WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12
My travel to Chicago was thankfully uneventful. My flight arrived a little early and soon I was on a shuttle to the Rosemont Hilton. It was about 9:30 am, too early to check in, so I checked my bag and walked across the street to the convention center.

Exhibits
I stopped at the ANA booth and picked up my Glenn Smedley ribbon, then sat at a nearby table to assemble my badge. Next I spotted a doorway with a security guard that looked like it led to the bourse, and went inside. It turned out to be the exhibit area.

No problem - I had time and ended up looking at nearly every exhibit. I was most pleased to see FOUR exhibits in the numismatic literature category. I took some photos and we'll have more on these in future issues. Titles included:

While looking at the exhibits I ran into Fred Schwan, Bryce Doxson, and Paul Hybert. I also spotted ANA Board member Ralph Ross. As much as I loved the literature exhibits, I broke into a smile when I saw one titled, "Collecting Twentieth Century Coins in the 1940s" The cases were filled with coins and their companying envelopes from Tatham Stamp & Coin Company of Springfield, Mass. They were before my time, but I fondly remember receiving coins on approval from Littleton Stamp & Coin in my preteen years. That must be what triggered my reaction. I filled out my Rodger E. Hershey People's Choice Award ballot to vote for the exhibit. I knew Rodger from my Pittsburgh days, and thought he would have been pleased with the exhibit as well.

I found many quality exhibits featuring rare and interesting material. Perhaps I'll write about some in another article. But I felt my trip had already been worth it.

Whitman
Eventually I found the main bourse floor. As I approached the Whitman booth I spotted none other than Red Book editor Ken Bressett signing a book for a customer. Soon I was talking with both Ken and Whitman's Dennis Tucker. Dennis introduced me to Littleton Public Relations Manager Jill Kimball and Whitman's senior associate editor Caitlyn Trautwein.

When someone asked what exhibits I'd seen, I told everyone about the "Collecting in the 1940s" exhibit I'd enjoyed so much. And wouldn't you know it - Ken Bressett told us he'd once worked for the Tatham Coin Company attributing ancient coins - he'd typed up descriptions on Tatham envelopes! And Jill told us that Maynard Sundman had modeled the Littleton company after the mail order format of Tatham. Those little envelopes have had impact down to the present day.

Sundman Lecture Luncheon
Next Dennis, Caitlyn, Ken and I wandered upstairs to join the Maynard Sundman Lecture Series Luncheon. Also at our table were Ted Lemba, David Sundman, Jill, David Lisot and Ken. I ended up sitting between Caitlyn and former ANA President Gary Lewis. Here's a shot Dennis took of our table. Not shown are me, Gary Lewis and (of course) Dennis. That's Caitlyn in the foreground bottom right.

The food was quite good for hotel fare. Afterwards David got up and gave a short talk on the history of the lecture series, and thanked all the speakers and organizers. He also mentioned the Tatham Stamp & Coin connection.

To read Dennis' complete articles, see:
2015 ANA World's Fair of Money: Tuesday, August 11-Greenbacks, Red Books, and Lots of Silver (news.coinupdate.com/2015-ana-worlds-fair-of-money-tuesday-august-11-greenbacks-red-books-and-lots-of-silver/)
2015 ANA World's Fair of Money: Wednesday, August 12-Barbers and Beards: A Match Made at the ANA (http://news.coinupdate.com/2015-ana-worlds-fair-of-money-wednesday-august-12-barbers-and-beards-a-match-made-at-the-ana/)

PAN
Back down on the bourse floor I sought out the John Burns Memorial Library. Next door my old Pittsburgh friend Ed Krivoniak was manning the Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists table, and I sat down for a chat. Ed's a longtime collector of New Zealand tokens, and he's been adding some high grade pieces to his collection lately, duking it out in auctions with collectors in New Zealand. He's also nearly completed a very impressive birth year set - 1949. Several pieces, particularly gold issues of that year have proved very hard to find.

When Ed asked about my recent collecting purchases, I told him about my Carnegie Hero Medals and Labor Exchange currencies. Coincidentally, later in the week the Wall Street Journal had an article about alternative currencies currently being used in Greece, and a labor exchange scheme was mentioned. See the article later in this E-Sylum issue.

