| Volume 66 No. 1 | January 2020 |
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The 1211th meeting and Annual Banquet of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order by President Richard Lipman at 6:48 PM, Wednesday, December 11, 2019, at Tom’s Steak House, 1901 W. North Ave., Melrose Park with 54 members and guests present.
A motion was passed to adopt an abbreviated meeting agenda.
After Richard Hamilton delivered the invocation, the following announcements and business were conducted before, between, and after meal courses were served.
President Lipman asked for separate rounds of applause in appreciation of members who made the evening and the Club’s centennial year a big success:
Dale Lukanich, representing members of the 100th Anniversary Committee, thanked Mark Wieclaw for his work and leadership as the committee chairman and presented him with a Russian 100 ruble note with the signatures of the 10 committee members, and matted and framed under the theme of a Russian proverb “Better to Have 10 Friends, Than 100 Rubles.”
Robert Leonard read a 16-line poem A Plea to Santa Claus, with numismatic requests. Bob was inspired to write the poem after reading that CCC Hall of Fame inductee Arlie Slabaugh recited, at the December 1956 Club meeting, an original poem A Christmas Phone Message asking Santa to bring Club members the items they wanted. Unfortunately, a copy of Arlie’s poem cannot be found.
Second VP John Riley presented personally engraved Club medals with neck ribbons to the 2019 Cabeen Exhibit Award recipients: First Place – Melissa Gumm; Second Place – Lyle Daly; Honorable Mention – James McMenamin, Rich Lipman, and Mark Wieclaw.
First VP Lyle Daly introduced the featured speaker, Mark Wieclaw, who delivered a program on The Thrill and Joy of Collecting Anything. After a question-and-answer period, Lyle presented Mark with an ANA Educational Certificate and an engraved Club medal suspended on a neck ribbon. Lyle also announced upcoming meeting programs:
Door prizes donated by Sharon and Kevin Blocker were won by: Scott McGowan and Ricardo Sequeira, who each received a 1 oz. US Mint Proof Silver Eagle; and James McMenamin who received a 1/10 oz. US Mint BU Gold Eagle.
The Blockers provided the funds for a special dessert of strawberry filled layer cake, decorated with the obverse and reverse images of the 100th Anniversary medal, which the steak house accompanied with ice cream. The Blockers also funded the Hershey Candy Bars inside a custom imprinted wrapper honoring the Club’s Centennial Year. Each table had a selection of silver and gold foil wrapped chocolate coins provided by Jeff Rosinia.
When the meeting was adjourned 8:51 PM, everyone was treated to a trumpet performance of Jingle Bells by Jeff Rosinia.
Respectfully Submitted,
Carl F. Wolf,
Secretary
presented by Mark Wieclaw,
to our December 11, 2019 meeting;
reported by Melissa Gumm.
The initial question asked was, “Why do some people collect just about anything while others collect nothing?” Mark pointed out that he collects just about anything and has done so his whole life, with baseball cards and beer cans acting as a stepping stone to collections of Snoopy items, posters, and blown glass. These are just a sampling of collecting interests outside of numismatics. His wife collects nothing, although there was a brief period of collecting tea pots. However, Mark’s over enthusiasm for her collecting ended that. Mark’s friend who has a passion for nature, but can’t understand the mentality of collectors, won’t miss an opportunity to get up at 3am to observe prairie chickens, or trudge a half mile through chest high prairie grass to monitor wild flowers. We all have something that drives us. Mark believes that you can’t convert someone into being a collector – they either have the passion or not.
Collecting can provide a connection or sense of comfort. Baseball cards which you collected as a child may create a sense of nostalgia that reconnects you to that childhood. It could be that you enjoy the thrill of the hunt, finding that one piece that completes your collection, or simply complements it. Collecting offers a social opportunity by attending shows and becoming a member of a club that embraces your passion. It creates a sense of family amongst members with shared interests. It may also trigger some competitiveness while completing a registry set of the best, or worst, coins in a particular series. Having a collection offers an opportunity to share, as each item has a history and allows the collector to educate others. Many collectors have what they consider an intense passion for their hobbies, while others may consider it an illness.
What do people collect? Simply put, Everything!!! In Germany it might be erasers, 19,571 to be exact. Maybe it is a confetti collection of 1,447 pieces in the works since 1983. It could be backscratchers, 675; Joker cards, 8,520; or sugar packets, 14,502. In the UK it might be bars of soap, 1,331; napkins boxed by theme, 125,866; or traffic cones, 137 which includes 2/3 of all cone types. Numismatics has been referred to as the “Hobby of Kings and the King of hobbies.” It’s written that Augustus Caesar, 27BC-14AD, had a wonderful collection of classic Greek coins.
