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SF set of all five 2013-2019S .25 in case $5 National Park Quarters PDS .50 Presidential, Native American D P $1.25 |
Next Meeting: OCTOBER MAYBE??!! CANCELED September 22 Can you beat Sam Dibitonto’s Morgan? Sam will bring his MS Morgans. Bring your best and see if you can beat his. September 25 New Coins at the Museum Upcoming Coin Shows (ALL canceled) San Francisco Ancient Coin Society and LA Ancient Coin Society are meeting on-line with Zoom. Lots of ANA and Newman Portal programs, also You Tube. RCC Officers David Elliott….......... President….......…815-8625 Rusty King..............Vice President......... 677-7057 Doug Larson............Past President..........843-0162 Mary Long..................Treasurer..............247-5796 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 |
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The US government produced so little coinage that foreign coinage circulated freely until 1857. There was not enough currency for trade or commerce, so credit notes, then locally state chartered banks issued paper money from 1800 to 1865. Counterfeiting and the collapse of hundreds of banks during the panics of 1819, 1837, and 1857 made paper currency a necessity of dubious reputation with worthless paper money from failed banks known as “broken bank notes.” People hoarded gold and silver coins, and even copper coinage. Hard Times tokens were minted from 1832-1844 by individuals in response to the disappearance of coins when inflation and the expansion of paper money was compounded with the election of Andrew Jackson and his promised repeal of the Bank of the United States, an early Federal Reserve. Banks no longer exchanged gold and silver coins for paper money. Most Hard Times tokens could be used as substitutes for the large one cent coin. Businesses, advertisements, and other varieties were made to resemble legitimate currency, featuring a similar Liberty head to the standard large cent on one side and a reverse reading “Not One Cent.” There were also political or satirical issues, usually featuring commentaries on Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Seward, or Daniel Webster. Champions of Andrew Jackson made one token and detractors used imagery of a lock box and a donkey marked with “LLD” to represent Andrew Jackson, implying the President was a jackass and ridiculing his honorary law degree from Harvard. He vetoed the Bank of the United States bill and took responsibility for locking up all the gold and silver. Daniel Webster promoted the restoration of the bank and credit system guaranteed by the United States while Martin Van Buren wanted to continued the system of state banks and gold and silver currency. |
Abolitionists messages were placed on hard time tokens illustrated with an image of a slave bound in chains encircled by text reading, “Am I Not A Woman, Man & A Sister, Brother?” Store tokens, also called trade tokens, or store cards, featured advertisements for goods, services, and inventions, and are the most numerous types. There is a design for a wood planer, Peacock’s jewelry store where time is money, and a button store, wrapping itself in Americana and awards. There are man stores from several states. There are both Standard Catalogs and Guide Books for these tokens as well as the broken bank notes that often have wonderful 19th century engravings. Lots of information on line as well. |
Ursula Kampmann in an article The Gold Standard: How and Why Gold Became the Most Important Metal For Coins relates the story of the fluctuating values of gold and silver as a commodity depending on large discoveries of either metal, but giving gold an edge as an inflationary hedge. For centuries, silver was the preferred metal across the world when it came to coins and savings. In the 19th century that changed. It actually all started with Isaac Newton, or rather, with the huge gold deposits discovered in Brazil, and the trouble they caused him. These finds pushed down the price of gold in such a way that the established mint ratio between gold and silver coins had to be constantly recalculated. Even Isaac Newton, who was, at the time, master of the Royal Mint in the Tower of London failed to keep up with these developments. In his final adjustment in 1717, he valued the silver coins too highly. This effectively caused them to disappear from circulation. California and other gold rushes, our own Comstock load made silver an inflationary metal and gold a deflationary metal, such that world governments (creditors) preferred gold and debtors preferred silver, so debtors could pay debts with money of ever decreasing value. Gold became a world standard until after WWI when paper money set inflationary rates from 3% to 10,000% or more as in Venezuela now and Russia and other places not so long ago. Fun error coins a die cap error where a coin gets stuck on a die and gets smashed on other coins and a war nickel on a penny blank. The Confederate Treasury included a large quantity of Mexican silver 8 reales coins. At the war's end the Treasury was shipped south from Richmond by rail, and along the way Confederate notes were redeemed for silver coin at the rate of 70 to 1. The remaining coins were paid out to escorting troops. Some of the coins were kept as souvenirs of the war and later engraved. Oak Tree Massachusetts shilling sold by Heritage for $161,000 along with many other rarities like 1894S dimes, 1795 dollar. |
