Tuesday, October 21, 2025 brought the monthly gathering of my Northern Virginia numismatic social group Nummis Nova. Daryl Haynor was our host, at Kob Kun Fine Thai Cuisine in Oakton, VA. I walked in thinking I was early but I found Daryl, Jon Radel, Eric Schena and Dave Schenkman already there. Before long we were joined by Mike Packard, Steven Bishop, Robert Hoppensteadt, John Kraljevich, Julian Leidman and my guest Greg Bennick. Our server kindly took this group photo.

Shortly after sitting down across from me, John's phone rang. It was Jimmy Hayes. He handed the phone to Julian who made Jimmy guess who was actually on the other end. He was a good sport.

Wayne's Numismatic Literature
I missed the September dinner for a family event, and had two months of new acquisitions to bring. I needed a travel bag to hold the overflow.First up is my most recent acquisition, Mike Packard's wonderful new book on Massachusetts Cents and Half Cents. It was a chaotic evening and I decided to hold off on asking him to sign it for me. For more on many of these books, see the links to earlier E-Sylum articles below.

Those were the books, although Fred Holabird's Coins of the Comstock is only new to me - I'd discovered and ordered it online. He published it in 2009. Great little book!

Here are a couple rare and unique items. I explained to everyone how I'd been looking for the first one for decades. Every time I bid on the Bathe book on Jacob Perkins I lost out. And every time one came up for sale again I raised my bid, only to lose out yet again. Only 200 copies were made. A few weeks back I managed to obtain copy #198 from a rare book seller. The photo is of another copy sold by Kolbe & Fanning.

The next item is the 1909 notebook compiled by San Francisco Mint Melter & Refiner Edwin R. Leach on a trip to the east coast visiting a number of smelting facilities.

Here are some new acquisitions for my ephemera collection. First is a set of about 25 glossy photo prints from the Elizabeth Morton colonial currency collection sold by Pine Tree Auction Company in 1975. They're accompanied by a cover letter from Herb Melnick to dealer Abe Kosoff. There's a similar letter to Eric Newman on the Newman Numismatic Portal, but the photos could not be found. I'll deliver these to Len Augsburger for digitization on NNP. They'll do a far better job than my scanner did - there are no black blobs on the originals, they're great photos.

Next is a nice souvenir from researcher Chester Sullivan, given out to those who assisted with his census of Castorland Jetons.

And here are a couple awards I brought back from the ANA.

Jones and Sawyer 25c scrip
Lastly, here's an impulse purchase from the PAN show - a 25 cent Civil War scrip note from Jones and Sawyer in Alton, NH. John Kraljevich enjoyed seeing this, having worked for Dave Bowers in Wolfeboro, NH, which is a town so small they have no McDonald's - the nearest one was over in Alton.

This isn't a rare note, but I've always enjoyed the variety of Civil War scrip. What drew me to this piece was the signature and postmark on the back, which allows us to track it to a particular day in history. I don't know what was going on in Alton that day, but elsewhere there was the Union victory at the Battle of Old Fort Wayne in what is now Oklahoma, and the Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Pocotaligo in South Carolina.

FUN FACT: I was very low on cash that day at the PAN show and bummed twenty bucks from Greg Bennick so I could buy this piece. I paid him first thing when he arrived at the dinner and sat down next to me. Thanks, Greg!

I asked Google's AI for more information on the note's issuers. The links returned with its response pointed to various online offerings of other notes from this business, but none of them mentioned the full names Jeremiah Jones and Alonzo H. Sawyer, so I wasn't sure where it got those from. But another link further down in the results list took me to a dealer offering of an 1864 note that says "Alonzo H. Sawyer and Jeremiah Jones are both listed as "Traders" in the 1860 Federal Census for Alton, NH." I didn't have time to confirm that in the census, but it sounds like a reasonable attribution. Here's the full AI response, which I thought was very good, although I haven't confirmed the other facts mentioned. What I like was that it did give me specific facts that could be looked up and confirmed elsewhere.

To read the complete article, see:
1864 2c Jones & Sawyer - Alton, NEW HAMPSHIRE Merchant Scrip(https://www.oldmoney4u.com/obsoletes/p/1864-2c-jones-sawyer-alton-new-hampshire-merchant-scrip-civil-war-era)

Dave's Mining Notes
Dave Schenkman passed around three mining notes at the dinner.

Dave writes:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: COAL MINE OBSOLETE NOTES AND SCRIP(https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n29a06.html)

Scovill Malleable Nickel
Dave also brought along this great proof token from the Scovill company.

Dave writes:

Apollonoshieron Bronze
Robert Hoppensteadt bought this large bronze from Apollonoshieron.

LYDIA. Apollonoshieron. Caracalla (198-217). Flavius Aurelius Eilus, archon.
28.17 gr, 39 mm, 0 h, VF
Obv: AV K M AVP ANTON?INOC.
Laureate and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: ??I F? AV?H ?I?OY N? AP? A / A?O??ONOI???ITON.
Hexastyle temple, containing Apollo standing facing, head left, resting hand upon lyre to right. RPC V.2 81842

Robert writes:

Steve's Beauties
Steve Bishop often brings along some really nice U.S. coins, often "toners." Here are five toned Morgan dollars he brought this month - they were especially nice viewed in person.

Jon's Medals and Such
Jon Radel brought a couple of interesting medals and a book that answers an earlier question.

Jon writes:

Jon adds:

I remarked that I wouldn't be surprised to find a lump of metal that looked like this in the ruins of a house fire, but that to create something like this on purpose was quite the accomplishment. I'm not dissing the medal - I think it's a fine, thought-provoking work.

Eric's Acquisitions
Eric Schena has a great eye for rare local material.

Eric writes: