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Minutes of the 1008th Meeting

President Carl Wolf called the 1008th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club to order on December 11, 2002 at 7:09PM. The meeting was held in conjunction with the annual banquet and held at the Alpine Banquet House in Hillside.

Drew Michyeta was introduced and provided the dinner invocation.

After dinner, First Vice President Bob Feiler introduced Mark Wieclaw as the featured speaker for the evening. The title of his presentation was Chinese Snuff Bottles. Mark's collection contains material primarily from the mid 1800s. For the talk, he presented striking photographs of the material and invited everyone to view the actual pieces in his display case after the talk. The bottles were carved from exotic materials such as hornbill, ivory, agate, seedpod and rhino horn.

At the conclusion of his talk mark received a round of applause and was presented with the featured speaker award by Bob Feiler.

Before taking his seat, Mark noted that he had unfinished business from the 1000th meeting. Mark called Dave Simpson up and presented him with the elongated gold sovereign, which was won in a raffle.

President Carl Wolf asked Phil Carrigan to present the Cabeen Awards. All appreciated Phil's delightful synopsis of each recipient's style. Honorable mentions were given to four members. Don Dool, who was the Bavarian/South American "clean up" man, since he placed himself last in polite deference to others. Bob Feiler was the miniature and box dollar collector. Bob Leonard was the man with the latest research project and Carl Wolf - Mr. Primitive Money. Mark Weiclaw, recipient of the silver award, generally entertained us with "guess what came in over the counter" presentations. Finally, the gold award would go to Bob Weinstein, the man that educates us on the many nations of the middle east, from 400AD to 1400AD that most of us have never heard of.

At that point, the meeting was turned over to Bob Leonard to swear in the officers for 2003. President Mark Weiclaw, 1st Vice President Robert Feiler, 2nd Vice President Jeff Rosinia, Archivist Phil Carrigan, Director Lyle Daly, Director Mike Metras, Director Steve Zitowsky and Past president Carl Wolf were sworn in.

Past president Carl Wolf announced the 2002 Presidential Awards. Carl based these wonderful custom made awards on the Russian Proverb used by his father in law "Better to have ten friends than 100 rubles". The award was given to ten recipients and each framed award contained a 100-ruble note. The recipients were Richard Hamilton, Lyle Daly, Paul Hybert, Jeff Rosinia, Mark Weiclaw, Sharon Blocker, Bob Feiler, Bill Burd, Bob Leonard, and Steve Zitowsky. A summary of the recipient's contributions will appear with these minutes in the Chatter.

Past president Carl Wolf presented the gavel to President Mark Weiclaw. A round of applause was given to both.

The meeting adjourned at 9:31

Respectfully submitted by Lyle Daly

2002 Presidential Award Recipients

"Better to have ten friends, than a hundred rubles."
Russian Proverb

Quoted many times by my father-in-law who grew up in Poland very near the Russian border. There have been so many members that I've asked to perform some club responsibility, I knew I couldn't present one or two presidential awards. In recalling the above Russian proverb, it emphasizes the importance of friendship over the love of money, and it gives me a license to present ten awards:

• Richard Hamilton: Served as Secretary-Treasurer during my first 2 years
• Lyle Daly: Served as Secretary-Treasurer during my second 2 years
• Paul Hybert: Served as Editor of the Chatter and performed all Monthly Maintenance on the Club's Web site
• Jeffrey Rosinia: Set up Audio/Visual Equipment for every meeting
• Mark Wieclaw: For his work as 1000th Meeting Chairman, being sure everyone's opinion was heard,
• Sharon Blocker: Worked many hours with the invitations, table assignments and name badges for the 1000th Meeting Banquet.
• Robert Feiler: Played a significant role in locating the private mint that struck our 1000th Meeting Medal and drove to Racine Wisconsin several times to oversee the details.
• William Burd: Recruited advertisers for the 1000th Meeting Souvenir Bulletin and took in all the data and printed material and made coherent sense out of it and got it printed on time.
• Robert Leonard: Has written sixteen of the primitive money souvenir sheets for our CICF meeting and has provided many leads on featured speakers
• Steve Zitowsky: Worked many hours at our Club table at coin shows, sold more Club merchandise than anyone and many times provided me with a ride to the show

Speaker's Wor[l]d
French 20 Francs, the First Euros

Presented by Kevin Dailey to our January 8, 2003 meeting.

