This is the MCCC ARCHIVE – for the CURRENT Montgomery County Coin Club see https://montgomerycoinclub.org
May 2003 Bulletin * Early Web Edition
MC3 = Numismatics!
Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 13, 2003
The Montgomery County Coin Club will meet on the second
Tuesday of the month, 13 May 2003, 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 ~7:15pm. The featured event this month will be a talk
by Rob Joyce of the Bowie Coin Club, who will discuss
slabbed Morgan dollar die break varieties.
On the evening of 8 April 2003
the Montgomery County Coin Club was called to order
at 7:30pm. Approximately 40 people were present, including
3 YNs (Young Numismatists). One visitor was welcomed with a
round of applause: Michael Bernard.
Good to see you!
Announcements
Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky reported on Club finances, which remain sound.
President and Librarian Wayne Mitchell discussed new acquisitions
of the MCCC Library, including a Dictionary of Roman Coins
donated by Mike Dolnick and a set of GAO reports on the US Mint, coins,
currency, and commemoratives, donated by Ken Swab. Wayne also thanked
Ken Swab and Jack Schadegg for their work on producing and
disseminating the MCCC bulletin.
Vice President Ed Russell reminded members that he still has Red
Books for sale from the Ted Bennett estate. The volumes date from 1967 through
1996, and are available at bargain prices.
Don McKee, MCCC representative to the Senior Citizens Center, reminded
members that we are getting a fabulous deal from the Center --- we only pay
for one hour of their time --- and since we are due to begin at 7:15pm we should
be polite and not get mad at Center personnel if they are slightly late in
opening up for us.
Exhibits
The MCCC display case this month held several fine items:
- Simcha Kuritzky showed materials from the Charlotte
ANA spring show. The show had 46 exhibits, almost triple the
prior record. Among the items Simcha brought back was a US Mint
giveaway "magic cube" which flexes and folds to display various
animals. Simcha also exhibited a medal from Germany, made during
the early 1700s, part of a Biblical portrait series which shows
Nebuchadnezzar on one side and a winged lion on the other.
- Frank Palumbo of the Washington Numismatic Society
showed a bronze medal issued in honor of the Society's 75th
Anniversary, and available for purchase. The silver medals in
this series are already sold out.
- Ben Kalman displayed a 5 kopek Russian piece of 1777,
along with scarce US commemorative stamps honoring the Pilgrim
Tercentenary (1920), Stone Mountain (1925), Lexington-Concord
(1925), and the Sesquicentennial of American Independence (1926).
- Gerry Grzenda exhibited Iraqi coins and notes, and
discussed some of the history of Iraq. He showed 10 and 25 dinar bank
notes, gold pieces from 1980, an encapsulated silver proof coin,
and a nickel 1971 piece honoring the 50th Anniversary of the Iraqi
army. Jerry also displayed Ethiopian decorations including a
neck badge and Order of the Star given in 1899 to the Secretary
of the Russian Embassy in Addis Ababba, along with the certificates
of presentation, lithographs over 100 years old.
- Ken Glickman, with Willy Massey, shared news of
Ken's article on "Why I Downgraded My Kennedys" printed recently in
The Errorscope. Since his talk to the MCCC on 14 January 2003
(reported in the February 2003 MCCC Bulletin), Ken has found
9 (nine!) new Kennedy die varieties, including a cud of 1981,
double die obverses of 1964-D, 1971, and two in 1966, plus double
die reverses of 1969-D, 1970-D, 1971, and 1971-D.
Please bring in some of your own coins next month to share
with your fellow Club members!
Door Prizes & Gold Raffle
The door prize table this month was managed by Lina Scorza.
(MCCC Reporter Mark Zimmermann apologizes for spelling her
name wrong in recent months!)
April door prizes included:
- a 1912 Barber dime;
- a 1948 Washington quarter; and
- a 1965 Canadian dime.
The gold raffle prize was a 1996 Chinese "Unicorn" 5 yuan piece containing
1/20th ounce of the precious metal.
Door prize winners this month were Gil Cole, visitor
Michael Bernard, and YN Andy Luck.
The Gold Raffle was won by Steve Lokey.
The Bison Chip drawing named David Aaron, giving him
the first "leg" toward the prize.
Remember, you must be present when your name is called in
order to win a Bison Chip.
The April 2003 MCCC meeting adjourned at 9:30pm, after an
active auction. The auctioneer was Don McKee.
Lt. Col. Leon Robert on Walter Reed Medals
The MCCC Guest of Honor this month was Lt. Col.
