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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 November 22, 2025

 

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 NOVEMBER 16, 2025

New subscribers this week include: Patrick Weiher, courtesy Ron Guth, and Matthew Schafer, courtesy Pete Smith. Welcome aboard! We now have 6,767 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 Kolbe & Fanning numismatic literature sale highlights, three new books, two reviews, two obituaries, updates from the Newman Numismatic Portal, and more.

Other topics this week include the birth of the Sovereign, the birth of the Dollar, the death of the U.S. Cent, Montroville Dickeson, L. W. Hoffecker, auction previews, and the AMSA Medals250 Project.

To learn more about Russian medals, the Peter Mougey and Lorin G. Parmelee collections, the plantation tokens of British North Borneo, the history of money, Massachusetts coppers, the Coinage Act of 1965, the 1818 Chowder Market Club tokens, satin finish, the 1658 Oliver Cromwell halfcrown, and the guide dog who visited the most money museums, read on. Have a great week, everyone!

Wayne Homren
Editor, The E-Sylum

 

KOLBE & FANNING NOVEMBER 2025 SALE HIGHLIGHTS

Kolbe & Fanning's 175th auction sale of rare and out of print numismatic literature will take place on Saturday, November 22, 2025, starting at 12:00 noon eastern time. Featuring the outstanding library on Russian numismatics formed by Igor Shneyderov, the sale also includes useful and infrequently encountered works on ancient, world and U.S. coins, with excellent American and British material from the library of John Hoskins.

Some highlights of this first sale include:

 

Lot 33: Rollin & Feuardent's 1887 catalogue of the magnificent collection of Roman and Byzantine gold coins formed by Gustave, Vicomte de Ponton d'Amécourt

Lot 194: the Duke of Leuchtenberg's finely bound complete original set of the massive five-part folio corpus of Russian medals published by the Archaeological Commission in 1840–1846

Lot 247: two of the most important pre-revolutionary sales of Russian coins, the 1910 Klingert sale and the 1913 Tolstoï sale, both by Adolf Hess (Nachf.), bound in one volume

Lot 287: a nearly complete set of the proceedings of the Moscow Numismatic Society, with contributions by Oreshnikov, Nützel, Tiesenhausen, Retowski, Iversen, and others

Lot 335: an extraordinary large-paper copy of Count Fyodor Tolstoi's beautifully illustrated work on the Fatherland War medals, commemorating the events of 1812–1815

Lot 350: a complete set of the American Journal of Numismatics (1866–1924), arguably the most important numismatic publication of the 19th-century United States

Lot 393: a photographically plated copy of Henry Chapman's 1908 catalogue of the Taylor and Windle collections, in a handsome binding executed by Alan Grace for Armand Champa

Lot 438: Tom Elder's 1910 catalogue of the Peter Mougey collection, featuring 42 fine photographic plates depicting colonial coinage, large cents, and other U.S. coins

Lot 442: an exceptional set of Ed Frossard's remarkable periodical Numisma, handsomely bound in red half morocco and housed in a marbled slipcase

Lot 470: the New York Coin & Stamp Company's landmark 1890 catalogue of the Lorin G. Parmelee collection, finely bound in tan half morocco, with 13 fine tinted photographic plates.

REVIEW BIDDER INFORMATION
When registering to bid, please review your contact and payment information, especially shipping address, to ensure that your lots are shipped quickly and correctly.

Register early to bid online
Bids may be placed via post, email, phone, as well as online. Kolbe & Fanning use Auction Mobility as our third-party online bidding platform. Auction Mobility is an app-based platform allowing users the ability to participate in the sale through phones, tablets and computers. To register for the sale, bidders must go to bid.numislit.com and sign up. Once you have set up an account, you may browse lots, place advance bids, or participate in the live sale online. Those wishing to participate on their devices can download the Kolbe & Fanning app through the Apple or Google Play Store. The sale has also been listed on Biddr and NumisBids.

To bid in the sale, see:
https://bid.numislit.com/auctions/1-BH0HFN/important-numismatic-books-sale-175

To read the .pdf catalog, see:
https://numislit.cdn.bibliopolis.com/images/upload/kolbefanningsale175.pdf

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
KOLBE & FANNING NOVEMBER 2025 SALE ANNOUNCED (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n44a02.html)
KOLBE & FANNING NOVEMBER 2025 SALE HIGHLIGHTS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n45a02.html)

NEW BOOK: PLANTATION TOKENS OF BRITISH NORTH BORNEO

In the 2001 edition Plantation, Merchant, and Mining Money of the Netherlands East Indies, authors: A.J. Lansen and L.T. Wells jr., some additional tokens from British North Borneo were added.

In recent years it has become increasingly clear that a reworking of the existing data and a new numbering was desirable. A large number of the, so-called , LaWe numbers therefore have been discontinued.

This book describes a total of twenty-two different plantations and companies, including six new ones. As far as possible, after extensive research, the interesting plantation and company history has also been described, to the extent that this could still be traced. Six new chapters have been added to the overview drawn up by Mr Saran Singh. (second edition 1996)

A total of 117 tokens are now described in this book. Also thirteen wrongly attributed Estate tokens to British North Borneo are described.

Corrections, complementary information or other comments regarding these tokens and their use will be warmly welcomed by the author, who can be reached at the following address: A.J. Lansen, Haanderik 94, 3401 ET IJsselstein, The Netherlands and: @ lansenkil@hotmail.nl and ajlansen@caiway.nl

Own company money was used by various plantations to pay their workers. Due to a shortage of other means of payment, this own company or estate money was issued by various plantations from about 1888. These tokens, company money, were also accepted as legal tender by the British North Borneo Company (BNBC).

Due to misuse, the tokens were officially registered, e.g. mentioned in the state ordinance of 1903, 1906 and 1912.

Any company or estate with more than 100 plantation workers was allowed to issue tokens of monetary value with prior authorization from the authorities.

Per plantation worker no more than five dollars in estate or company money, per issue, could be minted. It was required to hand over a copy of each token to the nearest district office or to the Ministry of Finance in Sandakan.

In 1921 the issue of these company or estate tokens was abolished. The companies were obliged to annually surrender twenty percent of their total registered assets in these tokens, i.e. company money, to the authorities. As a result, on December 1924, the private issuance of this plantation money came to an end.

Due to this official collection of this plantation money and on the basis of documents traced in recent decades in auctions, publications, dealers' lists, etc. the conclusion can be drawn that the majority of these BNB plantation tokens can be classified as very rare to extremely rare.

About the Author
Adrian J. Lansen, born in 1942 in the South Province Zeeland of the Netherlands, now a retired civil engineer in road and hydraulic engineering. Still happily married and father of two girls.

For many decades Member of the Royal Dutch Numismatic Society, the Belgian European Coin and Medal Society and the ANA-USA. Member of the Netherlands Utrecht Numismatic Circle and three other Numismatic Clubs in Belgium.

Collecting coins, medals and tokens from the Netherlands, and specifically from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch East Indies, spanning over more than 60 years. Written and published dozens of articles on these subjects, and give numerous lectures at home and abroad about these collection areas. Including many – numismatic trips to Asia,

NEW BOOK: COIN FINDS IN THE ROMAN NORTHWEST

The American Numismatic Society is pleased to announce the release of an exciting new publication in our Numismatic Notes and Monographs series: Coin Finds and Monetization in the Roman Northwest.

The expansion of Rome into northwestern Europe brought with it the presence and the increased usage of coinage both within the empire and in the Barbaricum. Coin Finds and Monetization in the Roman Northwest presents a study of coin finds and the monetary economy of northwestern continental Europe over much of the Roman period (c. 50 bc–ad 274). One of the largest datasets of coin finds ever assembled is deployed to analyze distribution patterns and fluctuations over time and space. It is clear that the Roman state made a concerted effort to manage coinage and the monetary economy during its rule in northwestern Europe, to the extent that was possible. Regionality is, however, a key feature of the coined monetary economy that resulted from deliberate action or the state's inability to respond to demand, underscoring how centralized and empire-wide factors had an impact in the study region.

Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the von Bothmer Publication Fund of the Archaeological Institute of America.

About the author
Benjamin D. R. Hellings holds MPhil and DPhil degrees from the University of Oxford, where his research focused on coin-find patterns and the use of Roman coins in northern Europe. He started at Yale University Art Gallery as the Ben Lee Damsky Assistant Curator in September 2016, shortly after submitting his dissertation, and now oversees the Department of Numismatics there as the Jackson-Tomasko Associate Curator. He has published on a wide range of subjects, from Greek and Roman to early American coinage, seventeenth-century medals, as well as American bank notes and related material. In 2024, he published The Naseby Cup: Coins and Medals of the English Civil War, distributed by Yale University Press.

Pages: xvi + 172 p.
Size:152 x 229 mm
Illustrations:51 b/w, 21 tables b/w.
Language(s):English
Publication Year:2025

For any questions about the book please contact publications@numismatics.org, though orders should be placed directly with ISD or Brepols.

For more information, or to order, see:
Coin Finds and Monetization in the Roman Northwest (https://www.isdistribution.com/BookDetail.aspx?aId=189446)
Coin Finds and Monetization in the Roman Northwest (https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9780897224314-1)

NEW BOOK: THE HISTORY OF MONEY

In this fresh, eye-opening global history, economist David McWilliams charts the relationship between humans and money-from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley.

