On Tuesday May 21, 2024 I left work and made a detour on my way home. My destination was Not Your Average Joe's restaurant in Reston for the monthly dinner meeting of my Northern Virginia numismatic social group Nummis Nova. I was early and found Dave Schenkman and Eric Schena seated at a corner of the spacious bar. I took a seat next to them just as we were joined by Wayne Herndon and his guest, dealer Evan Saltis from Auburn, Maine.

Lorne LaVertu joined the bar crowd next but soon it was time to head to our table where our host Chris Neuzil was waiting with some of the others. Rounding out the night's attendees were Roger Burdette, Steve Bishop, Jon Radel, Mike Packard, Tom Kays and Julian Leidman. Tom Kays starts us off with this overview of the evening.

Tom Kays Nummis Nova Notes for May 2024

Nummis Nova dines again! We convened at Not Your Average Joes, an American cuisine restaurant renowned for barbeque meatloaf, in beautiful Reston, Virginia. Here from Dave's anti-clockwise perspective, around the dog-bone shaped table are Dave, Roger, Mike, Chris, Lorne, Evan Saltis (Guest from Maine) Wayne, Steve, Wayne, Jon, Julian, and Eric with Tom behind the camera.

Another picture from the far end of the table shows both Waynes' in conversation with Evan, our guest, and just how far removed one end of the table discussion might be from the other. At this, the less mature end of the table, we discussed numismatic tattoos (Evan boasts a fine capped bust half dollar reverse eagle 'tat' on his shoulder) which I vote was the highlight of all the 'show and tells' brought that night. Who else has a numismatic tattoo?

E-Sylum Mystery #1 - This monster-sized plaque believed to be General Washington took the prize for largest/heaviest medal ever brought to a Nummis Nova dinner. Acquired at an estate sale back in the prior century by a local historian in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, the story is that these were placed on houses to officially mark where George Washington slept. It has no foundry or makers marks of any kind, posing a mystery for E-Sylum readers to solve. It is slightly over a foot tall, ten inches wide, has a silvered brass finish over thick and solid cast brass, and weighs a hefty fifteen pounds. A tiny slot in back allows it to hang from a single masonry nail.

E-Sylum Mystery #2 - This scrap of scrip with an ink stamp of a tumbler / bottle reads The reverse is a bit unclear. Note that an American victory that helped end the war with Britain was fought in the Battle of Plattsburgh, on Lake Champlain in September 1814, involving a large British invasion force set on capturing upper New York, thwarted by Master Commodore Thomas MacDonough's squadron and Brigadier General Alexander Macomb's land forces. By December 1814, fighting continued in the South, but war in the North was at an end. Local victory celebrations were likely in full swing.

Aside from these two fabulous mysteries, also seen at dinner were more mainstream and identified numismatic treasures including:

Other numismatic wonders and awards floated by, but I failed to capture information on them all, as usually happens on busy nights when everyone wants to participate in the din at dinner, talking simultaneously at each side of the table about the significance of new acquisitions, events, and news of the past month. We didn't even get to talk about impressions of the recent Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists show with so much other news to share. One dinner a month seems not long enough to share the collective enthusiasm of this group. Throw in a guest or two and every dinner is grand opportunity to learn and share the joy of coin collecting anew.

Numismatic Tattoos
Thanks, Tom. Evan shared this photo of his tattoo when it was still fresh.Great work! We don't require tattoos, brands or bloodletting for Nummis Nova membership, but this level of devotion to numismatics is rare. Evan's a true bird of our feather.

We've discussed numismatic tattoos before, and here are a few.

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
CANADIAN NICKEL COIN TATTOO(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n26a30.html)
IRAQ VET TATTOOS VICTORIA CROSS MEDAL ON HIS BACK(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n23a31.html)
'In Woman We Trust' Tattoo : 'In Woman We Trust' Tattoo(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n03a25.html)

Numismatic Literature
As noted last month, even though I've consigned the bulk of my numismatic library for sale, I just couldn't resist and have been lured back to accumulating interesting numismatic ephemera. Here are my latest acquisitions.

The first item is a 1994 program for the presentation ceremony of the 79th NAACP Spingarn Medal. It was presented to writer Maya Angelou by Oprah Winfrey.

The second item is a pamphlet I'd never seen before, an 1898 publication by M. W. Hanchett proposing a series of designs for U.S. coins, purchased from Bryce Brown. It was accompanied by a paper by R. H Williamson discussing Hanchett and his proposal.

Lorne and Tom brought along copies of two recently published books, and both were impressive in person - the new edition of Friedberg's Gold Coins of the World weighs in at 852 pages!

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW BOOK: GOLD COINS OF THE WORLD, 10TH ED(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n51a03.html)
BOOK REVIEW: AMERICAN MILITARY BUTTONS(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n20a05.html)

Steve's Beauties
Steve Bishop passed along these photos of coins he brought along. Thanks - some classic U.S. coins.

Wrapping Up
As the night wrapped up Dave Schenkman came up to my end of the table and we spoke a bit with Wayne Herndon and Evan. Then I moved down to chat with Roger Burdette for a bit.

It was another great evening of numismatic fellowship. As always, some rare and interesting numismatic items came around the table. It's the best part of numismatics - getting together with fellow birds of a feather to talk about our mutual interests. I'm fortunate to live in an area with so many top dealers, collectors, and researchers. These meetings are always a highlight of my month.