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  • Minutes of the 1279th Meeting
  • Podcasts (and other digital info) for the Numismatic Enthusiast, or How to Research Coins in the Misinformation Era
  • Exhibits
  • Upcoming Meeting
  • Important Dates
  • Chatter Matter
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Chatter

Minutes of the 1279th Meeting

The 1279th meeting of the Chicago Coin Club was called to order by President Melissa Gumm at 6:45pm CDT Wednesday, August 13, 2025. This was an in-person and online meeting with 18 members and one guest, the featured speaker, at the CBA and 17 members online, giving a total of 36.

Club Meeting Minutes

The July club meeting minutes were approved as published in the Chatter, both in print and on the CCC website.

New Members

Secretary Scott McGowan completed the second reading of a membership application for Steve Starlust of Sevierville, Tennessee, a collector of tokens, medals, badges, souvenirs, World Columbia Expo, Civil War, Exonumia, US Coinage, and Presidentials; the club members approved the membership.

Treasurer’s Report

Elliott Krieter reported that there is no treasurer’s report at this time; it will be reported at the next meeting. Elliott also reported that Dan Shemwell has paid for life membership.

Old Business

1. Committee Reports:
   1. Special Projects. No report at this time.
   2. Hall of Fame. No report at this time.
   3. The Legacy committee reported that Josh Benevento is meeting with Lianne Spurrier at the ANA convention about working with interview schedules, and he has been contacting individuals for interviews.
2. Mark Wieclaw reported on the December 2025 banquet: he, Carl Wolf, Bill Burd, and Scott McGowan visited the DesPlaines Elks club to view the facilities. There is plenty of free parking and a large space for the club banquet and family style selections range from $22-$40. Mark also contacted Coopers Hawk in Burr Ridge and their cost would be $75/person at a minimum. The committee will continue to research before presenting to the club to vote.
3. CCC/NYNC dinner at the 2025 ANA World’s Fair of Money in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dinner is set for Wednesday, August 20th, at 6:30pm cocktails and in the semi-private Las Vegas Room at the Broadway 10 Bar and Chophouse. Contact Jeff Rosinia.
4. The CCC Board reviewed and approved for an ANS flyer to be sent to CCC membership. ANS VP Alexander Krapf is promoting the American Numismatic Society’s U.S. Semiquincentennial Medal. The Flyer promotes the opportunity to donate funds for the cost of the medal production. The flyer mentions that opportunity to purchase medals would be announced later.

New Business

1. Moments of Silence were called for and observed for three individuals with past CCC affiliations. Dr. David J. MacDonald who passed March 29, 2025 and William Metcalf who passed on August 2, 2025; while both were not members they both presented at the Club’s “The Science of Numismatics” seminar March 27, 1996. David also was a featured speaker at the CCC October 2005 meeting presenting on overstruck Greek coins. Also remembered was past CCC member Pat Alexander, a resident of New York State who passed on July 27, 2025. Pat was member #1310, joining in September 2021 until 2023.
2. Steve Zitowsky reported that our CCC member Jeffrey J. Rosinia will receive the Glenn Smedley Memorial Award at the 2025 ANA – that award recognizes collectors and hobbyists active at the grassroots level.
3. Dale Lukanich reported that our CCC Member and Grammy award winner Josh Benevento has been nominated for a second Grammy award.

Featured Program

Mike Nottelmann on Podcasts (and other digital info) for the Numismatic Enthusiast, or How to Research Coins in the Misinformation Era. Following the presentation, Second Vice President Deven Kane presented Mike with the CCC Speaker’s Medal and an ANA education certificate.

Show and Tell

Second Vice President Ray Dagenais announced the seven Show and Tell presenters for the evening.

Melissa Gumm reviewed upcoming numismatic events.

President Melissa Gumm adjourned the meeting at 8:27pm CDT.

