Chatter


Archive available at http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/
Volume 52 No. 6 June 2006


Editor’s Notes

With this issue, we start paid advertising. These advertisers have committed to this one-year experiment.

Paul Hybert, editor


Minutes of the 1049th Meeting

The 1049th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order at 7 PM by President Robert Feiler with 16 members and 1 guest, Dennis Gorman, present. Following the second reading of Jason Freeman’s application for junior membership, a motion passed to accept him into the Club. The minutes as printed in the Chatter were approved as published. A motion was passed to accept the treasurer’s report by Steve Zitowsky showing April revenue of $632.00, expenses of $307.95 and total assets of $10,347.81. Correspondence from member Clifford Mishler, Chairman of the 2007 Milwaukee ANA Convention, was read asking for volunteers and ideas.

First V.P. Jeffrey Rosinia introduced the evening’s speaker Gene Freeman who spoke on the subject Money for Texas. Following a question and answer session, Jeff presented Gene with an American Numismatic Association Educational Certificate and an engraved Club medal.

Second V.P. Lyle Daly introduced the evening exhibitors: ROBERT FEILER – two ancient Greek drachms of Alexander the Great, 326-323 B.C., an 1876 U.S. trade dollar, two centennial medals from Ontario, Canada, a wooden nickel and a set of Berghoff Restaurant tokens; MARK WIECLAW – an undated lead seal from a U.S. Government box of silver eagles, five Byzantine gold solidi from Justinian II (first and second reigns), Leontius, Tiberius III, Philippicus and a hollowed and hinged 1921 Mexican 50 peso gold coin; ROBERT LEONARD – May 1953 issue of Cornet magazine with Grant Wood’s Arbor Day painting on the cover, a 2004-D Iowa quarter showing the same portrait, a 1690 gun-money crown in brass overstruck on a half crown, 3 modern Irish coins privately counterstruck “1690” in Belfast c. 1931-74, follis of Syria under Persian occupation, a drachma of Persian (Sassanian) Emperor Khusrau II and a book describing the series; WINSTON ZACK – a U.S. $2.00 bill with a fold-over error and a group of over-mint-marked wheat cents; DONALD DOOL – a 1718 Swedish daller Flink Och Fardig, a 1720 1-ore overstruck on a Fardig, photographs showing San Martin monuments and medals where the monuments appear; STEVE ZITOWSKY – a 1783 Lima 2-reale counter-stamped “Wagner,” and five 1-cent coins from Sarawak including the rare 1941H variety; LYLE DALY – display frame holding three currency pieces, an 1862 State of Texas treasury warrant, photograph from the National Numismatic Society of a 1922 U.S. cent, a series of international coins that were possible precursors of Adolph Weinman’s Mercury dime and Walking Liberty half dollar designs.

Under old business, Jeff Rosinia reported the possible recruitment of someone to help on the video project. During a discussion on the possible deterioration of the video tapes, Jeff was asked to look into the cost of converting the videos on to DVD discs. Jeff Rosinia, the author of the recent CPMX souvenir sheet, was presented with serial no. 2 of the issue. President Feiler reported he is investigating the reopened Berghoff Restaurant for the Club’s December banquet. It was announced that Mark Wieclaw will soon be scheduled as a speaker on how to distinguish the difference in precious metals. Winston Zack received a warm round of applause as a scholarship recipient to ANA’s Summer Seminar. Winston also agreed to be a featured speaker on his educational experience.

The meeting was adjourned at 9 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary


Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Money for Texas

A presentation by Eugene Freeman to our May 10, 2006 meeting.

In the last few centuries, the area known as Texas has been ruled by six nations: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, United States of America, and Confederate States of America. The Spanish colonial 8 reales coin was the primary coin in the Province of Texas in New Spain. That coin, also known as the peso, was never minted in Texas; as an indication of its buying power, 18 pesos per month was combat pay for a soldier.

Small coinage was a local responsibility. Cut parts of a peso commonly were used, and Eugene showed how not all “quarters” were equal. In 1817, the provincial governor granted a jeweler in San Antonio the right to produce 500 pesos worth of half real pieces in copper. None are known today, but contemporary descriptions indicate that they bore the jeweler’s initials MAB. Berrera defaulted before completing production.

In 1818, de la Garza made the next attempt at half real production. Known as jolas, one side has the simple three-line design consisting of the initials JAG, the denomination ½, and the date 1818. The other side has only an incuse star with a raised dot in the center of the star. Approximately 100 now are known, more of the large planchet than the small. Most were found in the San Antonio River, and show pitted surfaces. Eugene touched on the economics of issueing and having to redeem these pieces, and that led to a guess as to why they would end up in the local river.

Some things remained unchanged through first Mexican Independence and then Texan Independence: Texas had much land but no money, no mines. As a Republic, Texas issued three forms of paper: paper money, bonds, and Treasury Warrants. Eugene showed an early example with the identification “The Government of Texas, Houston Texas” and followed with pieces showing “The Republic of Texas” from after the capital was moved to Austin. Warrants passed at a discount; 50 cents on the dollar could be typical.

Texas joined the Union in 1845, and it received money by transferring some land to the US; parts of the present states of Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and Wyoming were included.

