Chatter

archive also available

Minutes of the 984th Meeting

The 984th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order on January 10, 2001 at 7:04PM by president Carl Wolf. Secretary Treasurer Lyle Daly gave a treasurers' report as follows:

President Carl Wolf called for a moment of silence in memory of Albert Ivan.

First Vice President Robert Feiler introduced Dennis Fuller as the featured speaker. Dennis spoke on Civil War tokens. Tokens came into use in 1860 as a response to a shortage of circulating coinage. As uncertainty in the future of the union grew, so did the hoarding of copper, silver and gold.

Civil War tokens are divided into three categories, store cards, patriotic and sutler. Dennis placed approximately 10 articles from his collection on the overhead projector and offered to show more to interested parties after the meeting.

After the presentation, Robert Feiler presented Dennis Fuller with the Featured Speaker Medal.

The following individuals presented material during the meeting's Show and Tell:

1. Robert Feiler presented numismatic material from his Costa Rican trip. He had currency, coin key chain, a lizard/coin pen. He also presented 1 mil and 9 cent notes.
2. Mike Metras showed the "Italian version of the Red Book" entitled Gigante 2000, purchased for $15 while he was in Italy. He also acquired a second Catalogia. Mike also presented various copies of Italian coinage acquired on his trip.
3. Mark Wieclaw displayed the lead seals from cases of US mint gold and silver bullion coinage. He had one seal that was an off center strike. Mark also had a nail from a Roman fort dating from 83 AD and a Roman coin.
4. Reid Geisler presented a clipped Virginia quarter, two off center Virginia quarters (5 & 20%) and a roll of the new New York quarters.
5. Steve Zitowsky acquired two Danish 4 skilling coins 1645 & 1644 purchased from Erv Beskow during his liquidation sale.
6. Drew Michyeta presented a copy of the Confederate States half dollar.
7. Bill Burd presented a Fractional Currency price sheet for specimen sets from the Treasury of the United States.
8. Bob Leonard had waited years to acquire a winter carnival $.50 token for Breckenridge Colorado. These were suppressed by the Secret Service as they were good at several stores. Tokens can be legally issued for 1 store only. Bob had a revised souvenir piece and one in original condition. Bob also presented several Civil War cardboard store cards/tokens.
9. Chet Poderski was "cleaning out his garage" and found a promotional token that read "You don't need two heads to understand CBS Holiday Television".
10. Carl Wolf presented souvenir notes from the American Banknote Company, a $2 Liberty Bank of Providence and $3 Bank of Kansas.
11. Don Dool shared his assemblage of the "Copper Coins of Conflict". He presented a copy of a Confederate 1 cent, a Barcelona 1810 4 Quartos, a siege coin of Limerick 1691 overstruck on a shilling.

Old Business:

Jeff Rosinia received a round of applause for his fantastic work on the annual banquet.

The educational certificate was awarded to Steve Zitowsky for his talk on Love Tokens presented at the annual banquet.

A motion was made, seconded and passed, to hold our regular meetings in March and April in addition to meeting at the Chicago Paper Money Show and the Chicago International Coin Fair.

A motion was made, seconded and passed, to print 150, two page souvenir cards in color, sequentially numbered for a cost not to exceed $750 for distribution at the Chicago Paper Money Show and the Chicago International Coin Fair. Mike Metras and Bob Feiler will research.

CCC is in receipt of a letter from the Pioneer Memorial fund advising the club that if we contributed an additional $150 the CCC would be would be named on the dedication plaque. This issue was tabled.

Carl Wolf advised the members that CCC is in receipt of a letter from John Wilson requesting individual members endorsement as president of the ANA.

New Business:

Members were requested to propose ideas for the celebration of the CCC's upcoming 1000th meting.

Meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:15PM.

Respectfully submitted by Lyle Daly

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. Bob Feiler started us off with some souvenirs acquired from his recent trip to Costa Rica. Bob was a spectator while the local currency was falling in value against the US dollar; from 310 Colones at his arrival, then 315, and then 318 while exchanging money. Upon his return to the US, he saw a rate of 378 Colones to the dollar.

   Not many numismatic items were spotted while there, but did show us a 1985-dated 10 Colones note on a key chain, and a 1975-dated 25 centimes coin attached to a lizard which was wrapped around a ball-point pen; and mentioned that he had passed on buying a bong with a coin in the pipe bowl.

   He also showed us two additions to his collection of odd-denomination notes: a one-mil note; and a nine-cent note from a Newport Rhode Island merchant.