The story of humanity is inextricable from that of money. No innovation has defined our own evolution so thoroughly and changed the direction of our planet's history so dramatically. And yet despite money's primacy, most of us don't truly understand it.

As leading economist David McWilliams shows, money is central to every aspect of our civilization, from the political to the artistic. "Money defines the relationship between worker and employer, buyer and seller, merchant and producer. But not only that: it also defines the bond between the governed and the governor, the state and the citizen. Money unlocks pleasure, puts a price on desire, art and creativity. It motivates us to strive, achieve, invent and take risks. Money also brings out humanity's darker side, invoking greed, envy, hatred, violence and, of course, colonialism."

In The History of Money, McWilliams takes us across the world, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the Silk Road, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street. Along the way, we meet a host of innovators, emperors, frauds, and speculators, who have disrupted society and transformed the way we live. Filled with memorable anecdotes, and with a foreword by Michael Lewis, The History of Money is an essential, extremely readable history of humanity's most consequential invention.

For more information, or to order, see:
The History of Money: A Story of Humanity (https://www.amazon.com/History-Money-Humanity-foreword-Michael/dp/1250408180/)

BOOK REVIEW: THE HISTORY OF MONEY

Review of ‘The History of Money' by David McWilliams.

"Imagine money falling from the sky. Would you slip a tenner into your pocket before you told anyone? Chances are, most of us would trouser a few notes rather than inform the authorities." This is the opening of economist and banker David McWilliams's rollicking history of money, and his description of Operation Bernhard, the Nazi campaign to destabilize Britain by flooding the country with counterfeit cash.

Lenin tried a similar ploy in Russia. Despite having different political beliefs, they "both understood the phenomenal power of money: undermine money and you undermine the fabric of society."

That right there is McWilliams's underlying theme: money is the fabric of society. He wants people to understand how cash shapes our world. As he puts it: "Despite being a fully paid-up member of the economist tribe for many years, I've concluded that most economists do not really understand money."

His description of the earliest markets, and how coinage in the ancient world allowed the development of long-distance trade, is clear and evocative. For the Sumerians, money was linked to agriculture. A shekel represented the value of a bushel of grain:

Pretty soon after the arrival of money, we discovered the value of lending it. That gave money itself a price: the rate of interest. In his words: "[I]nterest isn't merely a price; it is also a code, a mini-encyclopedia of information about the person we are lending to, the chances of success, the risk in the region, the competition in the market, the technological infrastructure, and a whole host of other variables."

Lenders in Ancient Greece were figuring out the concept of the FICO score, in a very basic way—it was borrowing that enabled growth. A farmer could borrow against next year's harvest, in order to buy tools today, while the lender made a bet that the farmer would pay him back. All with money that they were both trusting would retain its value.

That trust is essential to the system is a key point for McWilliams. Today, if you hand me $10, I'm trusting many things at once: first, that this piece of printed paper has a meaning, a meaning that will be understood by a shopkeeper when I try to exchange it later that day for a coffee; second, that the government which issued this bill will back it; third, that you are not a forger, and the bill you give me is genuine. Our entire relationship with money is based on trust.

If you want to understand just how cash operates, how banks create it, and how we all play our part in defining its value, this book is an engaging introduction.

To read the complete article, see:
Money Makes the World Go 'Round (https://fee.org/articles/money-makes-the-world-go-round/)

Divided into five fast-moving sections, "The History of Money" starts with the Ishango Bone, reputed to be the first "commercial tallystick," discovered in Congo, and comes, continentally at least, full circle to M-Pesa, a flourishing Kenyan currency based on phone credits.

McWilliams writes with extra zest about the ancient Roman general Vespasian, who paid his legionnaires with coins backed by salt — hence the origin of the word "salary" — and, upon becoming emperor, levied attendants in public bathrooms, who collected urine, then prized for its cleaning abilities (even of teeth).

He shows how writing and money have always been tightly intertwined, from cuneiform to letters of indulgence to check writing — anyone else miss the satisfying rrrip of tearing off a check? I haven't seen any other economist mentally hopscotch from the Bankman-Fried scandal to "The Bubble," the satirical 1720 poem by Jonathan Swift.

Despite its title, "The History of Money" is not an encyclopedic volume, but an opinionated, irreverent parsing of currency's charms. It could not possibly be comprehensive — money is one of those subjects, like air or water, that are sort of everywhere and everything, arising and ebbing and flowing — but it is idiosyncratic and interesting.

To read the complete article, see:
Making Sense of Dollars and Cents (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/books/review/the-history-of-money-david-mcwilliams.html)

 

BOOK REVIEW: CENTS AND HALF CENTS OF MASSACHUSETTS

This past weekend I obtained a copy of Mike Packard's new book about Massachusetts Cents and Half Cents. Now we have the standard reference book for all of the state coppers of the Confederation period. For over the past 30 years I have been encouraging (Mike may say harassing) Mike to publish this book, as everyone in the colonial coin arena recognizes him as THE expert on the topic. I was so desperate for this book that I made a book for myself using articles Mike published and handout material from his many presentations. I obtained online images and voila! - A Mass Copper book by Mike Packard. I showed it to him and told him he's already written the book. But he wanted much more than what I consolidated from his works.

Well, it's here! 280+ pages. The book covers so much information. I'd be hard pressed to think of anything that the book doesn't cover on topic - the need, the legislations, the finances, the people, the mint, the designs, die variety attributions, rarity, etc. The front part of the book is an easy read for a snowy evening when there's nothing good to watch on the 300+ channels you pay for. Just brew a fresh pot of coffee and relax with the book in your recliner...

I'm not a book reviewer, so I'll stop on the content there - I'll leave the review to others. The state coppers are the forerunners of our Large Cents and Half Cents. As such, a type example for each would fit in nicely with the Philadelphia Mint products. Of all the state coppers, those of Massachusetts most closely connect because they were struck to a federal weight standard and actually denominated in Cents and Half Cents. If our state coppers can be called the parents of our federal copper coinage, then the aunts, uncles and grandparents would be the British halfpence and farthings going back to Charles II.

Enough of me rambling... The book can be obtained from Charlie Davis or David Fanning - both numismatic booksellers. Place an order, you won't be disappointed.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: CENTS AND HALF CENTS OF MASSACHUSETTS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n41a04.html)

BALDWIN (2012-2025)

From 2014 until about 2022, I was traveling with my guide dog, Baldwin. He has been to 12 money museums, in 6 countries and 11 cities.

On October 20th, at the age of 13, he died. While it is not a blog about my guide dog, I still felt appropriate to post this, since many of you who read the blog or the newsletter met him in person. Also, without his passionate work, I don't think I would have been able to visit all the places we have been to.

Though I don't have any evidence, but I think I can claim that Baldwin was the dog who visited the most coin and money museums. Since I wrote about all of my numismatic travels, you can read about our trips, here is the list of museums we have been together, mostly in chronological order from 2016 until 2022.

• Cleveland money museum
• The Smithsonian, Washington DC
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
• Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
• Ottawa mint Money museum in Chicago
• ANS, New York
• The national Bank of Romania
• Currency Museum, Ottawa
• Hungarian national museum
• New Orleans Mint

And the only reason why he didn't come with me to Cambridge was because his paperwork was late and he couldn't travel with me.

He also missed a few things in Brazil, India and in Mexico because the paperwork was so demanding and I wasn't sure if I will be able to safely bring him home.

But these are just the places and numbers, but he actually started his numismatic journey in 2015, when we went to the World's Fair of Money in Chicago, and also in 2019 which was our last trip before we got grounded for three years.

But we also went to at least three coin clubs to speak, and to countless money shows. I think he really enjoyed these events, when we went to money shows he tried to take me in the direction where he heard the noise of coins. And it is actually not surprising, simply because a dog does everything to please his owner, and he knew it well that I really enjoyed being around the coin tables, checking the coins and talking with the people. And generally he was quick to catch on to what I like or what I need, in hotels for example he took me to the elevator from the front entrance or the breakfast room after I took him out first thing in the morning. We sure were a team, for almost nine years I was only away from him when I was in the restroom, and a few trips I couldn't take him with me. Once I wrote a post about his life as a guide dog from his perspective, because probably he could better explain what it was like.

But on this blog I only wrote about our numismatic travels, we did much more together. Baldwin has been to 13 countries, and I can't even count the cities we visited. But we also just stayed at home at times and took long walks around the development, I was certainly in a better shape when we worked together.

The first time I didn't take him with me for an out of town trip was a couple years ago when I went to Boston. At that time he was slowing down, and he could still guide me around the development, but he was almost 11 and it was just too much for him. A few weeks later I completely retired him, and while I could I walked him on a leash using my cane. Even then he was trying to guide but at that point it wasn't his responsibility.

This year, arthritis really started to impact his life and we couldn't go out for a walk, though a couple of times he enjoyed swimming in a life jacket.

He had a nice and happy retirement, given his age in the last couple of years I took every day as a gift to have him with me. Almost until his last day he came upstairs to my office just to be with me while as working, and I was so worried that he will hurt himself on the stairs.

