Chatter

Minutes of the 1053rd Meeting

The 1053rd meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held September 13, 2006 at Dearborn Center, 131 S. Dearborn, 6th Floor Conference Room, Downtown Chicago. The meeting was called to order at 7 PM by President Robert Feiler with 17 members and 3 guests present. Introduced guests were: Laura Wakeland, William Thoburn, and Samuel Dixon.

The August Minutes as published in the Chatter were approved as printed. Treasurer Steven Zitowsky’s report of $10,309.98 in the treasury was approved as read.

Second Vice President Lyle Daly introduced the evening’s speaker Mark Wieclaw who delivered a program How to Determine Different Precious Metals that was followed by many questions. Following a warm round of applause, Mark was presented with an ANA Educational Certificate and an engraved Club medal.

Lyle Daly introduced the nine exhibitors for the evening: JASON FREEMAN – 100 patacas dragon coin from Maco, unidentified silver ingot with elephants, 2 oz. silver Australian lunar dragon, 1 oz silver Australian silver round; RICH HALL – image of a mislabeled NGC holder of an 1854 $20 SS Republic small/double date with holder saying large/double date which doesn’t exist; PAUL HYBERT – ANA Denver Convention material including 2¢ token from Donald Kagin, a medal issued by EAC member Doug Bird, 1807 Large Cent with dark patina, 1827 Bust Half Dollar, book Official Census for US Large Cents, 1793-1839, written by Noyes, Bland and Demeo, US Large Cents, 1793-1794, by Noyes, Early US Gold Coin Varieties, by Dannreuther and Bass, various pamphlets and sheets of stamps bought at the US Postal Service booth and used on the current issue of the Chatter; DREW MICHYETA - $1 silver proof from Cook Islands commemorating the Mini South Pacific Games and showing the fertility god on the reverse; MARK WIECLAW – 2006 Denver ANA badge created by The Elongated Collectors, in regular issue and enameled, 1935 Walking Liberty Half Dollar with reverse side shaved and hand engraved in tribute to Col. Jim from the 20th Air Force, a 1940 doubled-die Mercury dime, a tetradrachm of Leontini with head of Apollo, 450 – 400 BC, a dodecadrachm of Derronci weighing 35 grams, 475-450 BC; EUGENE FREEMAN – 1609 silver grochen from Hameln (city of Hamlin was the city of the Piped Piper), and a medal of British Admiral Vernon; ROBERT LEONARD – 6 copper coins of early US including 1772 half-penny and 1774 farthing of George III, 1788 half-cent and cent from Massachusetts, 1787 half-cent (a cent cut in half) and cent from Connecticut; DON DOOL – Denver ANA 2006 Exhibitor’s Medal, First Place award medals for exhibits in the medals and foreign coins after 1500 categories, a 1857 8-reales from Honduras, 1600 coin from Spanish city Banolas with countermark, and 1621 coin from Veden Domicapital with a counterstamp; LYLE DALY – a set of small sized Federal Reserve Notes from 1929 - 1929A, 3 medals from the 1901 Pan American Expo Buffalo, NY, and irradiated dimes from American Museum of Atomic Energy and the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

William Thoburn and Samuel Dixon delivered a presentation on their Web based free personal collection organizer, Collectica.com, that is capable of managing photographs and collection details while keeping it private. Collectors can also allow select friends to view items in their collection. Several members had questions on security.

Robert Leonard attended the Denver ANA convention and reported the sale of $140.00 in Club educational souvenir cards from the Chicago International Coin Fair. He briefly outlined the subject of cigarette money as a topic for the 2007 CICF. Bob also announced that he was just elected President of the Token and Medal Society and made available application forms.

Carl Wolf announced probable speakers for the December banquet, the 2007 Chicago Paper Money Expo, and the 2007 Chicago International Coin Fair.

It was announced that 2006 dues are outstanding for the following five members: Jim Flannery, Ronald Martino, Chuck Menard, Dale Noble, and Chris E. Patton. Since past dues notices were sent a motion was made and passed to drop them from the rolls.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM.

Sincerely Submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary

Speaker’s Wor[l]d
How to Distinguish Different Precious Metals

Mark Wieclaw
Presented to our September 13, 2006 meeting.

There are several ways of determining the fineness of silver and gold. At work, Mark uses a stone and acid. First, rub an object against the stone, leaving a visible mark of metal on the stone. Next, apply a drop of the correct acid on part of the metal mark. If the metal mark is unchanged, the object is good. This testing is for objects bought for their bullion value. At the shop, objects of the same fineness are kept together, being sent to a local refiner when enough has been collected.

