| Volume 72 No. 11 | November, 2026 |
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The 1293rd meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order by President Melissa Gumm at 6:45pm CDT Wednesday, October 14, 2026. This was an in-person and online meeting with 20 members and three guests, one applying for membership, present at the CBA and 17 members online, for a total of 40.
Club Meeting Minutes
The September club meeting minutes were approved as published in the Chatter, both in print and on the CCC website.
New Memberships
Secretary Scott McGowan completed the first membership application reading for Kunlin Han of Chicago who collects US and Chinese coinage. This was his second meeting with the CCC after finding the club from a web search for a coin club.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Lyle Daly presented the September period report indicating revenue of $15.46 (CD Interest) and expenses of $840.00 (Chatter, CBA room rent, Liability Insurance) for a period total of −$824.54. The report was approved by the membership.
Old Business
New Business
Announcements
Melissa Gumm reported that the club received word that our member Carl Wolf will be discharged from the rehabilitation facility this week and, while he needs more time to recover from his stroke, he is anxious to rejoin the monthly meetings.
Mark Wieclaw mentioned that using a 95% copper one-cent coin versus a coper-coated zinc one-cent coin makes for a much higher quality elongated coin. With the discontinuation of one-cent pieces, they are becoming scarcer. Mark encourages CCC members to collect some copper one-cent pieces (1981 and before, except 1943) and donate them to TEC (The Elongated Collectors) for use in rolling for future conventions.
Milwaukee Numismatic Coin Show on Sunday, November 8, 2026. (Public: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM; Early Bird: 8:00 AM), $3 general admission, $25 Early bird. Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel (Brookfield Ballroom), 375 S. Moorland Road, Brookfield, WI 53005.
Featured Program
James M. McMenamin presented Around the World in 40 Coins – Reflections on Almost Sixty-Five Years of Coin Collecting and Fifty Years of Membership in the Chicago Coin Club. Following the presentation, Deven Kane announced a speaker’s medal and ANA education certificate would be presented to James at a future date.
Show and Tell
Vice President Ray Dagenais announced the evening’s seven Show and Tell presentations. A reminder to the club, that in the summarizing of points for the show and tell, presenters receive extra points per presentation after giving five presentations.
President Melissa Gumm reviewed upcoming numismatic events then adjourned the meeting at 8:33PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott McGowan, Secretary
by
James M. McMenamin
presented to our October 14, 2026 meeting
Copyright © 2026 James M. McMenamin
(All Rights Reserved in All Media)
My grandfather was born in Chicago in 1892, the year the world’s Columbian Exposition was supposed to open. As a memento of his birth year, he kept a Columbian half dollar which is now a possession of mine. Its crisp, sharp design is one of the best of all American commemorative coins. The Old and New Worlds appear as two hemispheres in a nod to the Spanish Pillar Dollar. But that is not where my story begins. It starts in 1949, two years before my birth, when my parents travelled for twenty-two days by rail, sea, and air to Christchurch, New Zealand, where they lived for the next eight years. I was born in 1951.
One of my earliest numismatic memories is of the red presentation case holding the 1953 pre-decimal set of eight coins issued by New Zealand to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. The designs are fabulous, but I have never been a fan of nickel coins. The two coins that attracted me were the bronze pieces. Both had a burnished gold appearance that suggested they could indeed be made of that valuable metal. Like any child who thinks, the larger the coin, the greater its value, I considered these the most precious. To this early attraction I probably owe my interest in similarly large copper and bronze coins such as those of the Channel Islands, explored in a 2022 paper, “Coins of Guernsey & Jersey.”
When my parents arrived in New Zealand, they had three children. When we departed for Australia in 1957 that number had grown to eight. Although Australia’s currency did not trade at par with New Zealand’s, it shared the pound, shillings, and pence system that traced back 1,000 years to the time of Charlemagne. It also shared the same denominations, sizes, and similar coin designs, including large bronze pieces. Some Australian pennies, such as the 1912 George V penny, incorporated the “H” mint mark of the Heaton Mint in Birmingham, England. That inspired the subject of a 2024 paper entitled, “The Ubiquitous H,” covering the origin and history of what I consider to be the finest private mint in the world. Sadly, the Heaton Mint closed in the early 2000s following a slump in trade and a loss of contracts. Their coins appealed for a variety of reasons: the number of issues, the excellence of their design, and the quality of the coin production. During its more than 150 years of existence, the Heaton Mint produced coins for over 110 countries, including jurisdictions on six continents. Collecting all of them became an impossible challenge, however.
