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Minutes of the 980th Meeting

The 980th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order on September 13, 2000, 7 PM, by president Carl Wolf. Minutes from the prior meeting were approved. The Treasurer's report was read and approved. Guest for the evening was our featured speaker, K. Clifford Priest, who was introduced by First VP Steve Zitowsky. Before Clifford began his talk, Steve told us that Tom DeLorey would speak next month followed by the holiday banquet in December. A speaker is still needed for the December holiday banquet.

K. Clifford Priest is a nationally known stock and bond dealer from Elgin, Illinois. He has been a dealer since 1969 and attends many different shows in the Chicago area as a dealer. Clifford displayed many different types of stocks all from the Chicago area, including bank and railroad shares. At the conclusion of his talk, Steve presented Clifford with the club Featured Speaker medal and the ANA Educational Award certificate.

Exhibitors for the evening were as folows:

1. Bill Bierly - Information on the origin of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on U.S. coins in 1863
2. Don Dool - Various 16th century European coins, and a silver and a gold medal from the MidAmerica show in Rosemont
3. Sharon Blocker - 1988 silver proof 50 leke from Albania
4. Kevin Blocker - Two family heirloom U.S. $10 pieces
5. Carl Wolf - Sovenir sheet $1000 bond, and marble armlet from Africa
6. Chet Poderski - Early CCC memorabilia from a founder of the Chicago Numismatic Roundtable.

Under old business, Dennis Fuller and Bill Burd completed an audit for 1999 and reported satisfactory results; financial report to be in Chatter. Several members attended the recent ANA convention in Philadelphia and had favorable comments. Robert Leonard sold $54.00 worth of CCC material at the ANA convention. Members also attended the ILNA show in Harvey with Bill Bierly, Don Dool, and Carl Wolf receiving exhibit awards and Mark Wieclaw and Carl Wolf serving as speakers.

Member Charlie Ricard authored an article in The Numismatist titled "The Duviviers: Medalists to the Kings."

Under new business, Phil Carrigan, the archivist, has received material from the prior Secretary, Brian Stubbs, and will eventually review these items.

There is some question about the accuracy of records at the safety deposit box at Bank One, pertaining to who is authorized to access the box. This will be clarified in the future. Also, there was some discussion about the display of CCC material and awards at the Chicago Coin Company of Bill Burd. Members voted to discuss the idea further at the next meeting.

Richard Hamilton reported receiving a letter and World War II Bulgarian bond from a paper money collector of World War II. A translation is in progress.

Meeting adjourned 9:10 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Richard Hamilton
Secretary-Treasurer

Speaker's Wor[l]d
Stocks and Bonds Depicting Buildings and Scenes in Chicago

Cliff Priest specializes in the stocks and bonds of the railroads of his home state of Maine. While living in an apartment in the late 1960s, Cliff was looking for a hobby that would not require much space. He traces his interest in scripophily (the study of stocks and bonds) to when, while out shooting pictures of railroad box cars in the Chicago area, he found many stock certificates lying along the rail tracks (being taken to be destroyed?). His collection started with a stock certificate from Butler Brothers.

We used an overhead projector to display stocks and bonds on our random walk through Chicago's history. The big and well known were there, along with some small and some fanciful. A City of Chicago 1937 bond started us off; it bore the city seal which used a Ft. Dearborn motif. a

Many of the securities issued by financial institutions showed the building housing that institution. An 1864 stock of the First National Bank at Chicago, Illinois was shown, and a view of the First National Bank Building was used on a 1933 receipt from the National Safe Deposit Company. A specimen from the National Boulevard Bank of Chicago, printed by the Northern Bank Note Company, showed the building (Wrigley Building) containing the bank, but the bad vignette quality was noted.

The certificates from many more local institutions were shown; some names still remembered, others long gone. The building of the Madison and Kedzie State Bank was shown on its certificate, but the building now houses a liquor store as the bank failed by 1933. Certificates from 1928 from the Garfield State Bank and Flossmoor State Bank were just two of many more shown which show their building. Bank failures are not a recent development. A beautiful river scene, showing a Lake Michigan steamer, many sailing ships, and docks and warehouses, is on the face of a stock certificate from the The Cook County National Bank of Chicago. Markings on the rear, however, tell us that the bank failed in 1875, only three months after the certificate was issued.

Certificates from some railroad companies were next shown. A 1928 certificate from the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad showed some of the engines and equipment, while the one share, certicate #1 from 1904 of the Chicago and Oak Park Elevated Railway Company showed the elevated structure and a train upon it. It also bore an allegorical figure riding a winged wheel while holding a light bulb aloft (the line was electrified). The winged wheel motif would appear on a few more certificates during the presentation.

Buildings were pictured on a number of railroad certificates. The Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad showed the same buildings as did the the grandly named Chicago Northern Pacific Railroad Company which was a switching railroad out to suburban Forest Park. The buildings illustrated on some certificates were not contemporary with the actual certificates. The construction bond for the Chicago Union Station Company showed the planned building, but the actual building does not have the pictured upper floors. An 1893 stock certificate of the Wagner Palace Car Company has a train as its central vignette, travelling from right to left. The right vignette shows New York's Grand Central Station while the left vignette shows Chicago's Grand Central Station, which had burned down in the great Chicago Fire. That railcar company was later absorbed into The Pullman Company which used only a portrait of it founder, George Pullman, on it certificate from 1900. That was an artistic improvement over the 1869 certificate of the Pullman Palace Car Company which bore no images, and was printed on poor quality paper.

