Chatter

Editor’s Notes

With this issue, we start paid advertising. These advertisers have committed to this one-year experiment.

Paul Hybert, editor

Minutes of the 1049th Meeting

The 1049th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order at 7 PM by President Robert Feiler with 16 members and 1 guest, Dennis Gorman, present. Following the second reading of Jason Freeman’s application for junior membership, a motion passed to accept him into the Club. The minutes as printed in the Chatter were approved as published. A motion was passed to accept the treasurer’s report by Steve Zitowsky showing April revenue of $632.00, expenses of $307.95 and total assets of $10,347.81. Correspondence from member Clifford Mishler, Chairman of the 2007 Milwaukee ANA Convention, was read asking for volunteers and ideas.

First V.P. Jeffrey Rosinia introduced the evening’s speaker Gene Freeman who spoke on the subject Money for Texas. Following a question and answer session, Jeff presented Gene with an American Numismatic Association Educational Certificate and an engraved Club medal.

Second V.P. Lyle Daly introduced the evening exhibitors: ROBERT FEILER – two ancient Greek drachms of Alexander the Great, 326-323 B.C., an 1876 U.S. trade dollar, two centennial medals from Ontario, Canada, a wooden nickel and a set of Berghoff Restaurant tokens; MARK WIECLAW – an undated lead seal from a U.S. Government box of silver eagles, five Byzantine gold solidi from Justinian II (first and second reigns), Leontius, Tiberius III, Philippicus and a hollowed and hinged 1921 Mexican 50 peso gold coin; ROBERT LEONARD – May 1953 issue of Cornet magazine with Grant Wood’s Arbor Day painting on the cover, a 2004-D Iowa quarter showing the same portrait, a 1690 gun-money crown in brass overstruck on a half crown, 3 modern Irish coins privately counterstruck “1690” in Belfast c. 1931-74, follis of Syria under Persian occupation, a drachma of Persian (Sassanian) Emperor Khusrau II and a book describing the series; WINSTON ZACK – a U.S. $2.00 bill with a fold-over error and a group of over-mint-marked wheat cents; DONALD DOOL – a 1718 Swedish daller Flink Och Fardig, a 1720 1-ore overstruck on a Fardig, photographs showing San Martin monuments and medals where the monuments appear; STEVE ZITOWSKY – a 1783 Lima 2-reale counter-stamped “Wagner,” and five 1-cent coins from Sarawak including the rare 1941H variety; LYLE DALY – display frame holding three currency pieces, an 1862 State of Texas treasury warrant, photograph from the National Numismatic Society of a 1922 U.S. cent, a series of international coins that were possible precursors of Adolph Weinman’s Mercury dime and Walking Liberty half dollar designs.

Under old business, Jeff Rosinia reported the possible recruitment of someone to help on the video project. During a discussion on the possible deterioration of the video tapes, Jeff was asked to look into the cost of converting the videos on to DVD discs. Jeff Rosinia, the author of the recent CPMX souvenir sheet, was presented with serial no. 2 of the issue. President Feiler reported he is investigating the reopened Berghoff Restaurant for the Club’s December banquet. It was announced that Mark Wieclaw will soon be scheduled as a speaker on how to distinguish the difference in precious metals. Winston Zack received a warm round of applause as a scholarship recipient to ANA’s Summer Seminar. Winston also agreed to be a featured speaker on his educational experience.

The meeting was adjourned at 9 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary

Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Money for Texas

A presentation by Eugene Freeman to our May 10, 2006 meeting.

In the last few centuries, the area known as Texas has been ruled by six nations: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, United States of America, and Confederate States of America. The Spanish colonial 8 reales coin was the primary coin in the Province of Texas in New Spain. That coin, also known as the peso, was never minted in Texas; as an indication of its buying power, 18 pesos per month was combat pay for a soldier.

Small coinage was a local responsibility. Cut parts of a peso commonly were used, and Eugene showed how not all “quarters” were equal. In 1817, the provincial governor granted a jeweler in San Antonio the right to produce 500 pesos worth of half real pieces in copper. None are known today, but contemporary descriptions indicate that they bore the jeweler’s initials MAB. Berrera defaulted before completing production.

In 1818, de la Garza made the next attempt at half real production. Known as jolas, one side has the simple three-line design consisting of the initials JAG, the denomination ½, and the date 1818. The other side has only an incuse star with a raised dot in the center of the star. Approximately 100 now are known, more of the large planchet than the small. Most were found in the San Antonio River, and show pitted surfaces. Eugene touched on the economics of issueing and having to redeem these pieces, and that led to a guess as to why they would end up in the local river.

Some things remained unchanged through first Mexican Independence and then Texan Independence: Texas had much land but no money, no mines. As a Republic, Texas issued three forms of paper: paper money, bonds, and Treasury Warrants. Eugene showed an early example with the identification “The Government of Texas, Houston Texas” and followed with pieces showing “The Republic of Texas” from after the capital was moved to Austin. Warrants passed at a discount; 50 cents on the dollar could be typical.

Texas joined the Union in 1845, and it received money by transferring some land to the US; parts of the present states of Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and Wyoming were included.

