| Archive available at http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/ | |
|---|---|
| Volume 57 No. 3 | March 2011 |
The club offered four special meetings on the art of building a numismatic exhibit during the week of Feb 20-26. More special meetings on exhibiting will be held — email chatter_editor@yahoo.com if you would like to be notified. Joe Boling is not only the ANA’s chief judge, but he also will be speaking at the March 12 CCC meeting held at CPMX; he also agreed to answer questions about exhibiting during the show — check at our show table for Joe’s availability.
The 1106th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held February 9, 2011 in the Chicago Bar Association Building, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Downtown Chicago. President Jeffrey Rosinia called the meeting to order at 6:45 PM with an attendance of 19 members.
A motion was passed to approve the January Minutes as published in the Chatter. Treasurer Steve Zitowsky reported January income of $670.00, expenses $634.81 and total assets of $16,321.00 held in Life Membership $1,910.00 and member equity $14,402.00. A motion was passed to approve both reports.
A motion was passed to submit official nomination forms for members Clifford Mishler and Wendell Wolka who are seeking election to the American Numismatic Association Board of Governors. The Secretary presented, to Bill Burd, Serial No. 1 of the 2010 CICF education souvenir card on Cowry Shell Money to be placed into the Club’s archives.
President Rosinia gave a brief overview of the recent Board of Governors meeting and the subjects: membership count of 127, assistance for Paul Hybert, the Chatter editor, encouragement of life membership, encouragement for members to participate at the upcoming ANA Convention, updating of the Club’s trifold brochure, offer programs teaching members the art of exhibiting and general approval to continue with the 6:45 PM start time.
First V.P. Lyle Daly introduced the featured speaker & member Zoujun Dai who delivered a program Coin Collecting in China. Following a question and answer period, Lyle presented Zoujun an engraved CCC speaker’s medal and an ANA educational certificate.
Future programs announced included Robert Weinstein on March 9 19th Century Chicago Merchant Tokens, and Joseph Boling, Indianapolis, at the club’s March 12th meeting held in conjunction with the Chicago Paper Money Expo, Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 N. River Road, Rosemont. His program, Official Counterfeiting of Paper Currency, will cover part of the history of state-sponsored counterfeiting of paper currency, usually issued during war-time.
Elliot Krieter introduced the nine exhibitors for the evening. JEFF AMELSE: porcelain Siamese gaming tokens; STEVE AMBOS: 1897 Pei Yang Arsenal Dollar & 1908 Chinese Empire Dollar; BILL BIERLY: book Rare Coins, Rare People about Leon Hendrickson; BOB FEILER: Albanian 1000 leke banknote & 10 dalasis banknote from The Gambia; ROBERT LEONARD: 4 Panamanian Balboa coins, U.S. Senate hearings on the Panama Canal Treaties & book opposing the treaty; MARK WIECLAW: Lucite cube with 500 U.S. $1.00 bills embedded inside, 1 troy ounce silver bar, 1/6th electrum staters from Lesbos, Mytilene; BILL BURD: 5-oz. pure gold coin from Bhutan, 1996 proof with snow leopard; RICHARD LIPMAN: 4 banknotes from Transnister 1993-4 & 3 U.S. error banknotes, each missing one of the three production steps; ROBERT WEINSTEIN: 6 copper drachm of Indo-Scythian Kings from 20 B.C. – 40 A.D.
Under the subject of the upcoming ANA Convention, General Chairman Robert Leonard reminded the committee of a February 16th meeting at 6 PM in the offices of Harlan J. Berk, 77 W. Washington, Suite 1320. Bob also announced the completion of a list of club member recommendations of Chicago restaurants to be published soon in The Numismatist. The Secretary was authorized to make reservations for a meeting room for the Club at the convention.
The Secretary spoke on correspondence encouraging Club members to exhibit at the upcoming Central States Numismatic Society convention. A show of hands confirmed a number of members would like to attend specially held meeting(s) to learn more about exhibiting at the CSNS & ANA conventions.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary
presented by Zoujun Dai
to our February 9, 2011 meeting
The speaker has been a member of our club for two years; he is a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been a coin collector since the age of 12, starting with some coins obtained from a classmate’s father returning from a trip overseas. Zoujun started this presentation by reviewing the types coins popular among Chinese collectors: ancient Chinese, milled Chinese, Republic, People’s Republic, Hong Kong Macao and Taiwan, and foreign.
