• Contents of this Issue
  • Notes
  • Minutes of the 1236th Meeting
  • Barbarous Late Roman Coins
  • Exhibits
  • Encouraging Novice Exhibitors
  • Minutes of the 2022 WFoM Host Club Planning Meeting
  • Upcoming Meeting
  • Important Dates
  • Chatter Matter
  • Share This Issue!
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Chatter

Editor’s Notes

The recent flareup of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 resulted in a last-minute cancellation of our January in-person meeting in downtown Chicago and made it online only. The February meeting will be online only.

Paul Hybert, editor

Minutes of the 1236th Meeting

The 1236th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order by President Lyle Daly at 6:45 PM CST, Wednesday January 12, 2022. This was an online meeting only, due to the Covid Pandemic. Attendance at the meeting start was 30 members, and rose to 39 members.

Club Meeting Minutes and Treasurer’s Report

The November and December 2021 meeting minutes were approved as published in the Chatter, both in print and on the CCC website.

Treasurer Elliott Krieter presented Treasurer’s reports for the November and December periods. November period: Income $1,856 (Dues, Banquet); Expenses $998.26 (Engraving, Club Electronics, Print and Postage); for a period Total of $1,098.74. December period: Income $2,287.00 (Dues, banquet, advertising); Expenses $3,084.45 (banquet, Corporate fee, Print and Postage, membership fee); for a period Total of -$797.45. Both reports were approved.

New Members

Secretary Scott McGowan performed the second reading of new member applications for Connor Cambria, Brandon Jansen, and Richard Jozefiak, calling for a membership vote which approved all as members.

Old Business

1. Lyle Daly reviewed the Legacy Project with the publication of the video interview of Chester Poderski on the Newman Numismatic Portal. Club members are requested to provide audio comment on members they have known, to be included in the future videos. The next video to be edited is that of Charles Ricard.
2. CCC Committee members were asked to confirm if they wish to continue in their current capacity on their existing committees.
3. Discussion on fixing the location of the annual December banquet to Maggiano’s. Some members expressed that it might be best to continue rotating to different locations.
4. Banquet expense report will be presented in February.
5. Carl Wolf gave an update on the Hexagon medals for ANA Money Talks. They were being finished and should go into the Mint’s storage by the end of January.
6. Carl Wolf reported on the technology committee meeting held at the CBA, and their successful testing of new CCC Tech equipment for hybrid meetings.

New Business

1. Announcement that 2022 CCC member dues are due by March 1, 2022 (according to club bylaws). Members should complete payment by the deadline.
2. Lyle Daly announced the schedule for the 2022 Club Board Meetings to be February 16, May 18, August 17 (which conflicts with the ANA convention and may be rescheduled), and November 16, 2022.
3. John Kent presented details for numismatists to get involved in educating class-room students (online or in-person)with 10-20-minute presentations on numismatic subjects through his position as adjunct instructor at the College of DuPage. John also highlighted how it would be beneficial to encourage expansion of this model at other universities that participate in Life Long Learning. For further details, contact John Kent directly.

General Announcements

Reminder: 2022 ANA World’s Fair of Money® Host Club meeting on January 19, 2022, at 7pm. Contact Steve Zitowsky to participate in the committee.

First V.P. John Riley introduced the Featured Program, Jeffrey A. Amelse on Barbarous Late Roman Coins.

Second V.P Melissa Gumm announced of evening’s ten exhibitors.

The next meeting will be on February 9, 2022. Lyle Daly adjourned the meeting at 9:05 PM CST.

Respectfully Submitted,
Scott A. McGowan, Secretary

Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Barbarous Late Roman Coins

by Jeffrey A. Amelse,
presented to our January 12, 2022 meeting.

Barbarous coins were smattered throughout the Roman and into the Byzantine empires. Barbarous radiates became quite prolific between the reigns of Claudius II (AD 268-270) and circa 274 AD, when Aurelian banned the circulation of these small imitative bronzes throughout the Empire. It is likely that at least some of the barbarous radiates were produced after 274 AD all the way into the early 280s. Their value was most certainly not equal to official issues. They likely circulated locally and fulfilled the role of token coinage during periods of acute coin shortages. The barbarous radiates were produced by the eastern Gothic tribes. Hoards have been found in Northern France. A series of high-quality barbarous coins commemorating Constantine I the Great were produced in the UK. Other late Roman barbarous cons were produced by the Vandals in North African mints.