One coin that has always captured my imagination is the gold Australian half sovereign issued before Australia adopted its own currency. My brother Richard had the good fortune of a godfather who gave him just such a coin at his baptism in 1956. It is a beautiful design, well struck, though my brother’s was well-worn by the time he received it. It carries an “M” mint mark signifying that it was minted in Melbourne where we lived.
My parents arrived in Australia with eight children. When we left in early 1960, there were ten of us. We moved because my father was transferred to Paris, France. An interesting aspect of goods pricing in France at that time was the mixture of old and new francs in general circulation. If one said that one had bought a pair of shoes for Fr. 500, there was no way of knowing whether they were cheap plastic shoes or expensive leather ones. The only way to know was context. If, on the other hand, one said one had bought a pair of shoes for Fr. 500 at the market, one immediately knew the shoes could not possibly be of the expensive variety. One new franc equated to one hundred old francs. Five hundred old francs equated to about one US dollar, whereas five hundred new francs equated to about US$ 100. What so fascinated me about the aluminum 5-“old” franc coin circulating in the 1960s was that two other versions had been struck earlier with an identical design, diameter, and denomination, each different metals and colors. The earliest version, in aluminum-bronze from the 1930s, had a weight of 12 grams and a diameter of 31 mm. That was succeeded circa 1938 by a nickel version. I still wonder if the three French coins of identical design and diameter, but different metals, might be a unique case.
After 14 years abroad, my parents returned to the United States in 1963 with a full complement of twelve children. We moved to a house in Evanston, which was to play a key role in the development of my coin collection. So-called “Mercury” dimes were still in circulation. I found their design and symbolism attractive. I collected as many as I could. The head on the obverse is not in fact “Mercury” at all, but rather Lady Liberty, beautifully rendered, wearing a winged Phrygian cap. The reverse features the so-called Roman fasces (a bound bundle of wooden rods tied together with a strap) superimposed on an olive branch.
In those days, it was possible to travel for fifteen cents by bus to the Chandler’s office supply store in downtown Evanston to peruse coins on the second-floor balcony at a long counter with a motorized vertical display carousel. At the press of a button, the rotating Ferris-wheel contraption would present an almost endless selection of domestic and world coins. Over frequent and long visits to that store, through conversations with the salespeople, and the purchase of many coins, I began to build my collection.
My father continued his career with IH, a company with a deservedly famous logo: a red Farmall tractor with two black tires joined by a black axle, and farmer’s head atop. IH’s current incarnation is as International Motors LLC, located in Lisle Illinois. On the second floor are no less than eight framed displays of the more than one hundred medals awarded to the company at various agricultural shows from the mid-19th century into the 20th century. The collection includes an outstanding array of gold, enamel, bronze, silver, and brass awards bestowed by Turkey, Sweden, England, Russia, France, and other countries. The assemblage is known as the McCormick Collection.
IH was one of the earliest multinational corporations. From 1963 onwards, my father travelled to every continent, Antarctica excepted, visiting its offices and dealers and invariably returning with a pocket full of coins, which he gave to me. It is hard to conceive, given the troubled times we live in, but before World War I Russia was IH’s largest single non-US revenue source. IH archives at the Wisconsin Historical Society hold many artifacts from those years. One shows a farmer on the Russian steppes using a McCormick binder, with the McCormick brand name in Cyrillic lettering affixed to the machine. As an echo of those years, in the 1970s large holdings of valueless Imperial Russian bank notes and bonds were rediscovered in the IH corporate files. There were so many banknotes, IH printed up small pamphlets each enclosing a crisp hundred-ruble Russian banknote to be given away as keepsakes. The 100-ruble note is large, measuring almost 5” by 10½”. Empress Catherine the Great appears on the reverse and in an elaborate watermark.
