| Next Meeting: Tuesday, 28th of August 7 PM (4th Tuesdays now) Denny’s,205 Nugget Ave.(at East McCarran), Sparks August 28 Counterfeit Coins Please bring your counterfeit coins. No museum visit August 24 September 25 Stan Pehr Northern Nevada History in Pictures and Photographs (a slide show) No newsletter in September September 28 At the Museum: New Coins October 27 Happy Birthday Nevada Rusty King The Last Meeting 24 members got to see a nice collection of the inaugural presidential medal by the mint and private minters by Doug Larson. The US Mint is now reproducing the series in order with 4 a year on silver eagle flans for $40. They keep the more popular presidents available in 3 inch for $40 and 1 ½ inch for $8 and the others can be made on request. The mint has approved the famous inventions no longer being sold series for a new run of dollar coin, beginning this year. The first coin will feature George Washington’s signature on the first US patent. The Medalic Arts dies held by NW Mint will soon be available for remakes by Medalcraft Mint in Wisconsin and they are planning to make medals from dies on demand. We are almost done on a coin design with Eva Adams and the moon landing, and are awaiting the design choices for the moon landing. The museum coin press was running when Milton and I were there in July. Next .25 out September 13th, but I will likely not be able to order until Sept. 22 or so. Bring up to 5 coins for the bid board now. We will have board meetings before the regular meeting and vigorously tell people to be quiet so we can conduct business. Contact me with suggestions or topics you would like to see: 815-8625 datbbelliotts@prodigy.net I will be gone for the August meeting and there will be no September newsletter as I will be in Europe on long planned Greece and Italy trip. Early Bird Prize: 1978 mint set won by Gary Meckler. Raffle prizes winners were: Jerry Breedlove:1981 proof set, Georgia mint book, coin holders Ed Scott: 1987 proof set, coin album, coin holders Ken Hopple: chocolate coins Leo Rossow: 1974 mint set, Indian head .01 David Elliott: 50 state quarter album Dave Loder: Barber .25 Jeff Allen: Mercury .10 Thomas Charleton: 2009 .01 roll, steel .01 set mystery box, 2 NV mint state .25 Rick De Avila: Mercury .10, NA$1 set Don Stamps: transportation tokens Bill Naylor: 1998 proof set, 1988 proof set Gary Meckler:2006 mint set Denver, FDR .10, buffalo .05 Bart Daniel: NA $1 set Auctions No auctions Quarter Pot Mike Carolan (not present) won the quarter pot. I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE WHO DONATES TO THE RAFFLE! Upcoming Coin Shows August 12 Fairfield Coin Club Show, Willow Hall, 1000 Kentucky St., Admit: $1, Tables: 25, Bill Bartz 707 688-8014 Movieman8@comcast.net www. solanocoinclub.com August 14-18 ANA World Fair of Money in Philadelphia, 500 dealers www.money.org September 6-8 Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp and Sports Expo, Long Beach Convention Centre, 100 S. Pine Ave, Admit: $8, Tables: 100s, Taryn Warrecker 805 680-0294 TWarrecker@collectors.com www.longbeachexpo.com September 9 Livermore Valley Coin Club Show, Elk's Lodge, 940 Larkspur Drive, Admit: FREE, Tables: 33, Jonathan Mitchell 925 954-5221 jmitchell@neighborhoodam.com September 15 Northern California Numismatic Association Seminar, Why collect these? at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, 734 Marin www. solanocoinclub.com September 21-23 Coin Expo: Santa Clara Coin, Stamps, and Collectibles Show, Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway, Admit: $6, Tables: 76+, Scott Griffin 415 601-8661 scott@griffincoin,com www.griffincoin.com October 12-14 Contra Costa Coin & Collectibles Show, Elk's Lodge, 1475 Creekside Dr., Admit: $3, Tables: 30+, James Laird 925 200-2276 Info@DiabloCoinclub.org www.diablocoinclub.org RCC Officers David Elliott….......... President…........…815-8625 Rusty King..............Vice President......... 677-7057 Doug Larson............Past President..........843-0162 Gerald Breedlove........Treasurer..............425-2967 Andre Azzam ..............Secretary….........338-0707 Laurel Hoggan…..........Librarian..........…223-5096 Joe Wozniak.............…Director….......…853-4223 Ken Hopple ....…..........Director..............677-1544 Shannon Holmes...........Director..............827–4359 Paul Williams…..........ANA Rep..............720-5395 David Elliott...................Editor................815-8625 datbbelliotts@prodigy.net www.renocoinclub.org The Other Coin: Ancient Counterfeits The earliest forms of coinage consisted of gold and silver jewelry as well as gold and silver bars, lumps, and pieces of jewelry and vessels often called hack silver. Small change, usually used to buy daily food, could by definition not be counterfeited, since they were tokens. Where gold and silver were valuable by weight, tokens were fiat money, often of shells or copper. And could be anything cast in metal: Greek fish and arrowhead, Celtic coin, bell wheel, and ring, Roman scallop, and Chinese knife, hoe, key, and cash coins. The