Respectfully Submitted,
Scott McGowan, Secretary

Speaker’s Wor[l]d
Podcasts (and other digital info) for the Numismatic Enthusiast, or How to Research Coins in the Misinformation Era

presented by Mike Nottelmann
to our August 13, 2025 meeting

This presentation was about finding and producing good content for the collector, and avoiding false information and clickbait. False information can be called either misinformation (accidental, or honest mistakes) or disinformation (intentional, to deceive); we should do our best to stop the spread of false information, by not blindly believing and spreading every shocking claim we see – a little critical thinking before passing it along helps tremendously.

Our speaker, Mike Nottelmann, is an ANA Life Member with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been writing and researching coins for over 15 years, and works at Harlan J Berk, Ltd. in Chicago as a Numismatist. Mike considers himself a numismatic educator because he loves to teach people about numismatics. He hosts two podcasts on coins and coin collecting: The Coin Show (with co-host Matt Dinger) is available on various services and www.CoinShowRadio.com, and The Ancient Coin Podcast with Aaron Berk is available on YouTube.

One of the most popular places to learn about things is the internet. But it is not perfect. Sometimes, there is so much information that it is like trying to drink from a firehose – so much information, coming at you so fast, that it is impossible to think about the details and to consider the information. Every one has an angle.

Who fact checks the internet? It does not happen – we must be smarter consumers. How do you know who is giving good information? YouTube does not fact check their videos for accuracy; neither do most other social media sites. Some sites might simply look for key words, dropping material that contains the key words without considering the context.

How do you know who you can trust? On the internet, do not give trust immediately or to everyone. Trust should be earned by a site, over many visits. You will never agree with all opinions stated by one site. Accept that part of learning involves changes to your opinions as you gain more knowledge; when entering new areas, your existing opinions might expand or contract, loosen or tighten.

Many posts intentionally spew false information; maybe it involves only an incomplete or otherwise misleading headline; maybe the body has major errors. A shocking, controversial, or surprising headline will grab your attention, and you will follow it to the article (by “clicking” on the headline or a nearby “more” button). You have entered the world of “clickbait,” a scourge of the internet. Many sites contain advertising – good sites try to maintain a balance between the amount of information provided and the amount of advertising. Clickbait refers to a page with minimal information content and many ads. Advertisers pay based upon the number of times their ad is seen, independent of the type of page used – the market is based on quantity, not quality. Advertising on the internet has a budget of many billions of dollars, and some of it goes to the scoundrels.

What are some indications that a video may be clickbait? Mike mentioned an AI-generated voice and a musical soundtrack, talk about dollars, and an urgency to the message. One cited person produces short videos that mostly talk about garbage. Another tipoff is a claim of, “If you have this, you are rich!” All the scams and pitches from prior years have made their way to the internet!

Having mentioned some bad characteristics of the sites to avois, Mike mentiored the good characteristics of sites. Showing clear images of coins is a start, and explanations of what to look for are helpful. Educators take their time to be sure that the message is understood. Clickbaiters are just interested in one thing – clicks for their video. They are paid by the click – it does not matter why you click. Ignoring them is better than calling them out for their mistakes.

Educators want you to understand – they take time to show you, in detail, what they are talking about and answer questions. Mike cited Jack Young’s Counterfeit Morgan Dollars in Counterfeit Slabs project – Jack has almost completed a date set of such things. Clickbait videos can be purposely vague, unclear or even confusing, and prey on people’s fear of missing out on something.

An educator will tell you where you can find more information. Clickbait information may be incomplete or just plain wrong. Among the sites Mike recommended are Live Coin Q & A, The Lincoln Cent Resource, and a site that plays the tones of precious metal pieces after they are tapped! We should avoid the big and flashy sites.

Become familiar with good content creators, and Like or Subscribe to them. Remember to investigate their other content; read comments on their websites. See if they have a physical store or a blog where you can see reviews or other interactions. And remember to discuss them with your friends and fellow collectors!

In response to a question of where is a list of good sites, Mike replied that there is none. Bloggers come and go, groups might be slow during part of the year – any list soon would have inactive sites and not have the new sites. We, the collectors, need to develop our own knack to critically judge the bloggers in areas that interest us.

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Show and Tell

Items shown at our August 13, 2025 meeting,
reported by Ray Dagenais.