Leon Robert, US Army. His presentation focused on
Walter Reed commemorative medals and included comments on the history
surrounding this noted Army physician. Leon was assisted in his
presentation by his son, YN Marshall Robert.
Lt. Col. Robert was raised in upstate New York, but was stationed
in the Washington DC area several years ago, at the Walter Reed
Army Medical Center. This piqued his interest in Dr. Reed, who was
born in 1851 and died in 1902 at the rank of Major. Why did such
a relatively junior officer deserve to have his name applied to a
major hospital complex?
Reed was born in Gloucester County, VA, the son of a Methodist
preacher. Walter was the
youngest person to graduate from the University of Virginia Medical
School, at the age of 18. At that time, Lt. Col. Robert explained,
one could attend medical school without prior college education.
Walter Reed went to New York City, where he met the woman whom he
was to marry, Emily. He then joined the Army and went West, to the
Arizona Territory where he was stationed from the mid-1870s until the
1880s. He also served in the Wyoming Territory and Minnesota. He and
his wife had a daughter (named Blossom) and a son.
In 1898 the Spanish American War broke out. Walter Reed volunteered
to go, but was kept in Washington DC; his son enlisted and went as a
private to Cuba. By 1900 it was clear that yellow fever was killing
and incapacitating US troops in Cuba, and the US Army Yellow Fever
Board was formed to work on the cause and cure for the epidemic.
Walter Reed was chosen by the Surgeon General, George Miller Sternberg
(1835-1915) to lead this Board. Reed took with him a team of physicians,
Doctors James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte, and Jesse Lazear.
Walter Reed and his colleagues went to Columbia Barracks in Cuba where
they commenced experiments. Lazear died of yellow fever there, and
Carroll was also infected and suffered severe health problems. Reed
moved his activities to a new place, christened Camp Lazear and situated
outside of Havana.
At the time, there were two main theories for the method of transmission
of yellow fever:
- mosquito bites; and
- contaminated clothing or bedding, infested with fomites.
Contrary to initial expectation, the second hypothesis was eliminated
in experiments. Twenty four Army volunteers were given $100 in gold
to subject themselves to these experiments; seven of them were
infected and two died. The survivors received medals and ribbons
for their courage and contribution to the effort.
Walter Reed himself died in 1902, due to infection (peritonitis) from a burst
appendix. Lt. Col. Robert discussed and displayed examples of numismatic
materials issued in Reed's honor, including:
- a 1963 Medallic Arts medal
- 1971 Franklin Mint 38mm gold and bronze medals, as part of the "Gallery
of Great Americans" series;
- a 1971 Medallic Heritage Society silver medal;
- Danbury Mint silver, bronze, and gold plated bronze medals;
- a 1973 National Commemorative Society silver medal;
- a 1973 Medallic Arts silver medal, in the "Great Men of Medicine" series;
- a Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge medal;
- a 1974 Franklin Mint 39mm silver medal;
- philatelic first day covers;
- a medal issued by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene;
- a pewter Walter Reed figurine.
In response to questions from the audience, Lt. Col. Robert explained that
Carlos J. Finlay (1833-1915) came up with the idea of mosquito transmission
of yellow fever; he was honored by Cuba with a coin issued in 1988. Major General
William Crawford Gorgas (1854-1920) worked to eradicate yellow fever
through his anti-mosquito brigades. They emptied standing water, where
larvae grew, and put kerosene films on larger bodies of water. There was
no medical treatment for yellow fever until just before World War II, when
quinine began to be used.
Lt. Col. Robert then discussed the case of Clara Louise Maass (1876-1901),
a nurse who worked for MG Gorgas in Havana. She died of yellow fever as
an experimental volunteer, and public outrage led Congress to pass a
law againt further yellow fever experimentation on humans. The Franklin
Mint issued a commemorative medal for Maass in 1976, and she was also
honored with a commemorative stamp, pinbacks, and patches for the New Jersey
"Clara Maass Medical Center".
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Lt. Col. Robert noted, had its
first hospital established in 1909. A new, much larger hospital was
built there in 1973. There have been several medals and commander's
coins issued at WRAMC, and in 2002 a commemorative Christmas ornament
was released from there.
For additional information on Walter Reed, including images of many
documents related to the doctor, Lt. Col. Robert recommended the web site
http://yellowfever.lib.virginia.edu/reed/.
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" (see also http://zhurnal.net/).
The MCCC Bulletin is copyright © 2003 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.
(This page has been accessed
1980 times.
It was last modified Monday, 28-Mar-2022 18:43:11 EDT.)