The era of Ancient Chinese coins is very long, from 1200 BC to 1911, covering all types of cast coins and precursors, such as cowries. Except for possibly a few pieces, only characters appear on official cast issues, such as Spade Money from 770-221 BC. Early pieces had a hollow handle so the spade could be attached to a handle and used as a weeding tool. Knife Money circulated in the same period as Spade Money, and early round coins circulated with knife and spade shapes in 350-221 BC. Today, those early characters can be read only by experts. The later (378-119 BC) Ban Liang type of round cast bronze coins have a square hole; the shapes represented the round sky and the square earth. (Liang is a unit of weight of about 16 grams, and ban means half.)
Coins using the Zhu weighting unit were first issued in 118 BC, and the characters 5 Zhu appeared on many pieces from many regimes over the next 700 years. The Tong Bao type, first used in 621 BC, was the last of the square hole in a round coin type. used for about 1,300 years, an example form the last issues was milled instead of cast, and had a round central hole within a square in the design.
The milled copper and silver coins of the Qing Dynasty (1890-1911) were struck from dies, with the first silver coin issued in 1890 and the first copper coin issued in 1900. These coins were issued by both the empire and local provinces.
The coins of the Republic of China (1912-1949) were made in many different metals; even antimony in 1931, but coins in that metal wear very easily. Among collectors, the four favorite silver types from this era are the Fatman Dollar, Sun Yat-Sen Dollar, Junk Dollar, and British Trade Dollar.
The coins of the People’s Republic of China, in circulation since 1955, are based upon the yuan which is equal to 10 jiao or 100 fen. There have been four sets issued, but the smaller denominations are not in the current. Commemoratives in non precious metals were first issued in 1980, and in precious metals in 1979. Among the more unusual pieces are a 2011 fan-shaped silver 10 yuan for the year of the rabbit, and a 1996 rectangular gold (half ounce) 50 yuan for the Three-Gorge Dam.
The coins of Hong Kong and Macao, both from their colonial era and after their turnovers, are collected along with the coins of Taiwan.
A number of large cities now have coin markets and shows, while small cities have small shops and shows. There were a number of coin shops and dealers prior to 1949, very few from 1949 to 1978, and coin collecting has become popular since 1978. Collecting and other such behaviors were frowned upon during the Cultural Revolution, which saw public burnings of numismatic references in some cities. Zoujun showed a 1945 sketch of the Xianghe Coin Shop in his native Shanghai, and followed it with a photo of the dress shop now in that two-story building. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Zhaojiabang Boulevard in Shanghai was the site of a weekend coin market — sellers would spread their items on a plastic sheet spread on the ground — that could be awkward during the rainy season of May through July, but Zoujun has fond memories of visiting it.
In the mid 1990s, the market moved indoors &mdash now, 200 coin dealer booths can be found on one floor of the seven story Yunzhao antique mall in Shanghai, open seven days per week. Booths have countertop display cases, but the narrow aisles have no chairs! The World Coins catalog has become popular in the past few years, and we spotted one in a case on one of the slides. Coins, both genuine and counterfeit, appear in some weekend outdoor antique markets. The annual Beijing International Coin Exposition has been held since 1995, while the annual Hong Kong International Coin Convention dates to 1980. Other large citieshost coin conventions, but on irregular schedules.
While the old China Numismatic Society existed from 1940 to 1949, the current society was founded in 1982, has 62,000 members, and has a members’ conference every four years. Its headquarters are in Beijing, but there are more than 30 provincial numismatic societies. There are a number of websites and internet forums for modern Chinese coins available in English, including http://www.chngc.net/EnVersion/ and http://china-mint.info/forum/index.php.
