This is the MCCC ARCHIVE – for the CURRENT Montgomery County Coin Club see https://montgomerycoinclub.org
December 2001 Bulletin - Early Web Edition
MCCC: A Collector's Club For the New Millennium
Next Meeting: Tuesday, December 11, 2001
The Montgomery County Coin Club will gather on the second Tuesday of the month,
11 December 2001, at the Silver Spring Senior Citizens Center
(1000 Forest Glen Road, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA).
Doors open at 7:00pm, and the meeting begins with the Pledge of Allegiance
at about 7:20pm. The featured event this month will be a presentation by
Bob Lande on California Fractional Gold Tokens. Note
also that, for this holiday-season last meeting of the year, the refreshment
break spread will include a special sandwich platter and a bowl of punch ---
in addition to the regular cookies, vegetables, and dip. See you there!
More Charity Auction Contributions Needed
Time is running out --- the MCCC's Charity
Auction will be held in January 2002. Please bring your donations
of numismatic materials
to the December meeting (or contact a Club officer to arrange a pick-up
if your tax-deductible gift weighs more than you can lift!). Thank you
in advance. All proceeds from the Charity Auction go to benefit
local Boys and Girls Clubs.
MCCC Officer Nominees for 2002
The Nominating Committee of Don McKee and Ed Russell (chairman) offers
the following slate of candidates for MCCC posts during 2002, as per
Club bylaws. Additional nominations are welcome from the floor at
the December 2001 MCCC gathering. The Club will vote on all candidates
at the December meeting, and the winners will be sworn in at the
January 2002 session.
Appointed or Volunteer Officials
- Librarian: Kermit Smyth
- Web Master & Reporter: Mark Zimmermann
- Historian: Tom Hall
- Greeter & Door Prize Patrol: Willy Massey
- Refreshment Procurement: Wm. 'Bill' Massey & Jonetta Russell
- Bulletin Hardcopy Editor: Jack Schadegg
2002 MCCC Officer Nominations
- President: Jack Schadegg
- 1st Vice-President: Ed Russell
- 2nd Vice President: Don McKee
- Treasurer & Secretary: Simcha Kuritzky
- Sergeant at Arms: John Herman
2002 Board of Directors
- Rob Dorsey
- Tom Hall
- Andrew Luck
- Wayne Mitchell
- John Pylypec
- Kermit Smyth
- Kenneth E. Swab
Last Chance Red Books
As of press time Ed Russell
still had a few copies left of the new hardback 2002
Guide Book of United States Coins, "The Red Book".
These are for sale to MCCC members at $8.50 each; list price is $15.
Contact Ed at the next meeting to get one, if any are still available.
A portion of the proceeds goes to benefit the MCCC's charitable activities.
Numismatics in the West Wing
MCCC's Capitol Hill correspondent Ken Swab points out an interesting
column titled "Coin of the Realm" which appeared in Roll Call:
Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) was pretty pumped when he
received advance word that last week's episode of NBC's "West Wing" planned
to feature a story line about his Legal Tender Modernization Act.
Besides authorizing the Treasury secretary to redesign the $2 bill, the
legislation seeks to take pennies out of circulation by having businesses
round cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents.
Kolbe gathered his staff at his Capitol Hill home and ordered pizzas. Then
everyone sat back and watched a fake Hill staffer push for White House
backing of the legal tender legislation in exchange for support on another
bill.
Actor Rob Lowe did the negotiating for the fake White House, so Kolbe fired
off a signed copy of his bill and a personal note to the Hollywood heartthrob.
"Glad to see you arguing the merits of my Legal Tender Modernization Act
last night on 'West Wing'!" wrote Kolbe. "Thought you might like to have a
copy of the actual bill and some 'talking points' when you get to make your
case to the 'President.'"
(copyright (c) 2001 Roll Call, issue dated 15 November 2001; see
http://www.rollcall.com
for further details)
MontgomeryCoin.org?
What do you think? --- should the MCCC get its own Internet domain?
