ABOUT THIS ISSUE: JULY 5, 2026

Well, I've finally officially retired from my day job, and collected some numismatic souvenirs in the form of challenge coins and medals. My Retirement Festival of lunches, parties and Happy Hours concluded Friday with a party with neighbors at our home. I'll have to wear this new T-shirt to the Pittsburgh ANA.

At lunch Saturday my tab came to $13.76. Although I'd told myself I'd never do this again, I offered a $20 bill and a penny "if that helps." The new cashier declined, but a more seasoned employee told her "you could just give him back a quarter." Instead she slowly and carefully counted out the change the cash register calculated - $6.24. The coins still confused her - "dimes are ten," he coached her. I bit my tongue and refrained from rolling my eyes.

On Sunday at another lunch venue, the tab was $17.47. I paid with a $20 bill and 47 cents in change, expecting an easy three dollars back. I got a quizzical look, two dollar bills and a handful of change. Thinking (yet again) "I give up!", I dropped the coins in the tip jar.

Seen online this week:

My aunt said she wasn't an alcoholic because she drank wine
Psychic Fair Cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances

Finally, here are some interesting non-numismatic articles I came across this week, starting with a interesting BBC article on America's "long-lost 'secret' colony" and one on the tiny Caribbean island lifeline for the American Revolution.

New Sweden: The US's long-lost 'secret' colony (https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260629-new-sweden-the-uss-long-lost-secret-colony)

How a tiny Caribbean island made American independence possible (https://theconversation.com/how-a-tiny-caribbean-island-made-american-independence-possible-284412)

In the 'biggest book giveaway in history' WWII soldiers received pocket-sized reads (https://www.npr.org/2026/05/25/nx-s1-5823711/soldiers-books-world-war-ii)

The Cherry Sisters: good or bad? (https://jack-el-hai.medium.com/the-cherry-sisters-good-or-bad-6f6104051749)

Confessions of an Art Linkletter Kid (https://jack-el-hai.medium.com/confessions-of-an-art-linkletter-kid-8f646f4e0fe4)

From undressed to dressed up: Pittsburgh's porn palaces are now cultural assets (https://www.pghcitypaper.com/news-2/history/pittsburghs-porn-palaces-are-now-cultural-assets-harris-theater-garden-theatre/)

So come on back Jesus And pick up John Wayne on the way (https://genius.com/Willie-nelson-come-on-back-jesus-lyrics)

This Simple White Line Is America's Greatest Unsung Innovation (https://www.wsj.com/business/white-line-road-invention-america-250-8ce6bb89)

Ridley: The most important thing to happen in 1776 (https://rationaloptimistsociety.substack.com/p/ridley-the-most-important-thing-to)

Oil Refineries Get the Headlines but Ukraine's Airfield Strikes May Hurt Russia More (https://www.wesodonnell.com/p/oil-refineries-get-the-headlines)

How the Country I Was Taught to Hate Saved My Life (https://www.thefp.com/p/how-the-country-i-was-taught-to-hate)

America's Next 250 (https://www.notboring.co/p/americas-next-250)

-Editor

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

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

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

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

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.