2. Continueing that theme, Mike Metras showed items he acquired during his October trip to Italy. He reminded everyone to buy heavy books at the end of a vacation, and showed:
   • Gigante 2001: Monete Italiane Dal '700 Ad Oggi, an Italian coin catalog reminiscent of our Red Book, covering the years 1700 to present. A very heavy book containing very good maps of Italian states from various eras, costing 30,000 lira (about $15).
   • Catalogo Enciclopedico Italiano 2000/2001, a stamp catalog purchased for the section on Eritrean stamps; for about $15.
   And then some coins. Except they were actaully immitations of rare pieces, costing about $3 each.
   • Maria Luigia, Parma;
   • Ferdinand II, Kingdom of Two Sicilies;
   • Ferdinand II, Sardinia
   • Government of Lombardy;
   • Umberto I, 5 lira, Italy combined;
   • Victor Emmanual, 100 lira from 1910 (original in gold, but this piece in some white metal; with this piece, some in the audience realized something was wrong);
   • Victor Emmanual III, 20 lira;
   • Albania 5 leka.
3. Mark Wieclaw started off with some esoteric items; an assortment of the lead seals used on the government shipping cases for US bullion coins. Bearing the year on one side and the W indicating the facility at West Point on the other side, the 2001 seal was well centered while the 2000 seal was off-center. Some comments from the members regarded slabbing and the existence of any reference works for these, and then we started off on a listing of the colors used for the various shipping cases (green, blue, black, and red were mentioned, if you must know).
   A 3-inch iron nail was next, dating from 83AD, and from the Inchtuthil Fortress which consisted of stone walls enclosing wooden buildings. Needed to fight the Caledonians, the fort was later dismantled with the iron being buried to deny it to Rome's enemies. A million of these nails are on the market; this was purchased with documention including a map of the fortress.
   A silvered double centeniolis from the Rome mint, for the pretender Magnentius 350-353. The reverse shows the emperor standing on a captive.
4. Showing state quarter error finds was Reid Geisler, with clipped and off-center Virginia quaters. A roll of New york quarters minted at Denver also was shown.
5. Steve Zitowsky showed two coins bearing the Hebrew word Jehovah, acquired from Erv Beskow. They form a complete date set of these 4 skilling coins from Denmark; the 1645 dated coin was purchased first, followed by the rarer (but in worse condition) 1644 a few days later.
6. An old acquisition, re-discovered by Drew Michyeta while cleaning a belt buckle drawer, was a replica of a famous copy. A modern copy of the Confederate Half Dollar, marked copy.
7. Bill Burd showed an original pricelist from the 1860s, for the Specimen Set of Fractional Currency.
8. Another member showing items acquired during travels was Bob Leonard. The ANA summer seminar gave him the opportunity to complete a set started 37 years ago. In 1963, merchants in Breckinridge, Colorado issued a trade token good for 50 cents at any of the merchants. 2000 were made, but after 1300 were issued they were withdrawn because it is illegal to issue a trade token good at more than one establishment. The remaining 700 had the denomination ground off, and had the word SOUVENIR engraved there, and these pieces were then offered for sale at 50 cents. Bob showed some contemporary newspaper clippings, and explained that the original pieces (with denomination) were available at a price of $10; so he sent away for only the SOUVENIR piece. Last summer, he finally was able to buy an original, and for $2!
   To complement the featured speaker's presentation, Bob showed various Civil War tokens in cardboard:
   • Mathews & Brothers, Druggists, New York, in 1, 2, and 3 cents. These are about the only collectible cardboard tokens from that era. These were hand signed on the reverse.
   • From Troy, New York, the Troy House Restaurant. One cent, but split; signed on the reverse.
   • Tea Company, good at listed addresses in Troy and Albany, New York.
   • Two pieces from Holly Springs, Mississippi, the NOJ&GNRR Co. A one dollar piece, and a fifty cent piece (creased) signed on front, blank reverse. These two pieces are made of pasteboard (layers of thin cardboard pasted together), but the dealer, Neil Sowards, who sold them to Bob had repaired them. The group the dealer had acquired had separated in storage before he bought them, so the dealer pasted them back together again.
9. Chet Poderski showed a 1974 CBS token bearing the two-headed Janus as the main device, with the wording "You do not need two heads to understand CBS Television".
10. Carl Wolf continued his earlier theme with two souvenir cards bearing replicas of paper money:
    • A $3 note from The Bank of the State of Kansas (1861-1866), previously chartered in 1858 as the Kansas Valley Bank. The main vignette shows wild horses, and a barnyard vignette is located in the lower left. Issued in 1980 by the Bank Note Reporter as an incentive during a subscription drive, this is one of 5,000 pieces printed from the original plates used by Danforth, Wright & Company.
    • A $2 note from the Liberty Bank of Providence, Rhode Island (1854-1883). Alfred Jones engraved both the central vignette, of horses frightened by lightning, and the left vignette, of America with sword and shield; a vignette later used on the U.S. $20 Demand Note and the first $20 Legal Tender Note. Jones died in New York in 1900, hours after being hit by a hansom cab. It is ironic that the last image this master engraver probably saw was a frightened horse. Issued in 1979 for the International Paper Money Convention, the American Bank Note Company printed 20,000, but only 5,122 are believed to survive.
11. Don Dool continued his theme of coins of conflict with:
    • Confederate States of America 1861, one cent. Dies originally made by Robert Lovett, but never delivered. Sold to Captain John W. Haseltine, who struck copies in copper, silver and gold. Supposedly these copies are from the original dies with the word COPY added.
    • Hungary, War of Independence (1848-9), 1847, 1 krajczar. The Kossuth Rebellion ended when the Austrians appealed to the Russians tsar for help. He sent an army and that was the end of the revolt.
    • Spain, Barcelona, 1810, 4 Quartos, French occupation (1808-14). Napolean had installed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne in 1808, invaded and was in control of most of the peninsula by 1809.
    • Siege of Limerick, 1691, ½ cent. Last holdout of James II in rebellion. Ended by the Treaty of Limerick after James II was defeated at the Battle of Boyne. William III of Orange became king. Struck over host coin KM 94, Gun money shilling, either Mar(ch) 1689 or 1690. The gun money shillings were struck by James II; since both are issues of James II, why strike over the obverse? Devaluation; shilling = 12 pence.
    He concluded by showing an 1852 original of Die Saurmasche Münzsammlung and started a discussion as to whether it should be rebound, pointing out that 90% of the pages were loose.

Our 985th Meeting

Date:	February 13, 2001
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 speaker:	to be announced - but you know it will be good, so do not miss it
	What have you been studying? Stand up in front, and tell us about it!

Important Dates

Birthday and Year Joined

Membership Dues for 2001

Membership dues of $10 for the year 2001 are now due. You may either bring the amount to a meeting or send a check, payable to the Chicago Coin Club, to our mailbox:

Those members for whom we have no record of dues payment for 2000 will find a note enclosed with their March issue of the Chatter.

Chatter Matter