Tuesday May 9, 2017 I left work and headed over to Alexandria for the monthly dinner meeting of my northern Virginia numismatic social group Nummis Nova. Aaron Packard was our host at Southside815, a cozy bar and restaurant on South Washington Street (guess the address).

I was the first to arrive but had only just gotten settled in my chair when Dave Schenkman, Gene Brandenburg and Eric Schena walked in. I'd been debating whether to have beer or winewith my Red Beans and Rice, but Gene helped me decide. We agreed that we couldn't resist ordering the wine from, of all places, Idaho. The Sawtooth Estate Winery product was so good we got asecond bottle.

Idaho being a great place for fishing, check out the decoration on the cork, which was a great foil for puns. Gene said the wine had "a certain allure".

For more information on Sawtooth Estate Winery, see:
http://sawtoothwinery.com/

Tom Kays sat next to me. See below for his writeup. I spoke with our host Aaron Packard for a bit. Unfortunately, he had to catch a train to New York for a business meeting and couldn't stayfor the whole evening.

Here are some of the numismatic items being passed around.

Young America Furnace Company Notes
Dave Schenkman passed around an interesting group of three rare obsolete notes. He writes:

Eric Schena suggested finding a paper/book conservator who may have the proper archival treatments to remove the adhesive. Would anyone have other suggestions for safely separating these notesfrom the paper? They are only affixed by a small strip at the top.

Latvian Banknotes
My only display item was a copy of Lee Gordon's new book on Latvian Banknotes. An obscure subject to be sure, but we were all impressed by the quality of production and the greatcolor photos of many beautiful banknotes. Thanks to Lee for providing these images.

Refering to the third note, Lee proudly adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: LATVIAN BANKNOTES (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n18a03.html)

Photo Gallery
Here are some of the photos I took of the event. First, a group shot from my end of the table. Clockwise from left: Eric Schena, Steve Bishop, Roger Burdette (behind Steve), Dave Schenkman; Far end:Julian Leidman; then Mike Packard, Lenny Goldberg and Tom Kays, reviewing a copy of Roger's new book on U.S. Proof coins.

Gene loves his wine. He even has some to call his own. Joe Esposito writes:

Joe adds:

We all marvelled at how good the food was, particularly at such an unassuming-looking place. We've been there a few times now, and it's always been good. Eric adds:

I didn't leave until after 9. Another great night of numismatic fellowship. I'm already looking forward to June.