Montgomery County Coin Club

May 2000 Bulletin - Early Web Edition

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MCCC: A Collector's Club for the New Millennium

Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 9, 2000

April Report

President William C. Massey called the MCCC to order at 7:15 p.m. on the evening of April 11, 2000. There were 39 members present, including one Young Numismatist (YN). No first-time visitors decleared themselves. (Please invite your friends and relatives, especially young people, to come to the MCCC meeting --- they're always welcome!)

News & Announcements

• Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky reported that the Gold raffle prizes have arrived, and thus the Club is ready for rest of the year. The coins each contain 0.1 oz. gold. Half are Australian ("kangaroo") pieces, and half are Austrian ("symphony") coins; all are quite nice. The MCCC Treasury remains strong, with club revenues likely to finish 2000 solidly in the black.
• Librarian Kermit Smyth announced that the MCCC library has a new book, Life in Republican Rome on Its Coinage, by Stefanelli. The Library catalog list is now 19 printed pages long; we have approximately 350 volumes available for members to borrow. The online version (HTML) will be updated soon.
• Historian Tom Hall noted that he is still looking for old bulletins and photographs. (Club members applauded Tom's work.)
• Simcha Kuritzky noted that Ernie Turns (Chair, Maryland State Numismatic Association) is seeking volunteers to help at the big MSNA coin show on Memorial Day weekend. Volunteers will be rewarded with free parking and other goodies.
• The MSNA's Robert Ruby is sponsoring a chartered bus trip to the ANA convention in Philadelphia later this summer. The price, $25/person, is hard to beat; the bus will leave from and return to Pikesville, MD.
• Ed Russell still has coin supplies from the estate of a late MCCC member, available at fire-sale prices.
• Richard Jozefiak announced that the Alexandria Coin Club, in Northern Virginia, will conduct a coin display and giveaway for children on 6 May 2000 at 10:30am in the Chinn Park Regional Library, Prince William, VA. A listing for this event will appear in Washington POST newspaper's "Calendar" section. There will be four presentations, and many free goodies for potential YNs (Young Numismatists) under the age of 18 years. (Suggestion from the audience: the MCCC should consider sponsoring such an event in our area.)
• MSNA raffle tickets are available from MCCC Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky. Tickets cost $1 each (or 6 for $5) and the MCCC gets credit for sales. First Prize will be a $10 American Eagle (containing 0.25 oz of gold); other prizes include gold and silver coins. See Simcha for details.
• Frank & Laurese Katen were the donors of free copies of The Chinese Numismatic Riddle distributed at a recent MCCC meeting. The MCCC Bulletin apologies for the inadvertent omission of this information from the last month's Bulletin. Thank you for your generosity!

Drawings & Prizes

• New Zealand $1 Mount Cook commemorative (1970);
• US Kennedy half dollar (1971); and
• Mexico 1 peso (1966).

The Gold Raffle prize was an Austrian 200 schilling gold coin, of the "Wiener Philharmoniker" series (1998), containing 0.1 Troy ounce of gold. The raffle was won by Ed Russell.

The Bison Chip drawing winner was John Pylypec; this is his first "leg" toward the three needed to win a proof silver eagle. (Note: you must be present to win --- and you must pay your dues to be eligible!)

April Showcase

• Herb Hall showed a set of Year of the Dragon coins and stamps from Canada.
• Mark Zimmermann displayed and commented on the 1 April 2000 issue of Science News magazine, which featured a story on the new gold-colored alloy Sacagawea dollar coin, its composition, and the metallurgy that went into giving it the same electrical properties as the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
• George McManus displayed Ecuadorian money, including a 50,000 sucre piece which, due to inflation, is worth ~$2. He noted that a hair cut in Ecuador recently cost only ~$0.80, a bus ride was ~$0.08, and so forth. Ecuador soon will convert to using US dollars; major hotels tend to list prices in dollars already.
• Jerry Grzenda showed a large-format Hawaiian $5 bill, a scarce National note, quite nice ("rarity 9"). For St. Patrick's Day (belatedly) Jerry displayed a couple of JFK bronze medals, distributed during the 1963 State Visit to Ireland by President Kennedy, and rather scarce. Jerry also exhibited a bronze medal which read "Stephanie Tucker, emancipated, 1862, Wash. DC". On 16 April 1862 the slaves in the District of Columbia were freed, by proclamation of President Lincoln, so Jerry suspects that what he exhibited may be a genuine medal from that era. It is a specimen made in typical Civil War dogtag style, showing Washington on the obverse and a name & date on the reverse. Finally, in honor of Pope John Paul II's recent visit to Israel, Jordan, and territories ofthe Palestine Authority, Jerry displayed some Vatican City coinage, the earliest from the 1670's, and including a 1929 Vatican mint set with a 100 lira gold coin, a 1951 Holy Year set (four aluminum pieces, one gold), a V.I.P. presentation box, and a silver medal issued for Year 1 of John Paul II's reign.
• Simcha Kuritzky brought in a Vatican medal issued by Pope Pius IX, depicting Daniel in the lion's den.
• Dennis Bogley showed a double-struck 1946 Lincoln cent and an unusual-looking 1980 (possibly plated) Lincoln cent, which he found in 1987.