In the mid-1960s, my father traveled to Venezuela, which then had a very desirable silver coinage. When he brought home a silver Bolivar, I became hooked on a wider horizon than just collecting U.S., British, Colonial, and French coins.
One of my four college years was productively spent in the ancient university town of Angers, France, with its great medieval castle, towers, and battlements. I lived with a French family. One of my treasured mementos from that time is a little matchbox the family gave containing nine so-called jettons bearing easily identifiable, historical personages from French history. I had no idea then as to their significance or purpose.
By 1973 I was an employee of Northern Trust bank in Chicago. Three years later, in January 1976, I became a fully paid-up member of the Chicago Coin Club. The CCC lived a nomadic life that year. We held meetings at four separate locations: at Roosevelt University’s Herman Crown Center, then at a now-demolished building on N. Dearborn, followed by two months at Northwestern’ Abbott Hall, before relocating to the Loop’s Midland Hotel, which became our home for many years. I still have most of my Club membership cards, many signed by Leah Klein, the Secretary, and later by Carl Wolf. The series ends sadly around 2020.
In 1976 I moved to Northern’s international department. There is a photo of me from August 1977, shortly before my transfer to the bank’s London Branch. CCC members I remember from then include Harry X Boosel and Dr. Needleman. Boosel intimidated me, but Needleman was approachable. He interested me in the study of jettons. Later, Dr. Needleman edited Perspectives in Numismatics which I consider to be one of the truly outstanding achievements of the Chicago Coin Club. The book’s excellent article on jettons prompted me to present a 2019 paper on the subject, entitled “Tokenism,” in which I explained my 50-year search to better understand the nine jettons given to me in Angers, France.
Another person I remember from those years is Gerda Hildegard Martha Markgraf O’Reilly Birkholz, to list her full complement of names. I have not found a picture of Gerda from the 1970s so have made use of her Lakeview High School photo. Gerda was President of the CCC from 1977 to 1978, a Chatter editor, a medal of merit awardee in 1968, a literary award recipient three times, a Cabeen award recipient eleven times, and in 1975, President Ford appointed her to serve on the U.S. Assay Commission. I do not know what the criteria are for the CCC’s Hall of Fame, but I hope her name will be considered for inclusion. Gerda lectured frequently on numismatics and was a member of numerous coin clubs.
Someone else I recall, with great affection, is Chester P. (“Chet”) Poderski. At each meeting he invariably had a selection of attractively priced coins for sale. If you have not seen the 22-minute video of him being interviewed by Carl Wolf in 1993, it can be found on the Internet Archive and is well worth the search. Chet tells his story marvelously well with many anecdotes about his years of coin-collecting, and the people he knew. One phrase you will hear tonight more than once is “I just had to have it.” To paraphrase Chet, ‘if I had money in my pocket, it was burning a hole. What I saw, I just had to have it. I do not know why, I just had to have it.’ The same is true for me when I see a coin I like, though usually I know the reason. It is either a function of some personal connection, the beauty of the coin, the detail, or some other factor.
Just such a coin is Poland’s 1932 silver 10 Zlotys coin bearing, on one side, a breathtaking representation of Polonia, the personification of Poland. She wears a traditional wreath festooned with three-leaf clovers and flowers. Sometimes I add a coin to my collection, not because of its appearance, or design, or beauty, but because of some unusual feature or information it bears as in the case of the 1930 Belgian 10-franc coin. Normally nickel coins do not appeal, but this one did, first because it bears in profile three different monarchs of Belgium. I had seen other coins with two, but not one with three kings. There is a second point of interest, however. Curiously, the reverse indicates a value of ten Belgian francs or two belga. “What are belga?” I asked myself. It seems that after World War I the Belgian franc suffered from a loss of international confidence, leading Belgium to exit the Latin Monetary Union. The belga was introduced in 1926 as a higher-value unit of 10 francs to 2 belga, tied to the gold standard to facilitate foreign transactions. The dual-denomination practice lasted only a few years. The belga itself was abolished in 1946.