Tom adds:

To read the complete article, see:
The guide dog who visited the most money museums (https://blindcoincollector.com/2025/11/09/the-guide-dog-who-visited-the-most-money-museums/)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
WAYNE'S 2019 ANA DIARY: PART I (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n33a16.html)
RECOGNIZING COINS WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n02a11.html)
https://www.google.com/search?q=Babinszki+site%3Acoinbooks.org&client=pub-5234988518377779&domains=coinbooks.org

THOMAS E. KLUNZINGER (1944-2025)

Thomas E. Klunzinger of East Lansing was born September 11, 1944 in Ann Arbor and passed away on November 13, 2025 in Lansing. He was the son of Willard and Eileen Klunzinger. He lived an eventful if somewhat mis-spent life. Music was always significant for him, as he wrote his first song at age 6; was self-taught in composition; wrote 11 musicals and over a dozen plays, most of which were presented in New York and Los Angeles, in addition to Michigan.

He always depended on the kindness of arrangers. He won the 2011 CTAM Playwriting Competition. He survived numerous mishaps around the world, including a typhoon in Tahiti, arrest in the Peoples Republic of Benin and jumping off a moving train in London. He quickly fell into the family tradition of public service, first running for Congress in Detroit, twice elected to the Meridian Township Board and appointed to the U.S. Assay Commission by President Nixon. He was Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer (at different times) of the Ingham County Republican Party. He was a 50 year member of several numismatic societies and was the only person to win the MSNS Best of Show award in each of six different decades. He was Secretary-Treasurer of The Lansing Coin Club for over 30 years.

Steve Davis writes:

Kathy Freeland writes:

To read the complete article, see:
Thomas E. Klunzinger (https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/obituaries/ppet1332204)

FANTASTIC 1804 DOLLAR BOOK ERROR FOUND

John Kraljevich Uncovers Rare Error in The Fantastic 1804 Dollar

With the recent discovery of the James A. Stack 1804 dollar, researchers have been poring through existing research on the "King of American Coins," and one such effort led to the discovery of an errant footnote in Eric P. Newman and Ken Bressett's The Fantastic 1804 Dollar (1962). John Kraljevich correctly notes the footnote on p. 79, referring to The Numismatist (August 1961), should instead specify The Numismatic Scrapbook.

Ironically, it was a mistaken citation that launched Newman's investigation into the 1804 dollar. As Joel Orosz wrote in the Newman biography Truthseeker: The Life of Eric P. Newman: "The index for The Numismatist [which at that time covered 1888-1938] revealed no pertinent articles for 1804 and 1805 dollars, just two on the subject of 1904 and 1905 dollars. Newman therefore delved into original sources in order to piece together the true history of these coins. Only later did he learn that the index was in error; that The Numismatist had published two articles on the topic of these 1804 and 1805 dollars…and that his old mentor, Burdette Johnson, had already denounced both dollars [the Zerbe / Ostheimer examples] as frauds." Had Newman been aware of Johnson's previous condemnation of these two coins, his own investigation might have been short-lived.

Link to Eric P. Newman research files on the 1804 dollar:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/archivedetail/536418

To read an earlier E-Sylum article, see:
FANTASTIC 1804 DOLLAR "1ST EDITION" CENSUS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n45.html)

VIDEO: COINAGE ACT OF 1965

The Coinage Act changed United States coinage forever by taking silver out of the dimes, quarters and for the most part the half dollars. Learn about this change that was so detrimental to coin collectors and the coinage that resulted. Speaker: Ray Herz

To watch the complete video, see:
Coinage Act of 1965 (https://youtu.be/8Ipf1eQWn_c)
Coinage Act of 1965 (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/549003)

 

 

THE U.S. MINTS ITS FINAL CENTS

The first coin of the realm reached its last moment.

The U.S. Mint struck the final five U.S. pennies Wednesday afternoon, ending the country's 232-year history of making one-cent pieces.

"All right everybody, this is the last one," U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said before pushing the button that formed President Abraham Lincoln's image on a gleaming planchet. "God bless America, and we're going to save the taxpayers $56 million."

Treasury officials created Wednesday's artisanal batch of pennies months after the Mint's 12-pennies-per-second production ended. They all bear a special omega mark above Lincoln's shoulder. Worth far more than 1/100th of a dollar, the pennies were closely guarded by a Mint police officer once they emerged from the machine.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was scheduled to attend, but he was a late scratch, leaving Beach, a former Georgia state senator, to claim a historical footnote. The last equivalent event, he said, was the end of the half-cent in 1857.

Technically, these final coins are circulating pennies, produced without the special finishes used for collectors' items. But these last cents won't show up on the sidewalk or in the supermarket. The Mint plans to auction them, with proceeds going to the government.

The U.S. began producing pennies in 1793, featuring a female figure of Liberty on the front and a linked chain on the reverse. That controversial design invoked slavery to some citizens, and it was quickly replaced.

Lincoln's visage took over the front of the coin in 1909 as the country celebrated the 100th anniversary of his birth. Lincoln, of course, still has the $5 bill.

Earlier this year, President Trump ordered the Treasury Department to stop producing pennies.

Pennies quickly migrate from banks to cash registers to sock drawers, and in the past two months, they have become increasingly hard to find.

"You're just at this death spiral, essentially," said Austen Jensen of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, whose members include Walmart and Dollar General.

Rounding is an obvious but imperfect—and not necessarily legal—solution to a lack of pennies, according to retailers. For one thing, stores aren't legally allowed to set different prices for customers using the food program known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. They can't simply charge $2.49 to customers with SNAP cards and $2.50 to people paying cash. State laws in some places can also complicate rounding.

"It has become so acute because of the legal uncertainty here," Jensen said.

To read the complete article (subscription required), see:
With the Push of a Button, the U.S. Mints Its Final Pennies (https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-the-push-of-a-button-the-u-s-mints-its-final-pennies-e94a1973)

To read the complete Press Release, see:
United States Mint Hosts Historic Ceremonial Strike for Final Production of the Circulating One-Cent Coin (https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/united-states-mint-hosts-historic-ceremonial-strike-for-final-production-of-the-circulating-one-cent-coin)

MORE ON THE DEATH OF THE CENT

The American penny died on Wednesday in Philadelphia. It was 232.

The cause was irrelevance and expensiveness, the Treasury Department said.

Nothing could be bought any more with a penny, not even penny candy. Moreover, the cost to mint the penny had risen to more than 3 cents, a financial absurdity that doomed the coin.

The final pennies were minted on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Top Treasury officials were on hand for its final journey. No last words were recorded.

With the penny's demise, coin enthusiasts' worried eyes now turn toward its longtime associate, the nickel. Its purchasing power has also shrunk to nearly nothing, and it costs more than a dime to make.

To read the complete article, see:
The Penny Dies at 232 (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/business/penny-coin-legacy.html)

The U.S. Mint made the last penny on Wednesday, ending the years-long farce of the government producing coins that cost more to make than they are worth.

Well, not exactly. The Mint will continue pressing the nickel, which costs about 14 cents to make. And it's not clear what will happen now that the smallest denomination of coin will be out of production.

President Donald Trump did not have the legal authority to cancel penny production unilaterally, as he has done. The task should have begun with Congress, not only for constitutional reasons but also for practical ones.

Congressional deliberation would have facilitated solutions for the problems inherent in eliminating a coin that has existed since 1793. Retailers want a new law that would allow them to round prices to the nearest nickel for cash transactions, which probably would have been included in penny legislation. Also helpful would have been an incentive from the government to get the 114 billion pennies in circulation out of cupholders and into banks.

Congressional action has stalled in the past over opposition from metal lobbyists since companies with federal minting contracts are key employers in certain House districts. But Trump has shown a remarkable ability to bend the will of Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Mild effort would have produced a better result and a better process.

To read the complete article, see:
The penny is dead. Long live inflation. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/12/penny-is-dead-long-live-inflation/)

Now THAT's how to hold a coin. But it looks like it's already got grubby fingermarks on it.

Here's one of the coin presses. The sign is what caught my eye - it pictures "Penny - Typical Defects (even the Mint calls it a penny!)." What do the operators do with this information?

To read the complete article, see:
US Mint presses final pennies as production ends after more than 230 years (https://apnews.com/article/us-mint-treasury-department-penny-end-production-86139df5644ef0885a9baf98e9677380)

Len Augsburger asks:

To read the complete article, see:
U.S. Mint Strikes Last Pennies (https://www.nationalreview.com/photos/u-s-mint-strikes-last-pennies/)

Kavan Ratnatunga writes:

So what happens to the last penny ever minted in the country, the one that Beach held up for the cameras?

It turns out that the five final pennies made in Philadelphia were minted with a special omega mark on them. They'll remain uncirculated and go up for auction by the government at some unspecified time in the future. Details on that to come. Meanwhile, it begs the question: What will those pennies be worth?

Some estimates out there put the auction value of each of the five pennies at anywhere from $2 million to $5 million, with the very last of the last pennies possibly hitting that $5 million mark. (And there's also the possibility that some obsessed collectors would be willing to pay even more if they could obtain all five, because why would you want just one when you could hoard them all like a good capitalist?)

