• Contents of this Issue
  • CCC Meeting Minutes
  • World War II Numismatics on the U.S. Home Front
  • Exhibits
  • Board Meeting Minutes
  • Annual Member Auction
  • Banquet Preview
  • Upcoming Meeting
  • Important Dates
  • Chatter Matter
  • Share This Issue!
• Other Chatter Issues
  • Prior Issue
  • Next Issue
  • All Past Issues
• Contact Editor

Chatter

Minutes of the 1175th Meeting

Session I of the 1175th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held November 9, 2016 in the Chicago Bar Association Building, 321 S. Plymouth Court, Downtown Chicago. President Elliott Krieter called the meeting to order at 6:45 PM with 18 members and 1 guest, Katherine France.

A motion was passed to accept the October Minutes as published in the Chatter. Treasurer Steve Zitowsky gave a detailed financial report for October showing assets of $29,026.87. A motion was passed accepting the report. The Treasurer announced he is collecting reservations of $55 per person for the January 11, 2017 Annual Banquet at Marcello’s Restaurant, 645 W. North Avenue, Chicago, IL.

The membership application of Katherine France received first reading. Following the second reading of Tom Babinszki’s application, a motion was passed accepting him into membership.

President Krieter reminded the Board of an upcoming meeting 6 PM, Wednesday, November 16, at Winberie’s Restaurant in Oak Park, IL.

It was announced that the Club will staff a table and hold a meeting at the upcoming PCDA National Coin and Currency Convention. The dates of show are November 17-19 and the Club meeting is 1 PM, Saturday November 19. The featured program will be given by Clifford Mishler, David Harper, and Joel Edler and cover “Remembering Chet Krause & His Contributions.”

First V.P. Rich Lipman introduced featured speaker John Riley who spoke on “WW II Numismatics on the U.S. Home Front.” Following a question and answer period, John was presented with an ANA Educational Certificate.

The President announced the Nomination Committee of Bill Burd, Jeff Rosinia, and Robert Feiler is still seeking a member in good standing to fill the slot of Second V.P.

Second V.P. Marc Stackler announced the evening’s exhibitors. ROBERT LEONARD – five 19th century Sephardic Jewish tokens of the West Indies. MARK WIECLAW – an ad for 2016 slabbed silver eagle commemorating Chicago Cubs World Series win, enlarged hand carved wooden Native American/Bison nickel, and a Roman denarius issued 68-69 AD. ROBERT FEILER – 53 elongated coins in a mini album. RICHARD HAMILTON - $1000 bond of the Woodruff Sleeping and Parlor Coach Company. DEVEN KANE – coin of Leo VI and 1850 6¼ centimes of Faustin I of Haiti. RICH LIPMAN – 2 slabbed modern Swedish notes, a $10 refunding certificate from 1879, a $5 series 1902 banknote from Jackson Park National Bank, and a coin from Niue with a design featuring “artificial intelligence.” DALE LUKANICH – 1944 French 1000 francs note and a $2 bank note from the Merchants and Drovers Bank, Joliet. JEFF ROSINIA – WW II coin sets in plastic holders, an assortment of 1942 nickels in silver and nickel, and shell case coins.

The meeting was recessed at 8:43 PM and will reconvene 1PM, Saturday, November 19 at the PCDA Show in Rosemont.

Session II of the 1175th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was held Saturday, November 19, 2016 in conjunction with the National Coin & Currency Convention, Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare, 5440 N. River Road, Rosemont, IL 60018. President Elliott Krieter reconvened the meeting at 1:00 PM with 16 members and 5 guests: David Harper, Joel Edler, John Schwartz, Tom Synder, and Dale Lagerman.

Members were reminded that annual dues could be paid to the Treasurer, Steve Zitowsky.

