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July Meeting July Prizes June Minutes Board Meeting Notes from the Press of Old Coin of the Month Continental Dollar/Cent Bits from the Press |
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Index to other ECC Newsletter articles |
Jim Davis will present our program this month. He will speak on the changes of our coins in the twentieth century from the allegorical to the presidential.
Bring along something for show and tell. What goodie have you acquired during this summer?
| Opened: | around 7:45 |
| Closed: | around 9:15 |
| Members: | 18 |
| YNs: | 5 |
| Guests: | 1 |
President Doug Nelson called the meeting to order around 7:45.
Jennifer could not make the meeting so Mike M. took the minutes. The minutes were accepted as published.
Don reported the numbers in the box at the top of the minutes. The Treasurer's report was accepted.
Don reported that he had sent out 31 applications out and had several confirmations. He is building up a data base of addresses so this is easier in the future. He also reported that he is placing ads in all the main numismatic publications. He also reported that the raffle tickets are being prepared.
Jim Davis will be in charge of tickets again this year as well as the YN auction. If you have anything to donate for the YN auction, see Jim. The more we can get the better it will be for the YNs.
We had a second reading for Josh Barnell, a YN, and his grandfather, John Toomey, both of Elgin. On a motion both were accepted into the club. Welcome John and John!
None.
Jim Davis presented Josh Barnell, our newest member, with a 1998 silver Eagle for his completing a Roosevelt dime set from 1965 to date. The challenge Jim gave to our young members a few months ago is still open. Any YN completing a Roosevelt dime set from 1965 to date will receive a similar Eagle.
Don Dool had a 1916-D Indian cent! Well, it was made in Denver even though at 3 inches in diameter, it wasn't the real thing. But it was copper. Don also showed a 1576 shilling of the duchy of Purland and ... Livonia. Finally, he had a 1567 coin of Malta with the very recognizable cross of Malta.
Don Cerny showed extremes of his collection: the newest, a New Jersey quarter; the oldest prize from the club, a coin won in 1992 (sorry, Don, I forgot what it was); the largest, a City of Elgin token; the smallest, a fantasy gold coin; and the oddest, a 1945 cent struck on an undersized planchet.
Bill S had a 1900 Lafayette dollar he received in a roll of standard silver dollars.
| Membership: | Rich E. |
| YN: | Alyssa H. |
| Raffle winners: | Jerry R. (twice), Steve H., Bruce (twice), Don C., Doug N., Marty K. |
| Door: | None tonight |
We gave away the prizes listed in the here.
Finally we settled into the member coin auction. Mike Metras called the auction and Doug Nelson and Jim Davis kept the records. Seven members sold coins realizing a total of $232.25. Thanks everyone for your participation. I hope you all went away with some nice things. I know I did.
We finished off and adjourned the meeting around 9:15.
Submitted by Mike Metras for Secretary Jennifer Schulze
Don Cerny, Jim Davis, Doug Nelson, and I got together June 16 at Don's for the board meeting.
We confirmed that Jim would be presenting the July program.
We talked about activities for the 500th anniversary meeting.
I reminded myself that I have been lax in making name tags for new members. I am now armed with the names of new members who need tags. Remind me to give you yours if I forget at the July meeting. Remember, you get a bonus raffle ticket if you wear your name tag. Also, in the future, let me know if you loose your tag or otherwise need a new one.
I am working on my presentation for next month of the History of the club. But I must say that I am having little luck on getting anything from before 1985. I have a few tokens and other items, but no history as such. I am particularly interested of the exact date when the club started, who the officers were over the years, how many members were there at various times over the years, and where and when the club held it's meetings. If anyone has information like this, would you please bring it to the July meeting so I can put it all together in a single document for everyone? I promise you will get back everything that is yours. Thanks.
I suppose I could go and read through the last 40 years of the Elgin newspaper looking for the information, but I just do not have time to do that. Will someone else? Does anyone have any ideas? Does anyone want to present their own version of club history during the August 500th meeting?
Jim Davis found a piece in the 1934 New York Times describing the increase in the number of coins made by the mints in mid-1934. Over 44 million coins were made in September, the highest for any month since December, 1929. The paper cites the following as some possible reasons for the increase.