Coin World notes that
the American Numismatic Association will provide free Web hosting for member
clubs. (See 19 November 2001 issue of Coin World, page 2, for
the article "ANA providing Web sites, e-mail to member groups".) For
the past five years, the MCCC Bulletin has appeared at
http://www.money.org/club_mccc_current.html
as part of the ANA's web site "money.org", thanks to the kind help and
encouragement of Ms. Susie Nulty, the ANA's Director of Information
Technology. The online MCCC Bulletin attracts roughly 50-200 visitors
per month.
Although the ANA will host club web sites at no charge, there
are continuing costs of ~$35 per year to register an Internet domain name.
The names "mccc.com", "mccc.org", and "mccc.net" are already taken,
but the Club might be able to get "mccc" with another suffix, or
a longer name such as "montgomerycoin.org". (The "org" = "organization"
suffix is appropriate for non-profit entities such as the MCCC.)
Besides the "vanity" factor of having its own Internet domain, an
MCCC web site would make it somewhat easier to post new issues of
the Bulletin, to correct errors, to update online Club information
resources (e.g., the MCCC Library catalog), and to offer new services
to MCCC members. But is it worth it? Your comments and suggestions would
be greatly appreciated as we discuss this issue at meetings to come.
As an experiment, MCCC reporter and webmaster Mark Zimmermann has
rehosted the MCCC online archives at
http://www.his.com/~z/MCCC/ where
they are available for testing and evaluation. The rehosted pages
have all been cleaned up, obsolete links have been removed, file names
have been made consistent, and typographical errors have been fixed
(or so Mark thinks!). The master index to all MCCC online Bulletin
issues since January 1997 is at
http://www.his.com/~z/MCCC/club_mccc_bulletindex.html
Please visit the MCCC web pages and send feedback to Mark via
email or through any Club officer.
On the chill evening of 13 November 2001 the MCCC was called to order at 7:19pm
by President Jack Schadegg. There was a near-record turnout:
43 members, including 4 Young Numismatist (YNs), were present.
Several visitors were welcomed with applause:
- Abbie Vanhook, sister of MCCC member Mary Weaver
- Michael & Joyce Earl
- Kathlyn Smith
Good to see you all!
Announcements
In response to questions from the audience, President Schadegg described the
process by which the MCCC Bulletin is produced and distributed.
This near-miracle happens every month thanks to the collaborative efforts
of several people who draft, edit, merge, print, and mail more than 100 copies.
Volunteer offers of help are always welcome!
Past President Willy Massey described two donations by long-time
MCCC member Mae Clark:
- US Mint miniature bags of 1972 cents (five coins from each mint) and 1987 cents (twenty-five from Philadelphia) for sale at 75 cents each, or two for $1 --- all
proceeds to be given to the MCCC Charity Auction
- A massive hardback book, The Encyclopædia of Modern Elongateds,
which ordinarily sells for over $100 --- which will be placed in the MCCC Library
if enough donations are made by MCCC members to the Charity Auction.
Thank you, Ms. Clark!
Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky reported on Club finances, and mentioned that
he has some Canadian quarter-dollar millennium coins (most dated 1999) for sale
to MCCC members at 25 (US) cents each.
Librarian Kermit Smyth announced that a new book, Q. David Bowers's
American Coin Treasures and Hoards, is available for members to borrow.
Another new addition to the MCCC Library is Elongated Coins of Maryland,
a gift from Willy Massey (who is himself featured in the book!).
Kermit reminds MCCC members that if they donate half of the cost of a book to
the Library, the Library fund can pay the other half in order to acquire expensive
specialty books.
Door Prizes & Gold Raffle
Willy Massey announced the Door Prizes, all silver coins:
- 1932 Panamanian quarter-balboa
- 1942 US Washington quarter
- 1953-D US Washington quarter
Door prize winners this month were John Chiusano, YN Ezra Berch,
and Ed Russell. The Gold Raffle, a 1998 Chinese "Unicorn" 1/20th ounce
5 Yuan piece, was taken by Steve Lokey.
The Bison Chip name drawn this month was Norman Brand.
