ABOUT THIS ISSUE: AUGUST 16, 2026

In numismatics this week, I visited Spinks.

Actually, that was a grave marker I came across walking near the Union Cemetery (founded 1851) in Leesburg, VA.

Walking around town on a different day I saw this old bank building.

Loudoun National Bank

Across the street is the Loudoun County Courthouse, the third built on the site. The Declaration of Independence was read from the steps of the first courthouse on August 12, 1776. Lafayette visited in 1825.

Loudoun County Courthouse historical marker

Back to the cemetery theme, I also walked past this great vintage Packard hearse in the parking lot of a local funeral home.

One day at lunch my tab came to $13.76. I offered the young man at the cash register a twenty and a penny "if that's not too confusing..." He accepted and did the right thing by entering my payment as $20.01. My change was computed as $6.25. The cashier smiled in awe and asked, "How did you do that math in your head so fast??" I just said, "I'm old - I've had a lot of practice."

Aside from my E-Sylum work, other numismatic endeavors included more ANA convention planning, purchasing some more Virginia obsolete paper money, and putting a newly-acquired numismatic ephemera rarity in archival sleeves, setting everything aside for next week's Nummis Nova meeting.

On Friday I put on my big boy pants (jeans) to have lunch with some former work colleagues at a Thai restaurant in Chantilly. I've been wearing shorts and T-shirts every day since retiring. It was fun to catch up and discuss current events. With cooler temperatures and rain, today was another jeans day.

Here are some interesting non-numismatic articles I came across this week.

Over 200 gold Mozart statues stolen in "organized theft" all over city in a month (https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/over-200-gold-mozart-statues-stolen-in-organized-theft-all-over-city-in-a-month-3398284/)

Two Billy Goats Boarded a Bus in Portland. They Did Not Have Passes. (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/us/goats-bus-portland-oregon.html)

There Are Over 1 Million N.Y.C. Street Signs. Here's How They Are Made. (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/15/nyregion/nyc-street-sign-shop.html)

Why Is a Piece of Paper 8.5 by 11 Inches? (https://historyfacts.com/arts-culture/article/why-is-paper-8-5-by-11-inches/)

The Old English Letter That Still Exists in Our Most Common Word (https://wordsmarts.com/old-english-thorn/)

The Lost Pearls of New York City (https://hyperallergic.com/the-lost-pearls-of-new-york-city/)

The Most Iconic Brand Logos of All Time (https://historyfacts.com/arts-culture/article/iconic-brand-logos/)

5 of the Oldest Companies Still in Business (https://historyfacts.com/science-industry/article/oldest-companies-in-business/)

Architect Roberto Giacomucci Treats Every Material as a Living Substance With Its Own Inner Nature (https://designyoutrust.com/2026/08/architect-roberto-giacomucci-treats-every-material-as-a-living-substance-with-its-own-inner-nature/)

-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.