The local literature is mainly on Chinese coins. Most of the numerous books about ancient Chinese coins are illustrated with rubbings instead of photographs. There are a few books about modern Chinese coins from before 1949 — he mentioned: Modern Coins of China by Kalgan Shih, first published in 1951 in Shanghai; Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Coins by Eduard Kann from 1954; and Illustrations of Chinese Gold, Silver and Nickel Coins by C.C. Tsiang from 1939. In contrast, many books about modern Chinese coins have been published since 1979, with the most authoritative being Encyclopedia of Chinese Coins and Currency; the first volume was published in 1995, and now has twelve volumes. Among periodicals: 32 issues of Coin magazine appeared from 1940-1945, and the quarterly China Numismatics magazine has been published by CNS since 1983. The founders of the old CNS included authors of works still used today; their works have been expanded by the following generations of numismatists.
The China Numismatic Museum holds the largest collection in China — over 300,000 pieces. Located in Beijing, it was founded in 1992 but openned to the public in 2003. The smaller Beijing Ancient Coin Museum, founded in 1993, displays 2,000 of the more than 8,000 pices in its collection. The Gallery of Ancient Chinese Numismatics is a Shanghai museum founded in 1952. The current building, opened in 1996, has over 7,000 pieces on display, including a special gallery for ancient coins of the Silk Road in central Asia. The Hangzhou World Numismatic Museum, founded in 1999, is the only public museum of world coins.
| Central States Numismatic Society | Chicago Coin Company |
| Krause Publications | Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. |
Items shown at our February 9, 2011 meeting.
Bill Burd
Fred Reed, in his book Show Me the Money, explains and catalogs a wide range of prop money used in motion pictures, television and stage. One company he mentions is the Hammersmith Engraving Company,
The founder of the company, Paul Hammersmith, was born in Naperville, Illinois in 1857. After high school he apprenticed with a watchmaker and engraver, eventually relocating in Milwaukee to work with a jeweler. In 1898 he bought a small photo-engraving firm in Milwaukee, naming it Hammersmith Engraving Company. His two brothers also opened a plant in Chicago under the same name.
In 1917 the business was incorporated as Hammersmith-Kortmehyer Co. Engravers and Printers, and continued as such until it merged with L. Breithaupt Printing Co., in December 1968.
Around 1928 they designed and printed their version of prop money to coincide with the new small size currency introduced in 1929 to replace the large size currency known as “horse blankets.”
We don’t often come across prop money since it was the general practice to discard such items when a production was completed. However I was fortunate to obtain a group of these notes so I am including one in each of this month’s Chicago Coin Club Chatter.
The note is well engraved with a shield in the center of the note, flanked by a train and ship. The back has a large eagle in the center with a very ornate frame. On the front in the center it states in large letters “STAGE PAPER.” In smaller letters at bottom center is printed “Supplied to the Profession by Hammersmith Engraving Co. Chicago.” On the back in small letters under the wings of the eagle it again states “Supplied to the Profession by Hammersmith Engraving Co. Chicago.”
These notes were obviously produced to be used on stage; however we do not know what plays, if any, they were in. Perhaps someone will someday come across company archives that will answer that question. In the meantime, you will be ready if someone says, “Show Me the Money.”
February 16, 2011
Meeting was held in the offices of Harlan J. Berk, 77 W. Washington, Chicago. Attending were General Chairman Bob Leonard, Eugene Freeman, Elliott Krieter, Jeff Rosinia, Richard Lipman, Mark Wieclaw, Robert Feiler, Harlan Berk, Dave Simpson, Bill Burd, Paul Hybert, and Carl Wolf.
Meeting called to order at 6:23 PM by General Chairman Leonard. He and the rest of the committee thanked Mr. Berk for his generous provision of a meal and parking vouchers, as well as for the room.
The first order of business was to discuss how to allocate the ANA funds of $6,250. Mr. Leonard suggested a budget using most of the funds for hotel rooms, divided between the host hotel ($168) and the Hilton ($157). Positions to receive complimentary or subsidized rooms included General Chairman, Assistant General Chairman, Exhibit Chairman, Chicago Volunteers Manager, ANA Ambassadors Chairman, and Page Co-Chairmen; these volunteers need to be available early and late (Pages are required beginning at 9:00 a.m.). Also, Phil Carrigan, Numismatic Theatre Co-Chairman, who lives very far from Rosemont, would be included so that he would be available to introduce speakers at the first session. Unfortunately, even with some attendees sharing rooms or paying part of the tab, the entire budget could be expended on rooms. Other expenses that were suggested included $250 for printing and shipping the newsletters, and $520 to pay for parking for committee members who commute. The committee felt there was a clear need for additional funds. One idea was to ask ANA to provide the General Chairman and Assistant General Chairman (Mr. Leonard and Mr. Wieclaw) with complementary rooms. Postscript: the budget impasse has been resolved after the meeting, and details will be supplied in a separate report.