Mark had conducted a survey of members of the Chicago Coin Club, along with collectors from two other area coin clubs. The results for some questions were similar for all three clubs, such as most members have been at it for twenty-plus years and they have other areas of collecting interest. However, CCC members tend to belong to more numismatic organizations and subscribe to more numismatic publications than the other groups by a 2:1 margin. They also spend more time and money on their numismatic interests than other ventures.
Our collections aren’t really even ours. We are merely the current curators with a responsibility of preserving them for the next generation. As coin and currency collectors, we collect items of value and we must make sure that members of our family or friends understand this. In 28 years as a professional dealer, Mark has never been offered a coin collection by the collector – it has always been a spouse, sibling, or child after the collector passed away.
While attending Joliet Junior College in the early 1980s, Mark was enrolled in an Advertising class. As the instructor was taking roll on the evening of the first class, he made a profound statement that Mark still firmly believes. He told the class, “You are only given so many heartbeats in life; don’t waste them on something you don’t enjoy.” If you are going to collect, have a passion for what you collect and share it willingly. Collecting is a great way to meet people, remain active, and increase your knowledge.
| CSNS Convention | Chicago Coin Company |
| Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. | Kedzie Koins Inc. |
by Robert Leonard,
(with acknowledgements to Arlie Slabaugh)
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Though Lee Hewitt used to say
No Santa Claus will come today Don’t believe that bargain ad The price is wrong, it’s just our bad. |
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But we’ve been good, all of us here,
As we observed our hundreth year, So all club members now believe That you will come on Christmas Eve. |
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So Santa, if you would be willing,
Our trees require a Pine Tree Shilling. Please check our want lists carefully And help advance our specialty. |
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Yes, that coin so very rare,
Please wrap it up and leave it there. And next month we will wish you well When we display our Show and Tell. |
| Date: | January 8, 2020 |
| 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 be prepared to show their photo-ID and register at the guard’s desk. |
| Featured Program: | Deven Kane —
Six Kingdoms, One King – The Coinage of Alfonso the Magnanimous and the Crown of Aragon
Starting as a small landlocked kingdom in Northeastern Spain inherited by an infant girl in 1137 CE, over the next three centuries the Kingdom of Aragon acquired, by marriage and conquest, an “empire” over the Western Mediterranean. Yet all these lands were not a united state, but rather a personal union where the component realms were united politically only through the common monarch. This process reached its apogee during the reign of Alfonso the Magnanimous, who could boast of being the king of six kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms maintained its own laws, tax structure, and coinage. The Crown of Aragon was overshadowed after Alfonso’s nephew Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen Isabella of Castile and Leon and when the new composite Spanish monarchy conquered the New World to become the superpower of the 16th century. However, the Crown of Aragon continued to exist until dissolved in 1716 by the Nueva Planta decrees for backing the wrong pretender in the War of the Spanish Succession. This talk will look at the accumulation of territories of the Crown of Aragon and the varied coinage Alfonso the Magnanimous issued in each of his realms. |
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.
| January | 8 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Deven Kane on Six Kingdoms, One King – The Coinage of Alfonso the Magnanimous and the Crown of Aragon |
| February | 12 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - Brett Irick on The Art of Cherrypicking |
| February | 27-29 | ANA’s National Money Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta, Georgia. Details at http://www.money.org/NationalMoneyShow |
| March | 11 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced |
| April | 8 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced |
| April | 23-25 | 81st Anniversary Convention of the Central States Numismatic Society at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center, 1551 North Thoreau Drive, Schaumburg, IL. There is a $5 per day admission charge, but admission is free for CSNS Life Members. For details, refer to their website, http://www.centralstatesnumismaticsociety.org/convention. |
| April | 25 | CCC Meeting - 1pm at the CSNS Convention,
which is held at the Schaumburg Convention Center.
No admission charge for our meeting.
Featured Speaker - to be announced |
| May | 13 | CCC Meeting - Featured Speaker - to be announced |
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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
Payments to the Club, including membership dues,
can be addressed to the Treasurer and mailed to
the above address.
Renewing Members Annual dues are $20 a year ($10 for Junior, under 18). Annual Membership expires December 31 of the year through which paid. Cash, check, or money order are acceptable (USD only please). We do not accept PayPal. Email your questions to Treasurer.ChicagoCoinClub@GMail.com Members can pay the Club electronically with Zelle™ using their Android or Apple smart phone. JP Morgan Chase customers can send payments to the Club via Quick Pay. To see if your Bank or Credit Union is part of the Zelle™ Payments Network, go to https://www.zellepay.com Please read all rules and requirements carefully.
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