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Chicago Coin Club
Volume 49 No. 2 February 2003

Minutes of the 1008th Meeting

President Carl Wolf called the 1008th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club to order on December 11, 2002 at 7:09PM. The meeting was held in conjunction with the annual banquet and held at the Alpine Banquet House in Hillside.

Drew Michyeta was introduced and provided the dinner invocation.

After dinner, First Vice President Bob Feiler introduced Mark Wieclaw as the featured speaker for the evening. The title of his presentation was Chinese Snuff Bottles. Mark's collection contains material primarily from the mid 1800s. For the talk, he presented striking photographs of the material and invited everyone to view the actual pieces in his display case after the talk. The bottles were carved from exotic materials such as hornbill, ivory, agate, seedpod and rhino horn.

At the conclusion of his talk mark received a round of applause and was presented with the featured speaker award by Bob Feiler.

Before taking his seat, Mark noted that he had unfinished business from the 1000th meeting. Mark called Dave Simpson up and presented him with the elongated gold sovereign, which was won in a raffle.

President Carl Wolf asked Phil Carrigan to present the Cabeen Awards. All appreciated Phil's delightful synopsis of each recipient's style. Honorable mentions were given to four members. Don Dool, who was the Bavarian/South American "clean up" man, since he placed himself last in polite deference to others. Bob Feiler was the miniature and box dollar collector. Bob Leonard was the man with the latest research project and Carl Wolf - Mr. Primitive Money. Mark Weiclaw, recipient of the silver award, generally entertained us with "guess what came in over the counter" presentations. Finally, the gold award would go to Bob Weinstein, the man that educates us on the many nations of the middle east, from 400AD to 1400AD that most of us have never heard of.

At that point, the meeting was turned over to Bob Leonard to swear in the officers for 2003. President Mark Weiclaw, 1st Vice President Robert Feiler, 2nd Vice President Jeff Rosinia, Archivist Phil Carrigan, Director Lyle Daly, Director Mike Metras, Director Steve Zitowsky and Past president Carl Wolf were sworn in.

Past president Carl Wolf announced the 2002 Presidential Awards. Carl based these wonderful custom made awards on the Russian Proverb used by his father in law "Better to have ten friends than 100 rubles". The award was given to ten recipients and each framed award contained a 100-ruble note. The recipients were Richard Hamilton, Lyle Daly, Paul Hybert, Jeff Rosinia, Mark Weiclaw, Sharon Blocker, Bob Feiler, Bill Burd, Bob Leonard, and Steve Zitowsky. A summary of the recipient's contributions will appear with these minutes in the Chatter.

Past president Carl Wolf presented the gavel to President Mark Weiclaw. A round of applause was given to both.

The meeting adjourned at 9:31

Respectfully submitted by Lyle Daly

2002 Presidential Award Recipients

"Better to have ten friends, than a hundred rubles."
Russian Proverb

Quoted many times by my father-in-law who grew up in Poland very near the Russian border. There have been so many members that I've asked to perform some club responsibility, I knew I couldn't present one or two presidential awards. In recalling the above Russian proverb, it emphasizes the importance of friendship over the love of money, and it gives me a license to present ten awards:


Speaker's Wor[l]d
French 20 Francs, the First Euros

Presented by Kevin Dailey to our January 8, 2003 meeting.

By providing a convenient value reference, the issuance of coins containing a known amount of a precious metal assisted trade and commerce. Although some coinages, such as the Athenian owls, were accepted beyond the geography of their issuers, distant commerce faced the more common historical reality of a set of varying exchange rates between "familiar" and "foreign" coins of different intrinsic values. Kevin Dailey reviewed one European attempt at a gold coinage of uniform weight and fineness, based upon the 20 Franc piece of France.

Although the 20 Franc, at 21mm diameter, is about the size of a US nickel, it contains 6.45 grams (0.1867 ounce) of .900 fine gold. Kevin reviewed the denomination's various designs from 1802 to 1914, and tied the changes to contemporary political events. He concluded with a list of countries that had struck coins to the same standard.

