Chatter


Archive available at http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/
Volume 56 No. 5 May 2010


15 Months until ANA in Chicago

I better get my tickets and make hotel reservation for ANA in August in Boston — one last chance to enjoy the convention as a spectator! We recently submitted to ANA our ideas for the convention medal, and we also requested that the ANA specify what, if anything, the local committee will be asked to provide for the official pre-show at the same venue. We also started gathering contact information for the estimated 80-100 local volunteers that will be needed — not at the same time, but a few hours from each, spread over 5 days. See http://www.chicagocoinclub.org/events/2011/ana/cvols/join_the_cvols_contact_list.html.


Minutes of the 1096th Meeting

Session I of the 1096th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held April 14, 2010 in the Chicago Bar Association Building, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Downtown Chicago. President Jeffrey Rosinia called the meeting to order at 6:45 PM with an attendance of 21 members.

A motion was passed to approve the March Minutes as published in the Chatter. Treasurer Steve Zitowsky reported March income of $245.00, expenses $279.97 and total assets of $14,640.81 which is in Life Membership $2,150.00 and member equity $12,490.81.

Treasurer Zitowsky reported many orders for the Club’s CPMX souvenir sheet showing a $10,000 Federal Reserve Note. President Rosinia presented serial no. 001 to William Burd, the Club Archivist. A round of applause was given Jeff for writing and putting together the souvenir sheet. A motion was passed to accept into membership Melissa Gumm and David Frank following the second readings of their applications.

Robert Leonard reported he is working on a souvenir card dealing with Cowry Shells Money for the Club’s April 24th meeting at the Chicago International Coin Fair. Bob also reported on souvenirs given away at ANA’s National Money Show in Fort Worth, TX.

In the absence of First V.P. Lyle Daly, Carl Wolf introduced the speakers for the evening who spoke on the numismatic literature for their collecting specialty. Speakers included: Marc Stackler — Mexican War of Independence (1810-21) & Mexican Revolution; Don Dool — International Copper Coinage (1481-1850); and Phil Carrigan — Barber Coinage & John Reich early silver Capped Bust half dimes. Second V.P. Elliot Krieter presented each with an ANA Educational Certificate and a Club engraved speaker medal.

Elliot Krieter introduced the ten exhibitors for the evening. STEVE ZITOWSKY — recount of a visit to Barcelona, Spain, catalogue from National Museum of Catalonian Art, Spanish Civil War “encased” postage money, Cermak for Chicago Mayor campaign token; DAVID GUMM — 1855 U.S. Large Cent AU55 N1 R3; RICHARD LIPMAN — U.S. $10 1880 Series “Jackass Note” & 2 different U.S. $1 “Martha Notes” for 1886; MARC STACKLER — 3 coins from the Mexican War of Independence; CARL WOLF — framed Kina shell money from New Guinea; ROBERT LEONARD — packet of material from the Fort Worth Bureau of Engraving and Printing, plus “Community Dollars” from Cabool, MO with Coin World article; MARK WIECLAW — colorized U.S. Peace dollar, an error note, fake Austrian 4 ducat, silver round, ancient Roman coin of Caracalla & Geta; DON DOOL — 1897 San Martin medal, 1823V quarto & vulcanite piece all from Peru, plus two Red Cross medals; MARC RICARD — Connecticut colonial currency book; BOB FEILER — set of 10 toned Columbian Expo half dollars, 2 U.S. notes stamped “I AM NOT A DOLLAR,”, 1 nickel and 3 cent coins in a set, and a fake Wells Fargo ingot.

Robert Leonard, Chairman of Chicago’s 2011 ANA Convention spoke briefly on organizing the various committees and announced there will be an April 20th conference call with Brenda Bishop and the committee chair people.

At 9:12 PM the meeting was recessed and will re-convene at 1 PM, Saturday, April 24th at the Chicago International Coin Fair, Crown Plaza Hotel, 5440 N. River Road, Rosemont, IL.

. . . . . . .

Session II of the 1096th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held April 24, 2010 in conjunction with the Chicago International Coin Fair, Crowne Plaza O’Hare, Rosemont, IL. President Jeffrey Rosinia called the meeting to order at 1 PM with 41 members and guests in attendance.

