WAYNE'S NUMISMATIC DIARY: MAY 31, 2026

 

Wednesday morning I woke up early (happenstance, not choice) and decided to get ready for the day, grabbing my backpack and suitcase for a trip to Pittsburgh for the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) show. It was a miserable rainy drive with a traffic jam and detour off the highway. But things got better later in the morning, with the sun peeking through and Spotify deciding to play Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now [the rain is gone...]"

Arriving in time for lunch I tried for the first time the Caliente Pizza & Draft House down the road from the convention hotel, the Hampton Inn in Monroeville. It's a friendly neighborhood local chain and my baked Italian sub was wonderful. I checked in to my hotel, worked on The E-Sylum a bit, then took a nap before heading out again to meet my sister for dinner and a movie - "The Devil Wears Prada 2". We enjoyed it and I'd recommend it to readers. So not much numismatics on Day One.

I went downstairs for the hotel's breakfast Thursday morning and saw some familiar dealer faces and heard the voice of SS Central America Chief Scientist Bob Evans conversing at his table. Reading news on my phone I saw the Washington Post's article on the Trump administration's push to put his portrait on a $250 note. See an excerpt of the article elsewhere in this issue.

I've been on a stairwalking kick, so except when I'm lugging luggage I skip the elevator and take the stairs. After breakfast I walked up to my room on the 5th floor. And since walking down is harder on the knees than going up, when leaving my room I'd walk up the the top floor (9th) before taking the elevator down to the lobby.

I spent the morning working on email and The E-Sylum, taking a walk and grabbing another lunch at Caliente (a calzone this time). Their URL is decidedly unmodest (worldsbestpizza.com), but my food was indeed darn good.

Education
The show opened at noon and I luckily found a spot as someone pulled out of a space in the crowded lot. My first stop was to see E-Sylum supporter Dave Kahn at his table right in front. I was tempted by an off-center 1829 half dollar he showed me, but I decided to pass. It was well worth the asking price, but beyond my budget.

Next I made a beeline to the education room, where I found Bob Evans finishing his setup. I just had to take a look at the 3-D photos of gold coins and bars resting on the ocean floor. I'd seen them before, but told Bob, "that never gets old."

 
Bob's SS Central America Setup

Next door was Rick Lank and Becky Rush's Civil War Showcase, a visual delight of postered numismatic images.

 

 

 

 

On Friday I gave a talk on Encased Postage Stamps, and Greg Bennick took these shots. Thanks. I forget what was funny, but included the second one because way too many photos catch me not smiling.

 

Kathy Freeland and Simcha Kuritzky were also in the audience, and I fielded some very interesting questions. Here's one I'll put to our readers - does anyone know whether John Gault folded the corners of the postage stamps he inserted into his encasements? I never opened one or spoke to anyone who had, so I didn't have an answer for Simcha's "rectangular peg in a round hole" question.

   

The U.S. Mint

 

The U.S. Mint had a small booth and steady traffic. After the second random person asked me if I had change for a twenty, I finally realized why. The Mint had vending machines dispensing new semiquincentennial coins, and they accepted only ones and fives. By Friday they'd already sold out of the new quarters. Garrett Ziss hit me up for change for a five to buy some new dimes. Later I got some for myself and I'll begin spending them.

 
Garrett Ziss Hits the Jackpot

To watch Garrett's video of his purchase, see:
https://youtube.com/shorts/egtgqxVHFuA?si=EJocZIkykrPe9-eT

Books
The supply dealer had a small selection of new books for sale.

 

Nathan Elkins manned the American Numismatic Society table.

 

 

 
A pamphlet about the ANS move to Toledo

Exhibits
The exhibit section was smaller than I've seen at PAN before, but still quite impressive. Here are some photos I took. These are not comprehensive, but I did try to get at least one photo of each exhibit. Sorry about the ceiling light reflections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around 3:30 Thursday I left the show to go back to my hotel. I worked a bit on The E-Sylum and dressed up a bit for the PAN Banquet. The bus made multiple stops around Monroeville before heading downtown to the Grand Concourse restaurant. I sat with Kathy Freeland of Michigan and gave her some commentary on the Pittsburgh scenery we passed. The restaurant is in a magnificently restored 1900 railroad terminal building with massive stonework and stained glass skylights. Garrett Ziss and I sat at Carlos Kearns' table and had great conversation with him, former Pittsburgh mayor Tom Murphy and Nathan Eklins of the ANS.

