Chatter

Minutes of the 1051st Meeting

The 1051st meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order at 7 PM by President Robert Feiler with 16 members and 2 guests present. Guests were David G. Gumm and Richard Hall. The applications for membership of Paul Robertz and Robert Kulys received second reading and a motion was made and passed to accept them into membership. The application of Richard Hall received first reading.

Treasurer Steve Zitowsky reported June revenue of $145.00, expenses $229.26, leaving $10,463.25 in the treasury. A motion was made and passed to accept the report.

First V.P. Jeff Rosinia introduced the featured speaker Steve Feller from Cedar Rapids, Iowa who spoke on Money from Occupied Guernsey and Jersey 1940-1945. Following the program, Jeff presented Steve with an ANA Educational Certificate and a Club engraved medal.

The nine exhibitors for the evening were ROBERT LEONARD: a gold dinar of Ayyubid Sultan Al-Salih Najm Al-Din Ayyub from 1243-44 and a silver denier Tournois of Louis IX of France 1266-70; STEVE FELLER: WWII German Reichsmark occupation notes, military notes and a Handy Pocket Guide of German Exchange Card; DONALD DOOL: an unidentified coin from the 16th century Ottoman Empire, three coins struck at the Messina Mint in Sicily – John II, 1458-79, William I, 1149-66, William II, 1166-89, a Venetian coin issued under Marino Grimanl, 1595-1605 and a 1978 medal showing San Martin and Moreno; ROBERT WEINSTEIN: Columbian Exposition medal of the Ferris wheel, 1893, Elongated cent America’s Expo held in San Diego, 1935, Chicago merchant token issued in the late 1880s for B.F. Norris that included a perpetual calendar, an Indo-Scythian silver drachm of Spalyrises as heir apparent, 70 B.C., four Indo-Scythian bronze coins in three denominations, about 60-20 B.C., an Indo-Scythian silver drachm of King Lysias, 160-150 B.C. showing a spectacular image of Heracles on the reverse; ROBERT FEILER: silver denearo struck in Lucea, Italy, issued by Henry III, 1039-1125, used by crusaders to the Holy Land and a 1975 silver round replica of 1693 Leopold the Hog Mouth; EUGENE FREEMAN: 1894-S Barber quarter, 1892 Barber quarter with doubled-die reverse, 1892-S Barber quarter with tripled-die reverse, 1909-S Barber half dollar with an inverted S mintmark and and an Argentinean 20 centavos with doubled-die obverse; MARK WIECLAW: Speedway dollar and a Jimmie buck from Chicagoland Speedway, 2006 American Buffalo 24-carat gold coin with shipping box clearly labeled as holding 500-ounces of gold, 1882 100-franc gold coin from Paris Mint, 3.5" one-ounce .999 silver 2001 Buffalo medallion from National Collectors Mint; STEVE ZITOWSKY: 1863 U.S. Civil War token (No. 414/209) “If anyone dares to tear it down, shoot him on the spoot” with misspelling of spot, an 1838 quarter eagle with attached loop for necklace, 1851 Papal States, 2-baiocchi with India ink notation indicating it was once held by a museum and an Army Temperance Medal India, 1897, “Watch and Be Sober” issued for the constabulary and made into a pin-back broach; LYLE DALY: 13-piece set of Canadian large cents, 1858-1920, with a challenge to find the 2 coins cleaned prior to purchase but he retoned, a naturally toned 1875 U.S. quarter in AU condition, 2 counterfeit 1879 U.S. trade dollars and a book by Don Taxay Counterfeit, Mis-Struck and Unofficial U.S. Coins.

Under old business Paul Robertz and Richard Hall spoke of possible contacts that might help convert the Club’s 1994 beta cam recordings on to DVDs.

Under new business Carl Wolf and Steve Zitowsky volunteered to check out Marcello’s Restaurant for the December 13th annual banquet. Robert Leonard led a discussion on a possible 2007 CICF souvenir card that included: fur, cigarette, silver granules and trade beads. Carl Wolf related a story of attending a meeting of the Old Timers Baseball Association of Chicago and how he met four coin collectors. Bill Burd spoke of the November auction and announced that a deceased member’s collection of Club material would be featured. Carl Wolf announced his appointment to the steering committee of the Field Museum’s Anthropology Alliance. Among the goals of the group is to bring evening educational programs with curators, collections staff and visiting scholars. Carl spoke on his belief that select numismatic talks could compliment some of the Museum’s large exhibits. Members were encouraged to monitor the upcoming schedule and write him of possible numismatic programs.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary

Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Money from Occupied Guernsey and Jersey 1940-1945

A presentation by Steve Feller to our July 12, 2006 meeting.