Examples of the new medal for Pope Francis' U.S. visit were for sale at the PAN table. It's a beautiful medal.

Later I spotted someone using the Burns Library to look up some information. I interrupted him for a chat. David Consolo of Cleveland, OH was attributing some Hard Times Tokens using the Rulau book.

Some authors had donated copies of their books earlier in the day. Pat McBride sent this photo of Denis Loring donating an EAC Grading Guide.

The Rittenhouse Table

Joel Orosz and Len Augsburger were manning their "All Things Rittenhouse" table. The material was interesting, as was the company. Bob Julian was already there when I arrived, and later Paul Hybert stopped by.

Other folks I chatted with included Andrew Harkness, Ken and Tom Hallenbeck, and Phil Carrigan. Andrew showed me the 3rd edition of his book on Agricultural medals. Although I stepped on my foot initially by calling Ken Tom and Tom Ken, I had a great conversation with the Hallenbecks and learned something very interesting - among Ken's collections is a knife owned by the infamous Alfred Packer (you can look it up).

Jeff Starck and Numismatic Mentors
I went back to check into my hotel for a while and returned about 4 o'clock to meet with Jeff Starck of Coin World. He'd read my mention of the need for a "bridge" organization for numismatists who feel they're too old for Young Numismatist programs but would still like to learn from more experienced numismatists. Jeff mentioned a program from the American Philatelic Association.

I had given it some thought and decided that what these youngsters need more than another program is a mentor - someone who will take them under their wing and show them the ropes one-on-one. My first numismatic mentor was Glenn Mooney of Pittsburgh, followed by a host of great gentlemen (and ladies) of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society. Ask any advanced collector or dealer in the hobby today, and I'll bet all of them have a story about a mentor who helped them along - role models to emulate. Readers: for our next E-Sylum issue, please send me stories about your own numismatic mentor.

Dinner
Soon a group of bibliophiles gathered. There were eight of us: me, Joel Orosz, Len and Debbie Augsburger, David Fanning, George Kolbe, John and Megan Kraljevich. Joel had rented a big white limo, and we all piled in for a long ride to downtown Chicago.

The driver left us out in front of the restaurant. We descended steps to a private basement dining room. The food, wine, and of course the company were grand. There were jokes and stories running the gamut from hobby gossip, show experiences, research projects and great Internet bargains.

Howard Berlin
I'd planned to have a drink with Numismatourist Howard Berlin at the Hyatt. Luckily the trip back from downtown was faster sans rush hour traffic and I got there about 9:45. Having had red wine all evening at dinner, I ordered one more.

We had a good conversation about past and future trips, the show, and mutual friends like Jules Reiver. A resident of Wilmington, DE, Howard lived close to Jules. We exchanged stories of our various visits to the Reiver household to shoot pool and talk numismatics. But after one drink it was time to call it a night.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13
Thursday was my big day. I was so busy I didn't even take photos. Sorry!

10am: Numismatic Literary Guild Symposium
"The Internet's Impact on Numismatic Journalism"
Moderated by Charles Morgan of CoinWeek.com

David Lisot, Steve Roach, Ron Guth, Dave Harper and I were lined up to answer questions on the topic from Charles Morgan and the audience. The event was very well attended and filmed by David Lisot. I'll look forward to watching it on Coin Week.

I'm not sure we came up with any definitive answers on the future of numismatic journalism, but we indeed explored the Internet's impact. I illustrated the difference by recalling my visit to Coin World, where Beth Deisher showed me the CW printing press. It was a behemoth - a couple stories high and half a city block long. That's a huge capital investment, and that's not even counting the cost of paper, ink and pressmen to run it (or postage to ship the physical copies to readers).

When I started The E-Sylum, it was just little ol' me and a laptop, and my expenses were essentially zero. That's a monumental change in the economics of the business.

11:30 am: NBS Symposium, Room 22
"The Newman Numismatic Portal".

The main event for the convention for me and many others interested in numismatic research was our presentation on the Newman Numismatic Portal. The event was packed - standing room only. David Lisot also filmed this one, so those who couldn't be there will have a chance to view it online at some point.

