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November 1998 Bulletin
Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 10, 1998
Featured Event: Charity Auction
The Montgomery County Coin Club will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday,
November 10, 1998, at the Senior Citizens Center on Forest Glen Road in
Silver Spring, Maryland. The main attraction of the meeting will be the
Annual MCCC Charity Auction. All proceeds from this auction
go to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Silver Spring & Wheaton.
Come and bid generously --- it's for a good cause! (If
for any reason you cannot attend the Charity Auction in person, feel free
to call one of the MCCC Officers to arrange for them to submit bids on
your behalf.)
NumisRiddle of the Month
MCCC YN Robin Zimmermann
asks: Why is paper money much better than coins?
The answer appears later in this Bulletin. To submit a NumisRiddle for
the MCCC Bulletin, write to Robin Zimmermann at P.O. Box 598, Kensington,
MD 20895-0598.
Die Hard! --- MCCC 40th Anniversary Elongated Competition
The summer of 1999 marks the Fortieth Anniversary of the founding of the
Montgomery County Coin Club --- and in recognition of that jubilee event,
the Club will issue a special Commemorative MCCC Elongated coin. Your
mission, should you decide to accept it, is to design the die for that
elongated! Contact elongated savant (and MCCC Vice President) William
C. Massey for a template and advice, or simply draw your design to fit
within an ellipse 3" long and 1.75" wide.
Designs may be submitted by any club member, but must be received
by the close of the December 8, 1998 MCCC meeting. The winner's
initials will appear on the die, thereby ensuring fame and (numismatic)
immortality!
1999 Redbooks at More Than 40 Percent Off List Price!
Only a handful of hardback Redbooks remain for sale at a bargain $7 price
(list is $11.95) ... get 'em while they last! The new Redbook includes
color images of many coins as well as its famous price and mintage tables,
plus commentary on the history and grading of U.S. coins. Contact Ed
Russell for a copy.
October Meeting Roundup
MCCC President Swab called the Club to order with 34 members present, including
6 YNs. Among the major announcements were:
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Grand Slam: Ken Swab exhibited a photograph mounted on a
plaque from the Wheaton Boys & Girls Club thanking the MCCC for its
donation and showing the "Purple People Eaters" baseball team which our
contribution helped to equip.
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Money Supply: The MCCC's finances remain sound, as reported
by Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky, and the Club is likely to finish the
year slightly in the black.
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Book Report: MCCC Librarian Kermit Smyth announced
that the Library Fund continues to grow; members are encouraged to suggest
books for acquisition, and of course to check out books for study and enjoyment.
Mr. Smyth also noted that two books were newly added to the shelves: Don
Taxay's famous History of the US Mint & Coinage and Scott
Travers's Coin Collector's Survival Manual (1985 edition).
Contact the Librarian to donate books and to get a listing of the Library's
holdings; see also the catalog posted on the Web via the link from the
MCCC's home page.
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New Member: The newest MCCC member, Joe Mellon, was
recognized with a round of applause.
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Prize Winners!: The door prizes this month were a 1939 silver
Mexican 20 centavo piece, a 1945 silver Swiss 1 Franc, and a nice copper
1961 Franc from the short-lived republic of Katanga in Africa. Winners
of these prizes, drawn during the auction at the end of the meeting, were
Donald Wilson, Mona Berch, and Scott Helmick. The 50-50 Raffle
was won by David McGuinness. The Bison Chip drawing was claimed by Jerry
Grzenda. (This was Mr. Grzenda's first leg of the three needed to win.
You must be at the meeting when your name is called in order to get a leg
towards the Bison Chip prize.)
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New Club Officer Search: Second Vice President Ed Russell
heads the nominating committee seeking candidates for the MCCC leadership
team and board of directors. Contact Mr. Russell if you're interested in
serving the Club in any capacity.
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Maryland Commemorative Quarter News: President Ken Swab
provided information about the Maryland commemorative coin which is to
appear as part of the series of 25-cent pieces issued by the U.S. Mint
beginning next year. Mr. Swab served on the Maryland State Commission to
select candidate designs for the quarter; his article on the subject appeared
in the October 26, 1998 issue of Coin World >From the 280
concepts received, the Commission reviewed 40 and sent five designs were
sent to the Governor: the Annapolis Statehouse Dome; an image of the full
Statehouse; a depiction of The Ark and The Dove
(the ships that brought colonists to Maryland in 1634); an image of the
U.S. Flag over Ft. McHenry (which inspired Francis Scott Key to compose
The Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem); and an outline
of the state of Maryland with the State Crest superposed. (Alas, a design
featuring the famous Wye Oak did not receive the Commission's blessing,
in spite of the MCCC's support for that symbol.)
(Display) Case Closed!
(Not Really; It's Still Open)
MCCC's display case featured several interesting and important items
this month:
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Richard Jozefiak (the featured October speaker --- see below)
brought in two British sovereigns and four half-sovereigns (including both
proof and uncirculated specimens) plus a British counterfeit detection
scale from the late-1800's.
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Simcha Kuritzky displayed a CD-ROM from the Royal Canadian
Mint (which he ran on his laptop during the break later in the meeting
for several interested members). The CD-ROM features multimedia presentations
and information on Canadian coinage, including recent commemoratives and
older coins.
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Jerry Grzenda showed some fractional currency items, including
a framed certificate of a U.S. Treasury note issued 14 January 1865, a
receipt for $2,000 of US currency signed by U.S. Treasurer Spinner, and
a signed 10 cent US fractional note from the Series of 1874.
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YN Ezra Berch exhibited a medal of the State of Israel honoring
the Jewish New Year of 1999 (year 5759 in the Hebrew calendar).