Last month's Bison Chip went to Ken Swab.
Special YN-only door prizes were awarded to Young Numismatists Joel
Schadegg, Rachel Schadegg, Nicky Luck, and Ezra Berch.
Congratulations to all!
Display Case Studies
- Kermit Smyth explained "die state collecting" --- an activity which
some rabid Large Cent aficionados pursue after they have graduated from building
type sets, date sets, Red Book variety sets, and obverse-reverse sets based on
Sheldon and/or Newcomb numbers. Kermit showed two examples of different die
states for 1817 (N-12) "Fused Date" cents, and four examples of 1831 (N-12)
pieces which revealed the progressive deterioration of an obverse die.
- John Huffman exhibited an electrum coin of Carthage, ~2300 years old,
and talked with good humor about how little the younger generations seem
to know about ancient history and the context of this coin.
- Jerry Grzenda displayed sets of 1995 Civil War Battlefield Preservation
pieces ($0.50, $1, and $5 coins), including the nice cases which some of these
sets were issued. Jerry also showed a tintype (an early photographic technology)
of a Union solder taken in Civil War times and kept in a patriotic theme box.
Finally, Jerry exhibited a "Napoleonic Sampler": coins issued by Napoleon Bonaparte
and his relatives during the period of his Empire.
Alternative Hobbies
As the main attraction for the November MCCC meeting,
five MCCC members shared information about their non-numismatic pursuits:
- HighPointing
- Joe Howard discussed the emerging sport of climbing to the highest point
in each of the various US states --- a feat which he has himself achieved thus
far in 35 of the 50 states.
Joe also exhibited his collection of minerals, rocks, animal skeleton remains,
and other materials acquired during his HighPointing hikes.
(He showed one raccoon bone that came from a part of the creature's anatomy
which will not be further specified in this Bulletin.)
- Antiquities
- Simcha Kuritzky discussed ancient artifacts from his collection,
including scarabs and seals in some cases dating back more than 5000 years.
Simcha showed a Greco-Roman oil lamp (~1800 years old), a small Egyptian
votive statue (~2300-3500 years old), a gold amulet, and a part of a wine
jug from the First Temple era (before 586 B.C.E.).
- Coin Photography
- Donald Wilson displayed and described some of his recent experiments
in taking close-up pictures of coins, focusing (!) in particular on shillings
and quarters. Besides good equipment, Donald advised, lighting is a critical
factor in taking good photos of coins.
- Philately
- John Chiusano showed a stamp collection which he began building
last May on the theme of US Flags. John reported that he has lectured to
410 students this year (and a similar number for the previous two years)
concerning stamps and related topics. Every child in the class gets albums
and a starter assortment of stamps, and in John's experience some of them
remember his presentations years later. He talked about the earliest stamp
which featured a US Flag (1869) and the smallest US flag on a stamp
(appearing on a streetcar in the design).
- Beer Bottlecaps
- Kermit Smyth revealed his alternative hobby: collecting caps
from beer bottles. He has one rule: he never pays for a cap. (But it
is all right to pay for the beer!) Kermit has over 1100 caps in his
hoard, of which he displayed a special subset: caps with animals on them.
Some of these beasts were rather exotic: salamanders, pelicans, armadillos,
and so forth. Kermit invited everyone to keep an eye out for unusual beer
bottlecaps on his behalf.
Many thanks to all who made presentations this month!
Auction & Aftermath
The MCCC Live Auction raced through a list of 51 lots this month;
Don McKee & Ken Swab were the auctioneers. Because of
the large number of presentations (and enthusiastic audience participation)
the meeting ran a little late and adjourned at 9:15pm.
Comments and Feedback
Please send bug reports and suggestions for improvement to
"z (at) his.com" (http://www.his.com/~z/).
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 their help in sharing the MCCC Bulletin with numismatists everywhere.