Philadelphia-area numismatist Richard Weaver, however, has his doubts. Weaver, owner of Broomall's Delaware Valley Rare Coin Company and the first guy in modern times to come across a 1943 Antimony Lincoln Cent and the only 1786 New Jersey three-pound Colonial note known to exist, opines that some of the estimates out there are likely to be overblown. And Beach himself, Weaver notes, may have devalued the last penny.

"If you look at that photo, he is holding the penny with his fingers on the coin," Weaver told me, his voice tinged with incredulity. "You just don't do that. Copper is very reactive to sweat and the oils of the skin, and any serious collector is going to take this photo into consideration."

On top of that, Weaver adds, he doesn't consider the last five pennies to be a true collector's dream. Yes, there are only five of them in existence, which might suggest rarity to us laypeople, but Weaver's not fully buying it.

"You see, they were made for this purpose," he explains. "They were made to be rare. When you see people paying in the millions for coins, they are paying for coins that are 100 or 200 years old, of which only a handful are known to exist and that have survived for so many years without anyone making them for that purpose in 1933 or 1794."

Then again, he admits, it's not easy to know what is going to happen at an auction, particularly with a coin has produced such big headlines.

"One thing that is hard to predict with something like this is ego," Weaver says with a chuckle. "And there are a lot of egos out there these days."

To read the complete article, see:
Is the Last Penny Really Worth $5 Million? (https://www.phillymag.com/news/2025/11/13/last-penny-auction-value-philadelphia/)

A supermarket chain operating across several states in the Northeast is tackling the current penny shortage by hosting a "Double Exchange Day" for customers.

Shoppers at Price Chopper and Market 32 stores, which can be found in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, are being asked to bring in loose or wrapped pennies in exchange for a Price Chopper gift card worth double the value of their change.

"Exchanges must total a minimum of 50 cents (earning a $1 card) and may not exceed $100 (earning a $200 card)," reads a Price Chopper press release.

To read the complete article, see:
Supermarket chain asks customers to bring in pennies, offers double their value in gift cards (https://thehill.com/business/5606070-price-chopper-market-pennies-exchange/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LOOSE CHANGE: NOVEMBER 2, 2025 : Pittsburgh Grocery Buying Pennies (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n44a27.html)

For more, see:
US mints its last penny (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSW6SfeHIAY)
The end of the penny production (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BduNTNw8Uy0)

 

MERCHANTS AND BANKERS SEEK PENNY GUIDANCE

Burger King operator Gary Andrzejewski isn't waiting around. The armored car service he uses recently cut off his penny deliveries, so Andrzejewski is stockpiling them, asking employees to pick up rolls when any of them head to the bank.

Andrzejewski's company now has 30 boxes of pennies squirreled away. If he's lucky, the stash will get his Baltimore-area locations through two months of transactions.

"I don't think anyone has any idea of what they are doing right now," Andrzejewski said.

Holly Elizabeth Tinervin was stunned to find a sign in a Decatur, Ill., Burger King warning of their penny shortage, and that checks would be rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. Her large coffee, normally $2.23, ended up costing $2.25.

Tinervin let the difference slide, but is no longer sure if she supports the penny's elimination.

"I was actually shocked by this," the 56-year-old retiree said. "I heard the government saying they were going to get rid of them, I just didn't think it would be so soon."

Tennessean Britany Moss was fuming at the government for not coming up with a penny plan when she discovered a local Panda Express was asking customers to make exact change or use a card as the coins ran dry.

Trade groups are sounding alarms.

In a September letter, nine associations representing retailers and restaurants begged Congress to take a stand on rounding. At least 10 states and localities have rules on rounding and other cash-management practices, putting businesses in a tough spot as one-cent increments become harder—and likely impossible soon—to pull off in cash.

"Our members need clear and expedited guidelines and relief," the groups wrote.

The American Bankers Association has established a "Penny Work Group," and is pleading with the Federal Reserve to accept pennies deposited at local facilities again after it stopped doing so, limiting circulation.

Roughly half of the 165 operating terminals that hold and distribute coins have stopped circulating pennies in the past two months. Some large banks are now shipping the coins to branches that have run out. But that gets costly quickly: $1,000 worth of the pennies weigh roughly 500 pounds.

America last phased out a coin roughly 170 years ago, when it got rid of the half-cent. "We don't have a lot of experience with this," said Steve Kenneally, the association's senior vice president of payments.

To read the complete article, see:
Burger King Braces for the Demise of the Penny (https://www.wsj.com/business/burger-king-braces-for-the-demise-of-the-penny-967e00c5)

NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: NOVEMBER 16, 2025

Double Large Cent Love Token?
Responding to Matt Hansen's question, Ted Puls writes:

Matt Hansen writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: NOVEMBER 9, 2025 : Query: Spiked Large Cent Pair (https://www.coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n45a08.html)

Query: Isaac Wood Sale Chowder Market Club Token Buyer

Saul Teichman writes:

To read the 1894 Isaac Wood catalog on NNP, see:
Catalogue of the Collection of American Medals Especially Rich in the Coins and Medals of Washington with a few United States and Foreign Coins of Isaac F. Wood, Esq. Rahway, N.J. (https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcolle1894chap/page/28/mode/2up)

New Book: Collection of One Stamp Paper From Each Princely State
Anil Bohora writes:

U.S. Frigate Potomac Purser's Check
Mark Hotz writes:

 

THE PHOTOGRAPH OF "MONTROVILLE DICKESON"

In 2015, my first contribution to the E-Sylum was a question about identifying the photograph said to depict the numismatist Montroville Dickeson and a Native American Chief. Back then, I discovered that the Smithsonian and prominent auction galleries identified the subject not as Dickeson but as the Indian interpreter, Perrin Whitman, with Chief Tamason (Timothy) of the Nez Perce. Still, there was some resistance to identifying the photo as Whitman rather than Dickeson.

A few months ago, Phil Galen, historian for the Village of Gowanda and Town of Persia in New York (Whitman lived with family in New York as a child), posted an image to Whitman's Find a Grave that shows him at an age much closer to the time of the photo taken with Chief Tamason. There is another photograph of Perrin Whitman, apparently from the same time period, seated with a Native Chief. In all these photographs, Whitman appears to be wearing the same suit. In the photo with his brothers, the suit seems to be the same, sans the black tie.

I also found the flipped image posted on Facebook by the North American Indigenous Museum and identified as Whitman and Chief Timothy in 1868.

It is clear to me that the photograph numismatic researchers have identified as Montroville Dickeson is not him, and I hope we can all reach this conclusion so that it can be corrected going forward.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
QUERY: IS IT REALLY MONTROVILLE DICKESON IN THIS PHOTO? (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n13a10.html)
MORE ON THE MONTROVILLE DICKESON PHOTO (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n14a11.html)
THE ORIGINAL MONTROVILLE DICKESON PHOTO (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n17a23.html)

See also:
Perrin Whitman (non-Native Interpreter), and Ta-moot-sin or Timothy (Nez Perce), in Washinton D.C. - 1868 (https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=%22perrin%20whitman%22)

 

VOCABULARY TERM: SATIN FINISH

Satin Finish. A medium reflective surface between lustrous and dull. On medallic surfaces this is produced by very light scratch brushing. Silversmiths and antique dealers call this surface butler's finish on silver objects from years of light polishing (and minute abrasion). Such a satin finish can be produced chemically by a patented process developed by James H. Reilly of Brooklyn Silver Company. None of these should be applied to coins, however these can be applied to medallic pieces (if so intended by the artist). Satin finish is more reflective than matte; and less reflective than bright dip or glossy luster. See reflectiveness.

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Satin Finish (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/516699)

LYMAN WILLIAM HOFFECKER (1868-1955)

Last week The E-Sylum had an item about the papers of Lyman Hoffecker. There was a good biography of him in The E-Sylum of April 30, 2017. I will try to add a little that was not in that article.

His full name was seldom mentioned in The Numismatist. He was just referred to as L. W. Hoffecker. He was born on September 27, 1868, in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. In 1870, the town population was 953. He was the son of Hiram Hamaan Hoffecker (1839-1912) and Hannah Evert Mack (1836-1906). His father was a carriage maker and Postmaster.

He started collecting coins in 1886 while working at the Post Office in Dalton, Pennsylvania.

He married Cora Knapp (1868-1915) and had a daughter. His second marriage was to Sara Jane Watkins (1889-1954) on September 22, 1917.

Hoffecker was not always a successful businessman. In 1899 he was declared bankrupt and listed his assets of $54 invested in wearing apparel. If he had any rare coins at the time, they were not declared. He got a fresh start in El Paso in 1900.

Hoffecker began business with a one-hundred square foot millwork shop for the El Paso Sash and Door Co. He filed for bankruptcy gain in 1910. His real estate holdings were sold at a trustee's sale in 1911.

After the First World War he went to Europe to buy and import glass, being one of the first to do that. With an inventory of several hundred thousand square feet of glass, he shipped to customers around the country. That business made him wealthy. He installed 90% of the store front show windows in El Paso.

Hoffecker did not always get along well with his employees. In 1913 he was charged with assault for attacking a former employee in a court room. He was charged with assaulting another employee in 1916. In 1917 he was found not guilty when charged with assault.