The presentation began with several examples of barbarous AE3 Constantine I coins likely struck by gothic tribes east of the Danube River, imitating the ‘Victoriae Laetae’ reverse with two Victories holding a shield or plaque over an altar. One has a very barbarous head of Constantine with a legend containing many of the letter I, and a barbarous reverse with Victories with comical broad rimmed hats. Several higher quality examples, one with a winged Victory reverse and one imitating URBS ROMA with the she wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus, commemorate the founding of Rome. Barbarous coins of Constantine’s sons and recent descendants were also shown, with many having reverses depicting the FEL TEMP REPATIO “fallen horseman” reverse. One very rare and very barbarous coin of Crispus was included, with the reverse degenerated into two soldiers fighting (instead of two standing Victories). This is only the second coin of this type seen by Alex Fishman of Ancient Coins of Canada.

The barbarous coins of Tetricus I and II included very rare examples of Tetricus I with a very barbarous priestly implements reverse and an amphora reverse. The Tetricus II coins included what is believed to be a bad misinterpretation of priestly implements that became two birds drinking from a vase, which is possibly unique. Examples of Tetricus II included both rare obverse and a reverse brockages. Numerous examples commemorating Claudius II with a flaming altar were shown, including a tiny 9 mm very barbarous example and a 10 mm coin with an eagle reverse.

Later coins of Magnentius, Gratian, Decentius, and Julian II from the 350s to 360s AD were of higher quality, but have obviously barbarous portraits.

Also exhibited were some extremely rare barbarous coins produced in Sri Lanka. It is believed that Roman traders brought demonetized and worn small Roman coins from the Roman Empire (where they had almost no value) all the way to Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka the native coinage was crude, scarce, and the Roman coins probably carried a much higher intrinsic value than in Rome or India. It is not inconceivable that all the Roman coins encountered in Sri Lanka come from only a few (if not one) such shipment of obsolete Roman coinage, probably in the early 5th century. When more coins were needed (but not available), locally made imitations of these Roman coins were minted. The Sri Lankans obviously had no experience in minting coins. These are extremely crude, poorly made, and never found well-struck and in high quality. They are fascinating and unusual, showing stylized and misunderstood Roman designs.

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Show and Tell

Items shown at our January 12, 2022 meeting,
reported by Melissa Gumm.