Even better is the 1954 silver Belgian 100-franc coin. It bears four monarchs in profile. But to my mind, the coin that takes the cake when it comes to the representation of kings is the Greek 30-drachma silver coin of 1963. It bears the likeness of five Greek kings. The map of Greece on the reverse is spectacularly rendered, with the islands of the Aegean and Ionian seas appearing in sharp outline, plus two dolphins at the base, the names of ten regions of the Balkan Peninsula, and an oared vessel sailing just off the Peloponnese.
Sometimes a coin drops into one’s lap as a gift, as in the case of my Turkish 10 para coin. It is the vilest of degraded coins with a silver content of only 17%. Were it any thinner, I could surely bend it with my bare fingers. But it has an interesting color. The date, 1255, in Eastern Arabic numerals, translates to the Western year of 1839.
At other times one acquires a coin because of a special memory. Such is a piece associated with my years at Northern Trust’s London Branch. On the top floor we had a drawing room, a kitchen, and a dining room for client entertaining where lunch was served every day at 1:15 PM after a glass of sherry, a gin and tonic, or a Bloody Mary. The meals were served by Oxtoby, the butler, wearing the traditional short, black jacket and striped trousers. After an appetizer, followed by a main course and dessert, came the Stilton cheese, crackers, butter, and port wine. Along with the port, coffee was served in demitasse cups with Demerara sugar. Demerara resembles small, amber-colored crystallized sugar. It originated in the former British colony of Demerara, now part of Guyana in South America. When I inadvertently came across an 1813 token of Essequebo & Demarary, the memory of those wonderful lunches in London immediately said, I just had to have it.
My calling territory for those London-based years included all Western Europe. Back then, many banks had nicknames. Northern Trust was the “grey lady of LaSalle Street;” The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation was known in rhyming slang as “Honkers and Shankers,” and Finland’s Kansallis-Osake-Pankki was the “hanky-panky bank.” On one visit there, I was given a presentation case containing four coins from Finland’s time as an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. The coins are denominated in the local Finnish currency, the markka, with Finnish rather than Cyrillic lettering, but nevertheless bearing the Russian double-headed eagle. It is a fine set.
Of equal interest is my 1797 cartwheel penny. A corpulent George III appears on the obverse and a magnificent portrayal of Britannia ruling the waves on the reverse. It is a big coin. The value of the copper alone currently approximates forty-four cents. Bearing the Soho mint mark, it was produced in pure copper to a weight of exactly one ounce.
One can also be attracted to a coin because of a family connection. Such is the case with Simon Castella. He rose to the rank of brevet general through service in three different national armies. Unhappily, he always fought on the losing side, first in the Papal Army, then in the French Army, and finally with Spain’s Carlist forces. Simon was my 2nd great grand-uncle. In his twenties he became ‘persona non grata’ in Switzerland for having supported the Revolution of 1849. Making good his escape to Rome, he joined the Papal Army as a second lieutenant. At the time, the Papal States made up one seventh of modern Italy’s land area. Simon was not with the ceremonial Swiss Guards. Rather, he was commissioned into the Pope’s Army garrisoned at strategic towns in the Papal States to defend against aggressors. In the ensuing years he rose to the rank of captain, fought at the battles of Castelfidardo and Ancona in 1860, but found himself without a job after the Italian Army captured Rome in 1870. Given this family connection, I just had to have a coin from the Papal States. The copper 4 Soldi of 1868 bearing the “R” mint mark for Rome is interesting because it was issued during a period of transition from the Roman scudo system to the decimal system of the Latin Monetary Union. It bears two values: four soldi and twenty centesimos. It is a beautiful coin.
Simon then signed up with France’s Army of the East just in time for the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 when German troops crushed the French forces of Emperor Napoleon III. The five-franc coin of 1868 bears the likeness of Napoleon III. It also conforms to the Latin Monetary Union standards for weight and fineness. Interestingly, the engraver for Napoleon’s likeness on this coin is the same Barre who created the obverse design seen on the 1960 Venezuelan Bolivar. The Latin Monetary Union that existed from 1865 to 1926 was the subject of a 2021 paper delivered as a numismatic overview of the LMU’s fatally flawed bi-metallic system.
