. It was on its way to me Tuesday and scheduled to arrive yesterday. Tracking its progress thru the U.S. Postal Service I see it travelled from California to Jersey City but then somehow got diverted to North Carolina - not exactly the shortest route to Northern Virginia. So it's not here yet. When and if it arrives we'll have more to discuss in a future issue, so stay tuned.

It was another great evening of dinner, conversation and numismatic fellowship. 'Til next time.

   

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