The special stone has such fine grains that virtually no visible marks are left on a gold object of at least 22k fineness. A different acid is needed for testing each of the standard finenesses of each metal. The bottles are purchased at a jewelry supply store in downtown Chicago. Costing a few dollars for an ounce, the acids start going bad after about one year.

When he started in the business, Mark spent much time, testing every item. After gaining years of experience, both with people and objects, Mark now typically tests less than ten pieces per day. A 24k Canadian Maple Leaf is yellower than the 22k American Eagle. Although both the krugerrand and U.S. Eagles use 22k gold, they have different colors due to their different alloying metals: one uses silver while the other uses copper.

Mark brought in two Mexican 50 peso gold pieces and showed how he tests them. Turned out one was genuine but the other was not. But that wasn't too surprising, considering that the genuine piece had a lettered edge but the other piece did not.

There are acids for the most common finenesses of silver: 80%, 90%, and sterling. An acid for platinum was on the mrket recently, but it did not work well for Mark. So he sticks with the sure test of using a propane torch to heat the object red hot — remove the flame, and platinum returns to its original color.

There are many scams out there, and Mark reviewed a few of them. Although a gold plated stainless steel bicycle chain passed the stone and acid test, steel held in your hand warms up slower than does gold. Because jewelry clasps are sold with their own karat indication, another scam involves adding a high-content clasp to a bad, unmarked chain; look for the mark on the chain!

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Show and Tell

Items shown at our September 13, 2006 meeting.