Mr. Leonard thanked members for their 43 restaurant reviews, which were sent to The Numismatist two weeks before. He expects publication in about six weeks.
He thanked committee chairmen for statements sent in for the Chicago newsletter, which was edited by Mr. Simpson and sent to ANA two days before. The committee asked for an addition to the newsletter regarding email subject lines (which Mr. Simpson took care of the next day). ANA will be laying out and hopefully will have the newsletter ready by March 1. The Chicago committee will print copies and begin distribution at shows. The newsletter will be sent to District Delegates and put on the World’s Fair of Money® website. A second newsletter is tentatively planned for late April or May.
Mr. Leonard will find out from ANA which committee positions will get photo IDs.
Committee Reports:
Mr. Burd of Branding noted that ANA still didn’t have a firm commitment on a shirt sponsor. Regardless of whether it is an ANA or local sponsor, ANA will have oversight on shirt design.
Mr. Wolf of Volunteers said he expected to see large numbers of volunteers once more publicity goes out.
There still was limited information on Exhibits on the ANA web site, said Mr. Hybert. He did have unofficial information from Joe Boling. But he still didn’t know some basics, like setup time. This was a problem when trying to get people interested. There should be more exhibitor room this year.
Regarding the convention Medal, Mr. Simpson reported there were two designers at work, and March 1 should see some ideas. He expected to see designs and provide input.
Regarding activities planned by the ANA, Rhonda Scurek informed Mr. Leonard that many of the planned activities were not financially sound, so ANA was cutting down to just two. One of the cut activities was a trip to the Field Museum. But this was required if the show is to display the museum’s first World’s Columbian Exposition half dollar and medal dies. Mr. Leonard objected to these cuts and suggested that ANA could get sponsors for some activities.
Mr. Berk said he still needed ANA assistance on the cases for the Non-Competitive Exhibits. Mr. Leonard felt that the ANA’s Mr. Mudd would be more available following the Sacramento show.
Mike Gasvoda sent a written report about the Numismatic Theatre. He knew of 12 confirmed applications. He will follow up with about a dozen other possible speakers whom he’s not heard from. In addition, Phil Carrigan had leads and other applications will come directly through ANA. Committee members were asked to contact either Mr. Gasvoda or Mr. Carrigan if they have leads. Separately, Carl Wolf said the Chicago Coin Club was planning a medallic item as a gift from the club to the speakers, and expects to have a report in one week.
Mr. Krieter (Outreach/Local Transporation) and Mr. Leonard planned to pick some coin club meetings to visit to publicize the convention, which they did after the meeting concluded.
Mr. Rosinia and Mr. Lipman (Pages) discussed whether it was advisable to have Pages up to age 18; no conclusion was reached. Mr. Lipman reported that Pages at the Boston convention had been given special shirts and hats to wear, in addition to the usual Page vests, and asked whether we could provide similar gear for the Chicago convention. A sponsor would be required. Mr. Leonard referred this issue to the Branding Committee for investigation and action.
Mr. Berk (Patrons) had presented ANA with a list of suggested giving levels ($25 copper, $50 bronze, $100 silver, $500 gold, $1,000 palladium, and $5,000 platinum). The ANA’s Kim Kiick has not responded as of the meeting. (Later she contacted Mr. Berk and approved his recommendations.) ANA is to produce a letter that Mr. Berk will sign.
Mr. Freeman said he addressed a meeting of all Boy Scout scoutmasters in the Blackhawk District about Scout Workshops.
Mr. Wieclaw (Assistant General Chairman) said he had been in touch with some committees.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 16 at 6:00, at the same location.
