This month John Wilson, a governor of the American Numismatic Association will present our program.

We will also have our drawing for our Super Raffle. The prizes are a 1986 1/10 ounce gold piece and a 1917 $2 U.S. Note.

Bring along some show and tell.

Bring along a list of coins you want to sell in the June auction and I'll publish them in the June Newsletter. Use the form I have attached to the end of the newsletter.

May Prizes

• Membership: Complete Guide to Barber Quarters
• YN: 1908 half and Photograde book
• Raffle: 1845 large cent, 1852 large cent, 1891-S Dollar, 1900-O Dollar

President Doug Nelson called the 484th meeting of the Elgin Coin Club to order around 7:45pm at the VFW.

Secretary's Report

The minutes were accepted as published.

We had a second reading for Joe Miller. He was accepted as a member. Welcome, Joe, I hope you will enjoy many years with us.

We welcomed Roger's Wife Barb.

I sent around a survey of preferences for the design of the new dollar. I report the details of your response later in this Newsletter.

Treasurer's Report

Don gave us the numbers in the box and you accepted them.

Old Business

Roger reported the radio would only give five minutes or so for National Coin Week. He said he knew someone and would try for more.

Doug gave certificates of appreciation out to Clayton, Bill, and Roger for the program on Coin Grading in February. He also gave one to Roger for his presentation on coin preservation in March. Thanks to them all for their efforts and interesting presentations.

New Business

I mentioned Donn Pearlman's letter asking for help for working on the 1999 ANA World's Fair of Moneyþ here in Chicago. See the April Newsletter for details.

Rich E. asked whether we could get a club table at that show. Since then I've talked with Mark Weiclaw, the president of the Chicago Coin Club, the sponsor of the show. Mark said there will likely be one table with several clubs similar to the ILNA show the last few years. But we'll talk more about it as the show draws nearer.

Don Cerny, Jim Davis, Doug Nelson, Jim Clevenger, and I got together at Don's April 15 in the evening for a board meeting. (Guess we all had our taxes done early.)

We need to make up some more cards for the club. I agreed to make a mock up that includes new elements (like internet).

For the past couple months, we have been talking about the money the Schaumberg Coin Club gave us for the YNs. Jim D is looking into numismatic literature. The Photograde book YN membership prize this month is the beginning of these.

We agreed that we'll have the semi-annual auction of members' coins in June. This is your auction with all proceeds going to the seller. See the November 1997 Newsletter for complete rules. Use the form at the end of the letter to list the coins you want to sell. Give me the list by the May meeting (or a week later with arrangements), I will place your list in the June Newsletter. Publishing your list allows your potential buyers to see what you have to offer and to bring extra money to the auction.

I indicated I had sent press releases to the Elgin Courier and Herald concerning our proposed National Coin Club activities. Look into both and let us know what you see. I get neither paper, so I do not know what is or is not said by them.

(c) by Dennis A. Kwas

Have you ever told a coin dealer, when asked "what you collect?" that you collect "everything." What a statement that is.

Have you ever wondered why the coin dealer lost interest in you- -looked at you funny or just laughed? Come on admit it, you have-- so have I.

"I collect everything" is a very safe answer. Why? Well, the dealer can't show you anything, because you have everything. For sure you cannot buy anything because you must have everything. The dealer must feel that if you collect everything, then you must know everything. So there is nothing you can learn from him/her, is there?

Looking back, I see the error of my way. I did not want the dealer to take advantage of me. I did not want the dealer to know that I didn't know what I was doing. I did not want to buy the expensive coin because I was sure it was over priced. I was not going to be taken advantage of--"I will buy what I want for the price I want or think it should be." If a person does not know what is going on, how could he or she possibly know what a good deal is, and more importantly what a fair deal is.

Why should I buy a coin for $200.00 when I could buy a lot of coins for that amount? I bought the many. Well, what a great move that was.