"Since the amount of 'change' in circulation in recent years has roughly paralleled the gains and losses in business activity, this demand is held by some to indicate a revival in industry. There are, however, several other factors which help to explain the significance of the spurt in Federal coinage of nickels, dimes and pennies.
"The depression, coupled with the mental attitude of a section of the public toward the banks, as well as has the Federal tax on bank checks, has induced a large number of persons to do business on a cash basis. Another factor is the government relief and construction program, which has distributed large amounts of cash to workers who have been spending their money in small amounts. Many men in the CCC camps are employed in rural regions not in close contact with banks and their demand for small change at has been large.
"Federal officials have found that the making of small cash purchases has become almost a national characteristic during the past year. Store credit has been greatly reduced, not only by the credit policy of stores themselves but also by the desire of many to play their financial cards "close to their chests," buying more carefully and not running charge accounts. Then, too, as a result of the closing of small banks in remote districts small merchants have been keeping more cash on hand to accommodate individuals whose checking accounts have been closed out; as well as to help construction workers who do not have easy access to banks. It is also believed that there has been some hoarding and saving of small coins, which serves in part to explain the demands of subsidiary and minor coins."
Continental Dollar/Cent Design (Scanned from Breen)
It was 1776. The colonies had just declared their independence from England. A war was starting. We needed money. The Continental Congress, the lawmakers for this newest of nations, the United Colonies, was issuing paper money to support its operations and to show the rest of the world it had the sovereign power to do so.
Coins of many countries were circulating in the colonies at that time. But they were few and never enough--and none belonged to the new union.
Benjamin Franklin, David Rittenhouse (future Mint Director), and, possibly, Francis Hopkinson worked together to design coins so that the new United Colonies could also have coins of its own, as other nations do. Everyone assumed that the Colonies were about to get a loan of silver bullion from France to mint coins.
Agents for the congress contacted Elisha Gallaudet of Freehold, New Jersey, to prepare dies for various coins based on the designs.
The obverse had a sundial and sun along with the word "Fugio" and "Mind your business": "Fugio" meaning "I (time) fly." and '"Mind your business" because you do not have a lot of time to do it.' Around all this was "CONTINENTAL CURRENCY" and the date 1776 on the bottom. The Continental Currency had a similar sun dial.
The reverse had a central circle with "We are one" surrounded by "American Congress." Around this many rays showed as if coming from the sun. Outside of this were 13 intertwined rings, each with the name of one of the United Colonies.
The Fugio Cent (Scanned from Guidebook of United States Coins)
The design was very much like the later Fugio cent. Several samples were made at Gallaudet's mint in Freehold, New Jersey. But the French silver never arrived so that, that early dream for an American coinage never materialized. What we ended up with was several dollar-sized examples in silver, copper, brass, and tin. The copper and brass were probably to be used as cents and the silver as dollars.
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A Bowers' Copy (Scanned by Metras) |
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A Dr. Dickeson made die copies of these for the 1876 centennial. A dealer made restrikes of the 1876 version in before WWI and Q David Bowers also restruck this design in 1962. The latter are supposedly only in pewter. This restrike version is very modern looking with proof-like surface. It would be hard to pass it off as a 1776 version. On the other hand, there are many good counterfeits and many copies of the original. Be very careful and demand authentication if you choose to buy one of the very few surviving originals.
Breen. Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. Doubleday. New
York, 1988
Yoeman. Guide Book of United States Coins Bresset, ed. Western Publishing. Racine,
WI,
1995.
In browsing the recent Numismatic press I came up with these interesting tidbits. It's amazing the number of things you can find in three little publications. For details, look at the indicated issue.
An Islamic gold dinar of Al-Walad made in Damascus in 711 AD was sold for a record of almost half a million dollars by Spink's of London.
A collector found a new 1921 Peace dollar variety, this one with rays going over the L of DOLLAR.
The dropping Gold prices are beginning to affect the high prices of the Numismatic gold coins.
Michigan and Florida legislatures approve sales tax breaks for coins.
The editorial says that coin market is "humming" this summer.
The first two cents of 1793 were little liked. This article describes the details of the three 1793 cents.
