On Monday I got an email from a numismatic friend from my Pittsburgh days - Dr. Lawrence Korchnak. Larry is a fellow member of the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society, and he and his wife were in town for the week to visit with their grandchildren. He wondered if we could get together some evening. I said, "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

Tuesday was the regular dinner meeting of Nummis Nova, my Northern Virginia numismatic social group. As it happened we were meeting just a couple miles from Larry's son's house and he was able to join us. So when I walked into the Best of Thai restaurant in Fairfax, there was Larry already sharing conversation with the group.

Larry was seated next to our host Mike Packard, and I sat across from him. To my right was Roger Burdette. Other attendees were Eric Schena, Jon Radel, Joe Levine, Ron Abler, Tom Kays, Chris Neuzil, and Dave Schenkman.

Larry's specialty is siege coins. He has quite an impressive collection, and is a regular contributor to the Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins. He recently retired after 44 years as an educator, including stints as Superintendent of the Hampton and Baldwin-Whitehall school districts near Pittsburgh. He's looking forward to devoting time to completing the manuscript for a book on world siege coins based on his collection. He sent me a couple images. QUICK QUIZ: who can identify these coins?

He also mentioned a siege closer to home. Larry writes:

Larry's manuscript wasn't the only one discussed at the dinner. Roger showed us a draft of a book he's working on about the U.S. pattern and experimental coinage of WWII, and Eric Schena passed around a copy of a manuscript he's working on about the Ingle System scrip tokens.Dave Schenkman passed around a box full of salesman's samples of Ingle System tokens. Eric Schena had a 1-cent cardboard token from Harrisonburg, VA.

Eric writes:

I walked out to my car and dragged in a heavy box of items for the kids at the upcoming Annandale Coin show (July 28-29). Jon Radel and I looked thru it so we can get organized for the kids event. I'd picked it up from show organizer Wayne Herndon's wife Karin on my way to the restaurant.

Jon showed me a medal picturing a fisherman and a large fish. I had never seen it before and had no idea what it was. Jon kindly send me an image for The E-Sylum.I toyed with the idea of making it a quiz, but figured it was too hard. So here's the answer - the piece commemorates the second Cod War between Britain and Iceland. Now watch 15 E-Sylum readers say, "I knew that all along..."

When I got back to my seat I told Larry and Roger, "I know how I'm going to headline this in The E-Sylum - "Jon's Codpiece!".

Jon writes:

Larry Korchnak offered a link to a short history of the Cod Wars. Thanks!

To read the complete webpage, see:The Cod Wars(www.britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/CodWar.htm)

It was another fun and interesting night. Numismatists make great dinner companions.I'm already looking forward to our next meeting.