This is the MCCC ARCHIVE – for the CURRENT Montgomery County Coin Club see https://montgomerycoinclub.org
July 2002 Bulletin - Early Web Edition
MC3 = Numismatics!
Next Meeting: Tuesday, July 9, 2002
Speaker: Miley Busiek Frost
The Montgomery County Coin Club will meet on the second
Tuesday of the month, 9 July 2002, 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 approximately 7:20pm. The featured event this month will be a presentation
by Miley Busiek Frost, the artist who designed the reverse of
the American gold eagle coins. (A small gold eagle will be the Gold Raffle
special prize.)
On 11 June 2002 the MCCC was called to order at 7:22pm.
This month 33 people were present, including 3 Young Numismatists (YNs).
No first-time visitors declared themselves.
In Memorium: Frank Guerrero
Ed Russell called for a moment of silence in honor of long-time
MCCC member Frank Guerrero. Frank passed away on Sunday, 7 July.
He was 82 years old, a veteran of the Second World War (Pacific Theater),
and a numismatist who attended MCCC meetings for the past
~15 years. Frank held court every month at a table in the back of the Club
room. He will long be remembered for his friendly, dry humor and his active
participation in the hobby.
Announcements
Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky reminded members of:
- MCCC treasury status (solid)
- Maryland State Numismatic Association convention, 13-15 June 2002 ---
MSNA raffle tickets are for sale at $1 each, or six for $5 --- donate time
as a volunteer and likely receive an award
- American Numismatic Association convention, 31 July - 4 August 2002 (with
30 July as PNG Day; contact Julian Leidman for details and an invitation) ---
in New York City --- bus trip possible
- Washington Numismatic Society --- end-of-the-year pot luck dinner this month, with
a talk by Alexander Cline-Stefanelli, son of Vladimir and Elvira Cline-Stefanelli
(who for many years ran the national numismatic collection)
Lame-duck Librarian Kermit Smyth announced that two MCCC members had
volunteered to take over the Librarian's duties. Wayne Mitchell tossed
his hat into the ring first and will be the next Librarian. Many thanks to
him, and to runner-up volunteer Stan Olesh.
Wayne Mitchell discussed the booklet The Conservation of Coins:
A Buyer's Guide which was based on a December 2000 conference "Summit 2000"
held by the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) and the Industry Council for
Tangible Assets (ICTA), with participation by ICG, NGC, and PCGS.
Wayne had extra copies of the booklet and gave them to interested MCCC members.
Wayne also commented on the Numismatic Conservation Service of Florida,
and described some information he had received about its fees and offerings.
Display Case Notes
Several MCCC members exhibited material from their collections this month:
- Ben Kalman showed a lovely Marie Theresa thaler and discussed its
numismatic context.
- Bruce Longyear exhibited "My Cuddy Collection" --- a diverse set
of coins showing many varieties of "cud" errors.
Bruce explained the minting process which leads
to cuds. Among the coins he showed were cents, nickels, dimes, quarters,
and Susan B. Anthony dollars. He also displayed and discussed double strikes,
die cracks, brockages, and other phenomena.
- Ken Swab presented a rubber-stamped one dollar bill, showing a cartoon
balloon added to George Washington's portrait with the words, "Truthfully, I
grew hemp." Ken also exhibited the official Mint information kit for the recently-released
Louisiana commemorative quarter.
- Jerry Grzenda displayed a massive "black bar" of silver, given by the
U. S. Treasury in exchange for silver certificates. The bar weighs over 208 ounces,
and was made from melted-down silver scrap.
- Herb Hall showed a variety of large Russian banknotes, in denominations
including 100, 250, 500, 1000, and 10,000 rubles, and with dates ranging from 1910
through 1917.
A big Thank you to all exhibitors.
Everyone is welcome to bring in some of your favorite items
to the next meeting to share with other MC3 members.
Door Prizes & Gold Raffle
Willy Massey described the Door Prizes this month:
- a 1966 40% silver Kennedy half dollar
- a seven-coin international "Happy Birthday" set of coins in a holder, including
pieces from Mexico, Luxembourg, Colombia, Norway, Austria, China, and Finland
- a 1960 small/large date one cent set (four coins in labeled holder)
- a large paper 50 Reichsmarks 1933 German bill
The gold raffle prize was an Austrian 1999 "Philharmonic" 200 schilling coin
containing 0.1 Troy ounces of the precious metal.
This month the door prize winners were Tom Hall (two months in a row!),
Mike Dolnick, Steve Lokey, and John Chiusano.
The Gold Raffle was won by Stan Olesh.
The Bison Chip went to Jeff Crockett. This is
his first "leg" of the three needed to win the Bison Chip prize. (You
must be present when your name is called to win a Bison Chip.)
Simcha Kuritzky on "The History of the Holy Land"
MCCC Treasurer and expert numismatist Simcha Kuritzky gave a whirlwind tour
"...at the rate of 1.5 centuries per minute!" of several thousand years of Middle
East history. He started three millennia ago, when the first archaeological evidence
appears, and illustrated his talk with maps of the area around the Jordan River plus
coins, medallions, and other artifacts from the region.
Given its huge place in world affairs this is a surprisingly small area, Simcha
noted --- perhaps ~30 by ~120 miles. He talked of how ~1000 B.C.E. (Before Common
Era) King David united the tribes of Israel and moved his capital from Shiloh to
Jerusalem. Simcha showed a medal commemorating that action, and another medal
representing the construction of the first Temple in Jerusalem. He displayed a
King Khezekaya wine jug handle from the ~700 B.C.E. siege of Jerusalem (by Assyria),
and further discussed the tumultuous series of invasions and battles which
took place in that region for centuries thereafter.
From the time frame of ~400 B.C.E. Simcha showed coins issued in Samaria and Judea
under the Persians. He talked about the conquests by Alexander the Great (~322 B.C.E.),
Ptolemy, the Seleukids, and the Romans. Various revolts and violent clashes led to
the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem itself. The Jews were exiled;
many fled to Persia and into the Arabian peninsula.
Simcha then covered the further history of the area, including its conquest by Moslem
Arabs (637 C.E.); its rule from Damascus; the takeover by the Egyptians, then the
Turkish Seljuks; the Crusades; the Mamlukes and the Ottoman empire; Napoleon's
invasion and defeat at Akko; the British and French holdings; and the complex
events of the Twentieth Century. He illustrated many of these historical actions
with coins from his collection.
Simcha Kuritzky's talk ended to applause. It was followed by an active question-and-answer
session concerning many of the difficult political issues currently troubling the
Holy Land region. Many thanks to Simcha, and to all who participated!
Further Notes
The June 2002 MCCC meeting adjourned at approximately 9:20pm. Auctioneers this month were
Don McKee and Ken Swab.
Numismatics on the Web
Mahdi Bseiso, a student in the US and a numismatist, wrote recently to the MCCC
to contact a Club member who shares some of his collecting interests.
Mr. Mseiso also was kind enough to send a pointer to his web site dedicated
to Jordanian money:
http://www.come2jordan.com/money/
--- which an MCCC reviewer described as "... excellent .... wonderfully organized,
easy to use, and very informative."
Thank you for your letter, Mr. Bseiso.
Comments and Feedback
MCCC reporter/webmaster Mark Zimmermann has rehosted the MCCC online archives at
http://www.his.com/~z/MCCC/ where
they are available for reference.
Please send bug reports and suggestions for improvement to
"z (at) his.com" (http://www.his.com/~z/).
The MCCC Bulletin is copyright © 2002 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.
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