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Montgomery County Coin Club

September 1997 Bulletin

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Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 16, 1997 --- Cecilia Wertheimer, Curator, Bureau of Engraving and Printing

The Club will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 16, 1997, at the Senior Citizens Center on Forest Glen Road in Silver Spring, Maryland. The featured speaker will be Cecilia Wertheimer, Curator of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Ms. Wertheimer will speak about persons at BEP who have made a difference. The talk will focus on Bureau personnel from the 19th and 20th centuries who may be little-known, but who have made significant contributions to the agency and its products of stamps and currency.

Gifts for Young Numismatists

Every month, the Club will have special door prizes and gifts for Young Numismatists (YNs) who attend, and extra surprises for any who exhibit coins, medals, currency, or other numismatic objects. Silver trimes are among the special gifts this month. These awards are made possibly by the generosity of MCCC members. Look around your collection and bring something in; it may be familiar to you, but it will be new to the rest of us!

August Meeting Roundup

MCCC President Ken Swab called the meeting to order on a surprisingly cool Washington-area summer evening. A strong crowd of 50 members and guests were present, including 7 YNs. First-time visitors included:

Lurene Haines of Florida;
Lettie Gabelmann (of Michigan) and Maureen Mehtala (of California), daughters of MCCC doyenne Mae Clarke;
Russ Pike, a collector of two-cent pieces and error coinage;
Vivian Putnam; and
Bob Reilly.

After Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky's report and some brief comments on the Mid-Atlantic Numismatic Association meeting held recently in Baltimore, Vice President William C. Massey announced the door prizes --- an American Revolution Bicentennial medal with philatelic material (stamps!), uncirculated Canadian quarters from 1965, 1968, and 1969, and a 1930-S Standing Liberty quarter.

Lost Lot and Found Case

Following the August auction, someone accidentally picked up lot number 6, a lot consisting of 49 wheat cents. If you picked up the lot, please return it to Simcha so that it may be delivered to the winning bidder.

Someone left a black portfolio case at the meeting. If it is yours, please see Ken Swab to reclaim it

August Exhibits: Numismatic Cigar Boxes, Indian Ancients, FDR Inaugural Medals, and more!

President Ken Swab introduced the exhibitors of a full case of fascinating material:

Mark Zimmermann, in honor of the back-to-school season, brought report covers and folders with blow-ups of US paper money in various large denominations.
Michael Berkman (a YN) displayed the Abe Kossoff Memorial Literary Award which he won at the New York ANA Convention for his essay on half-cent, two-cent, three-cent, and twenty-cent pieces. Michael also exhibited an 1826 bust half-dollar, Overton variety O-127.
Andrew Luck displayed a set of Canadian error coins all dated 1976, struck on dime planchets: cent, five-cent, and twenty-five cent pieces. Quality control at the Canadian Mint is excellent, and Andrew reported that gathering such a matched set presented quite a challenge.
Tom Hall presented examples of Maryland paper currency, including colonial-era half-dollar, two-dollar, and four-dollar notes, as well as a C&O Canal Note and $2 and $3 notes from a Salisbury Maryland bank.
Simcha Kuritzky, accompanied by taped sitar music, showed ancient coins and tokens from the Indian subcontinent, beginning with some pieces from an ancient empire dating back 2200 years, and including specimens with lions, tigers, and other beasts. Simcha also presented a book on Indian history.
Mike Dolnick exhibited two beautiful framed cigar box labels which had numismatic themes (and which reminded him of his youth, when he sold cigars in a store where he worked as a teen-ager). The cigar box lithographs, made in Germany, were from brands named "Bank Note" and "Paid in Full";
Jerry Grzenda displayed and discussed items related to the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, including a bronze 1933 inaugural medal, a 1941 silver inaugural medal (one of only two struck), and a 1945 inaugural medal. These and other items, came from the estate of Mrs. Nellie Ross, first female governor in the U.S. (her birthday is a Wyoming state holiday), who was appointed to a Mint post by FDR. Among the other items that Jerry displayed were a 1902 cast bronze medal, probably by Augustus St. Gaudens, bracelets and necklaces of Mrs. Ross with medallions attached, a gold members badge from a club in Ohio. From the ANA convention, Jerry brought back an 1873 silver medal of the 25th Anniversary of Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, an 1857 commemorative for the 700th Anniversary of Christianity in Finland, and a Napoleonic medal from the early 1800s.
Herb Hall exhibited an ANA pin.
Daniel Berkman (a YN) showed a 1997 off-center cent and a gold-plated 1966 Kennedy half-dollar.

August Feature: New York and Baltimore Convention Reports

The previously announced featured speaker was not able to attend the August meeting, but the time available was well-spent on news of recent numismatic events. MCCC Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky and others reported first on the NYC ANA Convention. The convention bourse was crowded and overall attendance was excellent, but in Simcha's judgment there were significantly fewer people at the exhibits and Numismatic Theater than in years past. The convention-sponsored tour of the American Numismatic Society (ANS) was excellent, and Simcha noted that the museum and library at the ANS were extremely well stocked with ancient, as well as modern, coins. (He suggested visiting the ANS Web site before going to the museum in person.) At the New York convention, Jerry Grzenda won a third-place award in the foreign coin category, and Simcha garnered a second-place in Medals, plus an honorable mention for his talk on Panther Riders.

In Baltimore, the Mid-Atlantic Numismatic Association (MANA) Atlantic Rarities Coin Exposition (15-17 August) was similarly quite successful. Simcha Kuritzky won the TAMS award and the Bicentennial of Baltimore prize. A new magazine, Coin Connoisseur, was announced and looks extremely nice, with a heavy emphasis on gold and platinum and beautiful layout. MCCC Vice President William C. Massey was elected President of the Elongated Collectors association.

Charity Auction Coming: Please Donate Lots

The MCCC Charity Auction is coming in November! Please donate items to this auction; proceeds go to benefit local Boys and Girls Clubs.

Red Books for Sale

A few 1998 Red Books are still available at the special MCCC price of $7, courtesy of Ed Russell. See Ed at the next meeting, or send him an e-mail and ask him to reserve one for you.

VNA Convention September 20-21

The Virginia Numismatic Association's annual convention will be held at the Tyson's Westpark Hotel, 8401 Westpark Drive, Mclean, Virginia on Saturday and Sunday, September 21 and 22. The hotel is on Route 7, on the right and just west of the intersection of Route 123. The bourse is open 9 AM to 6 PM Saturday and 10 AM to 4 PM Sunday.

Other Announcements and Prizes

Glenn Miller won the first of the three legs needed to capture the Bison Chip prize. (For those unfamiliar with the Bison Chip rules: only members present at a meeting are eligible for each month's Bison Chip drawing. As often happens, several names of absent members were drawn and discarded before a winner was found. Come to the next meeting if you want to win!)
Auctioneer Don McKee won the 50-50 raffle.
David McGuinness, Jack Schadegg, Ann Musselman, Laura Carter, and (the appropriately surnamed) Andrew Luck captured door prizes.
Coin folders and a copy of the Standard Catalog of World Coins were awarded to several Young Numismatists at the meeting.
Club auction bidding was feverish, in stark contrast to the unseasonably cool weather. Don McKee and Jack Schadegg sold 33 of the 36 lots offered , and a surprisingly large number attracted brisk bidding competition and went for relatively high prices. (If you have coins to sell, bring them to the next meeting, and don't forget about donations to the November charity auction.)