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Chicago Coin Club
Volume 47 No. 10 October 2001


Minutes of the 992nd Meeting

The 992nd meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order on September 12, 2001 at 7:14PM by President Carl Wolf. Member Jeff Rosinia arranged to hold the meeting at the offices of Harlan Berk Ltd. in lieu of 1 Bank One Plaza.

President Carl Wolf called for a moment of silence to remember those who died in the terrorist attack on The World Trade Center in New York.

Secretary/Treasurer Lyle Daly read the August minutes. A motion was made, seconded and passed to approve the minutes of August 8, 2001, amended to reflect Mr. Wieclaw's first name as Mark in lieu of Mike.

Secretary/Treasurer Lyle Daly gave a treasury report as follows:

Dreyfus Money Market $1811.67
Bank One CD 1408.09
Bank One CD 1405.88
TCF Checking Account 2114.46
Un-deposited Funds 0.00
TOTAL $6740.10

Featured Speaker
Featured speaker Bruno Rzepka was unable to attend given the tragedy of yesterday's attack. President Carl Wolf introduced member Harlan Berk and his presentation on the silver and gold medallions of the Roman Empire. Medallions were awarded to dignitaries and carried no denomination.

Harlan presented a gold medal of Constantius,

a silver medal of Constantine the Great,

and a coin commemorating Constantine's victory at the Malvern Bridge.

President Carl Wolf presented Harlan with an educational certificate for his presentation of May 14th and a certificate for Don Dool for his August 8th presentation.

Second Vice President Don Dool introduced the following individuals, who presented material during the meeting's Show and Tell:

  1. Mark Wieclaw presented elongated coins commemorating route 66 and a set of elongated Olympic commemoratives. Mark also presented a dupondius of Maximianus.
  2. Carl Wolf continued his tradition of presenting framed primitive money and displayed Axe head money from Central America. These are typically found in hoards and appear to have ceased to be used with the introduction of iron. These were known to be used as money through accounts in the diary of Christopher Columbus's son.
  3. Don Dool presented a token for the Galesburg White Elephant. This was a tavern and Don's mother bought the wet bar when it went out of business. The bar is now in the basement of his son's house. Don also continued his tradition of presentation on copper coins of the 16th century.

Old Business:
Mark Wieclaw, chairman of the committee for planning the 1000th meeting, advised members that we have secured a reduced parking rate. The medallion selection sub committee will meet to review the submissions for the commemorative medal. Levels of donation to the club are yet to be determined. The committee will meet again on September 27th 2001. As reminder to all, the 1000th meeting will be held during the CICF on April 6th 2002.

Paul Hybert gave a brief update on the web site. It is up and running but has not been moved to an independent service provider.

The ILNA show had less than 100 dealers. In an effort to increase attendance, CCC members recommended offering educational seminars.

Phil Carrigan advised the club of the discussion and decision to hold the 2008 ANA convention in St Louis.

Lyle Daly to contact Jeff Rosinia and ask for a status of the arrangements for the December Banquet.

New Business:
It was noted that member Mark Wieclaw received the "Numismatic Ambassador" award sponsored by Krause Publications.

It was noted that member Harlan Berk was elected President of PNG.

Mark Wieclaw suggested a new method of grading competitive exhibits at shows such as ANA and Central States. Grading each exhibit against the predetermined criteria for each award level, rather than against other exhibits, would allow for multiple 1st place awards or possibly none.

Carl Wolf noted membership attendance is down and asked if the membership had any thoughts on why. Some suggestions were the meeting was too formal. Another thought was that a summary of meetings in a press release format should be sent to local papers and numismatic publications. One thought we should just have more fun.

A motion was made, seconded and passed to adjourn the meeting at 8:52PM.

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. After showing numerous elongated coins, Mark Wieclaw showed a dupondius of Maximianus; it is a rare denomination for this emperor.
  2. Carl Wolf continued his theme of primitive money with a piece of Axe Head Money from Central America. This copper axe head was a favorite Native American trade good and barter item at the time of Columbus's discovery.
    Copper axes were introduced to Mexico by Andean traders about 900 AD. The first axes were up to nine inches long with a chisel-like head. Around 1200 AD it evolved into the shape Carl showed. Their principal area of circulation was in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Over the years, farmers have uncovered hoards containing hundreds of pieces.
    By the time Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of the New World in 1492, copper axe heads were one of the principal trade goods of Central America. Columbus personally observed their use in trade in 1502 during his last voyage. By 1548 four new and shiny pieces were accepted in trade for five Spanish reales; but if they were worn, then ten pieces would trade for one Spanish real. Iron was introduced by the Spanish and copper tools quickly became obsolete. Soon the trade of axe heads was considered a nuisance and about 1600 they went out of circulation.
  3. Don Dool continued with his theme of early dated European copper coins.

Call for Club Auction Lots
November 14, 2001

The club auction is scheduled for 7PM, at the start of the regular November club meeting. In the past few years, club related material (and Chicago area numismatic items) have had the best results. Please consider using the club auction to dispose of the numismatic items you no longer need.

You can place a reserve on each lot, and 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 November Chatter will contain a list of all auction lots that are known to us by Friday, October 26. You can either bring your lots with you to the November meeting, or you can ship them to Bill Burd. Please send your list to Paul Hybert.

