Chatter

Editor's Notes

Member Joe Boling disagrees with part of what Jerry Nelson of the Chicago Fed said when he addressed our April meeting; Jerry mentioned there have been only one counterfeit $2 and one counterfeiter of the $1 since 1862. Joe referred me to two references: Dickerman’s 1894 United States Treasury Counterfeit Detector that mentions a number of counterfeit $1 and $2 notes, and the November 1948 edition of The National Counterfeit Detector that mentions no less than 20 counterfeit $1 notes.

Jerry based his information on a conversation, a few years ago, with three of the Secret Service staff who pick up any found counterfeit notes every Friday. Maybe they concentrate on the current activity and forget about the old. Or, maybe, the sorting machines have never been “trained” on the older counterfeits. During the next ANA convention in Chicago, some collectors of small-size counterfeit notes should put together a nice assortment to test the Fed’s sorting machine!

Paul Hybert

Minutes of the 1085th Meeting

The 1085th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held May 13, 2009 in the Chicago Bar Association Building, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Downtown Chicago. President Jeffrey Rosinia called the meeting to order at 7 PM with 28 members and 2 guests, Brenda Bishop and Patrick Mullen.

The April Minutes printed in the Chatter were approved as published. Treasurer Steve Zitowsky reported April receipts $5,191.00, expenses $12,525.71 and total income minus $7,334.71 leaving total assets of $14,642.35 which is in Life Memberships $2,390.00 and Members’ Equity $12,252.35. The Treasurer reported the big expense increase due to 90th Anniversary medal and banquet costs.

Seven applications for membership received second reading and all were elected into membership. They were Kevin Dailey, Daniel Pelc, Marc Charles Ricard, David Bynum, Zoujun Dai, Dale Lukanich and Jeffrey A. Amelse. The application of Patrick Mullen received first reading.

The Club’s General Chairman of the 2011 ANA Convention, Robert Leonard, introduced the featured speaker, Brenda Bishop, Colorado Springs. As the Convention Coordinator/Meeting Services Manager of the American Numismatic Association, Brenda covered the responsibilities of the host club and spoke of the committee posts that need to be filled.

Second V.P. Elliot Krieter introduced the 16 exhibitors. DAVID GUMM: included booklet, rolled out coin memorabilia from CCC 90th Anniversary & $500 Federal Reserve Note; ROBERT LEONARD: April , 2009 issue Catholic Historical Review, book Means of Exchange, 3 cut Abbasid ¼ dirham 775-800 AD; EUGENE FREEMAN: 2 Coins of All Nations errors & a 1992 Indian 5 Paise striking error; ANDY PLIOPLYS: Aug 12, 1920 issue of the NY Times covering Mr. Ponzi for whom the Ponzi Scheme was named; MARK WIECLAW: 2 silver denari (71-73 AD) of Roman Emperor Vespasian, CCC past memorabilia; MARC RICARD: 1965 3 medal set from Central States Numismatic Society convention in Chicago & 1991 Red Book with signatures from 100th ANA Anniversary Convention in Chicago; NICK WEISS: a selection of church offering finds including wheat cents and international coinage; RICH LIPMAN: Geo Caching coin & Nicaraguan currency w/evolving designs; CARL WOLF: separately framed Katanga Cross & elephant tail hair money; ROBERT FEILER: 6 U.S. notes with red seals; Bill BURD: 1 of only 5 surviving copies of Constitution & By Laws of the American Numismatic Association, 1891 including committee members, charter members and their addresses; PHIL CARRIGAN: ANA & CSNS auction catalogs & badges; STEVE ZITOWSKY: Swiss transportation token (1876) & possible bridge token (1835); ZOUJUN DAI: U.S. military 25-cent token, 1951 Big Nickel Sudbury Canada & 1886 1-cent Sultanate of Brunei; STEVE HUBER: 10 certified crowns; LYLE DALY: Maundy coins, Byzantine coinage & Canal Bank Notes.

Under Old Business, Mark Wieclaw announced a wrap-up meeting for the 90th Anniversary Committee to be held Wednesday May 20th. President Rosinia also announced he will call a meeting of the Board during June. President Rosinia announced that the Secretary had a supply of 90th Anniversary Medals for sale plus Club issued souvenir education cards from the Chicago International Coin Fair meeting.

