Chatter


Archive available at http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/
Volume 57 No. 10 October 2011


Ten Months until ANA in Philadelphia

And the ANA will be in Pittsburgh in two weeks for those who cannot wait. I must make one small correction to last month’s ANA report: the mentioned exhibit that took First Place in its class was listed in the printed guide — it was another exhibit, by that exhibitor, that was not listed in the guide. And the guide also missed another exhibit by a different exhibitor. An online guide to the 2011 exhibits is at
http://www.chicagocoinclub.org/events/2011/ana/ex/all.by.cl.html,
but not all of the awards have been added to it, yet.


Minutes of the 1113th Meeting

The 1113th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held September 14, 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 26 members and 1 guest, Ernest Armstrong.

A motion was passed to accept the August Minutes as published in the Chatter. Treasurer Steve Zitowsky reported a detailed break down showing August income of $2,863.41, expenses of $3,920.68 and total assets of $18.206.22 held in Life Membership $1,910.00 and member equity $16,296.22. Following comments from Robert Leonard that some expenses were covered by a previous ANA donation, a motion was passed to approve the report.

The application for membership of Ernest Armstrong received first reading. Outstanding dues were reported from the following members: Martin Aguilera, Jr., David Bynum, Richard Craig, Chuck Jacobs and Ivan Thompson.

Announcement of awards presented to Club members at the recent ANA Convention included: The Chicago Coin Club Host Club Plaque; Robert Leonard’s Presidential Award & 50 year ANA Membership; Joel Orosz & Leonard Augsberger’s First Place Heath Literary Award; Tom DeLorey’s Burnett Anderson Memorial Award for Excellence in Numismatic Writing; Harlan J. Berk’s Numismatist of the Year Award & Chicago Coin Club’s Medal of Merit; Dr. Saul B. Needleman’s Ben and Silva Odesser Award by Token & Medal Society; Jeff Bernberg’s election as President of the Professional Numismatic Guild; exhibit awards to Donald Dool (3), Nancy Wilson, Bruce Bartelt, Dan Freeland, John Wilson and Jeffrey Rosinia (2) who also received the People’s Choice Award for his exhibit Chicago, My Kind of Coin Town: Chicagoland Coin Savers.

Steve Zitowsky reported the sale of 140 of the 250 copper Standing Lincoln Souvenir Medals issued by the Club to commemorate the ANA Convention. It was announced that a limited number of Columbian Exposition Entrance Ticket souvenir sheets were available. Jeffrey Rosinia received a warm round of applause for writing and producing the sheet. Robert Leonard, ANA General Chairman, delivered a general report on the success of the Convention.

The November program will be the Annual Auction and members were reminded to submit a list of items for sale and/or get them to Bill Burd at Chicago Coin Company. Members were reminded that the Club’s Annual Banquet will be held on Saturday, December 10th at Marcello’s Restaurant, 645 W. North Avenue, Chicago. The time, cost and program to be announced.

The evening’s featured program by Mark Wieclaw on Fort Knox Gold Mine, Fairbanks, Alaska included a company video. Following a question and answer period, Mark was presented with an engraved Club medal and ANA Educational Certificate.

Elliott Krieter introduced the eleven exhibitors for the evening. DAVID G. GUMM: two U.S. Large Cents; KURT HYDE: hard times tokens and cancelled check from 1979 purchase; DALE LUKANICH: two cut Ancient Roman denari and U.S. $5 error note; RICHARD LIPMAN: eight pieces of U.S. currency; ROBERT FEILER: Ancient drachm of Thrace, Operation Bernhard banknote, old U.S. Cent board and Civil War era Copperhead Badge; MARC STACKLER: two Mexican Revolution era “Bank on Bank” cheques; ROBERT LEONARD: imitation gold Ducats and ANA 50 year membership pin and medal; JEFFREY ROSINIA: memorabilia of the ANA Convention; MARK WIECLAW: ten items that included obsolete notes and discount ANA Convention admission coupons; STEVE ZITOWKSY: Moneta, the official publication of the Ottawa Coin Club and recipient of ANA’s 2011 Best Local Club Publication Award; and ROBERT WEINSTEIN: six copper coins from ancient Indo Kingdoms.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM and with the next meeting to be held October 12, 2011 at the Chicago Bar Association Building.

Respectfully Submitted,
Carl Wolf, Secretary


Call for Club Auction Lots
November 9, 2011

The club auction is scheduled for 7PM, near 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.

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 25. You can either e-mail your list to Paul Hybert by Tuesday, October 25 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 25.

Bill Burd
CCC-A Dept.
Chicago Coin Company
6455 W. Archer Ave.
Chicago, IL 60638
  chicagocoin@att.net
Paul Hybert
312-791-9001, evenings
  prhybert@att.net

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


Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Fort Knox Gold Mine, Fairbanks, Alaska

presented by Mark Wieclaw
to our September 14, 2011 meeting

During the recent run up in the price of gold, many small accumulations of household gold have found their way back to refiners; but nothing beats a gold mine as a source for a big pile of gold. With the assistance of a 12-minute company produced video, Mark gave us an overview of the operation of a modern day open pit gold mine located about 25 miles north of Fairbanks.

