Montgomery County Coin Club

April 1998 Bulletin

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Passover: Since the April meeting occurs during Passover, there will be a special Kosher refreshment table for those observing that holiday.

Invitation to Exhibit: MCCC members are encouraged to bring and display interesting items from their collections, particularly items related to the season. In April, besides Passover, Easter, and other religious festivals associated with the vernal equinox, we will be enjoying the eve of American Income Tax Day, a uniquely emotion-charged event for many people, closely linked to money and government. Be creative and share numismatic items (tax tokens, perhaps?) with fellow Club members!

Overdue Dues Reminder: Be sure to pay Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky $6 for your 1998 membership in MCCC --- $1 for Young Numismatists --- immediately, if you have not already done so. Membership cards will be mailed with the paper copies of this bulletin. Your membership dues help pay for postage and printing of the Bulletin, and support many other Club activities.

Maryland State Numismatic Convention: On the weekend of May 15, the MSNA will hold a major convention in Baltimore --- and volunteers are needed. Contribute your time, please, and you can get not only free parking but also a chance to win a silver Eagle! Please contact Ken Swab by April 30 if you want info on volunteering.

The Western Maryland Coin Show takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 18-19 in LeVale, about three miles west of Cumberland in Maryland's panhandle. There will be door prizes hourly, and admission is free.

Looking Ahead

• In May, Wayne Smith of the Black Patriots Foundation will be the MCCC Featured Speaker. His presentation will include information on the US Mint's commemorative coins issued in support of the Black Patriots Memorial.
• In July, John Lopez, the Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives Coinage Subcommittee, will speak on "The Future of Money." Mr. Lopez serves Congressman Michael Castle (R-DE), and worked on the legislation authorizing the series of 50 commemorative quarter dollars soon to begin issued in honor of every state of the Union.

• Titanic numismatics: President Swab observed that a Barber dime appeared to be correctly shown in a key scene of the popular movie Titanic, but noted that $20 bills used were clearly stage money, and were small sized rather than the correct larger notes of that era.
• Door Prizes: Vice President William C. Massey announced the give-aways, which this month were three coins from Finland (a 1917-S 50 pennia, a 1917 5 pennia, and a 1916-S 25 pennia), plus a British 3 pence (holed) piece from 1935. Winners of these door prizes were Mae Clarke, Don McKee, Joel Schadegg (a YN), and Wayne Wilcox. The 50-50 Raffle was won by William Massey, and Kermit Smyth captured the Bison Chip prize (a 1986 proof silver eagle) when his name was drawn (Librarian Smyth already had two legs from earlier drawings). To garner a leg toward the Bison Chip, one must be present at a meeting. Now that someone has won, a fresh competition will begin in April. (Come to the meeting and listen for your name!)
• Guests: Present at the March meeting were Mona Berch (mother of YNs Joshua & Ezra), and Hal Macke, a YN friend of Michael Berkman, who is most interested in "older" US coinage.  (Guests receive special prizes; please invite your numismatically-inclined friends and colleagues to come and visit the MCCC!)

• John Patrick Huffman in honor of St. Patrick's Day, displayed a Seaby standard reference book on Irish coins, and an example of the very first Irish money (pre-Viking invasion) --- Irish "ring money" used by Celts.
• John Wilson showed a Dominican Republic 1891 five franco coin in Very Fine condition, a scarce and expensive piece.
• Jeff Crockett exhibited three coins of George III, ranging from 2 pence to 10 pence, plus a coin from George IV.
• Joe Howard showed coins from the short-lived Central American Republic and an Oak Tree coin from Honduras, examples of which coincidentally were used as the title page illustration on the MCCC Monthly Bulletin for March.
• Ken Swab displayed a photograph of a specimen Social Security Bond issued by the Bureau of Public Debt. President Swab explained that, although the Social Security System's Trust Funds are arguably an accounting fiction, in response to criticism Congress in an August 1994 amendment required the fund to hold "tangible" evidence of its assets --- so the Bureau of Public Debt issues nontransferable bonds which are printed on a laser printer and are issued in denominations of $20,000,000,000 (twenty billion dollars!) or more. These documents are kept in a locked file cabinet at the Bureau. Look for Ken Swab's article on the bonds in the May issue of Bank Note Reporter!
• Simcha Kuritzky, in honor of St. Paddy's Day, showed several old Irish pieces --- a 6 pence from James I with a harp design, a "gun money" shilling from March 1670, and a token Dublin ha'penny. Treasurer Kuritzky also exhibited a postcard from the Smithsonian Institution's National Gallery of Art depicting a medal, "Eros Teaching a Lion to Sing", crafted in the early Renaissance year 1444. The medal shows old-style musical notation, and is on display in the original (west) building of the Gallery, along with some sculpture. Mr. Kuritzky also recommended the current M. C. Escher exhibit in the East Wing of the National Gallery, showing etchings and drawings that were done for the Dutch post office. There are many Dutch stamps using Escher designs; Treasurer Kuritzky displayed a medal with the classic Escher birds-turning-into-fish foreground-background pattern.
• Daniel Berkman, a YN, showed some error coins from his collection --- an unstruck planchet, two off-center nickels (one dated 1975), and two off-center cents.
• Herb Hall, in honor of St. Patrick, displayed Irish coins ranging from penny to six pence denominations.
• Jerry Grzenda on this Celtic holiday exhibited Irish coins struck at the end of the 18th Century, including: a farthing, half penny, and penny of George III; Bank of Ireland (privately-issued) tokens ranging from a half penny to six pence, including some proofs; a half penny and a penny from George IV; and some Irish commercial tokens, such as one shilling and one penny pieces of 1802, a Belfast grocer's undated farthing, and an 1842 Cork merchant's token. On other topical themes, Jerry displayed a ticket to the impeachment of the President, dated May 8, 1868 for admission to the Senate gallery to see President Andrew Johnson's trial, and (related to the recently-concluded Japanese Winter Olympics) he showed a Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun given to Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II. Jerry summarized Ambassador MacArthur's career as a State Department envoy from 1935 to France (when he was turned over to the Nazis by the Vichy government and was imprisoned until 1944), to Britain, then service as Assistant Secretary of State, and then Ambassador to Japan from 1957-1961, then Belgium, Austria, Iran (1967-1972), after which he retired. Ambassador MacArthur lived in Washington DC, and after his death in November 1997 his estate sold such items as the Japanese medal and a silver 1971 piece showing President Richard M. Nixon and the Shah of Iran, honoring the 2500th anniversary of the founding of Iran by Cyrus the Great.