Under New Business serial no. 001 of the bronze 90th Anniversary Medal was handed over to William Burd, Club Archivist, to be preserved with past Club memorabilia.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary

Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Hosting an ANA Summer Convention

presented by Brenda Bishop
to our May 13, 2009 meeting

Brenda, the ANA’s Meeting Services Manager (Convention Coordinator), started by summarizing some of the new things the ANA is developing for the conventions, then she covered the traditional convention tasks and any changes to them. Most in attendance had either worked or attended the previous ANA conventions at Rosemont (1991 and 1999) or had attended some recent ANA conventions (Milwaukee in 2007), so maybe we pulled her away from properly introducing the ANA summer convention to those who had never attended.

The first thing to know is that the ANA summer convention is the biggest coin show in the US. From Wednesday morning until early Sunday afternoon, there will be speciality club meetings, speakers on a range of topics, and the largest group of dealers. The final thing to know is that it cannot run without volunteers. There is a group of national volunteers who show up every year, pitching in as needed; there will also be many local volunteers, arranged by local coin clubs.

The ANA has tried a join-a-local-coin-club program at some recent conventions. A few local clubs have space near the bourse entrance to help publicize their club; staffing the table during the entire show is a big commitment for each club. Sometimes a sponsor can be found to pay the first year’s dues to a local club. The ANA is moving towards an admission charge for non-members; an admission charge for the public (ANA members, school and scout groups as well as children 12 and under will be admitted for free) will begin with the summer 2009 convention in Los Angeles.

A two-day class, for some fee, has been held on the Monday and Tuesday before some recent conventions. Popular topics have been grading and authentication, but local input for the classes is welcomed. The idea is to bring some of the Summer Seminar experience to a more convenient location. The contracts for 2011 have not been signed so the venue and dates are not official, but Rosemont in August appears to be likely.

After announcing that only one position for 2011 has been filled so far — Bob Leonard as General Chairman — Brenda tried to cover all of the empty positions and what each entails. Of course there will be an Assistant Chair. For Exhibits, we could probably use three people to help find exhibitors by going out to other clubs and using their contacts; and plenty of workers are needed for setup and takedown. Another three people will be needed for running the Numismatic Theater, to introduce speakers and handle any room and equipment issues. Although we locals like to hear the big out-of-town speakers, it was pointed out that the out-of-town visitors look forward to the local content for something new to them.

The Page Chair handles all page scheduling, the Scouting Chair usually works with the local scouting programs to implement some clinics, and the Patron Chair solicits donations for educational programs. The Registration Chair needs as many as 20 people, 3 or 4 at a time, to assist in the registration area; not to work behind the booths, but to guide the visitors and to assist the first timers who do not know what to do. The Volunteer Chair keeps the volunteers happy, reschedules any whose plans have changed, and knows where the volunteers are needed at any time. Volunteers are encouraged to enjoy the convention so volunteer stints of 2-4 hours at one time will be appropriate.

If you would like to be involved in convention planning, Bob Leonard wants to hear from you. Email him with your interests and availability for 2011, and mention any work for previous conventions or other relevant experience. (Form his address from “Robert Leonard [use only his initials] Winnetka at Aol dot com” by dropping spaces.) Or send a letter in care of the club’s P.O. Box. Bob is working on some ideas, and would like to hear of new ideas as well as better ways of delivering the usual features. Do not wait for 2011 to say, “You should have done it this way!” Tell us now!

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Show and Tell

Items shown at our May 13, 2009 meeting.