Mark’s niece Becky, a geologist who graduated from the University of Alaska, works for Kinross; her job is to go out and explore the company’s land, suggesting where to drill. She works in the Fairbanks mining district, one of the largest gold producing areas in Alaska. Gold mining in that area started in 1902, and lasted until the easy gold was gone. Interest returned in 1984 when some visible signs of gold were found, and construction of the Fort Knox mine started in 1995. The large scale use of picks and shovels to recover gold nuggets is long gone from Alaska; the remaining gold mostly consists of small particles embedded in rock, where many tons of rock have to be processed to recover one ounce of gold.

The video of Kinross’ Fort Knox open pit mine covers all operations at the mine, from excavation to rough refining. Daily blasting on the pit’s floor loosens the rock; one or two loads from a frontloader fill a dump truck (the wheels on these large vehicles are taller than a person) that takes it to a crusher that can turn a car-sized rock into the size of a headlight; with the result ending on a huge stock pile. In a day, up to 130,000 tons can be added to that pile. Each day, about 45,000 tons of that pile are taken to a mill, where it goes through a series of steps to reduce it to the consistency of sand grains; picture a bank of 20 to 30 foot diameter rotating drums, filled with steel balls three to five inches in diameter. Sluice boxes are used to recover any large grains of gold, with the last traces of gold recovered in some disolving steps. The final product from this site is bars of 90% gold, weighing between 60 and 80 pounds. In 2010, the avearge cost of production was $500 per ounce of gold.

Actual mining at Fort Knox started in 1996, with digging operations projected to stop in 2014. After that, the stock pile will be worked off, to be followed by land reclamation efforts. Mark concluded the presentation with a map, on which he noted the nearby Gil Mineral Claims area that the company is evaluating for future efforts. The company’s web site, www.kinross.com, has more information about all of their mines, including Fort Knox (what a great name for a gold mine — any other mines ever use that name?)


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Show and Tell

Items shown at our September 14, 2011 meeting.

  1. David Gumm showed recent acquisitions:
  2. Kurt Hyde showed copper pieces:
  3. Dale Lukanich showed recent acquisitions:
  4. Richard Lipman showed examples, over time, from one Legal Tender denomination. Only one piece is missing from a complete Large $1 set. I might have missed one of the shown items; if you were keeping score, the missing type has a large brown seal with blue serial number.
  5. Bob Feiler showed a range of items:
  6. Marc Stackler showed two pieces of bank-on-bank checks from October, 1913 during the Mexican Revolution era; this is early paper money of Pancho Villa. These resulted from bankers who did not want to refuse Villa’s request for money. Their use was very brief.
  7. Robert Leonard showed a range of items:
  8. Jeff Rosinia showed memorabilia from ANA.
  9. Mark Wieclaw showed a range of items, including some from ANA.
  10. While at our club’s table at the ANA, Steve Zitowsky met many people. One was Serge Pelletier, the editor of the Ottawa Coin Club newsletter, Moneta. They email their monthly newsletter and, at year end, print and bind all content into a book that sells for about $60 to $70. Steve showed us a copy from 2010 — good articles on a range of topics.
  11. Robert Weinstein found a dealer in his favorite material (old Central Asia) at the ANA, and he showed us pieces from the Apracha dynasty after the death of King Azes (from around what now is Islamabad). The coins can have many inscriptions and multiple dating systems; some have two dating systems, and one uses three.

Our 1114th Meeting

Date:October 12, 2011
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. Nearby parking: South Loop Self Parking Ramp at Van Buren & Federal Streets; that is two short blocks west of our meeting site. Note: Their typical rate of $29 is reduced to $6 if you eat at the Plymouth Restaurant, 327 S. Plymouth Court (next to our meeting site at the CBA), show them your parking ticket, and ask the restaurant for a parking voucher. The restaurant offers standard sandwiches, burgers, and salads for members who want to meet for dinner.
Featured speaker:Dale Lukanich - Obsolete Currency Issued for the Illinois & Michigan Canal, 1836-1844

Corrupt Politicians, Public Works Cost Overruns, National Economic Depression, Worker Riots, Worthless Currency, and State Governments on the Brink of Bankruptcy! Modern day headlines? No! These were some of the issues confronted during the building of the I & M Canal. Join us at this meeting of the Chicago Coin Club to hear this fascinating story and see the banknotes and various scrip that reflected those turbulent times.


Important Dates

Oct 12 CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Dale Lukanich on Obsolete Currency Issued for the Illinois & Michigan Canal, 1836-1844
Nov 9 CCC Meeting - Club Auction - no featured speaker
Nov 11-13 International Currency and Coin Convention at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. Admission is $5 for Friday through Sunday. Details at http://www.www.pcdaonline.com
Nov 12 CCC Meeting - 1pm at the International Currency and Coin Convention, which is held at the Crown Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 North River Road, Rosemont, IL. No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured Speaker - Pierre Fricke on History of Collecting Confederate Paper Money, 1865 to Date
Dec 10 CCC Meeting on Saturday - Annual Banquet - Featured Speaker - Michael Gasvoda on The Hunt Brothers’ Incredible Ancient Coin Collection

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

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

Contacting Your Editor / Chatter Delivery Option

chatter_editor@yahoo.com

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