The featured program was delivered by Clifford Mishler, David Harper, and Joel Edler who spoke on “Remembering Chet Krause and His Contributions.” Following a question and answer period, each speaker was presented with an ANA Educational Certificate.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:12 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Carl F. Wolf, Secretary

Speaker’s Wor[l]d
World War II Numismatics on the U.S. Home Front

by John Riley,
presented to our November 9, 2016 meeting,

This is an appropriate topic for two days before Veteran’s Day. Collecting World War II items is likely a familiar theme with many of us whose collections benefitted from our relatives and friends who set aside odds and ends from their travels. Those of us who started collecting in the 1960s and ’70s know first-hand what “steel pennies,” “war nickels,” and “Hawaii overprint” notes are, from occaisionally finding them in pocket change.

It was, and is, always a thrill to find something unusual like that, and it started many a young collector down the road.

The second world war profoundly decided the direction every country in the world would take for the rest of the 20th century, so it stands to reason, in a micro sense, that our collecting interests would follow. As I look at many of the different items I enjoy (the U.S. colonial era in the Philippines and the International Community in China, especially) — it is easy to draw the collecting lines to WWII.

This topic was proposed to me partially because of recent publicity given to war-era coinage substitutes, patterns, and errors that are appearing in the numismatic press and at auction. My thanks to Fred Schwan of World War II Remembered and the Military Payment Certificate Fest (MPC Fest) in northern Ohio for his time and information along the way. Fred alluded to some new publishing, in the near future, on many of these topics. There is new information due to such things as metal scanning analysis which now can be done on the hobbyist level – allowing identification of the different alloys used in the 1942 Cents.

When I mentioned this talk, Fred reinforced the obvious – You have only a half hour on the topic? You need a MONTH! So I will do my best to stay on the topic of U.S. issues relative to WWII. It is hard to separate, though – where does the 1944 Belgian 2 franc steel coin fall? (Is this how the U.S. 1944 steel cents were produced?) How about Allied Occupation issues produced here by the U.S. mint?

Roger Burdette was recently featured in a Numismatic News article about the intact glass pattern coin. It is unique as such, but a fractured piece also is known. This is an example of wonderful research after all these years – this piece was produced by the Blue Ridge Glass Co. Patterns in Bakelite are beter known and obtainable; these also fracture easily. Examples are on my bucket list, but I do have the original Colombian 5 centavos (a U.S. Mint product) from whose obverse the obverse pattern die was based.

Heritage had a recent headline auction that featured 1944 steel cents, a less affluent cousin to the 1943 copper cent. We all know steel pennies and war nickels, but the back stories are not as familiar:

• Who sent word to glass makers and bakelite producers to make these things? Probably the U.S. Mint.
• Was it a publicity stunt, or was there a real need? A real need.
• Why war nickels in ’42 but steel pennies not until ’43? Nickel was the more pressing need, and more cost effective.
• Who dumped all of the steel pennies into the ocean after they turned into a corroded mess? Alan Herbert’s story of San Francisco Bay and the ‘S’ mint cents may be just a story.
• What of the 1944 “shellcase” pennies? A 1952 Numismatist article by a sailor “who was there” told of the need not to pitch the ejected cases overboard.
• Did anybody keep statistics on such things? Does not look like it.

There is weird stuff that appears at times, such as the planchet strips (from which the planchets for steel cents had been punched) and stories of how they had been used in wooden trusses for buildings, or how this example had been saved from being used that way, or how that example was salvaged when an old building had been torn down. When no official records are available, stories can enter our memory and be passed along. Maybe the planchet strips were dumped into San Francisco Bay?

The Hawaii overprints of early 1942, and the North African notes from late 1942, were created so that they could be devalued quickly, should the need arise. At least that was the theory; the need never arose, so we do not know how well it would have been carried out. There must be many stories about Allied Military Currency occupation issues, how they were introduced, used, and withdrawn or swapped out with newer issues. The U.S. mints produced coins, many with mintmarks, for more than 40 countries, but those stories are for another day.

Each short snorter tells its own story, from a one-piece Navy Transport Service on a 20 peso 1942 Philippine note, to a classic short snorter of a long strip held together tape. What story does this tell: Okinawa in late June, 1945 on a $1 Silver Certificate overprinted Hawaii, with handwritten Japanese characters?

