Nummis Nova
Tuesday night found me settling into a chair at Mon Ami Gabi restaurant in Reston for the January 2018 meeting of my Northern Virginia numismatic social group, Nummis Nova. Fancy place - check outthe bar. Wayne Herndon was our host.

I ended up sitting at the far end of the table between Dave Schenkman and Itay Tal, a world paper money dealer from Israel who was Wayne Herndon's guest. I enjoyed our conversation about hiseBay business, banknotes and my own collecting interests, including labor exchange notes.

Other attendees included Eric Schena, Steve Bishop, Roger Burdette, Julian Leidman, Mike Packard and Robert Hoppensteadt.

We didn't have a lot of exhibits this time, although Dave Schenkman passed around this nice 1872 World's Peace Jubilee medal in a large cracked slab. I'd never heard of this event,which celebrated the end of the Franco-Prussian War.

Dave adds:

New York International - Thursday
Thursday morning I pointed my car northward on I-95 on my way to the New York International coin show. Traffic was light and I even sailed through the Lincoln Tunnel. The streets of NewYork were a different story. After many long blocks of crawling and maneuvering I ended up in front of the Grand Hyatt on 42nd street (see lobby sculpture at right). A valet took my car and afterchecking in to my 21st floor room I took the elevator back down to the new location of the show, which had previously been staged at the Waldorf Astoria hotel a few blocks down the street.

The first person I recognized was literature dealer Charlie Davis who had a nice setup in the registration area. Next I spoke with Chris Karstadt of Stack's Bowers Galleries, then saw TonyTerranova on his way out of the bourse. When I stepped into the bourse floor I immediately ran into John Kraljevich. He only had a minute to chat but was already having a good show. Boy, youcan't swing a cat in here without hitting four top numismatists.

Here are some images of Charlie and his stock.

My first stop on the bourse was the Educational Coin Company table, where I purchased a few nice attributed ancient coins for our Annandale Coin Show kids' program.

Other people I encountered or chatted with included Shanna Schmidt and her mother Ellen, CoinsWeekly editor Ursula Kampmann of Germany, former American Numismatic Association officials JeffGarrett and John Wilson, and Peter Preston-Morley of Dix Noonan Webb of London.

Phil Mussell of Token Publishing in the UK was speaking on his phone when I arrived at his booth. While waiting I took out my wallet to place a receipt inside. Phil finished his conversation justas I was putting my wallet back in my pocket and protested: "You can't put your wallet away - you've gotten me all excited about making a sale!" We had a good laugh and I did indeedmake a purchase, but had to ask him to hold my books until I'd replenished my cash supply. I picked them up on Friday.

The ANS Gala
Back in my room I worked a bit on The E-Sylum, then put on my suit, tie and overcoat for a walk over to the Harvard Club of New York, where I would be attending the AmericanNumismatic Society Gala. Here's a shot of the outside of the building.

I was about 20 minutes early and so was John Lupia. We chatted a bit and John directed me to the coat check before we made our way upstairs for the reception. There I mingled, met and spoke with avery wide cross-section of today's numismatists, including Clifford Mishler, Vicken Yegparian of Stack's Bowers, Bruce Walker of A-Mark, Aaron Berk, Dan and Connie Hamelberg, George Kolbe andDavid Fanning, David Hendin and Mary Lannin.

After stuffing my face with countless hors d'oeuvres served by a large waitstaff, some 180 attendees next wended their way back downstairs to the main dining room.

There I spoke with Jeff Garrett, John and Regina Adams, and several others. I was seated at table #11 between retired ANS Librarian Frank Campbell and David Fanning. Others at my tableincluded George Kolbe, Barry Tayman, Len Augsburger, and his wife Debra Kurtz.

The Gala was in honor of the Rosen Family, and the tributes were effusive and touching. Andrew Reinhard gave an entertaining review of the year's event's at ANS, and a rousing auctionraised additional funds for the organization.

After a wonderful dinner and program I mingled anew, speaking with another great group of folks including Jay Galst, Syd Martin, Ray Williams, Chris Salmon, Mark Anderson. and Mark Tomasko.

I don't think I made it back to the hotel until 11pm. It had been a long day, but it was quite a memorable day of numismatic fellowship.

The Newman Portal Breakfast Summit
Friday morning brought more rain, and I hoisted my umbrella while making my trek several blocks away to The Smith restaurant on 2nd Avenue. There I met Newman Numismatic Portal Project CoordinatorLen Augsburger and for a couple hours we discussed NNP plans and ideas for 2018 and beyond.

Back at my hotel I worked on The E-Sylum some more before heading back into the show.

New York International - Friday
Stepping out of the elevator I was motioned over by Ursula Kampmann of CoinsWeekly, and we had a nice chat at her secluded table. Along came Charles Morgan and Mike Markowitz ofCoinWeek and we had a friendly mini-summit of online numismatic publishers.

Afterwards Charles, Mike and I found a secluded corner and soon I was being live stream interviewed on Facebook! I think it worked out well, and you can view the CoinWeek video here:
https://www.facebook.com/CoinWeek/videos/10156121354944106/

Kolbe-Fanning Lot Viewing
Next I was off to find the lot viewing room for the Kolbe-Fanning numismatic literature sale. Just outside the room I recognized numismatic literature dealer Douglas Saville from Reading, England. Wehad a nice hallway chat and later spoke again in the room, where there was a steady stream of bidders. I also spoke briefly with Dan Hamelberg and Maria Fanning. Here are some pictures I took.

The Kolbe-Fanning crew had already ordered lunch from the nearby Bloom's deli. So I went out and had a sandwich there. Check out the pickles. Back at the show I visited the ANS tablewhere I spoke with Andrew Reinhard and Bob Leonard. Next I ran into Maureen and Stu Levine at Paul Bosco's table.

Others I spoke to next included Ron Gillio, David Lisot, Tony Terranova, and Kyle Ponterio.

Dinner with CoinWeek
After heading back to my room to work a bit on email and download my pictures, I met Charles Morgan, Mike Markowitz, and Jeff Garrett at the show. Jeff was catching a flight home, but Charles, Mikeand I went out in search of a restaurant for dinner. We found Patsy's, an Italian place a few blocks away. We had a leisurely dinner with topics all over the map from numismatic publishing toPresidential politics.

Back at the hotel I worked another couple hours and called it a night. By about 9am Saturday I was back in my car scooting out through the Lincoln Tunnel. I made it home by lunchtime and thatnight went to my son's Senior Class Play with my wife and daughter.

It had been another whirlwind numismatic trip, but it was quite satisfying. So many great people! Many thanks to everyone I met - the pleasure was all mine.