Feature Attraction: Simcha Kuritzky on "Building a Great Exhibit"

How do you go about exhibiting? You need to have a theme, Simcha explained, and then write something like a term paper or the text for a museum exhibit --- not just show a set of coins. You have to explain the topic in your text, so that the judge can rate you on coverage, relevancy, accuracy, etc.

At the ANA convention you must choose to compete in a sincle Class of exhibit. At Chicago last year, for instance, there were 102 exhibits, in 24 different classes. (Local shows do not have that kind of division into classes; they do allow YNs to compete separately from adults.) Special awards are given for the best First-Time exhibit, the best exhibit using circulating commemoratives, the Best of Show (chosen from among the first prize winners of each class), and a "People's Choice" award given by popular vote (sometimes idiosyncratic!). At the Maryland State show, there are separate awards for medals and tokens (sponsored by the Maryland TAMS).

Rankings of exhibits are based on:

• title and scope --- you need an obvious title, in large letters, something specific; a cute title is acceptable but must be explained in the first paragraph of the text. (The title is worth 5 points.)
• basic numismatic info --- data about the coins themselves, describing what something is (15 points)
• special numismatic info --- expanding upon the basics to give historical context, what the meaning of the designs are, metallurgic info, etc. Material must be relevant to the theme/scope of the exhibit. (15 points)
• creativity & originality --- novelty, non-obviousness of theme and content (10 points)
• attractiveness --- physical layout, background, nice design, quality of printing, cloth, paper, etc. (10 points)
• balance --- numismatic material vs. text vs. other material, such as photographs, clippings, diagrams, decorations, maps, etc. (10 points)
• completeness --- based upon title/scope, is this a complete set, or is something left out? For instance, an exhibit on "the four varieties of X" should be accompanied by all four varieties! (5 points)
• degree of difficulty --- how rare or choice the material is. "Never shrink away from mentioning how difficult it was to get [the material]", Mr. Kuritzky advised. Difficulty is judged based on how many of the exhibited items you could get if you had a blank check and walked out on the convention floor. (10 points)
• rarity (10 points)
• condition --- depending on the age and availability of the material (10 points)

Judging has many subjective elements. A competitive exhibit must be your own material, and it must not have won more than two previous First Prize awards in its class. You also must provide an inventory of the material in your display.

Most people put items directly on the background or with a card behind it. To show both sides, one can use a mirror (tricky) or include a photograph of the other side. Photographs are also good to use to show details in enlargement.

It's a good idea to look at many exhibits at coin shows, to see what kinds of arrangements are most successful. Another good idea is to take a judge's certification seminar; the training is free, and is worth having to learn what judges look for, and what makes for a better exhibit.

In a typical show, last year's, there were a dozen or so competitors in US modern coins, ancients, etc. --- but many fewer in some categories (e.g., "Western Americana" did not attract many in Chicago!). If you are the only exhibit in a category, you may still not get First Prize, Mr. Kuritzky emphasized.

Judging happens on Wednesday and Thursday; judges must turn in their results by Friday noon. Exhibits must thus be in by Wednesday. There are perquisites for exhibiting: one can get in on PNG day, get a free ticket to the Conference Banquet, receive an exhibitor's medal (quite nice!), plus some welcome recognition. There is no cost to exhibit, other than expenses associated with getting to the convention early and finding a place to stay. (A risk, according to Simcha: there is more temptation to buy better material to upgrade one's exhibit --- so exhibiting may prove costly in another way!)

Any exhibit at the MSNA convention is guaranteed to get at least a 1 oz. American eagle silver coin. Recognition also comes, with one's name in the bulletin, and on a certificate. Overall, exhibiting is a good deal all around!

MSNA applications need to go in my 1 May, before the next MCCC meeting. The ANA deadline is in June. Mr. Kuritzky encouraged anyone interested to ask him for forms, on paper or via email. Simcha volunteered to review and suggest improvements in any draft textual matter for an exhibit.

And doing an exhibit helps one learn how to appreciate other exhibits more!

A member of the audience asked Mr. Kuritzky, "What chance would a series collection, (like a set of Lincoln cents) have?" Simcha's answer was, "It depends!" The results of any exhibit are hard to predict; if it's choice material, with a good discussion and a nice appearance, then you could do well. Originality isn't everything; you usually get 5 points out of 10 for just showing up! Sometimes an exhibit will do splendidly at one show and poorly at another. It all depends on the judges and on the competition.

When asked, "How about a [silver] dollar exhibit?" Mr. Kuritzky responded, "That could be quite original!" He recommended thinking about the exhibit like a term paper at school. (That's a turn-off for some people, Simcha admitted.) He added that a bibliography is a good idea, and one is in fact necessary to win Best of Show.

At the end of his presentation, Mr. Kuritzky received a strong round of applause from the audience. Bravo!

Auction & Aftermath

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