1. David Gumm started with a rave review for the club banquet and the distributed brochure on club history— read it! Then he started with items passed out at the 90th anniversary banquet:
   • An elongated nickel — on a 1919 buffalo nickel.
   • An elongated 1969 Lincoln cent.
   • An encased 4-cent Lincoln postage stamp, produced by Bob Feiler.
   • A brass plate with the four 2009 Lincoln cent reverse designs, also from Bob Feiler.
   • A 1934 $500 Chicago Federal Reserve note.
2. The previous week, Robert Leonard attended the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He showed two books he acquired there:
   • The April, 2009 issue of Catholic Historical Review that includes a review of the proceedings of a 2004 conference where Bob presented.
   • The book Means of Exchange, the finest archeological excavation report Bob has ever seen, on a Viking site in Norway. It included pictures of several Viking gold and silver treasures. Many of the individual coins recovered from the site included entire Abbasid coins as well as cut pieces of them, not the usual content of a Viking-era hoard. Bob then showed, from his own collection, threee cut Abbasid silver dirhams (as ¼ dirhams) found near Jerusalem, but lacking such a well-traveled provenance.
3. Eugene Freeman showed some items from around the world.
   • His every-country collection includes pieces from the Franklin Mint sets of coins of all nations. Each piece consisted of a coin mounted in a cancelled stamped envelope from the country in question; anywhere from 3 to 7 pieces were purchased at one time in a set, and it is believed that 151 countries were covered. Eugene has acquired a 150-piece set and a 147-piece set, and he showed two oddities: the piece with a Hong Kong dollar coin has a stamp and postmark of El Salvador, while the piece from Cameroons contains an appropriate coin from the Bank of Central African States but also has a stamp and postmark from Cape Verde Islands. Both envelopes have a certiicate of Aunthenticity on the reverse.
   • A 1992 5 paise coin from India. Instead of the expected diamond shape, this piece is off center and the planchet splashed when struck; Eugene ventured it was struck without a collar, and there could have been something else wrong during the striking.
4. Last month’s description of the Madoff account statements shown by Andy Pliopolys included doubts as to their being part of the fraud. A recent television program on the scandal showed the same types of statements, removing any doubts about the pieces shown to us. Then on to the current items:
   • An example of 13-cent encased postage, issued a number of years ago by club member Robert Feiler who is identified as a Syngraphist. (That means he collects paper money.)
   • The August 12, 1920 issue of the New York Times, where the front page includes a piece, under a one-column “Ponzi Confesses” headline, about his recent activities in Boston, the first Ponzi Scheme. Among other things, the piece mentions that Mr. Ponzi had served jail time in Montreal for stolen checks and two years in an Atlanta federal prison for smuggling five people into the US.
5. Mark Wieclaw showed some items acquired at CICF, and then some coin club items from his collection:
   • Two silver denari of Emperor Vespasian; these Judea Capta pieces were among the pieces that Dave Hendin had spoken about at the banquet meeting. One piece shows a quadrigga on the reverse, while the other shows an incuse bust of Vespasian — it is a brockage!
   • A button for the 1991 ANA convention listing John Wilson as the general chairman;, it was issued just before the Seattle convention in 1990.
   • A contact list from organizing the 1991 convention, notable for the lack of cell phone numbers and email addresses.
   • A button from the Chicago Coin Club with, “Ask me about the 75th Anniversary.”
   • For the club’s 900th meeting on January 12, 1994, an elongated 1994-D Kennedy half dollar overstruck with monthly calendars from February, 1919 and January, 1994. A comment was made about the ability to obtain a 1994 half dollar so early in the year.
6. Continuing the convention theme was Marc Ricard with:
   • His 1992 Redbook souvenir edition from the 1991 ANA convention banquet. Two shown pages are heavily signed by fellow attendees.
   • From his first Central States convention, in 1965 at the Pick Congress Hotel, a set of three Lincoln medals by J. Henri Ripstra, still in original case. The original price was $5 for a set of pieces in different shapes and metals: silver, bronze, and aluminum.
7. Nick Weiss showed some items that his daughter, who works at a church, recently found among the offerings. A 1979-S Anthony dollar, 17 Lincoln cents from the 1930s to 1950s, a French, Irish, and two other countries’ coins, and an assortment of new and well worn Vietnamese currency.
8. Richard Lipman started with some items acquired during a recent trip to Madrid.
   • On his first day there, he found the Sunday morning collectibles market, where it seemed nothing was priced less than 2 euros. He acquired a 1909 Lincoln cent.