A motion was made to hold an abbreviated version of regular meeting. Second VP Elliot Krieter introduced the featured speaker John Burns who delivered the program International Numismatic Literature. Following a question and answer period President Rosinia presented him with an ANA Educational Certificate and an engraved Club speaker’s medal.

Robert Leonard was introduced as the General Chairman of the 2011 Chicago ANA Convention and he spoke for a few minutes on the activities planned. He also called for volunteers to serve an hour or two during the event. A form was passed out for interested collectors to submit. ANA President Clifford Mishler also spoke enthusiastically of the 2011 ANA event.

Robert Hoge, American Numismatic Society Curator, is recovering from a heart attack and a CICF program was passed around with a request for signatures and good wishes.

It was announced that 2010 is the 24th year the Club issued a unique souvenir educational card for distribution at the CICF. The author of most issues, Robert D. Leonard, Jr. spoke briefly on the current issue Cowry Shell Money. Serial no. 2 was presented to John Burns and no. 3 was presented to the author Robert D. Leonard.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary


Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Standard Numimismatic Literature from Specialized Fields

presented by Marc Stackler, Don Dool & Phil Carrigan
to our April 14, 2010 meeting

The presentation’s format was simple: three speakers, each speaking on the standard numimismatic literature dealing with their collecting specialty. Examples of the major works were shown, and more extensive bibliographies were made available. Marc Stackler started with the 1810 Mexican War of Independence and the 1910 Mexican Revolution.

The numismatic legacy of the War of Independence typically is not covered in a book solely of that topic; it is usually grouped with coins from other areas, such as Colonial coins. The authors wrote many years after the event, relying upon sparse records. There are a number of works on just the coins of the Revolution, with the first articles appearing just after the Revolution ended. Perhaps there is less conjecture in the works on the Revolution than in the works on the War of Independence, but both have their enigmatic issues.

Pradeau’s 1938 Numismatic History of Mexico now is available as a 1978 reprint with annotations and revisions. He was as much an historian as a numismatist, so the work concentrates on history and puts the coinage in context; his research took him through the records, and this work remains important. Ortiz’s 1965 self-published Mints of Nueva Viscaya pamphlet is in Spanish and is seldom encountered. It covers the 1810 to 1813 coins from only one province, but covers them in depth.

Hugh Guthrie’s 1976 Mexican Revolutionary Coinage, 1913-1917 started Marc’s sampling of works on the Revolution. Merrill Bothamley collaborated on this work based upon the collection of Bothamley. The GB numbering system is still used, and the book refers to earlier writers. Written by a pair of hobbyists, Woodworth & Flores, La Ventana covers die varieties and die (state) progressions of the coins of Oaxaca. The last work shown by Marc was Coinage of the Mexican Revolutionist Zapata by Leslie and Stevens; this is another work that covers local die varieties.

Bibliography for War of Independence.

Bibliography for Revolution.

Where to Find Out of Print Books on Mexican Coins & Paper Money for Purchase.
Aside from ABEBOOKS, AMAZON, and EBAY, here are sellers who routinely offer books on Mexican coins at reasonable prices.

. . . . . . .

Next was Don Dool, with an overview of International Copper Coinage 1481-1850. As attendees at our meetings know, Don is interested in early dated copper coins as well as siege coins. The obvious starting reference is the Krause catalogs of world coins, (each volume covering one century) for the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. There are a dozen different reprints of O.P. Eklund’s articles in the Numismatist. Each reprint covers the copper coins of one nation or region; the reprints date from the 1930s to the 1960s.

The more specialized works can be harder to find and use, but they have withstood the test of time. Neuman’s six volumes on copper coins are in German and are from around the 1860s. Look for the 1960s reprint that includes a volume 7 — it has an index that contains the legends from both sides of the coins; an extremely useful tool. There also are works focusing on a single area: Schön on Germany and German states (in German); Duby, a captain of French artillery, on siege coins (in French); and Medina on Latin America (in Spanish). Although the works are somewhat available, they are by no means common; Don’s copy of Medina is number 431 of 450.