1. Lyle Daly showed two very different coins.
   1. A Celtic coin, from prior to the Roman conquest, of an area in modern France, Massilia. The coin is smaller than a US dime and features a bust, possibly of Apollo, with a very angular nose; a very Celtic depiction. The other side is quite plain, with a 4 spoke wheel and the letters M A.
   2. While spending Thanksgiving in San Diego, Lyle’s wife discovered a rolling machine near the aircraft carrier Midway. Not having any copper cents, Lyle was ready to walk away; his wife had other plans. After finding a store clerk who would part with 15 1920 wheat cents (?!?), the hunt was on; using the website pennycollector.com they were able to collect 32 elongated cents from San Diego. Two of Lyle’s favorites feature a Surfer Dude and the aircraft carrier Midway. And Lyle saved some of the raw 1920 cents!
2. John Riley gave a tribute to friend and fellow collector Jerry “Beany” Schaeper, Jr, of Erlanger, Kentucky, of whose passing he recently learned. John showed a coal scrip token from the 1870s-1880s for taking a load of coal or lumber down the Green River. This token from Muhlenburg County features a liberty-like portrait on the obverse and the the company name, good for, and city name on the reverse. John had hoped to collaborate on a guide book to the tokens and medals of Kentucky with Jerry.
3. Laurence Edwards showed three items related to different moments in Jewish history.
   1. A silver coin from Antioch of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, of the Seleucid Empire, circa 169-164BCE. This ruler took Jerusalem, looted and desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem, which lead to the Maccabean revolt, which led to the festival of Hanukkah.
   2. A bronze prutah of Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great. This coin, circa 37-43CE, from the Roman period has Greek inscriptions.
   3. An 1806 French Napoleonic medal depicting Napoleon receiving a “pledge of allegiance” from an Assembly of Jewish notables. This medal commemorates the tearing down of walls around Jewish Ghettos in some European cities. The motif features a standing Napoleon, a kneeling figure (possibly Moses), and a pair of tablets held by the kneeling figure – is Napoleon giving the tablets to the figure, or is the figure offering the tablets to Napoleon?
4. Deven Kane showed three items acquired at the Countryside coin show in December.
   1. An akche of Bayezid I (the Thunderbolt) who succeeded his father Murad I, who was killed at the Battle of Kosovo. This small silver coin is very well centered on a flan about half the diameter of a US quarter’s. His extremely successful reign was cut short when he was defeated by Timur (Tamerlane) and spent his remaining years in captivity; according to legend in a cage, which is likely inaccurate.
   2. From the Roman Empire, a silver denarius showing a young Faustina Junior. Juno is on the reverse.
   3. From the Roman Empire, a silver denarius showing an older Faustina Junior. Ceres is on the reverse. Faustina Junior (also known as Faustina the Younger) was the daughter of Faustina the Elder and Antoninus Pius. She was married to Marcus Aurelius, her cousin, with whom she had at least 14 children.
5. Joseph Boling showed a US $1 series 1935A silver certificate which had been turned into a short snorter with many signatures, of which he has been able to identify four individuals. It was probably signed, at least partially, at either Iwo Jima or Okinawa, because two of the signers were there and one did not survive Okinawa. They are Claude Thornhill, a Navy musician who served 1942-46; Marjorie E. Von Stein, a Navy nurse; Ernie Pyle, killed by a Japanese sniper on Okinawa; and Dickey Meyer Chapelle, a photojournalist killed in Viet Nam 4 November 1965, the first American female journalist to be killed in action. She is revered by the US Marine Corps.
6. Bob Leonard showed coins that tied into the speaker’s program on counterfeit copper coins and Winston Zack’s recent program on late 19th-century U.S. circulating counterfeits. He showed both an original and cast brass counterfeit of a 1 centime coin of French Cochin-China, 1885, and a 1 cent coin of Straits Settlements, 1862. The original machine-made copper coins were about equal in value to ten brass cash coins but weighed much less; it was profitable to melt cash coins and cast crude fakes, if they could be passed in a dark corner. To Bob’s knowledge, there is no literature for the Cochin-China piece, but the Straits Settlements counterfeits are published in Remick et al’s British Commonwealth Coins, 1971. The listing for Straits Settlements has a section on counterfeit coins which discusses these circulating counterfeits; although it lists some known dates from 1872-1908, it does not mention this 1862 date.
7. Mark Wieclaw showed one very nice coin in amazing condition, a gold Histamenon Nomisma of Romanus IV Diogenes (1068-1071) from the Constantinople mint. The concave side features a central facing Christ standing on a footstool, crowning Romanus (on left) and Eudocia (on right), each holding a globus cruciger. The convex side features a central facing Michael holding a labarum and akakia, between Constantius and Andronicus, each holding a globus cruciger and akakia. The convex side shows almost no wear, which is unusual as it features all the high points. Mark then showed a slide on how the cup-shaped coin was struck with multiple strikes of the die for the concave side.
8. Dale Lukanich showed a house note from De La Rue. Thomas De La Rue’s first commercial venture was in 1813 when he ublished a newspaper, then moving into modern playing cards and train tickets. By 1860 he was printing his first paper money featuring color and micro-lettering, milestones in design and security. De La Rue is still in the business of printing currency, designing 26 of the new banknotes issued in 2020. The shown house note has examples of the many security features offered by the company; they can be used when a customer helps design a note.
9. Gerard Anaszewicz showed an old and a new item, as he put it.
   1. A silver coin from the Hepthalite empire of the early 6th century AD, a tribal empire of nomadic people of central Asia of which little is known. The obverse appears to feature a bull’s head with a crown, and the reverse a fire altar.
   2. A 1787 Fugio cent replica paperweight, issued as a souvenir, which Gerard found at a flea market. At 77 mm in diameter, this piece cannot be confused with a genuine cent.
10. Dan Shemwell showed his 1794 US silver dollar which was recently written up in The Numismatist. The heavily worn coin has been certified by NGC as genuine but with an engrave dated. Although the date and some other details are worn away, a few remaining reverse details confirm the coin is from 1794.

Reminders:

• You can email to Melissa a description of what you will show at a meeting, to give her a start on this write-up.
• Send it to mjg513@yahoo.com.
• After a meeting, all members who viewed the meeting should email her their scoring sheet – a listing of each exhibit number followed by a score is all that is needed.

Encouraging Novice Exhibitors

by Paul Hybert.

An article in the January, 2022 Chatter announced an online effort to encourage and support new exhibitors at area coin conventions, but an example page was not complete. An example of what can be achieved with an online webpage now is available at http://www.chicagocoinclub.org/projects/digital_exhibits/experiment1/

Please remember the intended audience is limited to the exhibitor and a few club members, with exhibiting experience, who volunteer to review a draft version of an exhibit and offer feedback to the exhibitor. The draft images are rough – good enough to read the text and see the general layout, but the image details (color, alignment, keystoning, and such) are imperfect. These webpages are used for quick feedback, not for permanent archiving. For a permanent record of an exhibit, images without any imperfections would be needed because the viewer’s gaze is quickly drawn to the imperfections. A permanent record would require a better setup than most exhibitors have available, making for a more time- and labor-intensive effort.

On each webpage, each case appears as a small image, but hovering the browser’s cursor over an item results in an enlargement of that item. As the cursor is moved over a different item, the prior enlargement is removed, replaced by an enlargement of the current item. This effect was inspired by how some past ANA Best-in-Show exhibits were preserved on the ANA website. But those images were perfect, requiring much effort and attention to achieve. The ANA’s work method could not continue at just one exhibit per year, so do not expect to see here that great level of image quality.