The propaganda notes dropped on Japan and Germany also have stories to tell. The annual MPC Fest in Port Clinton, Ohio provides a total immersion in this field, similar to ANA’s summer seminar but taken to the next level. Total Enjoyment.

Current Advertisers

Show and Tell

Items shown at our November 9, 2016 meeting,

1. Bob Leonard displayed some 19th-Century Sephardic Jewish tokens of the West Indies:
   1. Curacao (1874), Jesurun & Co. 1 stuiver (passed as 2½ cents), “J x Co”
   2. Curacao (1874), Jacob Jeosuah Naar 1 stuiver (passed as 2½ cents), “J.J.N”
   3. Curacao (1874), Leyba & Co. (not Jewish, but needed to complete the set) 1 stuiver (passed as 2½ cents), “L x C”
   4. Barbados, circa 1834-40, Moses Tolano farthing, “Freedom Without Slavery”
   5. Barbados, circa 1834-40, Moses Tolano halfpenny, “Freedom Without Slavery”
   The Jesuruns were descended from Jacob Jesurun, born in Lisbon in 1634, and Moseh Haim Jesurun, born about 1640; they arrived, with others, from Amsterdam in 1659. Jacob Jeosuah Naar’s ancestor, Yahacob Naar, came from Amsterdam in 1675/76. Moses Tolano was buried in Barbados in 1850. His origin is unknown, but perhaps Tolano — incorrectly shown as “Tolanto” on his tokens — is a shortening of Toledano, a well-known Sephardic name meaning resident of Toledo; if so, his ancestors resided there prior to 1492.
2. Mark Wieclaw showed three items:
   1. An ad for a 2016 American Silver Eagle in an NGC slab, with the slab commemorating the Cubs World Series win.
   2. A large, hand-carved 1913 Native American/Bison wooden nickel. The artist is Jim Vannoy and the piece is dated 2014.
   3. A Roman denarius issued for the Civil Wars, 68-69 AD, from the collection of club member Mike Gasvoda. Obverse: either Nike or Victory, standing on a globe. Reverse: SPQR within a wreath.
3. Bob Feiler brought more examples to talk about collecting on a budget. He showed a mini album of 53 elongated coins obtained gratis or for nominal price, mostly at coin shows. All the elongates, or roll outs, were done on coins other than U.S. Cents.
4. Richard Hamilton discussed the Woodruff Sleeping and Parlor Coach Company, and brought a $1000 bond to show. It was engraved by the Homer Lee Banknote Company, later to be absorbed into the American Bank Note Company. The bond was dated 3/31/1888, paid 6% semi-annual interest, and was hand signed by company officers. Woodruff was soon bought by the Pullman Company.
5. Deven Kane showed coins on the theme “emperors on a budget.”
   1. A bronze nummus of Leo VI of the Byzantine emopire, emperor AD 886-912, who was also known as Leo the Wise and Leo the Philosopher. From the Constantinople mint, this coin has Latin letters on Greek words in the legends. The emperor is shown with a facing, instead of in-profile, bust. Leo was the second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty, and he continued the renaissance of letters begun by his predecessor, Basil I. He continued Basil’s codification of existing Byzantine law, resulting in a six-volume work written in Greek, consisting of 60 books, entitled the Basilika. Leo then began integrating new laws issued during his reign into the Basilika. The Empire saw several military defeats, in the Balkans against Bulgaria and against the Arabs in Sicily and the Aegean.
   2. A copper 6¼ centimes coin of Faustin I of Haiti, dated 1850. This was during the second empire of Haiti, and he was the last monarch of Haiti. The obverse shows his crowned head, while the reverse shows a crowned shield with supporters. Faustin-Élie Soulouque was a career officer and general in the Haitian Army when he was elected President of Haiti in 1847. In 1849 he was proclaimed Emperor of Haiti under the name Faustin I. He soon purged the army of the ruling elite, installed loyalists in administrative positions, created a secret police and a personal army, and created a nobility in the country. His unsuccessful attempts to reconquer the neighboring Dominican Republic undermined his control, and he was forced to abdicate in 1859.
6. Rich Lipman discussed five items.
   1. Two modern Swedish notes, slabbed. The first: 1000 kronor with the portrait of Gustav Vasa, who led the move to break Sweden away from Denmark in the sixteenth century. The second: 100 kronor with the portrait of Carl Linnaeus, a botanist and the father of our system of taxonomy of living things.
   2. $10 “Refunding Certificate” dated 4/1/1879, one of about 150 surviving examples from the original issue of four million. The back has an interest paying schedule of the 40¢ per year, but a 1909 law capped the amount.
   3. Jackson Park National Bank, $5 series 1902. This is near the location of the planned Obama Presidential Library.
   4. A 2016 $2coin from Niue, with a design featuring “artificial intelligence.”
7. Dale Lukanich brought in two notes, each remarkable in its own way.
   1. France, 1000 francs, dated June 1944. There are piles of this note available, but very few in the MS64 condition of this note.
   2. An 1850 $2 bank note from the Merchants and Drovers Bank of Dale’s hometown of Joliet, Illinois. This note, in poor condition, is the only one Dale has seen. The other denominations from this bank are themselves quite rare, but occasionally have been up for auction.
8. Jeff Rosinia showed several items that will form part of a WWII-themed exhibit he is planning for coin shows next year.
   1. World War II coin set (steel cents, mercury dimes, silver nickels) in a Capital plastic holder.
   2. Complete rounds (replicas) for WWII-era gunnery. Not the thing to take on a plane to a convention.
   3. An assortment of nickels, both proof anf business strikes, both silver and also a 1942 Type I (regular) nickel.
   4. Shell case coins.