By providing a convenient value reference, the issuance of coins containing a known amount of a precious metal assisted trade and commerce. Although some coinages, such as the Athenian owls, were accepted beyond the geography of their issuers, distant commerce faced the more common historical reality of a set of varying exchange rates between "familiar" and "foreign" coins of different intrinsic values. Kevin Dailey reviewed one European attempt at a gold coinage of uniform weight and fineness, based upon the 20 Franc piece of France.

Although the 20 Franc, at 21mm diameter, is about the size of a US nickel, it contains 6.45 grams (0.1867 ounce) of .900 fine gold. Kevin reviewed the denomination's various designs from 1802 to 1914, and tied the changes to contemporary political events. He concluded with a list of countries that had struck coins to the same standard.

To provide a reference, Kevin showed the precursor to the 20 Franc; a Louis d'Or of Louis XVI, dated 1786. Originally minted by Louis XIV, the Louis d'Or has legends and design elements showing it is an obvious regal issue. But Louis XVI was overthrown and executed, and a chain of events (remember the French Revolution?) led to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Napoleon took power and acquired the title "premier counsel." Nothing regal about that, as befitting the revolutionary spirit still extant. The first 20 Franc coin shown is dated AN 12 on the reverse, reflecting the revolutionary calendar; this coin was minted in the twelfth year of the revolution. Next to a young bust, the legend "Bonaparte" provides identification; the designs show no hint of regal insignia.

As Napoleon became more secure in power, the revolutionary aspects of the coinage faded, to be replaced with regal themes. Napoleon declared himself emperor in 1804, and crowned himself. The shown 20 Franc date 1806 has a more mature bust on the obverse, identified as "Napoleon;" the obverse date shows resumption the Gregorian calendar.

The next coin, dated 1807, still uses the "French Republic" reverse legend, but a laurel wreath now is on the obverse bust. This obverse saw continued use, but a "French Empire" legend appears on the coin dated 1814. This was after his disastrous retreat from Moscow, and just before his abdication and exile to Elba.

The reverse regal emblems reappear on another 1814 coin, but this coin is of Louis XVIII (the brother of Louis XVI). But his reign was interrupted by Napoleon's escape from Elba after about one year. Intercepted by forces of Louis XVIII before he reached Paris, Napoleon turned the forces to his side, and Louis XVIII fled to England. An 1815 coin, similar in design to the previous year's regal issue, was minted in England for Louis XVIII during the "100 days" of 1815. Kevin's example of this coin was the only coin of the evening's program not minted in Paris (and showing the A mintmark). Although the large output of the Paris mint makes its coins the most common for type collectors, some specialists collect by mint and date.

After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Louis XVIII returned to France and reigned for 10 years. The shown 1819 coin continues the regal design.

Less fortunate was Charles (1825-1830) who was ousted in a revolution. (Was it the "King of France" legend on his coins that doomed him?)

The shown 1852 coin uses the bust of the president, "Louis Napoleon" (the nephew of Napoleon), and bears the "Republic of France" legend. But the same man soon developed higher asperations, as shown first by the "Napoleon III" and "French Empire" legends on the coin dated 1855, and then a later coin with a laurel wreath on the bust and regal symbols. Following his defeat in the Franco-Prussian war (1870), the resulting Third Republic repeated an earlier, non regal, design. The shown 1875 coin uses the "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" legend of the Second Republic, but the obverse design has a small change; no text of the constitution appears on the scroll.