When a note was turned in (redeemed), the practice was to write cancel on it. After pieces had the word removed and were resubmitted, they started cancelling notes with razor cuts. In the current market, the uncancelled notes sell for a premium.

As part of the Confederacy, Texas issued two major types of Treasury Warrants: for Military Services and for Civic Services. Some were issued in fixed denominations, while others could have any value filled in.

Although no money was issued especially for Texas while part of the US, paper money collectors are very interested in the National Charter notes from Texas banks. The sales tax tokens have a smaller collector following.

Current Advertisers

Show and Tell

Items shown at our May 10, 2006 meeting.

1. Bob Feiler showed a range of items:
   • A counterfeit 1876-CC US Trade Dollar. Not that bad of a counterfeit, but Bob bought it as a counterfeit for $15.
   • A drachm with a bust of Alexander the Great wearing a lionskin.
   • Another drachm showing Alexander the Great, but this well-worn speciman had been mounted in jewelry.
   • Two locally issued centennial medals from Canada.
   • A wooden nickel good for one stein of beer at the Berghoff.
   • A group of tokens from the Berghoff: three $1, one $5, and one $10.
2. Mark Wieclaw started with one of his fun topics, the lead seal from a box of US Silver Eagles. The first example bore the date Nov 14, 2005 in the usual manner, but the second example did not have a date. As the box does not bear a date, the only to determine the content of a sealed box is by the seal’s date. His real exhibits were mostly Byzantine gold coins:
   • A solidi from Justinian II’s first reign.
   • A solidi of Leontius.
   • A solidi of Tiberius III, a son of Justinian.
   • A solidi from Justinian II’s second reign, with a picture of Christ on the reverse.
   • A solidi of Philippicus.
   • A box taler made from a 1921 50 peso piece of Mexico. Inside are the initials CS and the date Nov 29, 1928.
3. Robert Leonard showed a wide range of items:
   • Acquired at an antique mall, the May 1953 issue of Coronet with Grant Wood’s painting Arbor Day on the cover. Then Bob showed the Iowa state quarter which features a design based upon that painting.
   • A 1690 Gun Money half crown with the undertype visible. (This complemented Steve Huber’s exhibit from April.)
   • 1690 is the year of the Battle of the Boyne. Sometimes, Irish Republic coins are defaced with 1690 when circulating in Northern Ireland. As examples, Bob showed a silver shilling, a cupro-nickel florin (2 shillings), and a 10 pence.
   • A catalog of coinage in Syria under Persian rule; it is a die study of about 200 pieces dating from 610-630. Bob had been looking for a coin matching any in the catalog, and he showed a recently acquired coin and its matching type in the catalog — a coin of Khuzros II, the Persian (Sassanian) emperor who had conquered Syria from the Byzantine Empire.
4. Winston Zack showed some US items:
   • A $2 bill with a type of transfer error; in a corner, part of the obverse design appears on the reverse. This led to some comments on fold-over errors.
   • Eight Wheat Cents with some oddities, found from searching a group of 250 cents. Most had mint marks either double- or triple-stuck.
5. Don Dool continued some previous themes:
   • A 1720 Sweden one ore coin struck over an emergency one daler copper piece of 1718; Don had shown some of the varieties of the emergency money at a previous meeting.
   • Don is making a list of San Martin monuments; he showed us how photos of monuments compare against medals picturing the monuments. The only differences between monuments might be localized, as in the treatment of the right hand: pointing high, pointing low, or holding a banner.
6. Steve Zitowsky has varied collecting interests. He showed us:
   • A 1783 2 reales of Lima, counterstamped WAGNER. The counterstamp is listed in the Rulau book on counterstamped coins.
   • From Sarawak, some 1 cent coins of the Brookes, the white rajahs of Sarawak, from the late 1800s until World War II. That led to a brief history of the Brookes.
7. Lyle Daly started by showing us an inexpensive display method good for temporary storage. From a local art supply house, two pieces of glass and a frame allow three notes to be viewed from both sides. The only drawback to this method is the tendency to capture moisture over the long term. Then he showed us:
   • An 1862 Texas military service warrant payable for state dues.
   • Photographs removed from an old certificate issued by the Authentification Bureau of the International Numismatic Society. The coin is a 1922 plain Lincoln cent, but is it the good variety? Lyle submitted the coin to PCGS.
   • A matrix showing connections between various coin designers from the early 20th century; showing where they studied, worked, and taught among other things. His motivation came from the similarity of certain coin designs. The Sower vignette on the 1916 French 1 franc, 2 franc, and 50 centime coins has similarities to the Walking Liberty half dollar of Adolph Weinman. The fasces on the 1904 25 centime coin was compared to the fasces used on Weinman’s “Mercury Head” dime.

Our 1050th Meeting

Important Dates

Birthday and Year Joined

New Chatter Delivery Option

The print version of the Chatter is simply a printout of the Chatter web page, with a little cutting and pasting to fill out each print page. The web page is available before the Chatter is mailed. To save the club money and ensure timely delivery, we are giving club members the option of receiving an email whenever a new Chatter is on the club’s website; the mail will include a link to the latest issue.

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.ChicagoCoinClub.org/

Contacting Your Editor

chatter_editor@yahoo.com

Club Officers