Think about showing items from your collection of numismatic material in
the MCCC display case --- coins, tokens, currency, whatever! November's
meeting falls on the eve of Armistice Day, Presidents Polk, Garfield, Pierce,
and Taylor were born in November, and there are numerous other themes that
a great exhibit could be linked to. Bring something that you enjoy, share
it with the Club, and get a round of applause (and maybe a gift) in recognition!
Booty for YN Exhibitors
President Swab presented Young Numismatist Ezra Berch with a prize for
his exhibit (see above). The MCCC has other gifts for YNs who offer items
for the display case in months to come. And please invite YNs (or potential
YNs) to come to the meeting with you --- it's a great way to get a young
person started on a lifetime hobby of education and enjoyment.
Richard Jozefiak on
"Modern British Sovereigns and Half Sovereigns"
Richard Jozefiak was the featured speaker of the October MCCC meeting.
Mr. Jozefiak collects British coins and specializes in sovereigns, a beautiful
gold coin. His talk was illustrated with excellent slides of sovereigns
from the National Numismatic Collection in the Smithsonian Institution's
Museum of American History, where Mr. Jozefiak has performed some research.
The first sovereign, he reported, was minted in 1489. It was a hammered
piece produced in or near London. Hammered sovereigns continued to be made
until 1603, when the series was discontinued by King Henry VIII.
In 1817 the sovereign and half-sovereign coins were reinstated under
King George III (the same king who ruled England during the American Revolution).
George III appears on his sovereigns as a traditional Roman-styled portrait
with an olive leaf circlet on his head; the legends on the coin are in
Latin, giving it a "classic" look. Mr. Jozefiak noted that half-sovereigns
tend to be far scarcer than sovereigns, since they had both smaller original
mintages and suffered from greater destruction via their use in gold jewelry.
The obverse side of the sovereign depicts the current British monarch;
on the reverse various designs have appeared, but most noteworthy is the
famous image by Italian Sculptor Beneto Viscusi showing St. George
slaying the dragon. The sovereign contains almost 1/4 ounce of gold, is
slightly smaller than a current U.S. quarter dollar, and historically was
valued as 1 British pound ( = 20 shillings). Since the average "blue collar"
day laborer might earn one or two shillings a day, Mr. Jozefiak observed
that a sovereign represented a lot of wealth, and was not commonly seen
in day-to-day commerce. Rather, sovereigns tended to be restricted to banking
reserves and high-end transactions.
Mr. Jozefiak went on to discuss and explain the details of the British
shields shown on sovereigns. The royal shield in the early 1800's included
the coat of arms for England, Ireland, Scotland, and some German principalities
which the King was associated with: Brunswick, Hanover, Westphalia, and
Lunenburg. By 1880 the British empire extended over a quarter of the globe,
and so the British Royal Mint became something of a de facto world
mint. "Branch" mints in Canada, India, South Africa, and Australia issued
sovereigns, each with their local mint marks. (Some of these mint marks
are inconspicuous, and it pays to look closely at sovereigns; Mr. Jozefiak
told of buying a rather rare Melbourne sovereign at a bullion melt-down
price --- quite a feat of cherry-picking!)
British sovereigns were also used as emergency money in many parts of
the world --- their design was well-known internationally, and their gold
content was trusted. The U.S. Office of Strategic Services (the OSS), the
British Royal Air Force (RAF), and other such organizations gave their
agents and pilots sovereigns to use in case of dire need. Branch mint sovereigns,
since they were made from gold mined locally, contained different amounts
of various impurities and thus differed in their color. An expert can sometimes
tell where a sovereign was issued without even seeing the mint mark.
In 1989, the British Royal Mint issued a commemorative piece in honor
of the 500th Anniversary of the sovereign, Mr. Jozefiak displayed and discussed
the design, and commented on the changes in the portraits of Queen Elizabeth
II over the years. He concluded his presentation by analyzing the issue
of counterfeit sovereigns and their detection. Merchants in the 1800's
needed a way to identify counterfeits and underweight pieces, which led
to the invention of clever devices to gauge the weight, diameter, and thickness
of sovereigns and half-sovereigns. These scales were stamped with the symbol
of the crown to indicate their accuracy and approval by the Royal authority.
In response to a question from the audience, Mr. Jozefiak commented
on the problem of counterfeit sovereigns. Recently, he noted, in the Middle
East many copies of sovereigns of various dates and mints have been produced.
During the Gulf War (and before) numerous ones were bought and brought
back to the U.S. The gold content of these pieces is good, but they are
not collectible coins --- they are only worth their bullion value. Frequently
these counterfeit sovereigns have errors or subtle changes on their reverses.
Making such pieces is not considered "counterfeiting" in the Middle East.
Some rare sovereigns have had altered dates, so those should be authenticated
by an expert before purchase.
Acknowledgments
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Ken Swab was the able MCCC auctioneer.
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Jack Schadegg handled the auction material.
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Willy Massey ran the door prize and 50-50 raffle drawings.
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Simcha Kuritzky managed the auction accounting and the Bison Chip
drawing.
NumisRiddle Answer
"Why is paper money much better than coins?" --- Because when you put paper
money in your pocket, you double it, and when you take it out, you find
it increases! ("in creases" --- get it?!)
President's Note
Money - it's what numismatists collect. But the medium of exchange and
store of value has greatly expanded since someone hammered a design onto
a lump of metal thousands of years ago. We still have coins, but we also
have paper currency, checks, plastic cards, phone cards, good-fors, notgeld,
tokens, elongateds - the list goes on and on. Just look at the variety
in our display case every month. Enjoy the hobby and expand your collecting
interests - numismatics is much more than just coins!
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 (c) 1999 by the Directors of the Montgomery
County Coin Club.