Meeting concluded at 7:47 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
David Simpson
February 23, 2011
The February 23, 2011 meeting of the Chicago Coin Club Board of Directors was held at Connie’s Pizza, 2372 S. Archer, Chicago, IL. President Jeffrey Rosinia called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM with the following in attendance: Lyle Daly, Elliott Krieter, Marc Stackler, William Burd, Eugene Freeman, Steve Zitowsky, Mark Wieclaw and Carl Wolf.
President Rosinia polled each Board Member for idea(s) to improve the Club:
Other ideas discussed included:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM with the next Board Meeting scheduled for March 23, 2011.
Sincerely Submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary
| Date: | March 9, 2011, First session |
| Time: | 6:45 PM |
| Location: | Downtown Chicago
At the Chicago Bar Association, 321 S. Plymouth Court, 3rd floor meeting room. Please remember the security measures at our meeting building: everyone must show their photo-ID and register at the guard’s desk. A few blocks west of the CBA building is the Ceres Restaurant (enter the Board of Trade building from Jackson at LaSalle, then enter the restaurant from the lobby) with standard sandwiches, burgers, and salads for members who want to meet for dinner. |
| Featured speaker: | Robert Weinstein — 19th Century Chicago Exonumia |
|
In 1845, little more than a decade after Chicago’s founding, the first two merchant tokens were struck. Through the remainder of 19th century a great variety of exonumia would be produced. Many were struck in Chicago by two of the nations major producers of tokens. Join Bob Weinstein for a look at the merchant tokens, medals and tokens struck for exhibitions and other events in 19th century Chicago. | |
| Date: | March 12, 2011, Second session |
| Time: | 1:00 PM |
| Location: | At the Chicago Paper Money Expo (CPMX), which is held at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. No admission charge for our meeting. |
| Featured speaker: | Joseph Boling - Official Counterfeiting of Paper Currency |
|
Joseph Boling will cover part of the history of state-sponsored counterfeiting of paper currency, usually issued during war-time. Those who attend will see photographs of actual counterfeit specimens and learn different printing techniques and security devices including their illegal replication. Boling presents an expanded five day program on this subject at the ANA Summer Seminar and this will be the first time this topic is presented at a coin club/convention program. Joseph Boling is an ANA Governor and co-author of World War II Remembered: History in Your Hands, A Numismatic Study. |
| March | 9 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Robert Weinstein on 19th Century Chicago Merchant Tokens |
| March | 11-13 | 16th Annual Chicago Paper Money Expo (CPMX) at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. Admission is $5 for Friday and Saturday; free on Sunday. |
| March | 12 | CCC Meeting - 1pm at the Chicago Paper Money Expo,
which is held at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL.
No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured Speaker - Joseph Boling on Official Counterfeiting of Paper Currency |
| April | 13 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Marc Stackler on The Currency of the Mexican Revolution - The Constitutionalists |
| April | 15-17 | 35th annual Chicago International Coin Fair (CICF) at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. Admission is $5 for Friday and Saturday; free on Sunday. |
| April | 16 | CCC Meeting - 1pm at the Chicago International Coin Fair (CICF),
which is held at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL.
No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured Speaker - to be announced |
| April | 28-30 | 72nd Anniversary Convention of the Central States Numismatic Society at the Donald E. Stephens (Rosemont) Convention Center, 5555 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. For details, refer to their website, http://www.centralstates.info/conv.html. |
| April | 30 | CCC Meeting - 1pm at the CSNS Convention,
which is held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.
No admission charge for our meeting, in Room 42.
Featured Speaker - Wendell Wolka on How German Electors Broke with the Holy Roman Empire as seen through 16th Century Coins & Medals of the Reformation |
| May | 11 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced |
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/
| Jeffrey Rosinia | - President |
| Lyle Daly | - First Vice President |
| Elliott Krieter | - Second Vice President |
| William Burd | - Archivist |
| Directors: | Robert Feiler
Eugene Freeman Marc Stackler Carl Wolf |
| Other positions held are: | |
| Carl Wolf | - Secretary |
| Steve Zitowsky | - Treasurer |
| Paul Hybert | - Chatter Editor |
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