Mr. Berkman went on to discuss the major rarities which were sold in the 1964-1972 era, including the 1965 "Century Sale" by Paramount (catalogued by Q. David Bowers), which included examples of the famous 1838-O half dollar, 1894-S dime, 1802 half dime, 1842 small-letters quarter, some 1792 patterns, and other extraordinary items.  The 1967 ANA Sale, also run by Paramount, had the famous James McDermott 1913 Liberty Head nickel --- a coin which went down to roughly AU from proof status due to McDermott's carrying it around in his pocket to win bar-room bets! (MCCC member Mike Dolnick noted later that he had met McDermott and had actually had the privilege of carrying this very 1913 nickel around in his pocket too! --- though in a holder to protect it, on loan from McDermott during a coin show in the early 1960s.)  The nickel sold for $46,000 to Aubrey Beebee who stepped out of an ANA banquet to bid on it.

In 1972, Mr. Berkman related, Bowers & Ruddy Galleries was set up (teaming Bowers with Jim Ruddy; the partnership lasted until 1977, when Ruddy retired from numismatics to open and operate a historic country story in California!) the owners went to Europe to gather such notable coins as 1792 dismes, a 1794 dollar, and others.  In that same year, the Armand Champa sale was held, where such coins as an 1874 trade dollar, an almost-complete set of eagles (missing only the 1875), and many patterns were dispersed. (The numismatic market attracted the attention of General Mills, which bought Bowers & Ruddy as a subsidiary, but sold it off again a few years later when the company's conglomerate fever faded.)

The Garrett Sale was the next subject of Michael Berkman's talk, who noted that its $25 million total was unprecedented in the history of numismatics.  Stack's had sold some of the Garrett pieces in 1976, about 700 items, but the bulk of the collection consisting of 4000 coins was put up for auction by Bowers & Ruddy in four parts in 1980.  The collection was begun by T. Harrison Garrett, the B&O Railroad magnate, and it was continued by John Work Garrett after THG's death in an untimely Chesapeake boating accident. JWG acquired many significant coins; his son, Robert Garrett, only added current proof sets and other recent pieces.  The Garrett estate was bequeathed to Johns Hopkins University in 1942. Over the years, many of the coins in it were stored under suboptimal conditions and gradually developed a "haze", Mr. Berkman reported.  The 1980 sale by Bowers & Ruddy included a Brasher dubloon which realized $725,000, establishing a record which lasted until 1989.

The Garrett Sale resulted in great publicity for numismatics, and Dave Bowers was a featured guest on television (e.g., the "Today" show).  In 1982, Bowers & Ruddy continued their streak with the "US Gold Sale", consisting of the gold part of Louis Eliasberg's collection --- but because of legal issues, the Eliasberg name could not be used at that time.  The catalog of the coins was huge and beautiful, and included photographs made using a Polaroid camera, as Mr. Berkman learned from personal discussions with a numismatist associated with it.

Mr. Berkman continued by discussing the two-part Bareford Sale, another noteworthy distribution of a major US collection around 1980.  This collection was extraordinary for its quality; its owner was exceedingly picky and focused on smaller coins (such as gold dollars) because they tend to have fewer bag marks or other defects.  The 1984 sale of the Amon Carter collection included an 1804 dollar and many proof gold coins, but it occurred during a low point in the numismatic market and did not realize very high prices for many of its rarities.

In contrast, Mr. Berkman reported that the Norweb collection sale, and most recently the 1996-1997 Eliasberg sales (of non-gold coins), were extremely popular and yielded new record prices. The Eliasberg collection, although sometimes described as "complete" was more precisely "nearly complete", according to Mr. Berkman. The bulk of the pieces were acquired in 1942 when Louis Eliasberg bought the John H. Clapp collection, which was itself very close to covering the entire list of available US coinage. Many celebrities --- such as Dennis Rodman and Wayne Gretsky --- bid in the Eliasberg sales, and prices of such coins as the 1913 Liberty nickel and the 1804 silver dollar were at or above $1.5 million. Mr. Berkman concluded his talk by discussing the John Jay Pittman collection being sold now.

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