If you would like to use this online resource to help you develop your exhibit, please email me at my personal address or at the Editor’s email address. I would also like to hear from experienced exhibitors who would be willing to review any submitted exhibits.

Minutes of the 2022 WFoM Host Club Planning Meeting

January 19, 2022

Attending: Steve Zitowsky (Chair), Dale Lukanich (Asst Chair), Greg Gajda, Marc Ricard, Carl Wolf, Dale Carlson, Deven Kane, Mark Wieclaw, John Riley, Bob Feiler, Paul Hybert, Bob Leonard, Rich Lipman, Jeff Amelse, Scott McGowan, Mike Gasvoda, and Lyle Daly.

Committee Chair Steve Zitowsky opened the meeting at 7:00PM with opening remarks reporting communication with the ANA on various details surrounding ANA shows. The ANA concentration is currently on the National Money Show (NMS) March 10 – 12, 2022. Bob Leonard will be staffing the Future Shows table at the NMS and plans to promote the August WFoM show. Carl Wolf and Steve Zitowsky will staff the CCC table at the Central States convention in April 2022 and will promote the WFoM among other activities. Jennifer Ackerman, ANA events director, indicated that on March 13th, the day after the NMS, the ANA will go roaring ahead with the WFoM planning.

Committee Reports:

Money Talks: Mark Wieclaw reported that nothing has been released by the ANA yet. No deadline yet for applications.

Collector Exhibits: Marc Ricard reported there will be the full class of exhibits, but the location and layout in the convention hall is not yet confirmed.

Ambassadors: Scott McGowan reported the Ambassador form for 2022 has been emailed to all CCC members; we have five completed forms so far. To request an emailed Ambassador form, please send an email to secretary.chicagocoinclub@gmail.com

Pages: John Riley reported no information or sign-up form has yet been published.

YN/Scouts Workshop: Jim Ray not present, no report.

Members-at-Large: New CCC member Dan Shemwell has expressed interest in joining the committee.

Steve Zitowsky directed the next agenda item to discuss: the CCC at the National Money Show and what should be available for attendees. A list of items to help promote the August WFoM show was reviewed including: Rosemont and Chicago Chamber of Commerce brochures, restaurant list, shopping information, Baseball games during the WFoM week (Sox vs. Astros 15-18; Cubs vs. Brewers 19-20), museum list, and Ambassador form. Bob Leonard reported that the table is a Future Shows table, and we should concentrate the message and booth on encouraging attendance at the August WFoM and not include the Ambassador form. Ideas discussed included getting lists of current Broadway in Chicago theater shows (Dale Lukanich took the action), getting the list/map of the WFoM host hotels, and putting together a listing of other events and sports near the Rosemont convention center.

Steve reported that there will be no CCC medal issued for the 2022 show, but asked the committee about a show card. Mark Wieclaw offered to assist with the Show Card.

Mike Gasvoda reported that he had spoken to Constantine at the NYNC, and the NYNC is onboard for a joint dinner with the CCC if things are close to normal regarding the pandemic.

Mike also reported he had inquired to the ANA about a third day of Money Talks for Ancient Coinage, but has not yet heard back.

The committee discussed visiting area coin clubs to promote the WFoM after the weather warms up and also promote exhibiting at the show. Committee to revisit this in Feb/March. Bob Leonard added that in 2011 he visited many clubs with rolled out one-cent coins (elongated coins) to pass out, and spoke for 2-3 minutes on attending the WFoM show. This allowed all those at the meetings to have a numismatic gift reminder of the upcoming show.

Carl Wolf mentioned that acquiring the Parking Passes for the Ambassadors is a much-needed benefit. They can also be used to encourage area clubs to bring a carload of attendees to the show and have one or two volunteer part of the day to get free parking. Anticipated number of parking passes would be 125 daily and 15-20 weekly passes.

No information was available about the ANA Stipend for the CCC expenses.

Scott McGowan reported that Harlan Berk has offered his office space for future WFoM Host club committee in-person meetings, as was the case for 2019 and earlier shows.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:58PM.

Future Meetings:

WFoM Dates:
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont, IL
August 15-20, 2022 (Monday-Saturday)
Note: Sunday, August 14 may be a workday for some!!

Respectfully Submitted,
Scott A. McGowan
Secretary, Chicago Coin Club

Our 1237th Meeting

Important Dates

Unless stated otherwise, our regular monthly CCC Meeting is only online during the Covid-19 isolation era on the second Wednesday of the month; the starting time is 6:45PM CT.

ANA Convention: Host Club Committee Meetings

Unless stated otherwise, these meetings will be online only.

Chatter Matter

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Club Officers

Correspondence

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
Or email the Secretary at Secretary.ChicagoCoinClub@GMail.com
Payments to the Club, including membership dues, can be addressed to the Treasurer at the above street address.

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