
The Enigmatic Entities bridging Numismatics and Exonumia
Having come back into collecting after a 35 year hiatus, other than amplified prices and dominance of PCGS and NGC, a few interesting nuances gliding between numismatics and exonumia grabbed my attention.The activities of key individuals:Jeff Shevlin - Cataloguing & Publication for enthusiasts of So-Called Dollars, and development of newer commemorative products in silver & off-metals.Mel Wacks - Overstrikes of historically significant events onto modern coinage, plus 50 years of Jewish-American Commemorative MedalsAndor Carius - Square geometric morphing and rendering of multiple currencies, but most prominently the Square Washington Quarter.Daniel Carr - The Moonlight Mint, a plethora of topical wealth found regarding him and his work on every channel and forum.OHNS - Outlier as it's not a person, but I respect how OHNS is putting formality, traceability and value into hobo nickels, which diverges even further into the art community...and asset class. Modern carvings have come a long way... Even without Dremels. Curiously, all these gentlemen hail from a mixed Engineering/creative artistry backgrounds. (just goes to show what lengths people will to go to get out of Engineering!)I've been blessed through the modern miracle of email to have corresponded with these gentlemen. All of them gracious, informative, and personable. 50 or 100 years ago, "common folk" like me might have sent a letter, but a response I don't believe would have been as likely, and certainly not repeat follow-up.Hopefully we live to see a modern revival of collecting (and have "someone" left to sell our collections to if the grandkids don't want them!)