Len Augsburger started off with a presentation on the goals and current state of the project. John Feigenbaum went next with a presentation on the software interface. Finally, I got up to discuss the current state and end goals for automation of the acquisition of new data.

Len described the NNP's relationship with Internet Archive, the nonprofit organization handling digitization. There's a press release in the works from Washington University in St Louis (WUSTL), where scanning is already underway for Eric Newman's library and other numismatic books.

Len described Internet Archive as the warehouse, the back end where the hard work is being done to digitize content and create appropriate database entries for each item. The NNP web site will be the storefront, the place where researchers will go to access the digitized content.

But a window into the warehouse is already publicly available at Internet Archive, and I promised to publish the address. Readers are encouraged to return to this page frequently, because new titles are constantly being added by the worker bees at WUSTL. Here's just one peek:

To access the complete NNP "warehouse: at the Internet Archive, see:
https://archive.org/details/newmannumismatic

1:00: NBS Board Meeting, Room 24
Look for more information on NBS Board actions in future issues of both our print and electronic publications. Two items I'd like to highlight though: there will be no due increase next year, and work will begin to revise the NBS web site. We will be asking for financial assistance to help with the cost. Me, Bruce Perdue, John Nebel and Elizabeth Benge will donate our time, but we need to hire a user experience designer, which could cost $2,000-$2,500. Donors will be given an ad on the site; please contact me if you're interested in helping out.

Why is this important? Google has announced a change in its search result ranking - web sites which are not mobile-friendly will be downgraded in favor of those which are. If we intend to stay relevant in today's tablet and SmartPhone environment, we have to keep up with the changes.

Fred Weinberg
Back down on the bourse floor I met Fred Weinberg at his table, where he enthused about The E-Sylum. I heard from Fred what I heard from many people throughout the convention - it's their best (and often only) numismatic read of the week.

When I told Fred about our programs for Young Numismatists in Virginia, he began offering error coin after error coin from his bargain box. I left with a bag full of great error examples for our future events. These are a great way to teach newcomers about the mechanics of minting coins.

3:00 pm: John Burns Memorial Library Dedication: Booth 1959

I was running behind and had to rush over to the club aisle for the dedication of the John Burns Memorial Library. Sam Deep was presiding. It's a good think he brought a portable microphone - some fifty people jammed the aisle and nearby booths. Numismatic literature dealer John Burns had a lot of friends in the hobby. Sam, Pat McBride, myself and others all said a few words.

Sam related how he'd run into Kerry Wetterstrom at the airport, and Kerry had said he wasn't sure John would like the idea of a free library in his name. Sam asked why, and Kerry repeated one of John's favorite phrases when a browser had browsed too long in his numismatic literature sales booth - "This ain't no library!"

Larry Korchnak admitted to his own ruse to get access to John's books without being harangued to make a purchase. When John asked him to get him something from the concession stand, he said, "Why don't you take a break and get it your self - I'll watch your booth for you." John always took his time returning, leaving Larry plenty of time to browse and read.

John's book business was what you might call a "lifestyle business". It enabled him to be right where he always wanted to be, there on the bourse floor of coin conventions, meeting and talking with his numismatic friends. John was at home at the shows, and his library will continue that tradition. Sam deep told me afterwards that several people chipped in to help fund the transportation of the library to other coin shows. Please consider pitching in and making a donation, too - see the PAN web site for more information: www.pancoins.oeg.

4pm: (Money Talks, Room 6) Ed Moy, "Inside the US. Mint"
Former Mint Director Ed Moy gave a great talk about his five-year tenure at the Mint. It was a great view into the busy schedule, hard work, and tough decisions involved. Afterward Ed and I walked over to the Hilton and found seats at a table in the lobby bar. We got caught up on our personal lives and work projects. Ed has begun working on a new series of books with Whitman Publishing, so stay tuned.

I had a relaxing evening Thursday. I walked a couple blocks past the Hilton to a shopping and restaurant area that was already packed to an evening concert. People were bringing in folding chairs. I had a tasty dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then headed back to my room for a little E-Sylum work before bed. After dark I heard the loud booms of fireworks and wished I had stayed at the park to see them. They weren't visible from my room.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14
Friday morning was like a Saturday for me, where my normal routine is to get up early and work on The E-Sylum a bit before the day starts. I had breakfast when the hotel restaurant opened at 7 and spent the next couple hours on my computer.

