This is the MCCC ARCHIVE – for the CURRENT Montgomery County Coin Club see https://montgomerycoinclub.org
October 2000 Bulletin - Early Web Edition
MCCC: A Collector's Club for the New Millennium
Next Meeting: Tuesday, October 10, 2000
The Montgomery County Coin Club will meet at 7 p.m. on the
second Tuesday of the month,
October 10, 2000, at the Silver Spring Senior Citizens Center
(1000 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA).
Be sure to bring your donations for the November
Charity Auction please!
The featured event for the October meeting was not determined
as of press time for this Bulletin.
NumisAphorism
Concerning money, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) wrote:
"The Romans worshipped their standard, and the Roman standard
happened to be an eagle. Our standard is only one-tenth of an
eagle --- a dollar --- and we make all even by loving it with
tenfold devotion."
(Background for non-numismatists: an "eagle" is a $10 gold piece.)
This Poe quotation was discovered (by Paulette Dickerson)
in J. Willis Westlake's Common-School Literature, English
and American; with Several Hundred Extracts to be Memorized
(1876), on page 82.
2001 (Little) Red Books on Sale
The new hardback edition of A Guide Book of United
States Coins, commonly known as "The Red Book",
is now available for purchase by MCCC members at the
bargain price of only $8. All sale proceeds go to benefit
MCCC activities. See Ed Russell to get your copy.
When the videotape planned for showing at the September 2000
MCCC meeting did not materialize, resourceful Club Officers
adroitly rearranged the agenda, expanded the Auction,
Announcements, Exhibits, and Refreshments, and made a
successful schedule out of adversity. The meeting featured
a 50-lot "Mega-Auction" during which many items attracted
spirited bidding.
See the Featured Article below for details.
President Willy Massey called the MCCC
to order at 7:16 p.m. on the somewhat sultry evening of
September 12, 2000.
About 34 MCCC members were present, including
a record 8 Young Numismatists (YNs). Six of the YNs were
members of Cub Scout Den 1012 of Silver Spring:
Bryan Graham, Aaron Machen, Cory Machen, Gabe Machen,
Chris Shoemaker, and David Suplee. Den
Leaders Quinn & Melody Warnick were also
present. The Scouts were welcomed with a round of
applause. They learned of the MCCC via our web pages.
(Please invite friends and relatives, especially
young people, to come to the next MCCC meeting.)
News & Announcements
- The MCCC Charity Auction will be held in November ---
be sure to bring your donated items to the October
meeting. You get a tax deduction, and the proceeds go
to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Silver Spring
and Wheaton.
- President Willy Massey described some of his
observations from the recent ANA Convention in Philadelphia.
He displayed a US Mint Sacagawea mouse pad and other
numismatic materials which he donated as MCCC
Library special auction lots.
- Joe Howard offered rolls of Sacagawea dollars
at face value. He also presented a "MCCC" baseball cap
to the Club President. (Some present suspected that
the abbreviation referred to the Montgomery County
Conservation Corps.)
- Wayne Mitchell offered New Hampshire commemorative
quarter rolls at face value. (The NH quarter's design
seemed to be regarded as unfortunately ugly by several
MCCC members who commented on it.)
- Looking ahead, President Massey announced that
the MCCC Guest Speaker at our December 2000 meeting
will be Glen Burger, who will talk about Error
Coins.
Drawings & Prizes
The door prize drawings this month were run by Herb Hall
and Joe Mallon. Prizes awarded just for showing up included:
- a French 5 Franc piece, 1949;
- a silver Columbia 50 centavos showing Simon Bolivar, 1958;
- an Italian 100 Lira, 1958; and
- a blue Whitman folder for Canadian dimes (1937-).
Lucky door prize winners in September were Jeff Crockett,
Luis Cuevas, Bert Marks, and
Ezra Berch.
The September Gold Raffle coin was a 1904 Hungarian
10 Korona coin (0.098 oz of gold) in AU condition.
The gold raffle was won by Mark Zimmermann.
The Bison Chip drawing this month was for two names, to
make up for the lack of a drawing in August. Winners were
Ezra Berch and Wayne Mitchell. (When your
name is called three times, you get a prize --- but you must be
present when your name is called!)