Bibliography.

. . . . . . .

In addition to covering the books on Barber coinage and the Capped Bust half dimes, Phil Carrigan tied the books to his progress as a collector He started collecting the silver Barber coins while a teenager; later,at an ANA in Pittsburgh (1988?) he met David Feigenbaum who, under the pen name of David Lawrence, wrote books on the dimes, quarters, and half dollars of the Barber type. Phil showed us a 1992 special edition, bound in leather, of The Barber Trilogy — all three books in one volume, one of only seven so bound. These three titles, along with others, were published by DLRC Press but they now are out of print.

Diagnosed with ALS in 2002, David switched from writing about coins to write a book of stories about people with ALS. Although his books are out of print, they are available on the web at http://www.stellacoinnews.com/index.php/reference-books/

After mostly completed his Barber coin collection, Phil tried collecting the Capped Bust half dollars before settling on the Capped Bust half dimes. Newlin wrote the first book on the half dimes in 1883; it describes about half of the varieties now known. Valentine’s ANS monograph from 1931 covered more, with the recent Logan and McCloskey work completing the literature. Not only the home of the LM numbers, it has charts that organize the diagnostic positions, used to identify the obverse and reverse dies, into a very usable arrangement. Only a few of the 123 distinct marriages (consisting of 92 die marriages and 31 die re-marriages) from 1829 to 1837 have managed to elude Phil’s collection.

Bibliography.


Speaker’s Wor[l]d
International Numismatic Literature

presented by John Burns
to our April 24, 2010 meeting

Our room was too large for John to hold each book over his head, but with a projector and some sharp photographs of the books, this program started rolling. The more popular works, a few specialized, and some of John’s favorites were covered; that most of the shown books were written in English is more of a reflection of our audience than the state of the world-wide book market.

David Sears has been writing books on ancient coins since the 1960s. John started his presentation with the latest two volumes of Greek Coins and Their Values, volume 1 for Europe and volume 2 for Asia and Africa. Then came Sears’ three volumes of Roman Coins and Their Values, also hardbound and with dust jackets. The fourth volume is expected soon, and a fifth volume is promised; each volume covers a range of years, with the first starting with the Republic and ending with the twelve Caesars (280 BC to AD 96). John recalled the first edition under this name was in one volume, and he placed each of these three volumes at about two or three times the thickness of that first edition.

The large sized Le Preziose Patine dei Sesterzi di Roma Imperiale is, obviously, not written in English. But there is no misunderstanding the beautiful pictures of high grade sestertii toned to amazing colors over the many centuries. Just look through it. This book loves those simple coins; at least those that photograph well.

The 2010 Coins of England and the United Kingdom is the 45th edition of this standard catalogue of British coins. Now published by Spink, but originally a product of Seaby, it is more of a price catalog although it includes historical material. As coin books go, this is intended for the mass market. The English Copper, Tin and Bronze Coins in the British Museum 1558-1958 aims for a specialized market; this was shown as an example of a work produced by museum staff about the museum’s collection. Inside this used book are ex libris markings from the libraries of Cyril H. Hawley and Harry W. Bass, Jr. The third edition of English Hammered Coinage by Jeffrey J. North still is in two volumes grouped by years; the first editions appeared in the 1960s.

Next was John’s favorites book on English coinage, English Coinage 600-1900 by C.H.V. Sutherland. Although he has not read every book in his stock (and yes, is asked that often enough), he has read this book four times. Another briefly-mentioned specialized book was The Numismatic Guide to British and Irish Printed Books 1600-2004; yes, a bibliography as a stand-alone work. A two-volume Dalton & Hamer work on 18th century tokens (updated 1990, Davisson) appears twice as thick as usual due to its being produced using some old signatures. Works on medals and awards included Chesshyre’s The Most Noble Order of the Garter: 650 Years, Browns’s British Historical Medals, and the 7th edition of British Battles and Medals now by Hayward, Birch, and Bishop; after noting (approvingly) that these authors are different from the one author for the first edition due to the extensive changes, John tossed out a comment about a specialized work, on a US coinage series, that does not follow the same principle — you should have been there. John considers Hoberman’s The Art of Coins and Their Photography very highly; the author took his own photographs and was fanatical about the printing conditions for the book. The result is wonderful.