Sometimes Hoffecker was just there when an assault occurred. In 1918 he was a witness in a murder trial.

The Hoffecker house had a swimming pool twelve feet wide, forty feet long, and four to seven feet deep. It was in a glass enclosure and the site of frequent pool parties.

Hoffecker sold his glass company in 1922 and retired to a life of leisure and travel. While in the glass business he had gone to Europe on buying trips. After retirement he had gone around the world and eventually to 72 countries. He gathered world coins but also collected common cultural items like hats and shoes.

In February of 1933, Hoffecker exhibited a collection of footwear from 17 countries in the window of the Popular Dry Goods Co. In April of 1933, he had an exhibit of thirty-two hats from around the world along with photographs of the men wearing them.

In September of 1933, Hoffecker was appointed permanent chairman of the local NRA (National Recovery Act) Compliance Board.

On June 7, 1935, an exhibit opened at the Popular Dry Goods Co. store in El Paso. It featured nine thousand coins and pieces of currency from the Hoffecker collection. This was claimed to be the largest west of the Mississippi. An exhibit was shown there again in 1936.

In June of 1935, Hoffecker began taking orders for the Old Spanish Trail Commemorative half dollars. Profits were intended for the International Museum Association in El Paso.

The community was divided over a location for the museum. One faction advocated for the museum to be built on the campus of the College of Mines about two miles out of town. Hoffecker wanted the museum downtime. Both sides circulated petitions.

The El Paso Herald Post of December 14, 1935, reported that Hoffecker had resigned from the Chamber of Commerce. He opposed building the museum outside the City of El Paso.

"I have worked hard to get a museum for El Paso in a location where it will be appreciated. I don't want to hear the word "museum" again. I am going to continue paying my taxes here, which is more than lots of people in town are doing. I will attend to my own business. As far as establishing myself in the good graces of El Paso women who oppose my idea for a museum, I am not losing any sleep over that. I am tired of abuse."

A newspaper article in the Pittsburgh Press for October 27, 1935, about the 1935 commemorative coin stated, "The reverse shows a map of the train with a Yucca plant superimposed and bears the inscription, "Old Spanish Train" around the border above the dates "1535-1935" below." I will only comment that there was no train from Florida to El Paso in 1535.

The coins arrived in El Paso on Friday, October 5. With help addressing envelopes, the coins were all shipped by October 10. After orders were received, funds were returned for 2000 coins ordered above the limit of 10,000.

On December 24, 1935, Hoffecker added a gold coin to his collection, a copy of a unique 200 Mahours coin of India. Later that year he imported a large piece of Yap stone money.

In 1936, he took orders for the Elgin Centennial half dollars at $1.50 each. Proceeds of $8,000 were intended to install a Pioneer Memorial based on a model by Trygve Rolvestad. The monument was dedicated November 11, 2001. I wrote a column about this published in The Numismatist in October 2001. As I wrote this, success was projected but not assured.

Also in 1936, he testified before Congress on abuses of commemorative coin programs.

With his experience with commemorative coin programs, he served as chairman of the legislative committee for the American Numismatic Association. He was elected to the board and served 1936 to 1939. He was president of the ANA in 1939 to 1941.

Hoffecker sold coins gathered during world travels with the Watkins Coin Company, named for his second wife.

He died at home in El Paso, Texas, on January 13, 1955. He is buried with his first wife, Cora, in Evergreen Cemetery in El Paso. As a member of the Masons, he had been responsible for local funerals and received a Masonic funeral for himself.

Today the International Museum of Art in El Paso gives credit to Hoffecker and the Old Spanish Trail half dollar. That story, like the story of the Old Spanish Trail, is a bit of a fabrication.

A good source for this article was the Newspapers.com site. They have 14 listings for Lyman William Hoffecker, 17 for Lyman W. Hoffecker, and 4031 for L. W. Hoffecker. Many of the listings are for classified ads with no biographical information. There is much more that could have been included.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
LYMAN WILLIAM HOFFECKER (1868-1955) (coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n18a13.html)
L.W. HOFFECKER ARCHIVE DISCOVERED (coinbooks.org/v28/esylum_v28n45a07.html)

KUENKER AUCTION SALE 436

As eLive Premium Auction 436, this is now the 10th part of the Dr. W. R. collection to be offered by Künker. This time, the material covers the Roman coins from Macrinus to Julian of Pannonia. Experts often refer to the period from 217 to 285 as the era of the barracks emperors.

Numismatically speaking, these coins are remarkable for their diversity. Rome was no longer the only mint, on the contrary. Many usurpers from far-flung provinces dominated the scene, and Dr. W. R. has at least one coin from most of them. His numismatic focus is comprehensive: he was interested in both coinage of the Roman Empire and Roman Provincial Coinage. He always prioritized quality, which is why lovers of Roman coinage will find a veritable treasure trove of rare, well-preserved and historically interesting issues in his catalogs.

Whether you collect gold, silver or bronze, the Dr. W. R. Collection has something for everyone, although its focus is on bronze and silver.

To order a catalog contact Künker, Nobbenburger Straße 4a, 49076 Osnabrück; phone: +49 541 / 962020; fax: +49 541 / 9620222; or via e-mail: service@kuenker.de. You can access the auction catalogs online at www.kuenker.de. If you want to submit your bid from your computer at home, please remember to register for this service in good time.

EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY NOV. 22, 2025 SALE

JOHN NIXON (1733-1808). Brigadier General, On July 8, 1776 Patriot John Nixon made the very First Public Proclamation Reading of the Declaration of Independence, read from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House, General George Washington's Aide-de-Camp; Financier and Official Director of of the Bank of North America of Philadelphia, who served as a Militia Officer in the American Revolutionary War, and Chairman of the Committee of Safety. March 1, 1769, Province of Pennsylvania, Three Pounds / Sixty Shillings dual denomination, Plate B, Colonial Current Indented Bill. Fr. PA-133, PCGS graded Very Fine-25. Small Edge Repair as noted and illustrated, printed on rag period paper, Signed by "J. Nixon", "Tho. Wharton", and "Jos. Richardson".

This two-sided currency note measures 88mm x 72mm and was Printed by David Hall and William Sellers at Benjamin Franklin's previously owned print shop in Philadelphia. Printed Leaves design on back with text, "To Counterfeit Is Death". "Pennsilvania" spelling error in its typeset text. Evenly worn with slightly rounded corners, printed with lively inking and strong vivid handwritten signatures. A very elusive note in any grade. Choice in eye appeal, and equally choice for the grade (or better). Pedigree: Ex F.C.C. Boyd Estate; Stacks sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XV, October, 2006 Lot 8542.

To read the complete item description, see:
JOHN NIXON (1733-1808). Brigadier General, On July 8, 1776 Patriot John Nixon made the very First Public Proclamation Reading of the Declaration of Independence, read from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House, General George Washington's Aide-de-Camp; Financier and Official Director of of the Bank of North America of Philadelphia, who served as a Militia Officer in the American Revolutionary War, and Chairman of the Committee of Safety. (https://www.earlyamerican.com/Auctions/ClientPages/lots.item.php?auction=11&lot=20&r=972360458)

Stephen Martin-Leake, Author, Reference Book titled: "An Historical Account of English Money, From the Conquest to the Present Time; Including Those of Scotland, From the Accession of James I to the Union of the Two Kingdoms." Second Edition, London, Complete, Fine. Stephen Martin-Leake (1702-1773) Author, was the English Clarenceux King of Arms, and later the Garter Principal King of Arms, from 30 November 1741 to 19 December 1754 (promoted). The Clarencieux is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial Kings of arms, and his jurisdiction is that part of England south of the River Trent. Leake was also a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

A rare, historically significant Numismatic Reference, fully titled: "An Historical Account of English Money from the Conquest, to the Present Time, Including Those of Scotland, the the Union of the Two Kingdoms in King James I. - The Second Edition, With great Additions and Improvements, Tables of GOLD and SILVER MONEY, and Six New Cuts. (plates) - By Stephen Martin-Leake, Esq; Clarenceux King of Arms. - London: Printed for W. Meadows, at the Angel in Cornhill. - M.DCC.XLV (1745)." Book has 428 pages, plus Two Tables: "English Silver Coins" and "English Gold Coins" with 14 drawn and engraved Coin Illustration plates. This copy is in pleasing clean condition, complete with its original leather boards worn from use present yet detached. Prior owner's name written in ink on the Title Page which also has some mild edge tone, apparently transferred from the front cover, and has a trivial .5" top edge split. Deaccessioned Ex: Woburn, Massachusetts Public Library with Book Plate. An important, beautifully written, very extensive reference work that is lacking in most institutional and private library collections.

An illustrated 2nd edition of this detailed work on the history of English coins, Illustrated with fourteen engraved descriptive plates of the coins of the realm. The work was first published under the title, "Nummi Britannici Historia: or an Historical Account of English Money." It is an exceedingly rare early reference book on English, Scottish and related Numismatics, this complete copy in its updated and expanded 2nd edition. We could only locate one copy, a later issued 3rd edition highly defective torn copy dated to "1793" (48 years later) available for purchase at a London Numismatic firm. Our current offering is in vastly superior quality and is apparently the best library edition.