1. Excited about attending the 2025 ANA World’s Fair of Money in Oklahoma, Jim Ray showed several autographed items from the current ANA president, Tom Uram.
   1. Before the 2019 Apollo 11 commemorative coin was issued, Jim attended a talk by Tom Uram about how the design was created – Tom’s autograph is on the program.
   2. In 2019 Jim attended our meeting at the CSNS show, where each person was given a sample slabbed example of the Pennsylvania $1 innovation coin featuring the Polio Vaccine.
   3. At the same meeting, Jim won the raffle for a Morgan $1 1921 Last Year of Issue slabbed coin.
   4. To each person who attended the 2024 ANA World’s Fair of Money in Chicago, Tom gave a Building Numismatic Bridges (2023-2025) medal.
   5. Tom gave Jim a 2025 ANA Official Presidential Challenge Coin at the 2025 ANA NMS in Atlanta.
2. Tyler Rossi showed a genuine 500-mark banknote and a propaganda leaflet with a similar design. While Allied forces occupied the Rhineland and the Palatinate after the First World War, a separatist movement proclaimed, on October 21, 1923, the Rhenish Republic in Aachen. Although the separatists had spread to the Palatinate by November 1923, the coup collapsed because they failed to win wide support. The 500-mark banknote from July 7, 1922 served as the template for a propaganda note from the Rhenish separatists; this is a political commentary, not an attempt at counterfeiting. The eight-line text of the propaganda leaflet reads: “Reichsbanknote / Five hundred times / the government clan in Berlin / has violated state morals / As of January 11, 1923, the Ruhr region is therefore seized and will only be released / in exchange for other fully valid means of payment. / Ruhrland, April 1, 1923 / Enforcement Directorate.” The distorted signatures allude to public figures of the time: Cuno v. Dalles (Reich Chancellor Cuno), Macker, Stinkes (major industrialist Stinnes), v. Pleite, Dudendorff (General Ludendorff), Strebemann (Reich Foreign Minister and Reich Chancellor Stresemann), Burg v. Coal (major industrialist Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach).
3. Laurence Edwards showed a British “Conder” token, Warwickshire 389. The obverse displays JOHN WILKINSON IRON MASTER, while the reverse shows a manan at a Drop Hammer and Blast Furnace. John Wilkinson (1728-1808) and his brother, William, inherited their father’s ironworks; sometimes working with Matthew Boulton and James Watt, and sometimes in competition, the Wilkinsons were leaders in developing iron technology. The brothers also had a falling out, with John becaming the more famous brother – he built the world’s first iron bridge, developed an improved cannon, died wealthy, and was buried in an iron coffin. While working on a talk on Newgate Prison, Larry encountered the historical figure Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of Oxygen and member of The Lunar Society in Birmingham, hosted by Matthew Boulton. Priestley is quite a figure – a Unitarian minister and theologian as well as a scientist, friend of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson (who encouraged his emigration to America). John Wilkinson’s sister, Mary, had married Joseph Priestley.
4. Deven Kane shared three items:
   1. From the Asia South Burma Mon Kingdom of Thaton Mi-chen circa 750-835 AD, a silcer 1 Ratti (1/100 unit) weighing 0.07grams and only 10mm in diameter; possibly the lightest coin he owns. On the obverse is an incuse image of Nandipada (“foot of Nandi”), an ancient Indian symbol, also called a taurine symbol, representing a bull’s hoof or the mark left by the foot of a bull in the ground. The nandipada and the zebu bull are generally associated with Nandi, Shiva’s humped bull in Hinduism. The Nandipada symbol also happens to be similar to the Brahmi letter “ma.”
   2. From Nicopolis ad Istrum in Moesia Inferior, a large bronze coin (a diassarion) of Julia Domna (Augusta, 193-217), 22mm in diameter, weighing 5.84 grams, and with Latin legends. A draped bust of Julia Domna is on the obverse, while the reverse features a standing, facing Aphrodite, covering her nudity. It has a beautiful green patina, but had been lightly smoothed; the legends on this Roman coin are in Greek.
   3. A bronze assarion from Apamea in Bithynia, of Julia Domna (Augusta, 193-217), 26mm in diameter and weighing 11.71grams. The obverse has a draped bust of Julia Domna, while the reverse features a nude, standing Venus, covering breasts and groin with hands.
5. Mark Wieclaw showed examples of possible shenanigans at the mint.