Another beautiful coin I just had to have is Luxembourg’s 1963 silver 250-franc coin. It bears a representation of the city’s medieval fortress and has an almost three-dimensional quality. Issued to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Luxembourg, the uncirculated coin does not do justice to how magnificent it becomes over time with toning.
Another exceptionally attractive piece is the 1919 British West Africa two-shilling coin used by the British colonies and protectorates of West Africa. Difficult to see on the reverse because of its small size, is the “H” mint mark of the Heaton Mint. The palm tree is magnificently rendered. This is a coin of transparent beauty.
One large copper I favor is the four centesimos coin of Paraguay. The design is sharply executed with excellent detail and crispness.
Beginning in 1904 and, continuously since then, Panama’s currency has traded at par to the US dollar. Its coins mostly share similarity of weight, size, and fineness to analogous US coins. They have always attracted me, including the 1947 Balboa, which has the same diameter, weight, and fineness as the Morgan dollar. Another favorite, is the 1904 silver Panama 2½ centesimos coin, known for its size as the “Panama Pill.” Like the Balboa, it was minted in the U.S. and has the distinction of being the smallest coin ever produced by the US mint. Its diameter is only 10 mm as against a diameter of just under 18 mm for the “Mercury” dime!
The 1788 copper Barbados token penny was issued privately but traded widely in Barbados. I especially like the uncomplicated design, though the reverse carries a charged message. The well-rendered head is African, with three Prince of Wales ostrich feathers emerging from a coronet and the words “I Serve” below which is a translation of the Prince of Wales’s motto, “Ich Dien.” Is the African head ‘sick satire,’ a problematic reference to the wealth and status of Barbados based on slave labor, or is it a Black King?
One coin I have not yet collected is the Japanese one-yen coin from the late 19th century. Minted in silver with a weight of almost 30 g, it is another descendent of the Pillar Dollars of Spain. The obverse bears a fearsome dragon. The Pillar Dollar is itself a magnificent coin of the ‘thaler’ type with its eastern and western hemispheres under a crown of the Spanish monarch. It too is a magnificent piece.
Of more recent interest are the jettons of the autonomous States of Brittany. They bear the likeness of the French monarch with the superbly executed quartered arms of the French king and the Duchy of Brittany. These can be purchased at very reasonable prices and have an immediate connection to the Chamber of Accounts of Brittany in Nantes, France.
After more than 50 years of membership in the CCC, do I have any wishes or regrets to voice? In the former category there is a desire to see produced another scholarly work modeled on our 1986 publication. As to the latter, there stands at 1029 N. Dearborn St. a three-story mansion that was once the home of Richard Cabeen. Circa 1968, he famously donated a total of $5,210 to our club which inspired the creation of the Richard McPherrin Cabeen awards given annually for excellence in exhibits. More spectacularly, in 1967 he and his wife bequeathed their N. Dearborn home to the Collectors Club of Chicago to be a center of philately. The Collectors Club of Chicago meets there regularly, I am told, for dinner and the presentation of papers. I have always regretted that a way has not been found to bring our two organizations together, even if only for the purpose of a joint dinner or meeting, especially given that we have both been endowed in our own different ways by the same man. I have never been inside the Cabeen House, but candidly I would love to be invited for a tour or to meet our stamp collecting brethren.
| Chicago Coin Company |
| Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. |
| Kedzie Koins Inc. |
| Classical Numismatic Group |
Items shown at our October 14, 2026 meeting,
reported by Ray Dagenais.
Reminders:
Here are the lots in our member auction. The auction will be held near the start of the November meeting, after a short time for lot examination.
The auction will be called from our in-person meeting room, and all lots must be picked up when the auction ends – that is when all accounts must be settled, too. If you wish to bid but will not attend in person, please make arrangements with a fellow member: to bid for you, to pick up your won lots, and to pay for you. We do not know how well the remote-support capabilities of our meeting room would support remote bidders.