Bill Burd
CCC-A Dept.
Chicago Coin Company
6455 W. Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60638
  chicagocoin@worldnet.att.net
Paul Hybert
ECE Dept.
3301 S. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60616
  prh@ece.iit.edu

Minutes of the 991st Meeting

The 991st meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order on August 8, 2001 at 7:03PM by President Carl Wolf.

A motion was made, seconded and passed to, and approve the minutes of July 11, 2001.

Secretary/Treasurer Lyle Daly gave a treasury report as follows:

Dreyfus Money Market $1811.67
Bank One CD 1357.09 due 9/01
Bank One CD 1405.88
TCF Checking Account 2061.46
Un-deposited Funds 53.00
TOTAL $6689.10

Featured Speaker
President Carl Wolf introduced member Don Dool and his presentation on the evolution of his collection from Lincoln cents to large cents to the large copper coinage of Argentina and Jose de San Martin.

Don illuminated the history of the numerous South American revolutions and the involvement of San Martin with examples of coinage, medals, stock certificates, stamps, photographs of statuary and publications.

President Carl Wolf presented Don with a featured speaker medal.

Second Vice President Don Dool introduced the following individuals, who presented material during the meeting's Show and Tell:

  1. Mike Metras advised the club of his visit to the Western Museum in Omaha and the quality of numismatic material housed therein.
  2. Mike Wieclaw presented several ancient coins and an ANA 100th anniversary card with signatures of ANA Presidents, Elizabeth Jones, and CCC Presidents.
  3. Carl Wolf continued his long tradition of presenting framed primitive money and displayed an example of Tibetan Trade beads.
  4. Sharon Blocker presented a 2-ounce Kookaburra counter stamped with the images of the US quarter dollars for 2000. She also presented "cool" Congo notes, paper money of Mozambique, Madagascar and Columbia, and Mylar notes.
  5. Don Dool presented several Spanish coins of the early 17th century.

Old Business:
Mark Wieclaw, chairman of the committee for planning the 1000th meeting, advised members that the room has been reserved for the dinner and we have a menu.

Secretary Lyle Daly advised the club that we received in the mail, a request from South Africa to identify photocopy of a "ONE DOUBLLOON" coin / token. This will be forwarded to Bob Leonard for his review. Also received was an invitation from Dr. Galst to Bill Grundy to attend a meeting of the New York Numismatic Society.

New Business:
The Club web site is down. Paul Hybert is working on reestablishing it. The club does not pay for this site. A discussion ensued regarding the establishment of a club web site on an independent service provider. A motion was made seconded and approved to allow Paul to establish a site with initial set up fees not to exceed $40 and monthly service charges not to exceed $20.

A brief discussion was held on the process of culling and trimming your collection. Members felt that it was difficult to part with ANY of their collection but recognized that pieces of no further interest or duplicates should be sold or traded to circulate among other collectors. One un-named member stated that his wife had no difficulty selling his collectibles.

A motion was made, seconded and passed to adjourn the meeting at 9:22PM.

Respectfully submitted by Lyle Daly


1000th Meeting Committee Update

by Mark Wieclaw

Topics discussed at the September 27, 2001 meeting included:

  1. The primary design for the medal has been selected. Some work still needs to be done on the reverse design.
  2. Once again the topics of speakers, donations, and give aways were discussed with some very good ideas being brought up.
  3. It was decided that there will be a raffle in an effort to raise some funds to help offset costs.
  4. An item for give away proposed by Bob Feiler was accepted and funding is being considered.
  5. Everything else is still up in the air and will be discussed at the next meeting.

Our 993rd Meeting

Date:October 10, 2001
Time:7:00 PM
Location:Downtown Chicago
Featured speaker:Mark Wieclaw - Morgan Type Carson City Morgan Dollars
Added feature:Bob Leonard has just returned from a trip to Turkey, and he has brought back a numismatic item for everyone (limit of 23) at our October meeting. He promises an interesting story, and guarantees that everyone who gets one will go home happy.


Important Dates

October 10 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Mark Wieclaw on Morgan Type Carson City Morgan Dollars
November 14 CCC Meeting - Club Auction - no featured speaker
December 12 CCC Meeting - Annual Banquet Meeting - Featured Speaker - Reid Geisler on Error Coins

Birthday and Year Joined

November 2 Alexander Basok 1998
November 5 Scott E. Douglas 1996
November 5 Phyllis Johnson 1987
November 5 John Kasper 1995
November 8 Brian A. Heil 1981
November 9 Tom Ryan 1960
November 11 J. Vincent Swift 1991
November 12 Satya Bhupatiraju 2000
November 13 Michael B. Doran 1999
November 19 Richard Peterson 1962
November 24 Jeffrey F. Bernberg 1975
November 27 Robert Feiler 1994

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

Visit Our Web Site

http://www.ece.iit.edu/~prh/coins/ccc.html

Contacting Your Editor

Paul Hybert
ECE Dept, IIT
3301 S. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60616
prh@ece.iit.edu
1-312-567-3976

Club Officers

Carl Wolf- President
Robert Feiler- First Vice President
Donald Dool- Second Vice President
Directors:Lyle Daley
William Burd
Jeff Rosinia
Mark Wieclaw
Other positions held are:
Lyle Daley- Secretary Treasurer
Paul Hybert- Chatter Editor
Phil Carrigan- Archivist