This is the MCCC ARCHIVE – for the CURRENT Montgomery County Coin Club see https://montgomerycoinclub.org
March 2001 Bulletin - Early Web Edition
MCCC: A Collector's Club for the New Millennium
Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 13, 2001
The Montgomery County Coin Club will meet at 7 p.m. on the
second Tuesday of the month,
March 13, 2001, at the Silver Spring Senior Citizens Center
(1000 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA).
The featured event was not yet determined as of press
time for this Bulletin.
The guest speaker at the February 2001 MCCC meeting was
Robert Hickox, who shared some of his
varied experiences collecting silver Washington quarters
for the past 15 years.
See the Featured Article below for details.
MCCC President Jack Schadegg called the MCCC
to order at 7:15 p.m. on the evening of February 13, 2001.
About 40 MCCC members were present,
including one Young Numismatist (YN).
One first-time visitor was welcomed: Caroline Joss.
Great to see you!
(Members: don't forget to invite friends and relatives, especially
YNs, to come with you to the next MCCC meeting.)
News & Announcements
- President Jack Schadegg made the sad announcement
that long-time MCCC member Frank Katen passed away
at the age of 98 in January 2001. Jack provided a sympathy
card for all to sign, to be sent to Frank's widow Laurese.
See below for a Tribute to Frank Katen.
- Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky described the American
Numismatic Association's news that MCCC members are
now eligible for group collection insurance. The ANA's press
release states that the ANA, through Seabury & Smith, now
offers an "All-Risk" Coin Collection Insurance Plan to all
local coin club members. This plan will protect and secure coin
colections from theft, flood, fire, hurricane and other
perils. The cost varies according to value and where the coins
are stored (approximately 0.5% to 1% of the collection's
value per year). Contact Ed Russell for details
and additional information if you are interested.
- Don't forget: 2001 dues are overdue! --- $6 for
adults, $1 for YNs. Contact Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky
to pay as soon as possible.
Drawings & Prizes
Willy Massey announced the February door prizes:
- a 1924 silver Kopek
- a 6 pence coin
- a 1966 Finland 1 Mark
- a souvenir 1992 MANA intaglio print
Lucky door prize winners were Bill Massey, Frank Palumbo,
Caroline Joss (bravo to our visitor!)
and Sterling Bogley.
MCCC junior member Nicky Luck won the Gold Raffle prize,
a 1/10 ounce U.S. gold bullion coin (dated 2000).
Steve Lokey won his first leg of the 3-legged Bison Chip
drawing. Don't forget: you must be present (and have paid
your dues!) when your name is called in order to win the
Bison Chip. Congratulations to all the winners --- and to
everyone else, better luck next month!
February Exhibits
The MCCC Display Case this month contained a rich assortment of
interesting items:
- Junior member Nicky Luck displayed a coin his father
found which was over 100 years old.
- Simcha Kuritzky exhibited 4 Hebrew
love tokens. Unlike most American love tokens,
which were engraved by jewelers for sentimental
reasons, these tokens were engraved as protective
amulets. Three of the amulets are typical of Hebrew
love tokens Simcha has seen, with a large letter heh.
English-language love tokens usually have the
initials of a person, but these have the inital for
God. The last token was an exception to this
rule, having a complex inscription using several
different names for God, as well as angel names
and Biblical passages. It was also intended for
use as an amulet.
- Bruce Longyear showed a 1916-S counterfeit
$10 Indian gold piece in AU condition,
poorly struck with uneven rim on left obverse side.
- Mike Dolnick exhibited a silver medal commemorating
the opening of the Mexico City Metro in 1969, plus some
artifacts from Mexico found during the building of a branch
of that Mexico City subway.
- Jerry Grzenda displayed two groups of items:
- for the 17th of January, the 10th anniversity of Operation
Desert Storm, Jerry showed a Kuwaiti bank note
issued by the Central Bank of Kuwait to commemorate the war,
and a Kuwait Desert Storm commemorative coin. He also showed a
U.S. military medal issued to U.S. Desert Storm veterans and
a Saudi Arabian military medal issued to Saudi veterans of the war.