To provide a reference, Kevin showed the precursor to the 20 Franc; a Louis d'Or of Louis XVI, dated 1786. Originally minted by Louis XIV, the Louis d'Or has legends and design elements showing it is an obvious regal issue. But Louis XVI was overthrown and executed, and a chain of events (remember the French Revolution?) led to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon took power and acquired the title "premier counsel." Nothing regal about that, as befitting the revolutionary spirit still extant. The first 20 Franc coin shown is dated AN 12 on the reverse, reflecting the revolutionary calendar; this coin was minted in the twelfth year of the revolution. Next to a young bust, the legend "Bonaparte" provides identification; the designs show no hint of regal insignia.

As Napoleon became more secure in power, the revolutionary aspects of the coinage faded, to be replaced with regal themes. Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804, and crowned himself. The shown 20 Franc date 1806 has a more mature bust on the obverse, identified as "Napoleon;" the obverse date shows resumption the Gregorian calendar.

The next coin, dated 1807, still uses the "French Republic" reverse legend, but a laurel wreath now is on the obverse bust. This obverse saw continued use, but a "French Empire" legend appears on the coin dated 1814. This was after his disastrous retreat from Moscow, and just before his abdication and exile to Elba.

The reverse regal emblems reappear on another 1814 coin, but this coin is of Louis XVIII (the brother of Louis XVI). But his reign was interrupted by Napoleon's escape from Elba after about one year. Intercepted by forces of Louis XVIII before he reached Paris, Napoleon turned the forces to his side, and Louis XVIII fled to England. An 1815 coin, similar in design to the previous year's regal issue, was minted in England for Louis XVIII during the "100 days" of 1815. Kevin's example of this coin was the only coin of the evening's program not minted in Paris (and showing the A mintmark). Although the large output of the Paris mint makes its coins the most common for type collectors, some specialists collect by mint and date.

After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Louis XVIII returned to France and reigned for 10 years. The shown 1819 coin continues the regal design.

Less fortunate was Charles (1825-1830) who was ousted in a revolution. (Was it the "King of France" legend on his coins that doomed him?)

He was succeded by Loius Philipe, who used the "King of the French" legend on his coins. The reverse of his coins also lacked any regal symbols; at least initially. The second of his coins shown, dated 1834, shows a more mature bust but it is wearing a laurel wreath. His ouster in 1848 resulted in the formation of the Second Republic; 1848 coins used a "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" legend. A different design, but still strongly Republican, appears on the shown 1850 coin.

The shown 1852 coin uses the bust of the president, "Louis Napoleon" (the nephew of Napoleon), and bears the "Republic of France" legend. But the same man soon developed higher asperations, as shown first by the "Napoleon III" and "French Empire" legends on the coin dated 1855, and then a later coin with a laurel wreath on the bust and regal symbols. Following his defeat in the Franco-Prussian war (1870), the resulting Third Republic repeated an earlier, non regal, design. The shown 1875 coin uses the "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" legend of the Second Republic, but the obverse design has a small change; no text of the constitution appears on the scroll.

The last shown coin has Marianne on the obverse and a rooster on the reverse. Kevin concluded by discussing some countries which struck a gold coin to the 20 Franc standard. Starting with Westphalia (after Napoleon had installed his brother as its ruler), many European countries issued an equivalent coin at various times during the nineteenth century, with most activity following the formation of the Latin Monetary Union. Even the United States made an effort - anybody remember the $4 Stella?


Show and Tell

Each image has a scale in the lower-left corner, with the tics spaced 1 mm apart. Because the brightness and contrast were manipulated on a computer, the coloring of a coin's image differs from the coin's actual coloring.