The ANA lists all the forums and clinics it will offer at the August World's Fair of Money, including a presentation in the Educational Forum at 4 pm on August 12 by one Mike Metras on the Coins of Axum. (I suspect he'd like the support of a large local contingent in the audience.......).
An Ohio man wants to build a statue of Lincoln like the Lincoln Memorial with ten million cents donated by school children. ??taking $100,000 from the kids???
People are starting to report finds of New Jersey quarters. I haven't seen any.
"Wanted: Dead or Alive" chronicles the saga of living and dead people on our coins after the Treasury has said that there will be no living people on the state quarters.
The highest Trends price for a Standing Liberty quarter is $34,000 for a MS-65 1920-S with full head. The 1916 in the same condition is only $23,500. Four others, 1919 S and D and 1926 S and D, were listed for more than the 1916. So much for the myth that the 1916 is the biggie of this series.
And a roll of 1955 S cents (remember what they went for back in the '60s) is valued at only $11.
Don Freuidus talks about colonial coins in the Web and warns everyone that the buyer must beware when shopping on the Web. There are a lot of good deals, but there are a lot of bad ones too. Know what you are buying. All that is on the web auctions sites are not good.
The German 1938 2 and 5 mark coins have an inscription on the edge that reads, "Common need comes before self interest."
See page 78 for a discussion on proof-like Morgan dollars.
Want to learn what we newsletter editors try to work towards? Read the article on club publications on page 84. I have a few new ideas for you now.
A new French 6.55957 francs coin commemorates the exchange rate of franc to euro. This one is also exactly one euro. Here's one for you Bob Filer.
Collectors Clearinghouse features several broad struck coins, some that form hats.
The Jamestown Quadricentennial with a group of ships will be on the 2000 Virginia quarter.
Ute Wartenberg has been named executive director of the American Numismatic Society.
The Yellowstone commemorative dollar, scheduled for release in July, has Old Faithful on the obverse and a bison on the reverse.
The 2000 Massachusetts quarter will feature a Minuteman and the map of the state.
The mint will finally produce 1999 halves during the fourth quarter of the year.
A Panama-Pacific set made up of two $50 gold pieces, a $2.50 gold piece, a gold dollar, and a silver half dollar all in a copper frame brought $94,875 at a Stack's auction June 8-9 in New York.
An article describes the work and aspirations of William Krawczewicz, the designer of Maryland's 2000 quarter.
Collectors must look for surface alterations on coins these days.
The Liberty Numismatic Society has issued a 1999 commemorative token honoring the sesquicentennial of the Gold Rush of 1849. The 39mm tokens has a replica of the $50 Kellog & Co. piece.
You should never use oak or cedar boxes for storing coins because of chemical reactions with the coins according to Alan Herbert in the Coin Clinic.
Australia commemorates 50 years of the Snowy Mountain Hydroelectric Project with a $10 coin set.
Papal Jubilee and Sede Vacante coins are discussed in detain in an article with the headline "No portraits on modest Pope Benedict XIII's coins."
Military Post Exchange tokens are described in detail starting on Page 18.
The Canadian numismatist has to turn only a few pages for a detailed report on the varieties of the Canadian silver dollar series.
Turn a few more pages for an outline of disappearing symbols on Italian coins.
Maybe you are interested in the gold of Queen Mary of Scots. If so "Rule Britannia" has a couple pages for you.
The Pick book of the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Volume 3, is no longer the "Pick book." His name is out and the names of Colin Bruce III and Neal Shafer, the current editors, now take top billing. Does that mean that we now have "BS" numbers instead of "P" numbers for the bills? This article goes on to describe much more about this book beyond the name change. See Page 48.
The tiger, the nobelist of cats, has appeared on many coins. For some examples read "Countries of the world celebrate the tiger."
One part of this paper I've always liked is the "World Coin Roundup" where you get to meet all the newest coins on the earth. (maybe a bit of exaggeration, but many are here.)
I am always intrigued by Morocco and Bob Reis accommodates my appetite for information on that
mysterious country on page 40 and beyond. Looks like a nice voyage to the Magreb (the arabic word--
the West--for Morocco) Europe's southern window to the East.
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