- from the Jackie Kennedy estate, Jerry displayed:
a small gold compact made by Tiffany with Jackie Kennedy's
name inscribed on it; a note signed by Jackie Kennedy sent
to the wife of the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait in 1961; a 3 inch
1959 bronze medal given to Jackie Kennedy by President
Dwight David Eisenhower; and a State of Israel bond,
issued in the 1970's with Golda Meir's signature on it.
- Herb Hall exhibited a 2001 full sheet of Canadian stamps
commemorating the "Year of the Snake."
- Guest Speaker Rob Hickox displayed an impressive
Washington silver Quarter set (missing 6 of the earlier dates)
in MS63 or better condition.
Featured Attraction:
Rob Hickox on Washington Quarters
At the February 2001 meeting the main event was
a presentation by Robert Hickox.
Mr. Hickox has been collecting Washington
Quarters for about 13 years. He is working on a MS63 or
better Uncirculated set of the silver years, 1932-1963 --- a
goal that "an average collector" (as Rob characterizes
himself) can hope to attain. Rob keeps his coins
stored in a high grade Capitol Plastics Holder to
protect the items. He has most of the coins except for
the six rarest in uncirculated condition.
Mr. Hickox said that high grade Washingtons like MS68
just do not exist. He advised collectors to be careful of
cleaned "uncirculated" coins. Natural toning may or may not
affect the price. Silver coins do tone naturally over time;
Rob has noticed a change in some of his silver quarters during
his 13 years of collecting.
Rob Hickox has other Washington quarter
silver varieties which he did not exhibit. He talked
about counterfeit 1932 Philadelphia and 1934 Philadelphia
pieces which exist in the higher grades. He mentioned
that San Francisco mint quarters tend to be more poorly
stuck, possibly because the dies were used to strike a
greater number of coins each. Rob discussed several die
varieties in the years 1934 and 1935 (two mottos) and
a 1934 double die obverse. Even a triple ("D/D/D") mint
mark exists, he reported.
While looking at a uncirculated coin at a dealer's table,
Rob cautioned that lighting has some effect: incandescent
lighting is best, since with it you can see
some flaws better --- but it does hide the toning of
the coin; fluorescent light shows post-minting scratches
better.
In Memorium:
Frank J. Katen
Ed Russell offers the following information from
personal recollections plus an obituary published in
Numismatic News:
Fellow MCCC club member, numismatist, and coin dealer
Frank J. Katen
died on January 21st of this year at the age of 98.
He last spoke to the MCCC in mid-1995.
Frank attended MCCC meetings
regularly in the late 1970's and during the 1980's, but his
age slowed him considerably in the 1990's.
Frank Katen was born in 1903 in Bronx, New York. In 1938
he started selling numismatic coins, currency and literature.
He joined the ANA about that time as Life Member #132.
In 1945 Frank opened a coin shop in New Haven, Connecticut,
and also at that time served the American Coin Dealers Association
as Secretary. In 1951 Frank became a founding member of the
International Association of Professional Numismatists.
According to the MCCC Bulletin, in April 1966 Frank
visited the Club and was
the Guest Speaker at the monthly meeting; he discussed the topic
"Some Odd and Curious Money of the World".
Frank Katen and his wife Laurese, who still survives,
moved to the area (about 4 miles north of the Capitol Beltway,
on New Hampshire Avenue) in the early 1970's, and while retired
opened and operated a coin & stamp store in a second-floor
office area of the Cloverly Shopping center for a number of years.
In 1977 Frank helped appraise the American Numismatic
Association's Library, and in turn donated a large anount
of his numismatic material to it last year.
He held over 80 numismatic auctions,
many in this area, including the last four which disposed
of a large portion of his 50-year collection of
numismatic literature. He also donated several items to the
MCCC Library's collection. Frank was a member of the Royal
Numismatic Society, New York Coin Club, Montgomery
County Coin Club, Washington Numismatic Society, and
Middle Atlantic Numismatic Association, now part of the
Eastern States Numismatic Association.
Contributions in Mr. Katen's name may be made to the ANA Library.
Auction & Aftermath
A special thanks to Ed Russell for taking detailed notes
for this Bulletin (reporter Mark Zimmermann was unavoidably
absent from the February 2001 meeting). Thanks also to Simcha
Kuritzky for providing additional material.
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 © 2001 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.