  1. Don Dool started us off with some recent additions:
  2. Dale Lukanich showed two copper coins issued in 248 by the wife of Philip I, honoring the 1000th anniversary of Rome. The obverses are common, but one reverse has a hippopotamus (common) while the other reverse has a goat. The goat reverse is from a die used for a coin of her son.
  3. Mike Metras showed three Conder tokens, then a numismatic hand-me-down.
  4. Carl Wolf brought in a signed check of Michael Kenna, which Carl had bought from Harlan Berk after seeing it in the window. The $58 check to the "Roosevelt Garage and Filling Station" is dated July 5th, 1927, and is drawn on the Continental and Commerce National Bank. "Hinky Dink" Kenna was a Chicago First Ward alderman in the early 20th century when his ward included the vice district. Carl also covered some of the more sensational aspects of Chicago and Kenna.
  5. Bob Weinstein showed coins from Central Asia, dating from about 500-600. The Sogdians were an Iranian people living in the genral area of what is now northern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan; they were organized into small kingdoms and city states. The typical coin design has a bust on one side, with an inscription and some clan marking on the other side. Their families were very commercially oriented, with far flung trading outposts along the Silk Road. Turkish influence increased starting around 500, and Sogdian culture died out by 900.
    Although nothing is written in English on these coins, a 1987 book in Russian on Central Asian coinage has some Sogdian material. Mush of the written material is either inaccurate or incomplete, partly because most of the coins on the market became available only within the last ten years.
  6. Mark Wieclaw showed some gold coins. Some very nice gold coins.
  7. To complement the evening's featured speaker, Drew Machyeta showed four one-unit pieces from the Latin Monetary Union's four original members: France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy, all in .835 fine silver.
  8. Sharon Blocker recently bought the book Art of Paper Money, and she showed pieces from her collection that matched some of the examples which are arranged topically in the book. Sharon had a number of the 37 listed pieces showing Queen Elizabeth II.
  9. Another member complementing the evening's featured speaker was Steve Huber who showed a 1792 Louis XVI Ecu Livre (pound). Usually encountered softly struck and with adjustment marks, this coin showed no such problems.

Our 1010th Meeting

Date:February 12, 2003
Time:7:00 PM
Location:Downtown Chicago. Please remember the security measures at our meeting building: give a club officer the names of all your guests prior to the meeting day; and everyone must show their photo-ID at the security desk.
Featured speaker:Phil Carrigan and Carl Wolf - Building and Maintaining A Numismatic Library

Many collectors will buy a $2,000 coin, but pass on the purchase of a reference book even if it was written by the dealer selling the coin. This presentation will develop an approach to establishing a numismatic library based on the individual’s collecting interests. It consists of having current reference books, but should include subscribing to auction catalogs and fixed price lists, both current and earlier issues. Just as important is maintaining the collection of books and protecting it from damaging environmental effects and poor storage. Discover the biggest culprits to your library and learn how to make custom covers for your magazines and rare books.


Important Dates

Our February meeting will consist of two sessions: we will end the first session with a recess (instead of an adjournment), and we will reconvene for the second session at the CPMX.
February 12 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Phil Carrigan and Carl Wolf on Building and Maintaining A Numismatic Library
February 21-23 9th Annual Chicago Paper Money Expo (CPMX) at the Holiday Inn O'Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont. Admission is $5.
February 22 CCC Meeting - 1pm at the Chicago Paper Money Exposition, which is held at the Holiday Inn O'Hare, 5440 N. River Road, Rosemont, IL. No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured Speaker - Douglas Ball on Role of State Bonds on the Economic Development of the United States, 1800-1900.
March 12 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Louis Jordan on Role of Hogge Money in the Formation of the Sommer Islands Economy
Our April meeting will consist of two sessions: we will end the first session with a recess (instead of an adjournment), and we will reconvene for the second session at the CICF.
April 9 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - John Wright on 300 Years of Portraits of the Caesars as Shown on Sestertii Coinage
April 25-27 28th Annual Chicago International Coin Fair (CICF) at the Holiday Inn O'Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont. Admission is $5.
April 26 CCC Meeting - 1pm at the Chicago International Coin Fair (CICF), which is held at the Holiday Inn O'Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured Speaker - to be announced

Birthday and Year Joined

March 7 James R. Budd 1964
March 7 Bruno Rzepka 1968
March 14 Donald R. Srbeny 1987
March 16 Michael Brodsky 1991
March 16 Joseph T. Tomasko 1984
March 19 Charles Ricard 1963
March 20 Sidney Bick 1953
March 23 Eileen Peterson 1982
March 25 David B. Silberman 1971
March 29 Nancy Wilson 1984
March 31 Andrew E. Michyeta III 1984

Chatter Matter

All correspondence pertaining to Club matters should be addressed to the Secretary and mailed to:

CHICAGO COIN CLUB
P.O. Box 2301
CHICAGO, IL 60690

Visit Our Web Site

http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/

Contacting Your Editor

Paul R. Hybert
prhybert@worldnet.att.net

Club Officers

Mark Wieclaw- President
Robert Feiler- First Vice President
Jeff Rosinia- Second Vice President
Directors:Lyle Daly
Mike Metras
Steve Zitowsky
Carl Wolf
Other positions held are:
Lyle Daly- Secretary Treasurer
Paul Hybert- Chatter Editor
Phil Carrigan- Archivist