When a note was turned in (redeemed), the practice was to write cancel on it. After pieces had the word removed and were resubmitted, they started cancelling notes with razor cuts. In the current market, the uncancelled notes sell for a premium.

As part of the Confederacy, Texas issued two major types of Treasury Warrants: for Military Services and for Civic Services. Some were issued in fixed denominations, while others could have any value filled in.

Although no money was issued especially for Texas while part of the US, paper money collectors are very interested in the National Charter notes from Texas banks. The sales tax tokens have a smaller collector following.


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Show and Tell

Items shown at our May 10, 2006 meeting.

  1. Bob Feiler showed a range of items:
  2. Mark Wieclaw started with one of his fun topics, the lead seal from a box of US Silver Eagles. The first example bore the date Nov 14, 2005 in the usual manner, but the second example did not have a date. As the box does not bear a date, the only to determine the content of a sealed box is by the seal’s date. His real exhibits were mostly Byzantine gold coins:
  3. Robert Leonard showed a wide range of items:
  4. Winston Zack showed some US items:
  5. Don Dool continued some previous themes:
  6. Steve Zitowsky has varied collecting interests. He showed us:
  7. Lyle Daly started by showing us an inexpensive display method good for temporary storage. From a local art supply house, two pieces of glass and a frame allow three notes to be viewed from both sides. The only drawback to this method is the tendency to capture moisture over the long term. Then he showed us:

Our 1050th Meeting

Date:June 14, 2006 First session
Time:7:00 PM
Location:Downtown Chicago
At Dearborn Center, 131 S. Dearborn, 6th Floor, Conference Room 6A (right off the elevator lobby). 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 and register at the guard’s desk.
Featured speaker:Philip J. Carrigan - Charles Barber and His Coins

Son of and successor to William Barber, Charles became the sixth chief engraver of the US Mint in 1880. He is well known for producing Barber dimes, quarter dollars and half dollars and less so for designing the Barber five cents.
Born in London and trained there under British engravers, he continued in the style of his father perpetuating the British flavour of mid nineteenth century US coins. Charles Barber is also responsible for making manufacturing corrections to the Saint Gaudens $10 and $20 gold coins. Additionally, he designed the Hawaiian 1883 coinage, several commemorative silver and gold coins and over fifty medals.
This presentation will emphasize the Barber circulating coins and current numismatic interest.

Date:June 24, 2006 Second session
Time:11:00 AM (NOTE: This is not our usual show meeting time.)
Location:In the Mr. Lincoln Room of the DoubleTree Hotel which is across the street from the MidAmerica Coin Expo, which is held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured speaker:Jeff Garrett - The Smithsonian’s U.S. Gold Coins

Jeff Garrett is the co-author of the recently published book Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins - 1795-1933: Circulating, Proof, Commemorative and Pattern Issues. Published by Whitman Publishing (http://www.whitmanbooks.com), the book is receiving rave reviews from the collecting community. Every photograph is expertly photographed and some coins haven’t been publicly seen in more than two decades. Be sure to mark your calendar to attend this unique program. Jeff’s talk will concentrate on the gold issues in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.
Jeff Garrett owns Mid-America Rare Coins in Lexington, KY and is president of the Professional Numismatics Guild, Inc.. He is considered the top coin grader in the country, based on his winning the Professional Coin Grading Service World Series of Coin Grading in July 2005 during the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in San Francisco. Garrett used those skills to provide grades for the entire Smithsonian gold coin collection.
Extra copies of the 650-page book that sells for $69.95 will be made available.


Important Dates

Our June 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 MidAmerica Coin Expo.
June 14 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Philip J. Carrigan on Charles Barber and His Coins
June 23-25 MidAmerica Coin Expo at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. Admission is $5.
June 24 CCC Meeting - 11am in the Mr. Lincoln Room of the DoubleTree Hotel which is across the street from the MidAmerica Coin Expo, which is held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured Speaker - Jeff Garrett on The Smithsonian’s U.S. Gold Coins
July 12 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Steve Feller on Monetary Issues of WWII German-occupied Guernsey and Jersey
August 9 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Winston Zack on 2006 ANA Summer Seminar
September 13 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced
October 11 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Andrew J. Donnelly on Tetrarchic Mint Control, 284-324

Birthday and Year Joined

July 4 Chester Poderski
July 12 Flemming Lyngbeck Hansen 2000
July 13 Gerard Anaszewicz 1981
July 19 Terry L. Capps 1996
July 19 John R. Connolly 1997
July 19 Richard S. Hamilton 1986
July 27 David Simpson 1980

New Chatter Delivery Option

The print version of the Chatter is simply a printout of the Chatter web page, with a little cutting and pasting to fill out each print page. The web page is available before the Chatter is mailed. To save the club money and ensure timely delivery, we are giving club members the option of receiving an email whenever a new Chatter is on the club’s website; the mail will include a link to the latest issue.

If you would like to receive an email alert instead of a mailed print copy send an email to chatter_editor@yahoo.com. You can resume receiving a mailed print copy at any time, just by sending another email.


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

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Club Officers

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