Chinese continued the Sumerian tradition of using shells, actual cowrie shells, or one’s made of bone, clay, and cast bronze. Small change continued to be any coin made by anyone. We had Conder tokens, hard time tokens, pieces of eight, and bits of Spanish silver, wampum made of shells, tobacco leaves, colonial coppers: all as small change. The Chinese were unusual in that they had very little silver and expensive things were bought with gold or cartloads of cash coins. The holes in Chinese coins were mandatory, so they could be strung together as larger denominations. Counterfeit coins, then were only truly meant to deceive as gold or silver coins, and began in the 7th century BC when gold could be separated from silver. The early electrum coins of naturally occurring nuggets were manufactured with an ever increasing amount of silver and became the famous white gold coins of the ancient world. Within a few decades of pure silver and gold coins, cast copper, lead or bronze was coated with silver or gold (called fouree) to pass as real coinage, hence the cuts into coins. The exception to this was the so-called limes, meaning border, denarius that was also made from cast bronze to pay troops when silver was not available. The coins were good in camp and could be exchanged for silver when the payroll showed up, Cities and army paymasters also counter stamped coins to tariff them as good in Greek and Roman times. Below a limes denarius of Septimus Severus, a counter stamped Seleucid coin by a city, and a counter marked denarius of Augustus with a legion’s mark. Any bronze coin copy was accepted for small change, copy, foreign, or ancient, so barbarous 2nd century bronzes and copies of Constantine coins (real and 2 copies below) were accepted as real, just as hard time tokens, Conder tokens, and Civil War tokens were accepted in the US for small change. Numismatically yours, David Elliott Numismatic Potpourri The big news is MacDonald’s is celebrating 50 years of the Big Mac with 5 different coins that can be traded in for a Big Mac or collected. There will be 6 million coins issued. Details of the new dollar coin series will include 57 coins, not to be put in circulation, and mintage of only 4 million per coin. The first issue will come out later in 2018. The common obverse design for the series will be dominated by a new Statue of Liberty design (proposals above). The reverse of the 2018 release will include a facsimile of President George Washington’s signature on the very first US patent, which was in the year 1790. Issues two through 57 will honor on the reverse a significant innovation, an innovator, or a group of innovators from each of the 50 states, then for the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories. From 2019 onward, these coins will be issued at the rate of four per year, making this a 15-year program. The quarter series of famous women and our Carson City commemorative are still not approved. Gold and silver have reached new lows thanks to our booming economy and strengthening of the dollar. A Canadian firm used two of its submersibles to locate and identify a 19th-century Imperial Russian warship the Dmitri Donskoi believed to be holding 200 tons of gold worth billions of dollars. The warship sunk off the coast of Korea in 1905, when a naval battle known as the Battle of Tsushima took place during the Russo-Japanese War. Russia gets half of the gold if found, and the rest is divided between US, Canada, and South Korea. Hong Kong’s new anti-counterfeit bills with dynamic shimmering pattern, windowed metallic thread, water mark, fluorescent see-through denomination,embossing, and concealed denomination, so that when the note is tilted under the light, the denomination numeral hidden in the background can be seen. Does this mean their own counterfeiters helped design the bill? The reverse proof mint set sold about half the mintage on 7-23. Still some left. They are striking. The field is frosted and the relief is polished. Jonathan Kirschner, of Moorestown, N.J., sold counterfeit NGC holders since mid-2017 has pleaded guilty to importing counterfeit coins and bars into the U.S. Looking at 15 years in prison. New biography of John Mackay, who hit it rich with the Comstock Lode, the source of silver for coinage for decades on end. The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West by Gregory Crouch. Our Jeff Shevlin has The Annual So-Called Dollar Collectors Pocket Price Guide, Pacific Coast Expositions, 1st Edition, in soft cover, 68-page reference which has all the types illustrated in full color. It is a price guide with SH (Shevlin) numbers cross-referenced with the So-Called Dollars 2nd Edition by Hibler and Kappen (Harold E. Hibler & Charles V. Kappen) $20, the big book is $60. The Continental dollar is in the news. David Bowers notes that not a single reference in print has been found about metal 1776 Continental dollars in circulation in America in 1776 or any time later! He challenged anyone to come up with a reference and to identify the minter EG, whose initials are on many