Minutes of the Chicago Coin Club Board of Directors

November 16, 2016

The Chicago Coin Club Board met November 16, 2016 at Winberie’s Restaurant, 151 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL. President Elliott Krieter called the meeting to order at 7 PM with the following members present: Marc Stackler, Rich Lipman, Steve Ambos, Steve Zitowsky, Melissa Gumm, William Burd, Dale Lukanich, and Carl Wolf.

1. December Meeting will include:
   1. Annual Auction
   2. Election of Officers for 2017-18. The Nominating Committee reported the following slate: Richard Lipman, President; Marc Stackler, First V.P.; John Riley, Second V.P.; Board: Dale Lukanich, Melissa Gumm, Mark Wieclaw, and Steve Ambos; William Burd, Archivist. Elliott Krieter, Immediate Past President, automatically serves on the Board. The position of Secretary and Treasurer is appointed by the President and the approval of the elected Board.
2. January Meeting will include the presentation of 2016 Cabeen Exhibit Awards at the Annual Banquet, Marcello’s Restaurant, 645 W. North Ave., Chicago, IL. Program is still open.
3. Steve Zitowsky distributed a 2017 Chicago Coin Show Schedule where the Club will staff a table.
4. Carl Wolf reported the new Speakers’ Medal will ship within 2 weeks.
5. Bill Burd reported on behalf of the 100th Anniversary Committee. The committee is considering holding the Anniversary Banquet in Rosemont the night before the 2019 ANA Convention begins. ANA Convention Director and Club member, Rhonda Scurek volunteered to provide contact information with the Hyatt Regency.
6. A discussion was held on a proposal received from Kevin Foley regarding sponsorship of the Boy Scout Merit Badge Clinic at Central States Numismatic Society Convention. After many questions and comments, the Board unanimously passed a motion recommending the membership accept this proposal and contribute $500 for the 2017 convention.
7. President Krieter presented every board member with a one troy ounce silver piece in appreciation of their service.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:03 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Carl F. Wolf, Secretary

Annual Member Auction

Here are the lots known to us by October 29, 2016. The auction will be held near the start of the meeting, after a short time for lot examination.