I never stopped to ask why one coin was $200.00 and others were $10.00. Having 20 coins instead of one coin made sense to me. I wanted a bunch and got a bunch. Everything being equal the dealer must be making a lot of money. I now can collect everything. I can spread my money around.

As time goes on we learn the real story. We learn that collecting coins this way is a good way to spend more money. We have the low budget coins. In time we learn that we want the better coins. To simplify this story, I now want that $200.00 coin, because by talking to a dealer, I learned what is going on, what direction to take. But I have spent $200.00 on 20 other coins first. Now I purchase the original coin for $200.00. Having spent $200 on 20 coins that I don't want and $200 on the original coin I should have purchased earlier, the original coin now has cost $400.00. That works so well when we collect everything. Think about it.

When you do not know what you are doing, let the dealer know that you do not know. He or she will help. From what I see and hear, dealers at most want to build their business. They will help you build your collection so you are a happy customer and more importantly a friend. Most dealers would like to say they helped you build that uncirculated set of whatever.

Please remember to buy for quality not quantity. It is more rewarding and cheaper in the long run.

I almost forgot, I want to thank Jerry for sharing his table with me in January and February at the Lemont Coin Show. I got a feel of how it is to sell coins. It was fun! fun! fun!

The law has been passed. We are finally going to have that new dollar. What will it be?

The traditional Liberty that harks back to our first coins, to the beginnings of a new land dedicated to the fresh new ideas and ideals like this idealized young woman, Miss Liberty?

Or will it be the Statue of Liberty that accents our heritage as being the land of freedom and opportunity and our ties with France?

But we have been recently commemorating people who have done things to make the country what it is. We are no longer commemorating the ideals that drive us all to greater good, but rather we are commemorating people who do those things. If that is our aim, the women are due their moment on a coin. Maybe a dollar like this is what we will have.

And then there is the thought of looking forward to the many technological triumphs that are in front of us and to draw ourselves toward them. The astronaut of this concept dollar carries us that way.

Some say we should keep the Susan B. Anthony dollar as it was made in 1979, 1980, and 1981. Maybe change the shape and color a bit but keep the design.

Armed with these possibilities, I made up a survey using images from the Gallery Mint Museum and Daniel Carr and took it to friends, coworkers, and coin clubs and asked what they thought. Their thoughts are summarized in the table.

One other thought. I unfortunately matched the reverses with the original coin proposals. I say unfortunately because I think the reverses caused problems in the choices some made. Many liked the stunningly beautiful soaring eagle on the astronaut dollar while preferring the Liberty or Statue of Liberty obverse. And since the vote was for the obverse mainly, the soaring eagle lost out. Perhaps, another vote is due, just for the reverse.

N e w D o l l a r D e s i g n S e r v e y

						Do Not Like Any
Elgin CC	12	3	4			2
Hillside CC	9	4	5	1	1
Chicago CC	13	2	4	2	1
Fox Valley CC	7	1	1
Coin Club Total	41	10	14	3	2	2
Work	6	2	11	4
Family		2	1	1
Non-club Total	6	6	12	5
All Totals	47	16	26	8	2	2

As you know, being the editor, I get the first chance to comment on what is contributed to these pages. Anyone can say what they want, within bounds. But not all of us have to agree. I invite all of you as readers to also challenge what I and others say here.

Having said all that, I have a few words concerning Dennis' "Little of This ... Little of That" words. Dennis assumes you didn't want the 20 coins for $200 and instead want the one that costs $200. For my part, I like the quantity and variety in most cases because it is the story the coin has to tell more than its dollar worth that is important to me. And twenty stories are almost always more interesting to me than one. But do communicate with the dealer, whether you want quantity or quality (as if money has anything to do with quality). They can only help you. Caviat Emptor (let the buyer beware) is important, but do not be so to yourself that you do not use that very important resource--you can still say no after you have talked if you are worrying about that. But you will know a lot more and may even say Yes.