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Montgomery County Coin Club

November 2000 Bulletin - Early Web Edition

Meeting Report - Feature Article - Feedback - MCCC Home Page - Bulletin Index

MCCC: A Collector's Club for the New Millennium

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 14, 2000

The Montgomery County Coin Club will meet at 7pm on the second Tuesday of the month, November 14, 2000, at the Silver Spring Senior Citizens Center (1000 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA). The featured event will be the Annual MCCC Charity Auction!

2001 Red (Hot!) Book Bargains

The latest hardback edition of A Guide Book of United States Coins, commonly known as "The Red Book", is available for purchase by MCCC members at the discount price of only $8. All sale proceeds go to benefit MCCC activities. Ask Ed Russell for a copy at the next meeting.

October Meeting Report

The main attraction at the October MCCC meeting was a talk by long-time club member Irv Eisen on The Euro, illustrated with coins, posters, books, and numismatic anecdotes from his recent European tour. See the Featured Article below for details.

President Willy Massey called the MCCC to order at 7:14pm on the chilly evening of October 10, 2000 (Double-Ten Day!). About 39 MCCC members were present, quite a crowd, but no Young Numismatists (YNs) on this school night. Two visitors, Bruce Longyear (a specialist in error coins) and Tracy Locke, were welcomed with a round of applause. (Don't forget to bring friends and relatives, especially younger people, to the next MCCC meeting.)

News & Announcements

Drawings & Prizes

The door prize drawings were run by Ken Huff, Herb Hall, and Joe Mallon. Prizes awarded this month were three (500 fine) silver shillings of Great Britain, all from the reign of King George VI. They were dated 1939, 1940, and 1941. Fortunate door prize winners in October were Dennis Pogley, Herb Hall, and Don McKee.

The September Gold Raffle coin was an Australian 1999 $15 kangaroo piece containing 0.1 ounce of the yellow precious metal. The gold raffle was won by Frank Guerrero.

The Bison Chip drawing this month picked Mona Berch. This makes her second "leg" toward winning the prize: a one-ounce silver round. (When your name is called three times, you get a prize --- but you must be present to win.)

October Exhibits

MCCC display items this month were varied and fascinating:

Featured Attraction: Irv Eisen on "The Euro"

This month Irv Eisen, recently returned from a European tour, presented a series of numismatic vignettes and anecdotes. He also reported on the status of the Euro, the new unified currency of the European Community.

Irv's tour narration began in Norway. He discovered a fine coin store there and purchased some gold and silver items at good prices. Irv recommended that anyone going overseas take along some interesting and unusual US coins --- such as Sacagawea dollars, Kennedy halves, and so forth --- since in his experience they can be traded for local coins and make for happy dealing. Irv traded "golden" dollars for Norwegian crowns, for example, at a great rate of exchange. In answer to an audience member's question, Mr. Eisen reported no language problems during his travels. "Almost everyone spoke English better than me!" he joked.

In Stockholm, Sweden, Irv found by luck the Swedish Royal Mint and took some photographs of old Swedish plate money. He observed some beautiful displays in the Mint, with coins and paper money from many Swedish kings plus foreign. Irv picked up a great book at the Swedish Mint, which he kindly donated to the MCCC Library.

In St. Petersburg, Russia, Irv bought a coin book from a sidewalk vendor, a rather unusual source for such a good item! He passed by the Russian Mint but was unable to get inside for a visit. In Estonia, Irv looked for coins and again found some good crowns being sold on the street. He paid for all his purchases in US dollars, and reported, "They love American money. Any country in the world loves American money!"

At a local Fair in Germany, Irv picked up numismatic souvenir cards, posters, and other enlarged samples of the new Euro currency, including depictions of all the bills up to 500 Euros and all the Euro coins to be issued. The reverse designs on these items will be uniform, he stated, but obverse designs will be individualized by nation. The Euro coins will circulate throughout the continent.

Mr. Eisen recommended that travelers take (or make their own) currency conversion charts. He also reported favorably on British Air's fine service. (The airline collects excess small change from international passengers for donation to children's charities.) Before his travels began, Irv said, he went through the Krause and Mishler Standard Catalog of World Coins and made lists of desired pieces --- and he found several of his target items.

During a Question-and-Answer session after his presentation, Mr. Eisen and members of his audience discussed several themes:

Mr. Eisen's talk concluded to a round of applause from the MCCC audience. Bravo!


Aftermath

After a refreshment break the club auction was held; bidding was unusually hot and heavy on many items. Don McKee was the able auctioneer. The MCCC October meeting was adjourned at 8:48pm.

NumisFAQ (Part 2)

Some numismatic issues arise again and again in correspondence and conversations with new collectors. Here is the second installment of a draft "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) with some candidate answers.
What is this little "California gold" coin?
Alas, it's probably a replica token of negligible numismatic value. During the California gold rush (which began in earnest in 1849 and reached a peak in 1852) small denomination coins were in short supply in the California territory. Local mints produced tiny tokens made of real gold with values of $1 or fractions thereof. You can read about them in various numismatic reference books. Genuine territorial gold tokens are worth hundreds of dollars --- if they are authentic and in nice condition. Far more commonly seen, however, are modern replicas. These are typically made of brass and are at most plated with a thin coating of gold. They are of nominal value only, perhaps a dollar or so. (But if a replica is made of solid gold, it is worth at least the meltdown value of the metal.) Real territorial gold pieces usually have the word "dollar" along with a denomination on one side, and the year of issue with a Liberty head on the other side. (See, for example, http://www.his.com/~z/gallery1852.html for obverse and reverse images of a genuine token.) Replicas generally lack the word "dollar" and often have a bear (or anteater-like creature) on one side. Beware of spending too much for a replica which has been misrepresented as genuine!
What are some good coin books?
There are many. The classic Redbook is a fine starting point for US collectors. (Its official title is A Guide Book of United States Coins and new editions are issued every year.) The Redbook includes short historical discussions of each type of coin, information on how to grade specimens, and retail price estimates by year, mint, and condition for major varieties. Beyond the Redbook, you may wish to look at Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopædia of US and Colonial Coins, the Krause & Mishler Standard Catalog of World Coins, or countless other books. (See, for example, club_mccclibr.html for a catalog of the books in the Montgomery County Coin Club's library.)
Where should I look for online numismatic information?
An excellent place to start is the American Numismatic Association, http://www.money.org. The ANA web site has pointers to good coin dealers and local clubs, as well as historical data about coins, paper money, tokens, and other numismatic materials. ANA Headquarters is in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where the organization has a major money museum, a research library, and a staff which is extraordinarily helpful. You may also want to look at commercial sites associated with Coin World, Numismatic News, and other reputable publications, or at sites posted by honest coin dealers, collectors, museums, clubs, and societies.
( ... 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.