The last shown coin has Marianne on the obverse and a rooster on the reverse. Kevin concluded by discussing some countries which struck a gold coin to the 20 Franc standard. Starting with Westphalia (after Napoleon had installed his brother as its ruler), many European countries issued an equivalent coin at various times during the nineteenth century, with most activity following the formation of the Latin Monetary Union. Even the United States made an effort - anybody remember the $4 Stella?

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. Don Dool started us off with some recent additions:
   • A 1918 5 pennia from Finland.
   • An early 1800s 10 reis from Brazil; the reverse is struck once, but the obverse shows at least two strikes.
   • An Ottoman coin supposedly from the early 1500s, given to Don for help in attributing a different European coin of that time. No one could identify it, but one member could translate "made in" from part of the legend.
2. Dale Lukanich showed two copper coins issued in 248 by the wife of Philip I, honoring the 1000th anniversary of Rome. The obverses are common, but one reverse has a hippopotamus (common) while the other reverse has a goat. The goat reverse is from a die used for a coin of her son.
3. Mike Metras showed three Conder tokens, then a numismatic hand-me-down.
   • A 1793 farthing-sized token featuring Isaac Newton. The reverse monogram is TH.
   • A 1795 lace manufactury token with diagonal edge reeding.
   • A 1795 token celebrating acquital of high treason charges.
   • A Byzantine gold coin bought for $100 from someone who did not know what it was; but he had been given it for $50 of work, by a coin dealer who had acquired it for $25 without knowing what it was. So everyone was happy?
4. Carl Wolf brought in a signed check of Michael Kenna, which Carl had bought from Harlan Berk after seeing it in the window. The $58 check to the "Roosevelt Garage and Filling Station" is dated July 5th, 1927, and is drawn on the Continental and Commerce National Bank. "Hinky Dink" Kenna was a Chicago First Ward alderman in the early 20th century when his ward included the vice district. Carl also covered some of the more sensational aspects of Chicago and Kenna.
5. Bob Weinstein showed coins from Central Asia, dating from about 500-600. The Sogdians were an Iranian people living in the genral area of what is now northern Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan; they were organized into small kingdoms and city states. The typical coin design has a bust on one side, with an inscription and some clan marking on the other side. Their families were very commercially oriented, with far flung trading outposts along the Silk Road. Turkish influence increased starting around 500, and Sogdian culture died out by 900.
   Although nothing is written in English on these coins, a 1987 book in Russian on Central Asian coinage has some Sogdian material. Mush of the written material is either inaccurate or incomplete, partly because most of the coins on the market became available only within the last ten years.
6. Mark Wieclaw showed some gold coins. Some very nice gold coins.
   • An 1892 half sovereign of Great Britain.
   • An octodrachma, the largest Greek coin of the Ptolemaic period. The coin weighs just under one ounce, and has a cornucopia on the reverse. Mark bought the coin from someone who had bought it 20 years ago from a dealer on Michigan Avenue. But no one at the meeting could remember who that dealer was.
   • From Rome, a coin showing co-emperors: Antoninus on the obverse, and Marcus Aurelias on the reverse.
7. To complement the evening's featured speaker, Drew Machyeta showed four one-unit pieces from the Latin Monetary Union's four original members: France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy, all in .835 fine silver.
   • The first; an 1863, of Italy.
   • An 1867 of Belgium; so well worn that the date barely is seen.
   • A 1914 Swiss Franc, first issued in 1874.
   • An 1888 of France.
8. Sharon Blocker recently bought the book Art of Paper Money, and she showed pieces from her collection that matched some of the examples which are arranged topically in the book. Sharon had a number of the 37 listed pieces showing Queen Elizabeth II.
9. Another member complementing the evening's featured speaker was Steve Huber who showed a 1792 Louis XVI Ecu Livre (pound). Usually encountered softly struck and with adjustment marks, this coin showed no such problems.

Our 1010th Meeting

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