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Montgomery County Coin Club

October 1997 Bulletin

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Next Meeting: Tuesday, October 21, 1997 --- David Schenkman on Token Mementoes of Our National Pastime - Numismatic Alternatives to Baseball Cards

The Club will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 21, 1997, at the Schweinhaut Senior Citizens Center on Forest Glen Road in Silver Spring, Maryland. The featured speaker will be token and medal specialist David Schenkman. With the World Series in mind, David will present a slide-illustrated talk on tokens and medals related to baseball from the 19th century to the present. Following his talk, David, a noted expert on tokens, will be happy to assist members in attributing any tokens (baseball or otherwise) they may wish to bring with them.

Gifts for Young Numismatists

Thanks to Willy Massey, the first 13 YNs at the October meeting will receive encased cents originally given away at the 1997 ANA Convention by Krause Publications. YNs who exhibit at the October meeting will also receive special gifts, compliments of MCCC members.

Call for Baseball Exhibits

In view of the baseball topic for this month's speaker, members are urged to bring baseball-related material to exhibit. It does not need to be numismatic, as our President plans to bring his Washington Senator HOFer Heinie Manush baseball card. We even have a prize for anyone who brings foreign baseball material.

September Meeting Roundup

MCCC President Ken Swab, wearing a subdued but baseball-decorated tie, called the meeting to order. A good crowd of 36 members and guests were present, including 3 YNs. First-time visitors included:

Donald Wilson, a collector concentrating on world coins, and
Dave Bell, whose current collection focuses on American coins.

Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky reported that the Club's finances were sound. Vice President William C. Massey announced the evening's door prizes --- an American Revolution Bicentennial medal with philatelic material, uncirculated Canadian quarters from 1968 and 1973, a British 10 pence piece of 1992, a Greek 20 drachma commemorative, and a 1978 New Zealand dollar coin. Jim Evans, following up on his remarks at an earlier MCCC meeting, summarized the status of gold, silver, and platinum bullion and coins for use in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

September Exhibits: Diana, Lakhshmi, and more!

President Ken Swab introduced this month's exhibitors:

Simcha Kuritzky showed a « kilogram silver medal, gold-plated, illustrated with the eight incarnations of Lakhshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth. He also displayed a proof specimen of the National Community Service commemorative dollar, broken bank notes from the Bullion Bank of DC (dated July 4, 1862) and the Macon Savings Bank of Georgia, and a book on the history of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, 1862-1962.
Jeff Crockett presented and discussed a hexagonally crafted Maryland state shield, and Macy's and Gimbel's medallic store credit "cards".
John Huffman exhibited a tiny book about numismatics, an illustrated volume measuring only about 1 inch square.
Jerry Grzenda displayed a 1981 British 25 pence coin commemorating the marriage of Prince Charles and the late Lady Diana Spencer. He also showed and discussed ribbons and political buttons from the 1880's through early 1900's, including a large 1888 banner for President Benjamin Harrison.

September Feature: Cecilia Wertheimer, Curator of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Cecilia Wertheimer, the Curator of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing established the Bureau's first historical research center to bring order to the chaotic BEP archives.

Ms. Wertheimer's talked about People Who Made a Difference and discussed exceptional individuals in the history of the BEP. She began by quoting a former director of the Bureau in describing the organization's mission, "...excellence in printed products and timeliness in meeting the needs [including security] of the Republic...." Ms. Wertheimer drew vignettes of:

Spencer M. Clark, who was charged with setting up, in the early 1860's, the US Government's first center for printing bank notes. Mr. Clark did early and innovative experiments in dry printing, and expanded the Bureau's mission to include the printing of security documents of all types.
Claude M. Johnson, who 30 years later began the Bureau's printing of stamps.
Henry Holzclaw, who in the 1930's emerged as the BEP's preeminent inventor and mechanical designer. Mr. Holzclaw developed the electric eye perforator for stamps, and held a patent on intaglio roller inking. He oversaw the construction of the Bureau's Annex Building, and in 1954 became the Director of the BEP, a post which he held for many years.
The Women of the Bureau in the World War One era, who rose to the challenge when the BEP was faced with unprecedented wartime demands for printing of notes, ration coupons, bonds, and many other types of governmental securities --- and when, in addition to the War, the great influenza epidemic of that age placed additional pressures on the Bureau's workforce.
Garnet S. Brown, who as a carpenter in the Bureau who used a band saw for cutting excess interest coupons from bonds, making him the "world's greatest bond coupon clipper"; in one sense!
Kenneth Wyrum, who began his career as an engraver in the Bureau before World War II, served in the Office of Special Services (OSS) during World War II (perhaps as a counterfeiter and forger of enemy documents, but he never said) and then returned to the BEP, and only retired in 1995.

Ms. Wertheimer answered questions about the BEP's collection, which when she began working on it in 1990 was totally disorganized. She estimated that there are about 500,000 artifacts in the collection. She and her staff are working steadily on inventorying and describing the materials, and have built a database with over 10,000 entries in it, covering pre-1940 materials.

Other Announcements and Prizes

1998 Red Books are sold out! Next year, please let Ed Russell know early if you want to buy a Red Book at the special Club price.
The MCCC Charity Auction is coming in November! Please bring your items in to donate to this auction; all proceeds go directly to benefit local Boys and Girls Clubs, and donors receive deductions for their income taxes.
William Massey Sr.'s name was drawn for the Bison Chip, and now he has the first of three legs needed to capture that prize. (You cannot win if you are not present!)
Bernie Dove won a healthy-sized 50-50 raffle pot.
Ken Huff, John Pylypec, Dorothy Blank, Mark Zimmermann, Russ Pike, and Simcha Kuritzky snagged door prizes.
A copy of the Standard Catalog of World Coins, compliments of Krause Publications and coin folders were given away to YNs.
Club auction bidding was active, with 36 of the 37 lots sold. (Please don't forget to bring your donations to the MCCC charity auction coming up in November!)