Stephen Martin-Leake was born Stephen Martin, the son of a naval officer from Essex; his maternal uncle, Admiral Sir John Leake, left his estate to Martin's parents on the condition that they adopt his surname, which they did in 1721.

Despite this and work at the Navy Office, the family lost out in the South Seas crash and Leake was forced to find employment. After joining the Society of Antiquaries and publishing Nummi Britannici historia, he joined the college as Lancaster Herald in 1727 and was promoted to Norroy in 1729; after serving as Clarenceux, he was promoted to Garter King of Arms in 1754.

Leake was less interested in genealogy than the rights and history of the heralds; he petitioned for the college to have a monopoly on the researching of arms and unsuccessfully tried to revive the visitations, a proposal which Anstis and the government opposed.

He also opened the college's register for Dissenting and Jewish births and carried out two Garter missions. On his death, his collections passed to his brother and were eventually bought by the college.

To read the complete item description, see:
Stephen Martin-Leake, Author, Reference Book titled: "An Historical Account of English Money, From the Conquest to the Present Time; Including Those of Scotland, From the Accession of James I to the Union of the Two Kingdoms." Second Edition, London, Complete, Fine. (https://www.earlyamerican.com/Auctions/ClientPages/lots.item.php?auction=11&lot=37&r=1205238107)

c. 1790 Anti-Slavery Hard Times Token with legends: "Am I Not A Man And A Brother." and "May Slavery & Oppression Cease Throughout The World England", D&H 1039, Choice Lustrous About Mint State. A flashy mostly lustrous example with a lettered edge "Bedroth / Birmingham / Swansea", with excellent centering and eye appeal having a somewhat uneven strike and slight rub on the highest point of the Chained Slave's shoulder.

To read the complete item description, see:
c. 1790 Anti-Slavery Hard Times Token with legends: "Am I Not A Man And A Brother." and "May Slavery & Oppression Cease Throughout The World England", D&H 1039, Choice Lustrous About Mint State. (https://www.earlyamerican.com/Auctions/ClientPages/lots.item.php?auction=11&lot=163&r=937553647)

1838-Dated, Black History Anti-Slavery Token with Legend, "Am I Not A Woman & A Sister" and "1838 United States Of America / Liberty 1838", LOW 54 R1, HT-81, Dewitt CE 1838-19, Choice Extremely Fine. Struck in Copper this highly popular token displays a Black African American Woman shackled in Chains on the obverse, with "Liberty 1838" on its reverse side. Nice copper color with some light scratches from use in commerce. Plain edge and well centered.

To read the complete item description, see:
1838-Dated, Black History Anti-Slavery Token with Legend, "Am I Not A Woman & A Sister" and "1838 United States Of America / Liberty 1838", LOW 54 R1, HT-81, Dewitt CE 1838-19, Choice Extremely Fine. (https://www.earlyamerican.com/Auctions/ClientPages/lots.item.php?auction=11&lot=164&r=937553647)

1884-Dated, Rare Johns Hopkins University Studies Reference Booklet, Second Series, titled, "Indian Money as a Factor in New England Civilization," Very Fine. An important 51 page Johns Hopkins University Studies Booklet on precisely "Indian Money as a Factor in New England Civilization". It is printed in Baltimore, by the Publication Agency of the Johns Hopkins University, in 1884. The covers are heavily chipped on the outer edges, not affecting any of the central printed text, untrimmed pages, while the contents in excellent condition, the pages being untrimmed. This title sold for 50, which was a rather huge sum in 1884. Rare edition.

To read the complete item description, see:
1884-Dated, Rare Johns Hopkins University Studies Reference Booklet, Second Series, titled, "Indian Money as a Factor in New England Civilization," Very Fine. (https://www.earlyamerican.com/Auctions/ClientPages/lots.item.php?auction=11&lot=166&r=937553647)

(1876) Wood's Museum Copper Token with "Libertas Americana Jul 1776" Obverse, Rulau Pa-Ph 503, Plain Edge, PCGS Gold Shield graded AU-58. 26 mm. (Population-1, Pop Higher-3). Very attractive.

To read the complete item description, see:
(1876) Wood's Museum Copper Token with "Libertas Americana Jul 1776" Obverse, Rulau Pa-Ph 503, Plain Edge, PCGS Gold Shield graded AU-58. (https://www.earlyamerican.com/Auctions/ClientPages/lots.item.php?auction=11&lot=204&r=2140768973)

ST. JAMES AUCTION 114

Almoravids, ‘Ali b. Yusuf, gold dinar, al-Mariya, AH.528, wt. 4.16gms. (A.466.2; Hazard 354), minor crease, about uncirculated with much lustre

To read the complete item description, see:
Almoravids, ‘Ali b. Yusuf, gold dinar, al-Mariya, AH.528, wt. 4.16gms. (A.466.2; Hazard 354), minor crease, about uncirculated with much lustre (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYE4N/islamic-coins)

Alfred the great, Viking imitation penny, portrait / Londonia type, AELF REDR, diademed portrait r., rev. London monogram (cf. S.964), likely as made

To read the complete item description, see:
Alfred the great, Viking imitation penny, portrait / Londonia type, AELF REDR, diademed portrait r., rev. London monogram (cf. S.964), likely as made (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYE5J/british-coins)

Henry VI, annulet issue (1422-c.1430), noble, London, king with sword and shield stg. facing in ship, annulet by sword arm, rev. ornate cross, h in centre, annulet in one spandrel, wt. 7.00gms. (S.1799; N.1414), fully struck with attractive lustre, certified and graded by NGC as Mint State 62

To read the complete item description, see:
Henry VI, annulet issue (1422-c.1430), noble, London, king with sword and shield stg. facing in ship, annulet by sword arm, rev. ornate cross, h in centre, annulet in one spandrel, wt. 7.00gms. (S.1799; N.1414), fully struck with attractive lustre, certified and graded by NGC as Mint State 62 (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYE75/british-coins)

Charles I, Briot's first milled issue (1631-1632), crown, mm. flower and B/B, crowned figure of king on horseback l., brandishing sword, rev. crowned, oval, garnished shield, crowned CR at sides, wt. 29.96gms. (S.2852; N.2298), nicely toned, sharply struck on a regular flan, graffiti on reverse field top of C and R, otherwise extremely fine

To read the complete item description, see:
Charles I, Briot's first milled issue (1631-1632), crown, mm. flower and B/B, crowned figure of king on horseback l., brandishing sword, rev. crowned, oval, garnished shield, crowned CR at sides, wt. 29.96gms. (S.2852; N.2298), nicely toned, sharply struck on a regular flan, graffiti on reverse field top of C and R, otherwise extremely fine (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYEC3/british-coins)

Oliver Cromwell, halfcrown, 1658, dr. bust l., rev. crowned shield of arms (S.3227A; Bull 252), small scratches, otherwise very fine

To read the complete item description, see:
Oliver Cromwell, halfcrown, 1658, dr. bust l., rev. crowned shield of arms (S.3227A; Bull 252), small scratches, otherwise very fine (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYEE1/british-coins)

George IV, proof half sovereign, 1826, bare head l., rev. crowned shield of arms (S.3804A; W&R.249), sharply struck with considerable cameo contrast, certified and graded by NGC as Proof 62

To read the complete item description, see:
George IV, proof half sovereign, 1826, bare head l., rev. crowned shield of arms (S.3804A; W&R.249), sharply struck with considerable cameo contrast, certified and graded by NGC as Proof 62 (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYEF3/british-coins)

Victoria, proof crown, 1893, LVI, veiled bust l., rev. St. George and the dragon (S.3937; Bull 2594), light greyish toning over reflective field, certified and graded by NGC as Proof 63, as issued in the proof set, only 1312 pieces struck

To read the complete item description, see:
Victoria, proof crown, 1893, LVI, veiled bust l., rev. St. George and the dragon (S.3937; Bull 2594), light greyish toning over reflective field, certified and graded by NGC as Proof 63, as issued in the proof set, only 1312 pieces struck (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYEGV/british-coins)

Edward VII, matt proof five pounds, 1902, bare head r., rev. St. George and the dragon (S.3966), certified and graded by NGC as Mint State 61

To read the complete item description, see:
Edward VII, matt proof five pounds, 1902, bare head r., rev. St. George and the dragon (S.3966), certified and graded by NGC as Mint State 61 (https://bsjauctions.auctionmobility.com/lots/view/1-BHYEID/british-coins)

TREASURE FINDS IN ENGLAND REACH RECORD HIGH

Treasure finds in England have hit a record high, with a lamp shaped like a human foot and an earwax scoop among the more unusual items unearthed.

Provisional government figures recorded by the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme show 1,446 discoveries in England in 2024 - up from 1,266 the previous year.

A treasure find can include multiple items, and eastern England has proved the jewel in the nation's crown, with 388 finds last year.

For the first time, the 2024 finds include two objects that meet a new definition of treasure.

Previously treasure had to be at least 300 years old and made in part of precious metal such as gold or silver, or part of a hoard.