With more people staying home, buying less and shifting their spending online, the natural flow of pocket change through banks, restaurants and retail stores has dried up. For its part, the US Mint is actually on track to produce more coins this year than it has in almost two decades, having ramped up production to fill the void. Like everything else about this pandemic, the coin shortfall is unprecedented, at least for modern times. Making more coins does not put them in circulation if no one wants to handle them. I have found some new 2020 quarters, but no Ws yet. Current favorite design for the Christa McCauliffe 2021 medal. She is the teacher that died on the Challenger shuttle. Aluminum brothel token from The Roost in Goldfield, Nevada. |
Robert added to his Comitia Americana collection with a superb Anthony Wayne at Stony Point Medal from John Adams collection (I got a couple of ancients from the presidents collection) Obverse: The goddess America or Columbia with a headdress and of tobacco leaves with alligator at her feet and a Union shield is at her feet. She holds a crown in one hand and extends a laurel wreath to Wayne. The general stands at right, holding his tricorn. In the exergue beneath them, COMITIA AMERICANA, while the periphery reads ANTONIO WAYNE DUCI EXERCITUS or "Anthony Wayne, General of the Army." Reverse: An expansive battle scene, with the Hudson River at the right horizon and a stone fortress. Troops climb the mountain. An artillery battery appears in the right foreground. Seven masted ships appear in the distance below a cloudy sky.“Stony Point stormed by force” (expugnatum) 15 July 1779 (mdcclxxix). |
ANA has put an online exhibit exploring the period starting with the reign of Charles I and the English Civil Wars to the first years of the restored British monarchy under Charles II, through the coins, medals, people and objects associated with Oliver Cromwell. A display of part of the Geoffrey Cope Collection, one of the finest collections of coins from this period, to help tell the story of this turbulent time in English history. https://www.money.org/money-museum/virtual-exhibits/cromwell Whitman Encyclopedia of Colonial and Early American Coins, second edition, by Q. David Bowers. The 352 page hardcover book for $49.95. Kenneth A. Sheedy and Gillan Davis (editors), Metallurgy in Numismatics 6. Mines, Metals, and Money: Ancient World Studies in Science, Archaeology and History, 326pp., 396 illus., 23 studies on geology and mining in ancient Greece, the manufacture and metallurgy of ancient Greek coins and the analysis and conservation of these coins. Cool Canadian coins circulating $2 WWII commemorative based on WWII nickel bimetal and painted or not. Also the first Canadian on the shuttle craft gets a trimetal coin of brass, copper nickel, and bronze. California fractional gold half dollar expected to sell for over $10,000 features California seal and Assay Office eagle. Graded MS65 by NGC. |
Final design for the Mayflower 400th anniversary will be sold with the British Mayflower coin. Both silver rounds. The US medal features a Mayflower family bracing against the cold and windy weather, foreshadowing their coming hardships under socialism of each according to their abilities and according to their needs (The economic idea of the Mayflower Compact), which lead no one to farm and everyone looking for gold expecting the other guy to feed him. The Mayflower Compact politically promoted democracy or the "civil body politick." The ship is anchored in the harbor, and a pair of mayflower blossoms flank the design. Reverse depicts Wampanoags "people of the dawn" planting crops. |
After the Last Cancelled Meeting Everything September is cancelled. Trump rally in Reno, but no churches are open due to Sisolak’s orders. No one expressed interest in Zoom and a large GSR room is expensive. The ANA, Newman Portal, LA and SF ancient Zoom programs have been good, especially the ANA. Everything is recorded and available. Robert Rodriguez had a Newman Portal program on the silver center cent. Not up online yet, although his books and earlier programs are available and free. The US mint is gearing up with Vermont .25 September 21 and CT $1 Sept. 29. The Bush $1 is also being scheduled, but no word on Barbara’s bronze medal though. The uncirculated set with W nickel is scheduled for November 30. The museum is running the press from 11AM-3PM on Saturdays, but still doesn’t want me. Have the Salt River Mangrove tree .25. Las Vegas has opened up for dealers only coin shows through PCGS. We have to wait for the vacine, I guess. I HAVE SOLD 18 OF THE 40 $10 TICKETS FOR THE 1884 CC BOXED DOLLAR RAFFLE. Please mail me a check at 2845 Edgewood Drive, Reno 89503 for your chance to win. Coin drawn as soon as I have sold 40 tickets. Let me know how you are doing, so I can tell everyone. Stay safe. Contact me with any ideas or problems: 775 815-8625 datbbelliotts@prodigy.net Treasurer’s report: Minimal activity, especially since we had no monthly meeting due to COVID-19. Income was $80 for our coin raffle. Normal expenses were paid for the newsletter, our website, and bank fees. |
SF set of all five 2013-2019S .25 in case $5 National Park Quarters PDS .50 Presidential, Native American D P $1.25 |