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Editor's Notes

This issue is early (and small) because I am leaving soon on a vacation, and the next issue will be a little late (and larger) because my vacation will be long. Look for that issue just before the August meeting, another meeting which I will miss because of ANA in Philadelphia. Will any other local member also attend ANA? Would you like to submit a trip report?

Paul Hybert, editor

Minutes of the 977th Meeting

The 977th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order by president Carl Wolf on June 14th, 20007 PM, Bank One, 18th floor Bank One Plaza Chicago, IL. Minutes from the May meeting were approved and the treasurer's report was read and approved. Guests for the evening were Kevin Dailey and M. Michael Williams.

First VP Steve Zitowsky introduced member Bob Weinstein who spoke on the coinage of the Sakas. Bob received the featured speaker medal and the ANA Educational Certificate at the end of his presentation.

Steve also informed members that Kevin Dailey will host a progarm of Coin Jeopardy next month in July. Currently, there is no featured speaker scheduled for August while in September Clifford Priest of Elgin, IL will speak on Chicagoland stock certificates.

Exhibitors for the evening were as follows:

1. Robert Leonard - Venetian ducat and imitations;
2. Carl Wolf - 1895 Russian Bond, new dollar coin Thank You note, Beistle Corp. bronze medal, and books on trade beads;
3. Mark Wieclaw - Items made from coins in memory of Harry Flower, ancient coins, gold eagles of year 2000;
4. Donald H. Dool - various European coins and tax warrant;
5. Robert Weinstein - ancient coins and barbarous imitations.

The first order of old business was to observe a moment of soilence for long time member Harry Flower who passed away recently. Mark Wieclaw read a card from Brenda Bishop, ANA Convention Coordinator, acknowledging past work of the Chicago Coin Club at prior ANA convention and looking forward to this year's convention in Philadelphia.

For new business, Don Dool has been appointed publicity chairman. Also, Carl read a letter and showed photos from Chuck Menard showing a coffee table exhibiting all of his CCC memorabilia and medals.

Meeting adjourned 9:10 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Richard Hamilton
Secretary-Treasurer

Speaker's Wor[l]d
The Coinage of the Sakas

(The write-up will appear in the next Chatter.)

Show and Tell

1. Bob Leonard started us off with some gold coins from Venice and the Levantine states. After using an atlas to show the locations of the four mints which produced the coins to be shown, Bob showed the original piece and then three imitations of it:
   • a Venetian ducat of doge Andrea Dandolo, 1343-1354;
   • (attributed to Chios) with "omega-like" character in inscription;
   • (attributed to Achaea, probably elsewhere) with "K" replacing "R" in inscription and on reverse, struck in pale gold; and
   • large flan type with secret mark of 4 pellets to left of banner at obverse top, usually with "Z" for "N" in inscription (this one doesn't have that, but shares another unusual feature; the deliberate misspelling of VENETI with two "T"s, with two pellets above the first T and three pellets about the second T). This type of imitation is probably from the mainland of Anatolia, and is attributed to the Ephesus (Theologos) mint of the Turkish bayliks of Aydin.


2. Carl Wolf brought in a wide range of material:
   • A business thank you note with the new dollar coin inside.
   • 100th anniversary medal (1900-2000) of The Beistle Company, a supplier of party goods and decorations. The antiqued bronze medal has a diameter of 3 in., a thickness of 3/8 in., weighs 8.5 oz, and was produced by the Medallic Art Company.
   • Framed Russian Imperial 30-year Bond of 1895 with 10 out of 120 original coupons still attached. It was issued under Nicholas II Romanov (1894-1917), the last Czar of Russia. This 5000 rubles bond, along with others, was issued to raise funds to pay for the building of infrastructure throughout the empire; the largest project being the 4,000-mile long Trans-Siberian Railroad (1891-1916). World War I started in August 1914 and within a short time Russia lost territory and suffered massive casualties. Czar Nicolas was deposed in February 1917 during the Second Russian Revolution. Then in July 1918, he and the Imperial family were executed. At about that time these bonds became worthless to everyone but collectors.
   • Four books on trade beads by John and Ruth Picard, containing excellent color photographs. Carl pointed out the Russian blues and how they might start showing up in the Russian Exhibits coming to this country, because they were heavily used by the Russian American Fur Company in Alaska. These faceted beads needed to be ground and polished and therefore had to be produced by a country with water power, Bohemia.


3. Mark Wieclaw started with a group of items made out of or with coins: a bowl with a Maria Theresa Thaler, a bowl with an 1896 Peruvian 1 sol, and a small spoon with a 1943 U.S. dime on the handle tip. Next were some one ounce U.S. Eagles (current $50 gold bullion pieces); one was slabbed MS70 by ICG, but its pits and nicks made it appear much worse than some raw specimens brought for comparison. Which brought us to the main event - ancients:
   • an AE3 bronze of Flavius Victor, 387-388;
   • an AE3 bronze of Johannes, 423-425 (western empire); and
   • an Artuqqid bronze, bearing design elements taken from Roman coins. The obverse has the zodiac-inspired Gemini, while the reverse shows a virgin (zodiac Virgo) crowning the emperor as typically found on Byzantine coins.


4. Medieval European copper pieces was the starting theme for Don Dool who showed:
   • 1546, Liege, liard
   • 1547, Brabant, Courte, DeMey 452, Neumann II 12969, of Carlos V.
   • 1591, Pomerania-Stettin, Scherf, Eklund 1063, Hildisch 22
   • 1569, Herzogthum (Duchy) of Steiermark, Neumann I 1225, medal turn; this is a jeton.
   • Tax warrant, dated 27 May, 1872, for a lot in Galesburg (Don's hometown), located in Knox County. Knoxville is listed as the county seat, but that would be changed to Galesburg when the CB&Q railroad would go through Galesburg instead of Knoxville.



5. Bob Weinstein concluded the program with his continuing fascination with barbarous imitations. This evening was special in that Bob showed an original piece corresponding to each imitation:
   • Helena postumus issue, by her son Constantine, with the minimisii barbarous imitation being only 7mm in diameter;
   • Urbs Roma commemorative showing Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf, but the wolf faces the wrong way on the barbarous copy from England;
   • Constantinople commemorative with a reverse showing Victory advancing at the prow of a ship, along with two copies - good legends on the 12mm piece but mostly gibberish legend on the 9mm piece; and
   • centeniolus of Constantius Gallus, with the copy from eastern Europe showing a bad legend. It was also pointed out the the copy used the much rarer reverse of the "emperor holding two standards", rather than the more common "spearing fallen horseman" reverse.

Our 978th Meeting

Date:	July 12, 2000
Time:	7:00 PM
Location:	Bank One Plaza Building (formerly the First National Bank Building) 18th Floor, on Dearborn between Madison and Monroe. Enter the building at the South entrance of the Dearborn side, sign in at the security desk and take the elevator to the 18th floor.
Featured Program:	Kevin Dailey - The Numismatic `Jeopardy' Game
	Similar to the television show, and similar to the World Series of Numismatics at the ANA annual convention, this evening should entertain as well as educate you (unless, of course, you know everything already). Teams will be formed at the meeting.

Important Dates

Birthday and Year Joined

Chatter Matter