From July 2023, this was expanded to objects at least 200 years old and deemed to be of outstanding historical, archaeological or cultural significance, regardless of what type of metal they are made from.

The 2024 provisional figures show a further 85 treasure finds in Wales and nine in Northern Ireland, which has additional restrictions on searching for archaeological objects.

Scotland has a separate law for treasure trove and so its figures have not been included.

The first under the new definition, a 9th Century penny, was in England's treasure capital, Norfolk, which had 138 finds in 2024 - the most of any county.

Dr Helen Geake, Norfolk finds liaison officer, said the area may be the highest for finds due to being rich with arable fields, historically well-populated and good for collaboration between detectorists and archaeologists.

"It's the first official coin issued by Aethelstan," she said. "A proper government coin".

It was minted by a Viking warlord after he became a Christian king, known as Aethelstan II.

To read the complete article, see:
Treasure finds in England reach record high (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly90nl202go)

THE BIRTH OF THE SOVEREIGN

On 28 October 1489, a royal order was issued to mint a new gold coin of 20 shillings. The new coin was to be called "sovereign", and it was set to permanently alter the image the English had of their king. On 24 November 2025, NGSA will auction a specimen of this iconic coin, which is of the utmost historical and monetary importance.

ABOVE: Henry VII. Gold sovereign, cross fitchee mint mark, no year (1492), Tower Mint. NGC AU50 (Top Pop). The best specimen known. Starting price: CHF 500,000. From NGSA auction 22 (24 November 2025), No. 231.))

BELOW RIGHT: Henry VII. 19th-century cast of his tomb sculpture on display at Westminster Abbey. Victoria and Albert Museum / Cambridge, King's College.

After the Battle of Bosworth, few in England would have believed that Henry's victory over his rival Richard III would bring an end to the civil war. After all, Henry's claim to the English crown was extremely tenuous, to the extent that he preferred not to speak of it at all. There were other men who could put forward much more compelling arguments to assert their right to the throne. One such man was Henry's fiercest rival, Edward Plantagenet, the nephew of Edward IV. Although he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, courageous men initiated conspiracies in his name time and again.

Henry VII, on the other hand, only had one argument in his favor: immediately after his coronation, he had married Elizabeth of York, fulfilling the express wish of the House of Commons. Being his daughter, Elizabeth was even more closely related to Edward IV than Edward Plantagenet, ensuring that her and Henry VII's children would be direct descendants of Edward IV. Henry married Elizabeth on 18 January 1486. On 20 September of the same year, the long-awaited heir was born. However, his father was unable to benefit from his legitimacy. Henry VII therefore had no choice but to drum into the whole world that he was king, lest they begin to doubt it.

The Treaty of Medina del Campo
An important step was therefore the Treaty of Medina del Campo, which was signed by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile on 27 March 1489. In theory, it was a political, military and economic alliance. Henry's three-year-old son Arthur would marry the four-year-old Catherine of Aragon, and England and Spain would support each other in the event of war with France. Additionally, English merchants would benefit from significantly more favorable tariffs.

However, what was much more important to Henry was that the two Spanish rulers thus acknowledged him as the new King of England. It is this historical context that we must keep in mind when examining the sovereign coin that was created shortly afterwards.

The Great Model: Maximilian
A coin struck in the name of Maximilian of Habsburg on 20 April 1487 for the Burgundian Netherlands, served as a model for the sovereign. On the reverse, Maximilian's real d'or depicts the ruler as King of the Romans. He is seated on a throne with a high backrest and is adorned with all the imperial insignia: the closed crown, the scepter, and the globus cruciger. The reverse features the imperial eagle on a crowned shield. This issue was only minted for a very short time.

The design of this real d'or is so similar to those of the first sovereigns that it seems to be certain that the engravers worked with a real model. We know that the royal order of 28 October 1489 included a lead cast that unfortunately did not survive.1 Since the dies were only created based on this order, it seems plausible to assume that the lead cast was a replica of Maximilian's real d'or.

The Enthroned Ruler with Closed Crown and Royal Orb
Henry VII thus imitated the image of an undisputed ruler to make his own reign seem just as undisputable. The translation of the Latin circumscription reads: Henry, by the grace of God, King of England and France, Lord of Ireland.

Like Maximilian, Henry wears the closed crown. In his right hand, he holds the scepter; in his left he holds what was the globus cruciger in Maximilian's case. This coin type also features a lily pattern in the background.

While none of these insignia were actually new, no previous king had used them so prominently in his coinage as Henry VII. This caused a problem for his son, Henry VIII. We know from the Liber Regalis, that the royal orb did not play a role in English coronation ceremonies before Henry VIII. However, thanks to the sovereign, the orb had become part of the English perception of their king, to the extent that Henry VIII had no choice but to commission one for his coronation.

The Untouchable Messenger of God
The reverse depiction is only loosely based on the original model. This is where we get an impression of how important it was to Henry VII to present his own view. The reverse legend was addressed to the educated elite who could read. It is an infrequently used phrase from the Latin Vulgate translation of Luke 4:30. Translated into English, it reads: But Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

This line alludes to a passage in the New Testament which illustrates God's power to protect his people. It describes how Jesus was physically threatened by his listeners after delivering a sermon in Nazareth. However, human violence cannot harm God's messenger. Jesus walked through the crowd, completely unharmed.

By using this quote, Henry VII claimed the statement for himself, stylizing himself as God's messenger, invincible to his enemies.

An essential element of the architectural sculpture at King's College, Cambridge, which was strongly supported by Henry VII, is the Tudor rose, seen here in the center of the vault.

Inventing the Tudor Rose
However, at that time, only a small fraction of society could read, which is why the prominent display of the Tudor rose was so important. This emblem originated from an ingenious idea of Henry VII. The symbol he created has shaped our perception of this period so much that we have forgotten that Henry's contemporaries had never heard the term "Wars of the Roses". To them, it was just a civil war.

The first who described the events as The Wars of the Roses was the influential Scottish historian David Hume. He used the term in 1762 in the second volume of his History of England. Hume found an attentive reader in Walter Scott. Scott set one of his most successful novels during this period and popularized the term so much that we now consider it contemporary.

But it is not. The noble houses of York and Lancaster used a variety of coats of arms and symbols. Usually, these included the sun for Edward IV, the white boar for Richard III, and the antelope or the swan for the House of Lancaster. Both houses only occasionally(!) used roses, but Henry VII created a myth based on these symbols: the Tudor rose unites the red rose of the House of Lancaster with the white rose of the House of York – just as the marriage between Henry of Lancaster and Elizabeth of York did.

The actual coat of arms of England took a back seat to the message conveyed by the Tudor rose.

The Function of the Sovereigns
The sovereign offered by NGSA was minted at the Tower Mint in 1492 and has a weight of 15.23 grams. This is slightly less than the 240 grains (15.55 g) stipulated in the order of 28 October 1489. Minted from 23-carat gold, the coin was equivalent to one pound sterling in silver or 20 shillings. This made the sovereign the most valuable coin minted in England to that date and made the Carolingian unit of counting, the pound, which was also used in England, tangible for the first time.

The coin's purchasing power was very high for everyday circulation – probably even too high. Master builders earned between five and six pence per day. This was more than enough to comfortably buy all the food their family needed. It is estimated that the annual income of an ordinary worker was around four pounds. Therefore, an annual income could have been paid with four sovereigns, though of course this did not happen. Sovereigns played a marginal role in circulation.

Sovereigns as Diplomatic Gifts
Sovereigns were much more important as diplomatic gifts. We know of two instances in which Henry VII used sovereigns for this purpose. For example, on 1 May 1502, the Hungarian ambassador received sixteen sovereigns. Unfortunately, the purpose of this diplomat's visit to the English court is unknown.

The historical background of a second diplomatic gift is much better documented: In 1506, members of the Castilian court received 40 sovereigns during a court ceremony. The exact date of this ceremony is unknown. What we do know, however, is that the presence of Spanish courtiers in Windsor is linked to a highly adventurous episode in Anglo-Spanish relations. In January 1506, Philip the Handsome and his young wife Joanna were sailing from Brussels to Spain. Philip the Handsome wanted to assert his wife's claim to the Castilian crown there. However, the fleet encountered such a terrible storm that Philip was forced to land on the English coast. This presented an extremely favorable opportunity for Henry VII. He immediately had the royal couple and their court escorted to Windsor.

Philip and Joanna were in the English king's hands for six weeks. The result was an Anglo-Spanish treaty that gave English merchants significant advantages in the Burgundian Netherlands. However, Philip revoked it immediately upon leaving England.

For at some point in April 1506, Henry VII allowed the king and his entourage to leave. Were the 40 sovereigns given to the members of the Castilian court during the farewell ceremony? We do not know. Let us briefly conclude the story by saying that Philip landed in A Coruña, Spain, on 28 April 1506. He was recognized as King of Castile on 27 July, and died in Burgos on 25 September of the same year, aged only 28. His wife was devastated and went down in history as Joanna the Mad. Today, it is believed that her mental state was not the reason for this nickname. Rather, it was an opportunity to get her out of the way. This enabled her father, Ferdinand, and then her son, Charles, to rule the Kingdom of Castile in her name.

