Last Friday (March 1, 2019) I left work early and headed north toward Baltimore for the Whitman Baltimore Coin Expo. I arrived on the bourse floor about 3pm and found len Augsburger at the Seated Fest II table. We had plans to meet for dinner later. I had invited David Sundman of Littleton Coin and Len invited young numismatist Garrett Ziss and his parents. I had some time to kill and walked around the show visiting with friends old and new.

Charles Davis
First I visited numismatic literature dealer Charlie Davis. Already there was NBS Past President Michael J. Sullivan. We talked about his great consignment of paper money numismatic literature in that evening's Stack's Bowers sale. See the article in last week's issue for more information.

Later Charlie showed me a photo from the 1981 New Orleans ANA convention which included Jim King and Ann King, Arthur Fitts, Dick Margolis, and Charlie Wallace. Thanks!

Craig Sholley
While hanging out at Charlie's table Craig Sholley and his wife Bonnie came by. Craig showed me an electrotype of the Jefferson Head cent made from the piece in the American Numismatic Society collection. Beautiful piece.

Craig also had with him the only known striking from the Newman-107 obverse Fugio die, a double-struck die trial over a 1798 DB cent.

Craig adds:

As chance would have it, another nice electrotype walked up in the hand of Alan Weinberg. It was a holed Washington skull & crossbones funeral medal.

Northeast Numismatics
Tom Caldwell and Chris Clements of Northeast Numismatics had some time to spare and we talked for a good while. They didn't have their newly acquired Don Lutes discovery specimen of the 1943 copper cent with them, but they will display it at at the upcoming Bay State show in Marlboro, Massachusetts.

I looked through their stock and asked about the "Ghost" Oak Tree Shilling. They explained that the variety is so named because of the shallow relief and thin, spindly nature of the tree. Great piece. Here's my photo of it in their case, followed by shots from their web site.

To view the coin on the Northeast web site, see:
https://www.northeastcoin.com/popupcontainer.jsp?include=vi&itemKey=zi01_471120708

Stephen Album Rare Coins

I also stopped by the table of Stephen Album Rare Coins and spoke to Mike Barry. I looked at a number of pieces but what most caught my eye was this Balloon School medal.

John Kraljevich
I probably spent more time at the table of John Kraljevich than anywhere else. We mostly discussed the Newman Numismatic Portal (and how to make finding information easier) and the emancipation dog tags illustrated in the last E-Sylum. These are fascinating pieces.

Jon Sullivan Error Coins
In recent issues I've illustrated some great error coins from the stock of dealer Jon Sullivan of John's Island, SC. I had never met him so I introduced myself at his table and we had a nice conversation.

While discussing The E-Sylum Jon suggested a neat coin he recently acquired. It appears to be a U.S. Large cent struck over what could be a Canadian coin or token. He didn't have the piece with him but provided these images for publication. What do people think of this?

Jon adds:

The 1870-S Half Dime
At the Seated Fest II tables I asked to look at the 1870-S Half Dime. As it happened, the owner of the piece was there and he got it out of the case for me. I was curious to get an in-person look at the mintmark, which looked like a blob in the publicity images I'd seen.

Yep. It's a blob. The owner agreed.

Dinner With Garrett Ziss
I later mentioned the piece to Garrett Ziss. He agreed as well, and may have invented a new word - "Yes, it's really blobular."

Around 6 I met up with my dinner party - Len, David, Garrett and his parents. Len had made a reservation at Sullivan's. We walked over in the rain but were quickly seated at a nice table. Dave ordered some wine. The meals were excellent and exceeded only by the fine conversation.

Topics included German beer steins, the Wilmington Coin Club, Jules and Iona Reiver, the Bust Nut Half Club, travel, Dave's Massachusetts silver collection, the ANA Summer Seminar, 1794 dollars (real and fake), the Invasion of Louisville, John Ford, the Nova Constellatio pattern set, the American Journal of Numismatics and much more. It was a very enjoyable evening of numismatic fellowship.

Dave walked with me back to my car (it was still raining!) and I gave him a ride over to his hotel, the Marriott. I had an hour's drive to get home but I didn't mind at all. What a great night.

NEXT UP: On Tuesday I have the regular dinner meeting of Nummis Nova, my Northern Virginia numismatic social group. If any readers are in town and would like to join us, let me know.

And later this month I'll be in Pittsburgh for the ANA's National Money Show. I'm attending the Welcome Banquet Wednesday night. If you'll be there and would like to share my table, let me know. It should be a fun night in a great venue.

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
SEATED FEST II BALTIMORE 2019 (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n08a16.html)
RESULTS FROM THE STACKS-BOWERS SULLIVAN SALE (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n09a03.html)
ANOTHER EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION DOG TAG (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n08a11.html)