The Writer's Almanac for October 9th stated:

I passed this factoid on to Eric Schena, who adds:

As it happened, October 9th was the meeting of my monthly numismatic social group, Nummis Nova, and by happenstance we were meeting at The Mount Vernon Inn at George Washington's estate near Alexandria, VA.

Eric and I made plans to play hooky from our respective jobs to get there a little early and visit the museum. Steve Bishop also joined us - he was already waiting when I arrived. I poked around the gift shop while we waited for Eric. I purchased two sets of replica currency - the quality seemed very high and the price a bargain. I plan to donate them as auction lots for the next local coin show kid's event, although truth be told, I wouldn't mind keeping them for myself.One packet is a group of 10 continental Current notes, and the other has thirteen state notes, one from each original colony, a tough set to complete for real.

When Eric arrived we made our way to the ticket window. As it happened, going late afternoon midweek in October is a fine way to avoid crowds - there were only four people ahead of us, and the whole place looked deserted. We got a timeslot for the very end of the day, and would be able to visit the mansion as well as the museum if we hurried. So we rushed to the visitor center/museum first.

I don't know if Steve ditched us or we ditched him, but we got separated in the visitor center. Eric and I walked thru the museum together. Right in the main entrance stands Houdin's iconic bust of Washington on a pedestal, behind glass. It was a delight to finally view this work in person. I have on my desk at home a reproduction modeled after Houdin's bust, which the Washington family felt was his most accurate likeness.

To the left was an alcove displaying Mt. Vernon's most recent acquisition - George's Washington's leatherbound copy of the Acts of Congress, given to him by Congress and annotated in his own hand. The volume was purchased in a Christie's auction earlier this year and donated to Mt. Vernon. It was here that we learned from the guard that all the construction next to the parking lot is for the new Washington Presidential Library. I couldn't remember the hammer price, but the guard told Eric is was about $9 million.

Around a nearby corner Eric pointed out his favorite sign - it read, "Please Do Not Photograph the General's Dentures".

I noted several of the numismatic items on display:

Some of the non-numismatic items I found interesting were:

One item that is sometimes seen in auctions of colonial numismatic items is a gorget. On display was a c. 1776 gorget of Alexander Hume with the motto & emblem of the 2nd South Carolina regiment. "Gorget" is such an obsolete term that my spell checker doesn't even know it. I've seen definitions such as "a piece of armor for the throat" or "a crescent-shaped ornament". Can anyone more familiar with colonial garb tell us more about gorgets and any numismatic connections?

We raced out of the museum to get to the mansion for our tour, taking some pictures along the way. Once inside we caught up with Steve Bishop. It was an enjoyable and quick tour, with few other tourists ahead of us.

Here are Eric's thoughts on our visit. He writes:

I made a stop at my car to pick up the magnifier I'd forgotten. In the parking lot I ran into Dave Schenkman and we walked together to the restaurant. Gene Brandenburg was waiting out front. When we walked in it was easy to tell Gene and Dave had been here before. Elsie, one of the waitresses, gave Gene a hug. They were quite the odd couple, looking like Archie Bunker and Louise Jefferson dancing cheek-to-cheek. Gene told everyone, "she's my ex-wife!" She gave Dave a hug next, and he said, "she's MY ex-wife, too!"

We made our way over to our usual table. Other attendees were Brian Cushing, Jon Radel, Mike Packard, Julian Leidman and Tom Kays. Ron Abler and Joe Levine each had to cancel for personal reasons. Gene wasted no time in ordering his favorite menu item, the Hoe Cakes.

Because of the fall season our theme was "colors", and several attendees passed around some nicely toned coins and medals. My favorite was Steve Bishop's Morgan dollar. Gene had four well-worn colonial coppers including two Fugio cents. He also showed off a nice group of banknotes including a set of consecutively numbered 1862 Confederate $100 bills, all with three interest stamps on the back, including the rare 1865 stamp. He sent me these images for The E-Sylum.

Dave Schenkman had several recent purchases as well, and he sent in images of a couple of them, both Bolen tokens. The Pioneer Base Ball Club token is the earliest known baseball token. The second piece, appropriately, has a Washington portrait on the obverse.

Dave writes:

Eric Schena wrote up this description of an item he exhibited, a stock certificate with a connection to Washington (see below image):

I wish I could show some images of the museum items, but no photography was allowed. I'd written to the curators asking if we could speak with someone, but I didn't hear back until today. I asked about getting some images, so maybe we'll have some next week.

It was another great evening of numismatic fellowship. These dinners are the highlight of everyone's month, and being able to visit the Mount Vernon museum and mansion made it a really special occasion for me. We broke up around 9:30 or so and I pointed my car toward home. 'Til next month!

To read the complete Writer's Almanac on the web, see:The Writer's Almanac: TUESDAY Oct. 9, 2012(www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=1593730&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=0ce7fb4f1a)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article on Washington's Acts of Congress, see:NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 29, 2012: George Washington's Acts of Congress(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n18a16.html)