It's a good thing I called Len Augsburger to ask him to lunch. I'd printed out last week's pre-diary article to use as my schedule, and I had a typo in the time of the NBS General Meeting - 1:30, not the proper time of 11:30. Sorry if anyone else relied on that. We agreed to have lunch after the meeting and I hustled over to the show earlier than planned.

One of the first folks I ran into was Allan Schein of Salt Lake City. He told me I'd won an award at Thursday night's NLG Bash, and he'd accepted it for me. I made arrangements to meet him at breakfast Friday to pick it up.

Allan won an award too, for his book, Mexican Beauty: Un Peso Caballito. Allan sports a mean mustache. He lamented that people rarely said anymore, "Hey, you look like Tom Selleck". Now they more often say, "Hey, you look like Wilford Brimley". His contribution to the evening's entertainment was his rendition of "The Grades They Are A Changing" to the tune of Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changing".

I'm an NLG member and was sorry to miss the Bash, but with a long dinner event Wednesday and the Banquet Friday, I needed a break to get some work done. People often ask how I manage to get The E-Sylum out each week. Well, I have to work at it, usually in short bursts in between the rest of my life.

John Dannreuther

My next stop was John Dannreuther's table. After chatting about The E-Sylum a bit, he pulled out a photocopied book that made my jaw drop. The cover is hand labeled "Mint Cabinet Accounts". The title (also handwritten) is "Account of Expenditures for the Mint Cabinet from the Special Appropriation for specimens of Ores and Coins to be reserved at the Mint, also of Donations to the collection and Sundry Records". The ledger is the record of acquisitions for the U.S. Mint coin collection, now part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian.

Long known to exist, the ledger was consulted by Walter Breen and others, but had been lost for twenty some years. John feared it had been stolen. He had asked a succession of Smithsonian staff including the late Dick Doty, but none were able to locate it. Until Ellen Feingold arrived. Ever persistent, he asked her about the ledger shortly after she arrived in the position. After a diligent search through the regular book stacks (everyone had been looking in the rare book section), she came across it wedged between and behind two other books. Eureka! Bless her for relocating this Holy Grail of American numismatic research. Inside are the keys to many a researcher's questions.

Bill Shamhart
My beeline to the Smithsonian table was interrupted by a stop at the Numismatic Americana table of Bill Shamhart. His eclectic and unusual stock of offbeat numismatic items is a perfect match for E-Sylum reader tastes. I couldn't sell him on taking an ad since he does most of his business at shows and with longtime clients rather than over the web. But oh, the stuff he had!

My attention was drawn to a group of molds for casting lead counterfeits of U.S. coins. He also had a large selection of counterfeit Buffalo Nickels and three-cent pieces. I'd never seen counterfeits of either, and here were a dozen of each. Steve Tompkins came by to drool (he'd love to buy one of the mold but hasn't been able to agree with Bill on a price). He showed me a copy of his new book (which looks marvelous) Early United States Half Dollars, Volume I 1794-1807. It illustrates quite a few counterfeits.

Dr. Ellen Feingold
Next I visited the Smithsonian table and met Ellen Feingold. Here's her profile photo from the museum site. We talked about the newexhibit and her catalog, which will be published soon. I also signed her up as an E-Sylum subscriber.

11:30 am: NBS General Meeting, Room 5
I was a couple minutes late arriving at the NBS General meeting. President Marc Ricard was in the middle of presenting the 5th George Frederick Kolbe award medal. This wasn't on the agenda and came as a surprise. It was an even biggest surprise when he said it was awarded to me!

This is a huge honor and I'm very grateful. The medal, which comes in a nice wooden box, was designed by Marc and his father and was struck by the Northwest Territorial Mint. These are some cellphone photos with a little glare; it's a wonderful piece. Thank you, NBS!

The main event was a talk by Dr. Donald Kagin about his new book, Profit from Gold and Rare Coins Now<