   • A GeoCaching token; these personal tokens are hidden by people who leave clues. The tokens can be made either commercially or by the person who hides it. A secondary market exists, and there is a website (listed on some pieces) for registering caches.
   • Notes from Nicaragua showing the four stages of a major political change: the pre-revolution notes are very traditional with portraits of the contemporary leadership, popular historical figures appear near the start of the revolution, the new groups and programs (nationalization of the mines) appear soon after the revolution, to be replaced, finally, by the faces of the new leadership.
   • A Libyan note with a portrait of the leader, Moamar Khadafi, in an apparently happy mood.
9. Carl Wolf showed two frames of primitive money for display:
   • Elephant tail hair from Congo. References to this are known from 1901. Encountered in a number of different forms for easier handling, bracelets of one strand are the smallest form. A few examples of what could be purchased for a given amount of hair were included, along with a note of caution regarding counterfeits made from plastic.
   • A copper piece shaped as an X, known as a Katanga cross. Known in various sizes and used as money from the 15th through 19th centuries, these indigenous pieces first were for the chiefs and later for the wealthy.
10. Bob Feiler showed examples of US Legal tender Bills with the seal and serial numbers printed with a red ink.
    • A $2 from the 1966 series.
    • A $5 from the 1953 series.
    • A large size $1 from the 1923 series.
    • A $100 from the 1968 series.
11. Another person showing an ANA item was Bill Burd with Publication #1, the Constitution and By-laws, dated 1891. One of only five known examples, a copy of the chipped and brittle original was passed around for viewing. It contains 18 pages of text and 12 pages of advertising. The text includes committee members as well as the 61 charter members with their addresses.
12. Phil Carrigan also showed some convention material:
    • The 1944 ANA convention program included the auction lots with some lots priced in pencil. This convention was held in Chicago and was the only ANA auction by Cliff Lindall.
    • A 1956 ANA convention badge for James E. Charlton of CANADA COIN EXCH. of Toronto, Canada. The badge has the logo for the Chicago Coin Club due to the Chicago venue for the convention. Also, Charlton’s badge from the 1953 Central States convention at the Hotel LaSalle. These items recently acquired at an auction held in Toronto where Charlton consigned a group of US convention badges.
13. Steve Zitowsky showed two unlisted transportation tokens from Switzerland:
    • A copper token, dated 1876, with a “10” and “Tramways de Geneve”. The pictured 3-car train is of the sme general type as that in a photograph that Steve also showed; the caption indicates the pictured train operated between 1862 and 1894.
    • An apparent bridge pass token, circa 1835 Geneva. The image on the cardboard piece is very faint, so it is hard to determine the scale of the pictured trestle; it might be of a foot bridge.
14. Zaijun Dai showed a range of items:
    • A US military base token marked Walker Hill Seoul. The number 25 appears on both sides of this 25 cent piece from the 1950s.
    • An 1886 1 cent from the Sultanate of Brunei, dated 1304 AH.
    • A Sudbury “big nickel” bearing dates 1751-1951. This local token is from the major nickel producing region of Canada. Some design elements are from the Canadian 5 cent piece.
15. Steve Huber showed a number of certified crown-sized coins, including:
    • An 1880 pattern one peso from Argentina. This design was used during 1881-1883.
    • One of many Bavarian double talers issued between 1924 and 1945; this one shows a statue of a bishop of Wurzburg.
    • A 1917 5 francs piece. This brass plated on iron piece was for the German occupation.
    • A 1929 5 mark oak tree with no hairlines.
    • A 1956 Canadian dollar graded prooflike 67. This piece does not have the usual cloudy appearance common to the dollars.
    • Four examples of 1971 to 1973 Canadian dollars with pretty toning on one side with the other side usually cloudy. That appearance results from the packaging.
16. Lyle Daly showed a range of items:
    • A Maundy set of Edward VII, consisting of a 1, 2, 3, and 4 pence pieces. A short discussion ensued about the history of Maundy money; the nice box was commercially made for the set, as the pieces were originally distributed in a small purse.
    • Found at a flea market, one sheet containing four unsigned remainder notes from Louisiana’s Canal Bank of the 19th century.
    • From CICF, a Byzantine bronze piece of Leo VI; it has cleaned up nicely since then.
    • A follis of 40 nummi of Anastasius I, 491-518, who created the nummus as a unit of account. Purchased on eBay as uncleaned, it now looks much clearer.
    • Another piece from eBay, this Phillip III bronze piece has the head of Apollo on the obverse and a youth on horseback (Alexander the Great on Bucephalus?) on the reverse.

Our 1086th Meeting

Important Dates

Birthday and Year Joined

Chatter Matter

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

http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/

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