pewter Continental dollars. Dave Bowers can be reached at qdbarchive@metrocast.net EG my have been found by Ed Hohertz. Elias Gervais, a die cutter and mint master in Cologne from 1750-1777. The initials he used were EG and EGF (F or Latin fecit made it). His initials can be seen on the Cologne thalers of 1759 (EGF), 1762 (EG), and of 1777 (EG). His initials also appear on other coins of Cologne and Trier. David Bowers argues the Continental dollar was made in Europe as a souvenir for supporters of the American Revolution. One of 13 Compound Interest Treasury Notes of the $100 denomination came up for auction by Stacks Bowers. Issued to help fund the Civil War, these notes bore interest at the rate of 6% per annum for three years. The notes were only payable at maturity with the bearer being due a total of $119.40 upon redemption. It last sold for $66,000. Washington stands between the Guardian with flag, arms, and cannon, and Justice with shield and scales. Somali and Venezuela currency has become worthless, but inhabitants have taken very different approaches to the problem. Venezuelans have made handcraft artwork and purses from the worthless currency to sell for US and Columbian money while Somalians rely on phones for financial transactions being forced to used bales of cash and wheelbarrows to exchange Somalia cash for a few dollars. Isn’t socialism grand? Newly introduced legislation is calling for the United States Mint to strike square commemorative coins in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the integration of baseball in 2022. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson integrated the National League’s Brooklyn Dodgers and on July 5, 1947, Larry Doby integrated the American League with the Cleveland Indians. These coins would be squar. Reverses would share a common image depicting a baseball diamond. A competition would determine their obverse design will be emblematic of the integration of the game of baseball. Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) has certified the New York Bank Hoard, a group of 16,000 Morgan Dollars that had been stored in sealed US Treasury bags for more than 50 years. The remarkably well-preserved hoard boasts a number of high grade pieces, including 118 that graded NGC MS 67. Eleven different issues were represented: the 1878-S (one bag), the 1880-S (two bags), the 1881-S (one bag), the 1883-O (one bag), the 1884-O(one bag), 1886 (one bag), the 1887 (four bags), the 1888 (one bag) and the 1889 (one bag). The latest recovery of sunken treasure from the legendary "Ship of Gold," the SS Central America, includes six coins that now comprise the finest known "San Francisco Mint denomination set" for $1, $2.50, $3, $5, $10 and $20 gold pieces. All are 1857 except for the $1 coin is 1856. All were found in a safe recovered from the wreck. All MS64+ or better. Charles E. Barber, best known for his Liberty head or Barber nickels, dimes, quarters and half dollars, was Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint from 1880 until 1917. Many believed he was a most disagreeable fellow who didn’t get along with his peers. John Frost, who presented a complete variety set of the 20 cent piece at the CC museum and found the CC die of one variety, was able to meet and visit with two of Barber’s great-grandsons. They shared a wealth of new information about Charles Barber, and also his father William Barber (Chief Engraver from 1869 until his death in 1879). The family has personal possessions of the Barbers that shine a much more positive light on both William and Charles. The best known image of Charles Barber is a grainy group photo from the mint, in which Barber appears as a grumpy old man. We discovered a great painting of him, along with six never-before-seen photographs. The new pictures portray him as a warm and kind family man. Two friends and hobbyist metal detectors gained permission to search the Schiff Natural Lands Trust in Mendham, N.J., in late 2007 and have been working the property since then. It was just this summer when four of the rare Washington inaugural buttons were pulled from the ground. At the time of the nation's first inauguration, military officers wore the buttons to show support for Washington. Only the elite could afford the buttons, which cost about six months' salary. Today, they are even more valuable, especially as a set. Early estimates set the value near $7,500 each. |
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| Back Issues |
Fred Holabird reminds everyone that the club’s large library is housed by him at
3555 Airway Drive #308 (around back as Holabird Americana). Call 851-1859
3555 Airway Drive #308 (around back as Holabird Americana). Call 851-1859
SF set of all five 2013-2017S quarters in case $5
National Park Quarters PDS .50
Presidential, Native American D P $1.25
National Park Quarters PDS .50
Presidential, Native American D P $1.25
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https://renocoinclub.libib.com
2017 S .25 sets, Jim Thorpe $1, and MN loonie .25 here
Bronze Age hoards