While spending some months earlier this year in the U.K., Steve was able to take a brief trip to the Channel Islands. The souvenirs and information he collected formed the heart of his presentation to the club. He started with the boarding pass for his flight to Jersey from Coventry, then showed snapshots of the small airplanes from that flight and the flight on to Jersey. Many more photographs of island scenes followed during the program.

The Channel Islands are British; not English, not U.K., but British for the last 900 years, except for the five years of German occupation during WWII. You will be corrected during your stay on the islands if you call them anything other than British. (Officially, they are Crown Dependencies.) There are five private museums on the islands devoted to the occupation years. Steve showed photographs of some, along with admission receipts. Some museums sell duplicates of their materials, and Steve did acquire some numismatic and philatelic pieces from them and from other island sources. However, the locals know the value of the material and charge accordingly.

There were at least five issues of paper money for Guernsey: three by the Germans and two local. The two German coins (five and ten pfennig in zinc) were the general European coins, not special issues just for Guernsey and Jersey. The marks and pounds passed at the same time, with published conversion rates changing over time. The British redeemed marks at the end of the war — not too popular as it seemed to reward collaborators.

The German military marks (analogous to MPC, Military Payment Certificates) were used in local German canteens or sent back home. Other German issues were legal tender only outside of Germany. To obtain permission to issue local notes, the Guernsey Government had to turn over to the Germans al Bank of England notes. This was done, but only after stamping the notes with a “withdran from circulation” statement. They are known with different wordings. Steve showed some five pound local issue notes; the largest denomination printed, but never issued. Some notes showed island scenes, and Steve did his best to take matching photographs. Steve showed some German propaganda photographs of Germans around the island: one talking with a British policeman, three in front of a British pub, and a military band marching past LLoyds Bank. Then Steve showed some recent island photographs, including the front of that same bank.

The Jersey notes are more evocative (and less expensive) than Guernsey’s. A number were shown, starting discussions about the designs. The Guernsey and Jersey money circulate on the other island, and did so during the war, too.

Some newspaper clippings from the occupation were shown, some giving new money conversion rates and some showing the Commandant’'s new rules. Among them, road traffic was moved to the right side of the road, and local time was changed to German time. Some islanders were sent to Europe as laborers, and Steve showed a note used in one of those barracks.

Among Steve’s philatelic items were a First Day Cover and a cover with six different Jersey stamps postmarked at 4:45PM on 8 May 1945, the day of Germany’s surrender and the day before the islands were liberated.

Details of the German and local issues were given in this presentation, along with details of the withdrawn Guernsey and Bank of England notes. World War Two Remembered by Schwan and Boling needs some updating.

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Show and Tell

Items shown at our July 12, 2006 meeting.