Consignment from Bill Burd, all Chicago Coin Club Medals.

1. 25th Anniversary Lincoln Medal dated 1944. This 38mm silver medal weighs 26.5 grams and is edge marked “sterling”. Mintage is 315 pieces.
2. 400th Meeting counterstamped Peso. Host coin dated 1944 and counterstamp dated May 14, 1952. 720 fine silver. Mintage 200.
3. Central Illinois Numismatic Society first anniversary token dated 1949 counterstamped with the CCC logo on one side and “National Coin Week Winners 1952” on the other. Only 48 tokens were counterstamped and given to participants in National Coin Week. 35.4mm bronze.
4. 500th Meeting Medal in bronze dated 1960. It has a barrel contour and is 46mm x 60.5mm. The mintage is 246 pieces.
5. 500th Meeting Medal in .950 silver, weighing 99 grams. Scarce with a mintage of only 84 pieces.
6. 600th Meeting token dated January 8, 1969. In brass, 38.5mm, with a mintage of 250 pieces.
7. 50th Anniversary Medal in .999 silver. Designed by Trygve A. Rovelstad. 57mm, weighs 96.7 grams. Serial #707 (ex. James Babka), with a mintage of 111 pieces.
8. 900th Meeting elongate on host coin of a Kennedy Half Dollar. Produced by Mark Wieclaw and given to the 24 attendees of the 900th meeting on January 12, 1994. Scarce with a total mintage of only 40 pieces.
9. 75th Anniversary Plaquette – 1994 - “The Discoverers”. Struck in bronze, weighs 174 grams, serial #92. Mintage of 165 pieces.
10. 80th Anniversary Plaquette – 1999 - “The Pioneers”. Sterling silver, weighs 228 grams, serial #27. Mintage of only 32 pieces.
11. 95th Anniversary Medal – 2014 - “Ferris Wheel”. Copper, 51mm, Serial #36. Mintage of 95 pieces.
12. 95th Anniversary Medal – 2014 – “Ferris Wheel”. .999 Silver, 51mm, weighs 79.5 grams, Serial #83. Mintage of 95 pieces.

Consignment from Sharon and Kevin Blocker

13. Intercept storage box for slabbed coins. MB: $10
14. Coins of Bermuda. MB: $15
15. Money of the Caribbean. MB: $25
16. Pouch of Chicago Coin Club items, with medal. MB: $10
17. Cuba – A Country and its Currency, MB: $40
18. Currency storage album, with pages. MB: $10
19. Eagle brand US Proof Set album. MB: $5

Consignment from Melissa Gumm

20. Battle of Fort Dearborn by Jamie Franki; 2011 ANA 120th Anniversary Convention 69.85mm bronze medal, #15 of 125.

Consignment from Dale Lukanich of “So Called Dollars”

21. HK 154 (brown) large letters MB: $10
22. HK 154 (unc) large letters MB: $50
23. HK 155 (au) small letters MB: $35
24. McCormik aluminum (xf/au) R-5 MB: $40
25. HK 230a (unc) MB: $50
26. HK 231 R-6 MB: $50

Preview of Our January Banquet (1177th Meeting)

Our 1176th Meeting

Important Dates

Unless stated otherwise, our regular monthly CCC Meeting is in downtown Chicago on the second Wednesday of the month; the starting time is 6:45PM.

Chatter Matter

http://www.ChicagoCoinClub.org/

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

Club Officers

Contacting Your Editor / Chatter Delivery Option

chatter_editor@yahoo.com

The print version of the Chatter is simply a printout of the Chatter webpage, with a little cutting and pasting to fill out each print page. The webpage is available before the Chatter is mailed.
If you would like to receive an email link to the latest issue instead of a mailed print copy, send an email to chatter_editor@yahoo.com. You can resume receiving a mailed print copy at any time, just by sending another email.

Sharing this complete Chatter issue with a friend is simple. Just let them scan this code into their smartphone!