A Coin of Supreme Historical and Monetary Importance with a Long Provenance
The English sovereigns of Henry VII are among those coins that are significant not only in terms of monetary history, but also because their design encapsulates an entire era. In his brilliant article, Philip Grierson categorized them into five groups. He estimates that only a total of 20 to 30 specimens have survived. The rarest are the sovereigns of the second class, minted in 1492. Grierson is aware of only one surviving specimen, the very piece on offer at NGSA.

Its provenance can be traced back to 1872, when it was auctioned at Rollin & Feuardent as part of the Wigan Brothers Collection. Since then, it has passed through the collections of John Evans, J. P. Morgan, R. C. Lockett, R. Duncan Beresford-Jones and Thomas Law.

The piece is therefore the rarest variety of an already extremely rare coin type of the highest historical importance, and it was graded AU50 by NGS, making it the best-preserved specimen known today. The starting price of this rarity is CHF 500,000.

Literature
Philip Grierson, The Origins of the English Sovereign and the Symbolism of the Closed Crown. British Numismatic Journal 33 (1964), pp. 118–134

To visit the firm's website, see:
https://www.ngsa.ch/

THE BIRTH OF THE DOLLAR

After more than 230 years, the US stopped minting the penny this week. But long before that, the first dollar was coined – and it was created in a one-road town far away from the USA.

The US dollar is the most widely used currency in the world. It is both the primary de facto global tender and the world's unofficial gold standard. According to the Federal Reserve, 58% of the planet's financial reserves are held in US dollars – more than double the total foreign holdings of euros, yen and renminbi combined. Thirty-one nations have either adopted it as their official currency or named their money after it; 65 countries peg the value of their currencies to it; and it's now accepted in places as far-flung as North Korea, Siberia and research stations on the North Pole.

Yet, one place where the dollar is not accepted is in the tiny Czech town of Jáchymov ­– which is ironic, because it was here, tucked deep into the wooded folds of Bohemia's Krušné hory mountains, where the dollar originated more than 500 years ago in 1520. But as I pulled a George Washington one-dollar bill from my wallet in Jáchymov's 16th-Century Royal Mint House museum, the very spot where the dollar's earliest ancestors were coined, docent Jan Francovic smiled and stopped me.

"I haven't seen one of these in a long time," he said, calling over two colleagues. "In Jáchymov, we only accept koruna, euros or sometimes Russian rubles. You're the first American to come here in more than three years."

Welcome to Jáchymov: a sleepy 2,300-person town near the Czech-German border that's both the home of the dollar and the home of no dollars. Chances are you've never heard of the place. You probably didn't know that it is part of a Unesco World Heritage site. And you likely never realised that the currency that powers the free world originated in this one-road town still reeling from the collapse of communism that has more brothels than banks.

Long before Jáchymov existed, the rolling mountains separating modern-day Bohemia and Saxony were ruled by wolves and bears who roamed its virgin forests. When vast quantities of silver were discovered in 1516, enterprising local nobleman Count Hieronymus Schlick christened the area Joachimsthal ("Joachim's valley") after Jesus' grandfather, the local patron saint of miners.

"At the time, Europe was a continent of city-states with local rulers vying for power," explained local historian Jaroslav Ochec. "With no standard monetary unit among them, one of the most effective ways rulers could assert their control was to mint their own currency, and that's what Schlick did."

The governing Bohemian Diet officially granted Schlick permission to mint his silver coins on 9 January 1520. The count stamped an image of Joachim on the front, the Bohemian lion on the back, and named his new currency "Joachimsthalers" – which soon became shortened to "thalers".

In an age when the metal content of coins was the sole determinant of value, Schlick did two smart things to ensure the thalers' spread and survival. First, he made the thaler the same weight and diameter as the 29.2g Guldengroschen coin used throughout much of central Europe, which made it easier for neighbouring kingdoms to accept it. More importantly, he minted more coins than the world had ever seen.

In just 10 years, Joachimsthal transformed from a 1,050-person hamlet to the largest mining centre in Europe – a bustling 18,000-person hub with 1,000 silver mines employing 8,000 miners. By 1533, Joachimsthal was the second-largest city in Bohemia after Prague, and by the mid-16th Century, Urban estimated that some 12 million thalers minted from these mountains had spread across Europe – far more than any other currency on the continent.

To read the complete article, see:
The Czech town that invented the dollar (https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200107-welcome-to-jchymov-the-czech-town-that-invented-the-dollar)

THE AMSA MEDALS250 PROJECT

Here's your chance to help determine the winner of the Medals250 project. Sponsored by AMSA (American Medallic Sculptors Association). Vote now for the best medal commemorating the 250th anniversary of America's Independence.

Briggs, Lindley
Thomas Jefferson "All men are created equal

Briggs, Lindley
Young Benjamin Franklin

Daub, Eugene
"Send for Haym Salomon"

Lorieo, Jacqueline
Departure of Frederick Philipse III to England

Licaretz, Jim
Rough Times for America

Licaretz, Jim
Jefferson Was Right About Everything

Licaretz, Jim
Flags Across Time by Jim Licaretz

Tracy Mahaffey
We rise up and resist

Pollard, Ross
1776 Liberty

Purvis, Polly
Samuel Adams

Purvis, Polly
Boston Tea Party

Roland, Tsang Chee-Lam
George and Martha Washington

Kubota – Miura, Keiko
Save our Planet, Shape our Future

Vote within 10 days by emailing your first and second choices to: numismel@aol.com. The winners will be indicated in this publication. 1st prize is $500, 2nd prize is $250, and 3rd prize is $100.

LOOSE CHANGE: NOVEMBER 16, 2025

Silver Coin Windfall?

My mother read a story that I wrote for The Wall Street Journal last month about silver-futures prices breaking a 45-year-old record. She mentioned her own small stash of silver coins and was ready to cash in.

The silver value of a quarter minted in 1964 or before is more than $8. A dime of similar vintage can be melted down into 0.0723 troy ounce of the precious metal, worth roughly $3.50. Old silver dollars and half-dollar coins fetch even more.

You probably won't be handed the most valuable silver coins by a cashier. They are more likely in that jar of change your grandfather kept, or in your mother's safe-deposit box.

My great-grandfather gave my mom and her siblings silver dollars and half-dollars on their birthdays, and said not to spend them because they would rise in value. She was a child, so she didn't always heed that advice.

But years later, she recalled his instructions when she was counting down the cash drawer at our family's hardware store in suburban Cleveland and when she worked as a bank teller at her local PNC branch. If she saw a particularly old coin or one larger than a quarter, she bought it for face value.

To read the complete article, see:
My Mom's Been Stashing Silver Coins. Would Record Prices Land Her a Windfall? (https://www.wsj.com/finance/commodities-futures/my-moms-been-stashing-silver-coins-would-record-prices-land-her-a-windfall-ba609a29?st=uwceMq)

Ukrainians Hoard Record Cash

Ukrainians withdrew 67.7 billion hryvnias ($1.61 billion) in the third quarter—an 8.2% increase since January—as Russia destroyed half of the country's generating capacity and triggered complete blackouts that halted digital payments for days.

The National Bank's data captures a behavioral shift playing out in millions of Ukrainian households as Russia destroyed more than half of Ukraine's pre-war generating capacity in the first six months of 2025. Cash in circulation reached 890.1 billion hryvnias ($21.2 billion) by 1 October, with officials explicitly linking the acceleration to "increased uncertainty about war ending and intensified air attacks that may cause prolonged power outages."

Ukrainians shifted toward larger bills, with 1,000-hryvnia notes growing 3.6 percentage points as a share of total circulation—the fastest growth of any denomination. The pattern shows households consolidating wealth into easily portable forms rather than simply withdrawing emergency cash for daily transactions.

To read the complete article, see:
Ukrainians hoard record cash as Russian grid attacks cut power (https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/11/06/ukrainians-hoard-record-cash-grid-attacks/)

Florentine Diamond Resurfaces

In 1918, as World War I was ending, Charles I — the emperor of Austria-Hungary and a member of the Hapsburg dynasty — sensed the end of the empire.

Charles, a nephew of Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination had incited the conflagration, recognized mounting threats from Bolsheviks and anarchists. To safeguard jewels that the ruling Hapsburgs had owned for centuries, he had them transported to Switzerland.

One gem in the collection was a particular prize, a 137-carat diamond admired not only for its pear shape and yellow hue but also for its illustrious history. Before the Hapsburgs, it had been owned by the Medici family, the rulers of Florence.

The diamond's allure only grew when, soon after Charles and his family left Vienna for exile in Switzerland, it was thought to have disappeared.

For decades, it was rumored to have been stolen, or perhaps recut. Several films and novels, such as "The Imperfects," have anchored their plot on its disappearance.

But the real story of what happened to the diamond, now told for the first time by the descendants of Charles I, is that it never really went missing. It's been in a bank vault in Canada since the family fled there in the midst of World War II, according to three Hapsburg relatives who last month invited The New York Times to inspect the diamond and other jewels.

To read the complete article, see:
The Florentine Diamond Resurfaces After 100 Years in Hiding (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/arts/design/florentine-diamond-resurfaces-hapsburg.html)

ABOUT THIS ISSUE: NOVEMBER 16, 2025

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.