The most important work on the crown sized pieces is Davenport’s series published from 1949 to the 1980s. He showed us some, but he is missing a few. Michael Mitchener started writing books in the 1970s and he is the closest thing Britain has to a Dave Bowers. Pilgrim and secular badges — jetons, medallets, and tokens from across Europe — many areas, eras, and aspects of Asian coins — these are just some of the topics he has covered. And do not forget about 7 volumes on Indo-Scythian coinage.

John concluded with the 8th edition of Friedberg on Gold coins, now maintained by family of the original 1958 edition’s author. Most everyone wants the latest edition and ignores the first edition; there is more and better information in the latest edition as well as current pricing in catalogs. By John’s estimate, there are only about five books out there where the first edition is actively pursued.

Note: After the meeting, after John returned to the bourse, a discussion broke out, including, among other points, which early editions are pursued because some specialized information appears only there, dropped as other areas were added to the book.


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Show and Tell

Items shown at our April 14, 2010 meeting.

  1. Because Steve Zitowsky missed our March meeting due to a trip to Barcelona, Spain, he started with items related to his trip:
  2. At the recent South Shore (Milwaukee) bourse, David Gumm acuired another piece for his collection of “N1” Large Cents. This 1855 piece grades AU55 and has a rarity rating of R3. He used printed line drawings from a reference to show us the diagnostic marks for this variety, and then he tried to use the projector to show us those marks on the coin; they did not show up well on our system, but they were visible when looking at the coin.
  3. Rich Lipman continued his theme from recent meetings, US late-19th century paper money. First he mentioned the financial matters of the day: more silver coming onto the market, but European countries leaving the silver standard, culminating in a run on gold that led into the panic of 1893. The BEP (Bureau of Engraving and Printing) had come into its own — replacing the last of the private printers, and using newer presses and production methods that were less labor intensive and tedious. Then onto some notes:
  4. Marc Stackler showed items from the Mexican War of Independence:
  5. Carl Wolf showed his latest framed example of unusual money, Kina Shell Money from New Guinea. Used into the 1960s, at one time it was valued at 6 shillings. It is made from part of the world’s largest oyster shell.
  6. Robert Leonard, back the recent National Money Show in Fort Worth, showed us some souvenirs:
  7. Mark Wieclaw mostly showed recent items from the shop:
  8. Don Dool showed items acquired in South America last month:
  9. Marc Ricard showed us what $7.50 can buy at a used book store. A book no more than half an inch thick, no markings on covers, with only a small label mentioning Connecticurt currency on the binding. The book dates from 1865, and is a publication of the Historical Society in New Haven, Connecticut. The last forty or so pages contain Henry Bronson’s 1863 paper on Connecticut Currency and Continental Copper.
  10. Bob Feiler showed some recent acquisitions:

Our 1097th Meeting

Date:May 12, 2010
Time:6:45 PM
Location:Downtown Chicago
At the Chicago Bar Association, 321 S. Plymouth Court, 3rd floor meeting room. Please remember the security measures at our meeting building: everyone must show their photo-ID and register at the guard’s desk. A few blocks west of the CBA building is the Ceres Restaurant (enter the Board of Trade building from Jackson at LaSalle, then enter the restaurant from the lobby) with standard sandwiches, burgers, and salads for members who want to meet for dinner.
Featured speaker:to be announced


Important Dates

May 12 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced
June 9 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced
July 14 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced
Aug 10-14 ANA Annual Convention - Boston. Are you going? Remember to submit a trip report!
August 11 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced

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

http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/

Club Officers

Jeffrey Rosinia- President
Lyle Daly- First Vice President
Elliot Krieter- Second Vice President
William Burd- Archivist
Directors:Robert Feiler
Eugene Freeman
Marc Stackler
Carl Wolf
Other positions held are:
Carl Wolf- Secretary
Steve Zitowsky- Treasurer
Paul Hybert- Chatter Editor

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