1. Jason Freeman showed pieces from his elephants and dragons collections:
   • From Thailand a very thick uniface piece with three elephants, representing past, prent, and future.
   • An enameled dragon on a Chinese New Year generic round containing one troy ounce of silver.
   • A 2000 Australian 2-ounce silver lunar new year piece featuring a dragon.
   • A 100 patacas dragon coin from Macau.
2. Rich Hall showed a picture of a recent purchase: an 1854 Type 1 double eagle in an NGC slab. The insert identifies this AU-55 piece as the large doubled date variety; population reports show the only other large doubled date piece from 1854 grades XF-45. After acquiring the piece, Rich compared it to other 1854s, only to discover that it is the doubled small date which is a more common variety. Time for return and refund! Which leaves the question: Is the XF-45 piece really a large doubled date?
3. Paul Hybert rambled on and on about the ANA show in Denver, showing some items acquired there.
   • A 2-cent brass token from Donald H. Kagin, handed out by him near the front of the bourse to ANA members; it is a campaign piece, soliciting ANA members for ideas. The reverse bears the design from the eagle side of the 1851 $50 gold piece from the San Francisco Assay Office.
   • Being a Large Cent collector, Paul also picked up a medal from California dealer and EAC member Doug Bird. Struck in copper, one side bears the design of a 1794 Large Cent, while the other side bears Doug’s contct information.
   • An S-275 1807 Large Cent with dark toning and some porosity on the reverse.
   • An O-123 1827 half dollar bought from Sheridan Downey.
   • A copy of The Official Condition Census for U.S. Large Cents 1793-1839 by Noyes, Bland, and Demeo. This spiral bound 2005 work tries to list at least 25 coins of each variety; pedigrees information before 1986 is spotty, but all auction listings since then include grade and price.
   • The newly published United States Large Cents 1793-1794 was available at Charlie Davis’ table. The author tried to include color photos of the obverse and reverse of at least the top 12 examples of each variety. The plan is to publish the book for 1795-1797 next year, and continue at the rate of one book per year.
   • The newly published Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties, A Study of Die States, 1795-1834 by Dannreuther and Bass was available at the Whitman table.
   • After buying the above three books, Paul went to the USPS table to mail those books home. While there, he bought 10 small sheets of Comic Book stamps; one sheet was shown, and members were told those stamps are used to mail the September and October issues of the Chatter.
   • Programs from the exhibit and lecture areas were shown,
4. Drew Michyeta likes the large silver coins. He showed a 1985 $1 piece from the Cook Islands, issued to commemmorate the South Pacific Games. Only 2,500 pieces were minted. The bust of Queen Elizabeth II’ is on the obverse, while the reverse shows a local fertility god. The well-endowed figure on the reverse caused some raised eye brows when this coin was issued.
5. Mark Wieclaw showed a range of items:
   • Since 1989, The Elongated Collectors have issued enameled badges for the TEC meeting at the ANA. Only about 100 of the enameled versions are produced, and Mark showed both the regular and enameled versions.
   • A 1935 half dollar with “COL. JIM - 20 - ARMY AIR CORP” and a winged badge engraved. The 20th Army Air Corp was stationed in the South Pacific. The star in the center of the badge has a circle at its center, corresponding to an early version of the insignia; the red circle at the center of the star was removed from planes early in the war.
   • A 1940 Mercury Dime with obverse date and letters doubled.
   • A magnificent tetradrachm from Leontini, Sicily 450-400 BC. The head of Apollo is on one side, while bay leaves surround the head of a lion on the other side.
   • A dodecadrachm, the largest Greek silver coin, weighing 35 grams. From Derronci in Macedonia, one side shows a king pulled in a cart, while the other side shows a triskellis. From a hoard of 50.
6. Eugene Freeman brought some pieces that he tied to interesting stories.
   • A 1609 groschen from the German city of Hameln. We know it as Hamlin, and Eugene told us that the city record book is missing the pages for the day the children disappeared; years later, a vague entry identifies the day as the anniversary of the day they lost their children.
   • A medal honoring Admiral Vernon. After the English failed in a raid on Portobello on the east coast of Panama, Admiral Vernon boasted in Parliament that he could take the city with six ships. Parliament voted him seven ships, but he sent one of the ships on the day of the raid so he actually took the starting port of Spanish treasure ships with only six ships. The shown medal is one of many struck to honor the victory. Then Eugene told how one of the admiral’s admiring crew later named his home Mount Vernon; the estate later passed to a relative named George Washington.
7. Bob Leonard showed three pairs of copper coins from early in U.S. history, coins accepted as a cent and half cent:
   • A 1772 half penny and a 1774 farthing; both British coins bearing a portrait of King George III.
   • From the Commonwealth of Massachusettes, both a cent and half cent dated 1788.
   • A Connecticut copper coin (cent) from 1787 with a bust on reverse, and a similar “half cent.” The latter piece is cut down from a Connecticut cent (Bob indicated sufficient identifying points). It had been found by a metal detector in Orange County, New York and Bob bought it on eBay; the reverse is badly corroded. There are virtually no other records of cut copper coins from that era.
8. Don Dool is another member who was at the Denver ANA, where he had three exhibits. His South American scripophily exhibit was fourth in a four-horse race. He showed us:
   • The exhibitor’s medal.
   • A first place medal (in the Latin America area) for his San Martin medals exhibit.
   • A first place medal for Foreign Coins after 1650.
   • An 1857 provisional 8 reales from Honduras; it has a copper-lead alloy.
   • A coin from the Spanish city of Bañolis; Phillip III was the ruler, but the coin’ legend shows only a II. The reverse has a head countermark in middle of a shield.
   • A 1621 piece from Verden, countermarked VD for Verden Domicapita.
9. Lyle Daly brought items from three areas:
   • The first Federal reserve small size issues of 1929 and 1929A, in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars. On the face, the number of the reserve bank is used.
   • The note series that followed, 1929B, used letters instead of numbers. Were people confused by bank numbers 5 and 10 appearing on $20 notes?
   • After gold coins were recaled in 1934, the redemption wording dropped mention of gold, leaving “redeemed in lawful money.“
   • In 1963, In God We Trust was added on the back, and the redemption statement was shortened.
   • Two medals from the 1901 Pan American Expo. Lyle is interested in the medal design and its similarity to that used on the Monroe Doctrine Half Dollar. He started bidding on two medals listed on eBay, to improve his odds of getting one, but he ended with both. One medal is a counterfeit.
   • Irradiated Roosevelt dime from the American Museum of Atomic Energy, and an irradiated mercury dime from the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The radioactive isotope of silver has a half-life measured in seconds, at which time the silver atom turns into some other element.

Call for Club Auction Lots
November 8, 2006

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. Some printed material also has shown good results. Please consider using the club auction to dispose of the numismatic items you no longer need. We already have 44 items, most of which are area related.

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 Tuesday, October 24. You can either e-mail your list to Paul Hybert by Tuesday, October 24 if you plan to bring your lots with you to the November meeting; or you can ship your items to Bill Burd by Tuesday, October 24.

If you have questions, Bill can be reached at 773-586-7666.

Our 1054th Meeting

Important Dates

Birthday and Year Joined

Chatter Matter

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CHICAGO COIN CLUB
P.O. Box 2301
CHICAGO, IL 60690

http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/

Club Officers

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