William A. Burd Consignment #1
Bob Feiler Consignment
William A. Burd Consignment #2
Ray Dagenais Consignment
William A. Burd Consignment #3
Rich Lipman Consignment #1
William A. Burd Consignment #4
Rich Lipman Consignment #2
CCC Duplicates for the benefit of the Club (From Bill Burd)
| Date: | December 9, 2026 This meeting is in-person only. |
| Time: | 6:00pm (cash bar),
appetizers sponsored by Chicago Coin Company.
7:00pm Dinner. 8:00pm Meeting called to order. |
| Location: | Des Plaines Elks Club, 495 Lee St, Des Plaines, Illinois. |
| Details: |
The cost is $55 per person; advance payment required no later than
Wednesday December 2.
• Book your reservation now by sending your Zelle payment to treasurer.chicagocoinclub@gmail.com – be sure to put your name and BANQUET in the note section; or mail a check to the club, at PO Box 2301, Chicago, IL 60690. • The family-style dinner will have Soup and Salad; 3 entrees, 3 sides, and 2 vegetables; and Dessert. |
| Parking: | Free parking. |
| Program: | The speaker is Mike Nottleman, on ---to be announced---. |
| Agenda: | Award Presentations.
Officer Elections. |
| Date: | November 11, 2026 |
| Time: | 6:45PM CDT (UTC-05:00) |
| Location: | Downtown Chicago
At the Chicago Bar Association, 321 S. Plymouth Court, 3rd or 4th floor meeting room. Please remember the security measures at our meeting building: everyone must be prepared to show their photo-ID and register at the guard’s desk. |
| Online: | For all the details on participating online in one of our club meetings, visit our Online Meeting webpage at www.chicagocoinclub.org/meetings/online_meeting.html. Participation in an online meeting requires some advance work by both our meeting coordinator and attendees, especially first-time participants. Please plan ahead; read the latest instructions on the day before the meeting! Although we try to offer a better experience, please be prepared for possible diifficulties. |
| Member Auction: |
There is no commission charged to either the buyer or seller.
Auction lot viewing will be held before the meeting starts, and
again briefly before the auction starts.
The auction will be called from our in-person meeting room, and
all lots must be picked up when the auction ends – that
is when all accounts must be settled, too.
We will not accept real-time bids from remote attendees; they
should make arrangements with a club member, who will attend
in person, to act as their agent during the auction.
Please find elsewhere in this issue of the Chatter a listing of all auction lots that were known to us by Sunday, October 25. |
Unless stated otherwise, our regular monthly CCC Meeting is in downtown Chicago, and also online, on the second Wednesday of the month; the starting time is 6:45PM CT.
| November | 11 | CCC Meeting - Club Auction, organized by Deven Kane and Richard Lipman - no featured speaker |
| December | 9 | CCC Meeting - Annual Banquet - details to be announced |
| January | 13 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be determined |
| February | 10 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be determined |
| February | 28 | Will County Coin Club Show, to be held at Joliet Junior College Annex, 17840 W. Laraway Road in Joliet, Illinois; 9:00am to 3:00pm. |
| March | 4-6 | ANA’s National Money Show at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Details at https://www.money.org/NationalMoneyShow |
| March | 10 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be determined |
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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
Or email the Secretary at
Secretary.ChicagoCoinClub@GMail.com
Payments to the Club, including membership dues,
can be addressed to the Treasurer at the above
street address.
Renewing Members Annual dues are $20 a year ($10 for Junior, under 18). Annual Membership expires December 31 of the year through which paid. Cash, check, or money order are acceptable (USD only please). We do not accept PayPal. Email your questions to Treasurer.ChicagoCoinClub@GMail.com Members can pay the Club electronically with Zelle™ using their Android or Apple smart phone. JP Morgan Chase customers can send payments to the Club via Quick Pay. To see if your Bank or Credit Union is part of the Zelle™ Payments Network, go to https://www.zellepay.com Please read all rules and requirements carefully.
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