Lt. George Dixon's Lucky Double Eagle
Before leaving the show Friday I stopped to chat with Ben Costello and Bob Evans. Ben was waiting to meet a young numismatist and give them a tour around the show. He showed us a coin he was going to gift them. I didn't know these existed, but I recognized it at once - it was a base metal souvenir reproduction of the engraved $20 gold piece found with the remains of commander Lt. George Dixon in the wreck of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley.

In hindsight, this was an amazing conversation. Here were two of the world's experts on coins recovered from shipwrecks talking about a particularly famous such coin. Ben is president of the 1715 Fleet Society, and Bob is the Chief Scientist of the SS Central America recovery project. Both told me about the times they individually visited the museum where the Hunley wreck was being restored.

The replicas are online and in the gift shop of the Hunley museum in North Charleston, SC. I ordered one!

 

To order your own replica Dixon coin, see:
LT. Dixon's Gold Coin Replica (https://hunleystore.mybigcommerce.com/lt-dixons-gold-coin-replica/)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ANOTHER COIN FOUND IN WRECK OF CONFEDERATE SUBMARINE HUNLEY (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v10n12a28.html)
150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SINKING OF THE HUNLEY (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n08a14.html)
THE H.L. HUNLEY LOOKS LIKE A SUBMARINE AGAIN (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n38a26.html)
HOW LUCKY COIN SUBMARINE HUNLEY WORKED (https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n24a15.html)

Throughout the show I'd been meeting up with Greg Bennick and Garrett Ziss to discuss various E-Sylum efforts. I also ended up buying a nice error coin from Greg on my way out the door. More on that in a future Diary.

Planning to Meet in the Irish Pub
After leaving the show I stopped for lunch, then followed GPS directions to my old friend Pat McBride's house in McKeesport, PA. I've known Pat for 40 years or more. The Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists was still young and Pat worked hard as editor of the club's newsletters. He and PAN cofounder and Chairman of the Board Don Carlucci became like older brothers to me in the hobby, and I volunteered alongside them to help build the organization. I continued helping where I could once I got married and we began having kids. Then we moved down to Virginia and I rarely got to visit the shows let alone help set them up.

But Pat soldiered on through it all, eventually taking over organizing and marketing the club's shows, making sure the contracts got signed, speakers arranged, signs and advertising readied, tables set up, lights and cases placed, and social media alerted. He brought in Dennis Boggs to embody Abraham Lincoln, and later morphed himself into a remarkable Ben Franklin. As his alter ego Ben, he not only promoted PAN and numismatics across the country, he performed for innumerable classrooms across Pennsylvania, all while being treated for cancer.

While his treatments had his cancer in remission, it recently returned with a vengance. Pat had hoped to attend the PAN Banquet, but was unable to. He entered hospice care at home this weekend. I had a nice visit with him and his wife Dawn. I gave him my copy of the banquet program and insert. We talked about the show and the club, my work with The E-Sylum and my latest coin purchase. He was worried about things falling apart at PAN without him, and I tried to reassure him that people will find a way to make it through. The PAN show is a juggernaut with a life of its own at this point. Now one of the largest regional shows in the country, Pat was there from the days when we had to pass the hat to make ends meet.

As a truck arrived to deliver hospital equipment, it was time for me to say goodbye. He didn't think he'd be here when I come back for the Pittsburgh ANA this summer. "I'll see you on the other side," he said, as we held hands. It told him, "When I meet St. Peter, I'll say I'm here to have a pint with Patrick McBride." Pat said, "He'll say you can find me in the Irish pub."

My GPS guided me to the highway, and as I got up to speed on the PA turnpike, Spotify decided to play the Nitty Ditty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken."

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by Lord, by and by
There's a better home awaiting
In the sky Lord, in the sky.

 

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