WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2023

Wednesday morning I woke up at 4am and after tossing and turning for a bit briefly considered getting up and working for a while. It was not to be - I finally slept and didn't get up until nearly 9am. After breakfast and a shower I worked on The E-Sylum for a bit before heading over to the show.

Ursula Kaupmann of CoinsWeekly in Germany was the first person I spoke to on Wednesday. It was great to see her, but I was sorry to hear her colleague had difficulty flying in from Switzerland and wouldn't be able to make the show. He was bringing most of the material for their booth, which stood empty. Ursula was awaiting a shipment of booklets which did arrive and later decorated their table.

Next I visited the Künker table, where I got to meet Ulrich Künker and thank him for the firm's sponsorship of NBS via their banner atop The E-Sylum and ads on the NBS website. They were displaying highlights from their upcoming summer sales.

Over at the NBS table Len Augsburger was leading a bookbinding lesson.

My goal was to visit with our E-Sylum sponsors. As usual at shows, oftentimes they were busy with customers. I spotted Ron Gillio and Larry Korchnak among the crowd at the Stephen Album Rare Coins table.

I enjoyed viewing the scaled-down copy of the St. Gaudens Victory statue. Even at the smaller scale it remains quite impressive. I got down on a knee to photograph it from below, as pedestrians view the original on its pedestal in New York City. The photographs in the earlier press release didn't do the work justice. Without a background showing some perspective, the statue looked dinky.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MINT ARTIST SAINT-GAUDENS VICTORY PRINTS(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n31a24.html)

I caught up with John Kraljevich at his table, where I also spoke for a bit with David Menchell. On display was artwork for a 1757 medal trumpeting French settlements in North America - PARAT ULTIMA TERRA TRIUMPHOS (The remotest land prepares triumphs).

I was pleased to hold in my hand one of the highlights of the upcoming MDC Monaco sale.

Next I visited the American Numismatic Society table where ANA Executive Director Kim Kiick was visiting with Ute Wartenberg-Kagan and ANS Executive Director Gilles Bransbourg.

Taking a break for lunch I was dismayed to see that the food vendor at the COIN convention turned their nose up at accepting cash. I'm no cash curmugeon, but that and the long line led me to head outside for lunch. I'm glad I did. Just a block away I discovered a great taco place that captured my lunch business for three days in a row.

This coin-themed mural near the restaurant caught my eye, and figured in a later conversation with Bob Leonard about the use of nails as money in colonial America.

At the Daniel Frank Sedwick table I learned about a new book:The Charles & Joanna Silver Coinage of Santo Domingo, 1542-1552: A study by Cori Sedwick Downing and Isaac Rudman. Here Augi Garcia and Dan Sedwick are having a look.

For more information, or to order, see:
https://www.sedwickcoins.com/books.htm

I had a nice conversation with Dave Wnuck about "Money Artist" J.S.G. Boggs and other topics at the table he shared with Bob Rhue. Bob displayed a great ANA "railroad" convention badge and a complete "Coins of the Golden West" fractional souvenir gold set.

Along my travels I also spoke withMark Borchardt of Heritage,Chris Karstedt of Stack's Bowers Galleries,David Tripp of Sotheby's, Shanna Schmidt, Jeff Rock, Lianna and Sharon Spurrier,Jeff Shevlin and many others.

Mid-afternoon I led a walking tour of downtown Pittsburgh with Garrett Ziss, Kellen Hoard and NBS treasurerJeff Dickerson. See the article elsewhere in this issue for photos.

By evening I was tired and limping a bit from all the day's walking. I grabbed dinner at a nearby restaurant and on my way back I snapped this shot of a classic old Heinz ketchup sign mounted atop the Senator John Heinz History Center. It's animated, and the tipped bottle pours red ketchup to fill the letters of the Heinz logo.