1. Some months ago, Robert Leonard showed a set of gold coins of the first six Ayubid sultans. He completed the series by showing a pure gold dinar of the seventh, and last, Ayubid sultan who died of tuberculosis six months after France’s Louis IX invaded Egypt on a crusade. The sultan’s death was not immediately announced, to give his son time to return from Syria. Upon his return, however, the son replaced his father’s generals with his friends, so the generals killed the son, ending the dynasty. Then Bob showed a small base silver coin of the king of France.
2. Steve Feller showed some items related to his presentation:
   • A German five mark Reichkreditkassen note.
   • A German five mark “MPC” note; technically legal tender, but worth ten times face in a German canteen.
   • A photocopy of a Handy Pocket German Exchange Card showing 9.36 RM to the pound.
3. Don Dool mentioned that one of the benefits of writing a column is that people send him coins! For answering a question, he received an unidentified Ottoman Empire 16th century coin. Someone else sent him four copper pieces found some years ago along the Mdeiterranean:
   • A John II (1458-1479) coin of Messina, Sicily. It is listed in Newman.
   • A William I (1149-1166) cup shaped coin of Sicily. REX W appears on one side.
   • A William II (1166-1189) coin of Sicily.
   • A Venetian coin from 1595-1605.
   Don concluded by showing a San Martin medal featuring busts of San Martin and Mariano Moreno. The dates 1778-1978 appear.
4. Bob Weinstein treated us to a wide range of pieces:
   • A Columbian Exposition bronze medal which has lost most of its original silvering. There is a Ferris Wheel on the reverse of this deeply struck piece. This is only the third one he has seen..
   • An elongated cent from America’s Exposition, 1935 in San Diego. Bob likes it for the fine details and decorative scrollwork.
   • A token from Chicago merchant B.F. Norton from the late 1880s or the 1890s. The reverse has a perpetual calendar; judging by the gritty feel while turning it, Bob thinks it still has the original central rivet.
   Bob concluded with a run of Indo-Scythian coins:
   • A silver drachm from about 70 BC, with a complete legend.
   • Three coins from King Azes from 60 BC to 20 BC: a full unit, a half, and a quarter.
   • A cut quarter of a full unit coin.
   • A quarter unit, not in good condition, but reverse legend is extremely rare as it uses a different dialect.
   • A coin of a Greek king in what is now northern India from 160 BC to 150 BC. In great condition, the small obverse die crack matches an ANS piece, but the ANS coin has a different reverse. The reverse of this coin has a beautiful figure of Hercules, showing great detail in the small figure; but there is a heavy die crack.
5. Bob Feiler showed some recent acquisitions:
   • A silver denario of Luca, Italy. The thousands of these found in the holy land attest to their popularity with crusaders.
   • A 1975 reproduction in 0.93 ounce silver of a 1693 coin of Leopold the Hogmouth.
6. Eugene Freeman continued his string of Barber coin varieties from last month:
   • An 1894-S quarter with the mintmark placed close to the arrows.
   • An 1892 quarter with a doubled die reverse.
   • An 1892-S quarter with a tripled die reverse.
   • A 1909-S half grading only AG-3, but the mintmark is inverted.
   • Eugene concluded with a 1949 20 centavos of Argentina with the entire LIBERTAD appearing twice; the I is between the I and B.
7. Mark Wieclaw showed a range of items:
   • An elongated cent found on the ground earlier in the day; design features Buzz Lightyear.
   • During a recent Nascar race in Joliet, a uniface and very plain “Speedway Dollar” valid that day at Levy-operated food stands.
   • From the same event, a “Jimmie Buck” featuring Jimmie Johnson. This piece is beautifully executed.
   • A 24 carat $50 gold coin using the Fraser design of the Buffalo nickel.
   • The shipping box for the gold bullion pieces received at the coin shop. Comments were made about the prominent printing, to the effect that, “This box contains 500 ounces of gold.”
   • An 1882 French 100 franc containing 0.935 ounces of gold.
   • A very large .999 fine silver round, sealed in a hard plastic case. The one ounce piece is very thin, with a hologram insert hiding its rim.
8. Steve Zitowsky also showed a range of items:
   • An 1863 Civil War Token with the legend, “If anyone attempts to tear it down, shoot him on the spoot.” The Union flag is on the other side.
   • An 1838 quarter eagle in a jewelry mount.
   • An 1851 Papal States two baiocchi copper coin with red and brown surfaces in nice condition. Steve thinks the India ink tagging indcates that it had been deaqcuisitioned from a museum.
   • An 1897 Army Temperance Association piece spinning as a globe within a circular frame. Formed in the late 1880s, the association was similar to the Salvation Army. The ribbon was removed from the India medal, and the metal piece was mounted within a frame.
9. Last year, Lyle Daly brought in a paper on doctoring coins, but he has been unable to achieve delicate silver toning. His exhibits started with some toned coins:
   • A group of Canadian Large Cents removed from a Whitman folder. Two had been harshly cleaned, so Lyle used some Dellers Darkener (sulfer in petroleum jelly) on them. After everyone had a quick look and offered opinions, Lyle identified the two coins.
   • An 1875 Liberty Seated quarter with dark toning in the circular pattern typical of Wayte Raymond albums.
   • Counterfeit Trade Dollars recently acquired at the Kane County Fairgrounds. The 1876-CC and 1879-CC pieces weigh only 18 grams instead of the expected 27.4. And no Trade Dollars were minted in Carson City in 1879!
   • Don Taxay’s Counterfeit, Misstruck & Unofficial U.S. Coins.

Our 1052nd Meeting

Important Dates

Birthday and Year Joined

Call for Trip Reports

Every year, some club members submit trip reports about the ANA summer convention. Reports are accepted from all club members on any numismatic event, so do not be shy. Submit something while it is all fresh in your memory.

No need to list everything that happened there; a few paragraphs on your highlights of the convention is fine. Make us stay-at-homes wish we had attended the 2006 Denver convention!

Reports submitted by Wednesday, August 30, will appear in the September Chatter.

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

http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/

Club Officers

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