   1. An antoninianus of Tetricus I, 271-274 AD, which shows a curious “error,” made Mark consider whether the cause was an accident or mint shenanigans. After Mark used diagrams showing the hammer (reverse die), anvil (obverse die), and planchets during a normal strike, and during production of a reverse brockage. Mark’s coin has an expected reverse while the obverse has an incused and mirrored version of an obverse design. Recall that the two sides of a reverse brockage would have a normal reverse design on one side and an incused and mirrored rendering of the reverse design on the other side, not of the obverse design as on the coin shown by Mark. What steps/conditions could give rise to such a coin? The only sequence that Mark determined is: a normally struck coin momentarily stuck to the hammer/reverse die, then fell off, landing on the anvil/obverse die with the obverse facing up; a new blank was placed upon the upside-down coin; and the blank was struck from the top by the reverse die and from the bottom by the first coin.
   2. As a serendipitous sidenote, Mark described an unofficial event during his side-trip to the Denver Mint with fellow attendees of the ANA’s Summer Seminar in 1989. A mint staff member was showing how the Mint’s souvenir medals are minted when Mark asked what would happen if the planchet was not properly located during striking. The staff member said, “Let’s find out,” and struck a range of unusual medals. Mark showed his medal with a normal first strike and a second strike that is flipped-over and off-center – in its little official souvenir bag. He also had other error types produced, as did other visitors in his group – until the staff member’s supervisor came over to see why the group of visitors was so excited.
6. Dale Lukanich showed one of his favorite medals, the ANS medal for the Centennial of the Statue of Liberty in 1986. The 1985 spring edition on the ANS Newsletter announced that a design submitted by Eugene Daub had been selected; 47 designs had been submitted. The medals were produced in the summer and sold in the fall of 1985. Eugene Daub is one of the pioneers of the American Medallic Sculpture Association, having joined in 1982 and, since then, holding many of its offices. Dale showed the obverse and reverse of this Statue of Liberty medal and an order form for the medal, followed by images of the submitted pencil drawing of the medal, the plaster model, and images of the finished medals. Dale concluded with his matched serial-numbered set of bronze and silver 1986 ANS Centennial of the Statue of Liberty medals.
7. Zach Filis discussed early coinage of the Isle of Man.
   1. A silver 1758 Isle of Man penny. The copper pennies circulated as intended, while the silver pennies were made specifically for the Duke of Atholl and were not put into circulation. All were minted by John Florry in Birmingham, England. Florry was later approached by some Manx businessmen, around 1780, to restrike the circulated 1758 copper coins – which he did, but these were struck from very worn dies and are easily identified.
   2. A letter from the Duke to John Florry regarding the number and cost of pennies and halfpennies to be struck.
   The population on the Isle of Man refused or were reluctant to use the George III pennies and half pennies introduced in 1786, preferring to use the 1758 Duke of Atholl coinage even though they were were not happy with the Duke because he had sold the Isle of Man property rights to the English crown. – they were just more upset about having King George III on their coins, even though the quality of the 1786 coinage was much superior to those of 1758. The Isle of Man has its own currency, so it is understandable why the public was a bit upset with both the 1758 and 1786 coinage. The silver pennies are not proofs as stated by the third party graders, but were minted after the business strikes were minted and are from the third die marriage.

Reminders:

• You can email to Ray a description of what you will show at a meeting, to give him a start on this write-up.
• Send it to cccshowandtell@gmail.com
• After a meeting, all members who viewed the meeting should email him their scoring sheet – a listing of each exhibit number followed by a score (from a low of 1 to a high of 10) is all that is needed.

Our 1280th Meeting

Important Dates

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

Chatter Matter

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CHICAGO COIN CLUB
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