September Showcase
Member MCCC displays this month included many interesting
and topical pieces:
- Herb Hall, in recognition of the 2000 Olympics
in Australia, showed Olympic pins from Moscow
(1980), Mexico (1968), Seoul (1988), and other locations,
with several Australian items.
- Jerry Grzenda exhibited some material which he
acquired at the 2000 ANA Convention in Philadelphia,
including a silver medal awarded to exhibitors and judges.
(Jerry's ANA exhibit was of German colonial coinage;
MCCC members were privileged to preview it earlier this year.)
At the ANA Banquet Jerry received a Franklin Mint silver
medal in honor of the 109th anniversary of the ANA.
Jerry also displayed several coins and tokens related to Australia,
and described the history of that continent. His exhibit
included a dozen Australian penny and half penny tokens
issued by private corporations, issued to relieve a shortage
of small change. He also showed Australian gold coins
struck at the Sydney Mint in the 1800's, a type collection
of Australian pre-decimal coins and decimal coins,
a "koala" gold bullion coin ($200 face value),
and some Australian commemorative silver coins.
Jerry showed an item from the 1956 Melbourne Olympic
games, a silk seriograph. He also exhibited a holed 3 pence
coin from an Australian WWII prisoner of war camp.
Jerry displayed examples of "fantasy pieces":
a 1967 Australian silver dollar issued in response to
reader submissions to an Australian numismatic magazine
design competition, and
items struck by Prince Leonard of the "Hutt River Province",
self-proclaimed as an independent domain but unrecognized
by any regular governments. Finally, Jerry exhibited a
souvenir T-shirt from the Philadelphia U.S. Mint.
- Simcha Kuritzky showed some acquisitions
at the ANA Convention, including several dozen excellent
specimens of German notgeld (emergency money)
which were on sale at bargain prices at the ANA Convention.
(Simcha collected notgeld in the early 1980's; he reported
that prices have risen significantly during the past two decades.)
Additionally, Simcha reported that at the recent Virginia
Numismatic Association (VNA) in Annandale, his exhibit was
awarded an "Outstanding" rating; he showed a plaque
which he received there.
Featured Attraction:
Mega-Auction!
This month there was no feature per se, since
the videotape planned for showing did not make it to
the meeting on time. Nevertheless, a fun and productive
evening ensued, with an expanded auction and other
Club activities. In particular, the exceptionally large
and active auction of coins, paper money, and numismatic
books attracted strong bidding for many items. President
Willy Massey was the able auctioneer.
Aftermath
After a refreshment break and the club auction, the MCCC
September meeting was adjourned at 9:09 p.m.
NumisFAQ (Part 1)
Some numismatic issues arise again and again in correspondence
and conversations with new collectors. Here is the first installment
of a draft "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) with some candidate
answers.
- Why collect coins?
- There are as many reasons as there are collectors. Coins are
fun. Coins are historical artifacts, connected at a fundamental level
to the lives of people in the past. Coins are miniature works of art.
Coins are (rarely!) good investments. Coins are fun.
- What's the value of my coin?
- "That depends" is the only honest answer. What type of coin
is it? What is the date and mintmark and variety? What condition
is it in? Is it genuine or counterfeit, a restrike or a copy, a regular
issue or a proof or a fantasy piece or an error? Has it been
authenticated and graded? Does it have a pedigree? These are
some of the questions which have to be answered to estimate
the value of a coin.
- How can I get an estimate of my coin's value?
- There are many ways. You can check out books about coins
from your local library (see the 737.4 area of the Dewey Decimal
System) or purchase numismatic reference materials from various
sources. You can take your coin to a dealer, or a coin show, or a coin
club meeting. You can send your coin in to a commercial grading
service and have it encapsulated, authenticated, and graded
professionally. You can also find numerous online sources of
numismatic information --- though to apply them to your particular
coin will demand significant expertise on your part.
( ... to be continued ... )
MCCC Web Comments and Feedback
Please send bug reports and suggestions for improvement to
Mark Zimmermann via
z (at) his.com.
The MCCC Bulletin is copyright © 2000 by the Directors of the
Montgomery
County Coin Club --- who thank the American Numismatic Association (and especially Ms. Susie Nulty)
for help in sharing the MCCC Bulletin with numismatists everywhere.