Many wholesale and retail companies have been headquartered in Chicago. Many certificates bearing images of actual company facilities were shown. Most of the wholesaler company names are unfamiliar today, as unfamiliar as the Butler Brothers retailing name is today. A 1950s specimen of Carson Pirie Scott & Company bore a line drawing of the iron work around their main entrance. (A certicate of the Chicago Railways Company, one of many long-gone street car companies, pictured a State Street scene which included part of the Carsons building.)

One of the many certificates from local manufacturers was of the Pilsen Brewing Company. The large vignette showed the main brewery building with the adjacent beer garden. The engraving was excellent, and our camera operator spent some time panning around and zooming in on the image, to the appreciative comments from the audience. I'm starting to get thirsty, so this report must end now. (You really should have been there; there was just too much material shown to fit into a report.)

Show and Tell

Each image has a scale in the lower-left corner, with the tics spaced 1 mm apart. Because the brightness and contrast were manipulated on a computer, the coloring of a coin's image differs from the coin's actual coloring.

1. Bill Bierly started us off by describing a side trip he took while attending ANA in Philadelphia. Bill collects patterns, and is especially interested in coins bearing the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. Ridleyville, Pennsylvania was the home of Mark R. Watkinson, a minister who wrote a letter to Salmon P. Chase proposing that our coinage include the legend GOD, LIBERTY, LAW. Bill showed a copy of the book History of Ridley Township which he had purchased on his trip, and showed the copies of the original letter to Secretary Chase contained in that book, along with information about Minister Watkinson. Bill also showed photographs he had taken of the historical marker located on Watkinson's old church, the now renamed and rebuilt Prospect Hill Baptist Church.



2. Next was Don Dool, showing more pieces of dated copper coinage from the 16th century, along with two medals from a recent show.
   • Genoa, 1507, Minuto, Varesi 162, under Louis XII of France.
     Obverse: Castle;
     Reverse: Cross; date, 07, in quadrant 3.
   • Deventer, Campen & Zwolle, 1556, 3 Sols,
     Obverse: DAVENR.CAMPEN.ZWOLLE, 3 value in center.
     Reverse: TRIV__CIVITA_IMP_R date 56. Three free/imperial cities.
   • Farmagusta (Cyprus), 1570, Bisante, Duby II 4; Neumann I 917; Schlumberger Tf. 8.14. Issued during a siege by the Turks, it fell to the Turks in 1571.
   • Wolgast, 1592, Pfennig, Neumann I 4761: Saurma ?
     Obverse: WOL GAST 1592 M
     Reverse: Griffin
   • Deventer, 1594, Duit, Neumann II 12570 (similar),
     Obverse: DA VEN TRIA 94 inside a wreath, date divided.
     Reverse: NON VIDI IVSTVM DEREL [ictum] (I have not seen that a just one was deserted) Spanish arms.
   • Silver and Gold medals for Don's Invitational Exhibits at the Mid-America Show, in June at Rosemont.


3. After passing on purchasing it for $75 as a new issue in 1988, Sharon Blocker had been looking for the 50 Leke proof 5-ounce silver produced by the Budapest Mint for Albania. She showed us her recent acquisition of this piece with only 7,500 produced, and the most striking feature is the incorporation of the semi-circular hole into the design of a train exiting a tunnel.



4. Kevin Blocker brought in two family heirloom $10 gold pieces which were recently slabbed by NGC. Originally paid to his grandfather as wages by the Sante Fe Railroad, Kevin related how he had covered the grades and then taken a grading survey at a local coin club meeting. Although we tended to agree with the other club's opinions of MS-60 and MS-61, the labels were peeled back to reveal grades of MS-63 and MS-64 for the 1908-D and 1912 pieces.



5. Carl Wolf brought two more framed pieces from his collection, and described them fully.
   • Framed Bureau of Engraving & Printing sheet of the "End Section of $1000 Coupon Bond Back, 1900-1930." The main part of the engraving was completed in 1900 from the combined work of nine engravers. The two main features showing the eagle with shield and the steamer ship were engraved in 1883 and 1891 by two other engravers. This sheet was printed and sold at the 1999 American Numismatic Association Convention in Chicago.
   • Framed marble armlet from Africa that can be confused for primitive money because of the high value placed on it by native Africans. These people's lives are dominated by the spirits of animals and their ancestors combined with their belief that these spirits can inhabit their jewelry and ornaments. This leads them then to hold these possessions sacred and in such high value it has lead some westerners to confuse it for money. Its rightful category is "Odd & Curious," but can be found in many collections of "Primitive Money."


6. Last up was Chet Poderski with two pieces:
   • An imprinted envelop, produced by Ernest Jonas and bearing his portrait and marking his membership in the Numismatic Roundtable; this souvenir had been given out to all attendees of the January, 1961 Chicago Coin Club meeting.
   • A Foto-Pay-Day envelope from the Rivoli Theatre of LaCrosse, Wisconsin containing a 1948 Lincoln cent. They requested to buy a photograph of you for the one cent, or they would take your photo if you did not have a current one. (They do no make advertising come-ons like that anymore.)