July 2004 Bulletin * Early Web Edition
Numismatic Energy = MC3 !
Next Meeting: Tuesday, July 13, 2004
The Montgomery County Coin Club will meet on the second
Tuesday of the month, 13 July 2004, 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 for the July meeting is a talk
by MCCC Secretary Jack Schadegg. Jack will tell the numismatic story of
the French frigate Le Chameau which sank in storm off the coast of Nova Scotia
in October 1725. The August MCCC guest speaker is tentively
scheduled to be Daniel Carr of
DesignsComputed LLC.
Mr. Carr designed the New York and Rhode Island commemorative state quarters.
He is also the developer of "virtual sculptor" software with which he
created those and many other coin patterns.
On the evening of 8 June 2004 the Montgomery County Coin Club was called to order
at ~7:24pm. Approximately 30 people were in attendance, including
two YNs (Young Numismatists). Two visitors made themselves known this month:
- Roger Lathbury of Alexandria, Virginia --- a long-time collector
who came to the MCCC via member Jerry Grzenda, in the context of Roger's
quest for a dubloon
mentioned in Chapters 36 and 99 of Herman Melville's Moby Dick; and
- Kent Finnicum of Gaithersburg, Maryland --- who discovered the MCCC via
members Ken Glickman and Henry Adler, and who collects Indian Head cents and
Morgan dollars.
Announcements
MCCC Treasurer Simcha Kuritzky reported that Club finances remain sound.
Simcha reminded members of the Will Mumford talk at the upcoming Baltimore coin
show, 5pm on Saturday, July 10.
(For complete details, see the final section of this
Bulletin.) Simcha also reported that the featured speaker at the
Washington Numismatic Society's annual Pot Luck dinner will be Michael
White of the US Mint.
Exhibits
The MCCC display case in June featured some fascinating material:
- Simcha Kuritzky showed a high-precision scale useful in
weighing coins. He showed two gold fantasy coins: a 1962
Netherlands piece featuring King David and King Solomon, and
another token featuring Israeli symbology. Simcha also exhibited
two medals, Hebrew amulets based on The Key of Solomon,
a neo-Pagan magic book. The medals have inscriptions in an ancient Hebrew
alphabet.
- Lena Scorza, newly returned from a visit to Bulgaria,
displayed a coin commemorating the Bulgarian nation's new
membership in NATO (2 April 2004), and another Bulgarian cupronickel
coin with a enamel coat of arms in color. Lena also showed other recent
Bulgarian coinage and discussed the Palm Sunday "Name Day" tradition.
- Herb Hall showed items related to the Lewis and Clark
Expedition, including stamps and a silver dollar.
- Roger Lathbury exhibited his US large cent collection
and a $500 bill which he bought for face value; it features a portrait
of President William McKinley. Roger also displayed a set of counterfeit
pieces which he acquired in the 1950s, including fake Morgan dollars,
a gold-plated 1883 Liberty nickel, and a purported 1876 Trade dollar.
- Jerry Grzenda exhibited President Ronald Reagan inaugural
medals from 1981 and 1985, in silver, bronze, and gold. Jerry also
showed coinage of the Philippines with the Reagan likeness on them,
and in honor of the anniversary of D-Day showed French, UK, and
US commemorative D-Day coinage. In recognition of the recent opening
of the World War II Memorial in Washington DC, Jerry displayed
a bronze badge dated "June 4, 2004" and showed with it June 1904
material from the first Olympic Games.
- Ken Swab exhibited corroded coins that demonstrate the vulnerability
of copper-clad zinc cents, which began to be minted in 1982. Ken also
showed material from a US Congressional hearing held on March 31, 1981,
the day after Ronald Reagan was shot in an attempted assassination attempt.
Be sure to bring in some of your own numismatic items next month to share
with your fellow Club members!
Ken Glickman on "The Millennium Lemon"
This month's featured speaker was MCCC member Ken Glickman,
who reported on an adventure which he had beginning approximately
four years ago. A friend of Ken's arranged for a private tour of
the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) on 28 June 2000.
The tour concluded at the BEP's store, where Ken saw a new product
for sale, the "Premium Mlllennium Federal Reserve Set". These sets
of $2 bills included one from each of the twelve Federal Reserve
Banks, with serial numbers beginning "2000..." Only 2,000 of such
sets were for sale, at a price of $495 each, with serial numbers
ending in digits 0001 through 2000. Individual notes
were also available, with serial numbers ending in 2001 - 9999.
Ken's interest was piqued when he saw in the BEP store's display case a sample
set of these notes. He asked the teller whether he could buy that set,
and eventually was allowed to do so. It had bills with serial numbers
ending in "2001". Was it an error?
When Ken got the set home he checked it and discovered that the color of
the notes was wrong, and that the bills were bright white on the back.
Ken called the BEP and discovered that they had sold him a display
reproduction. The Bureau agreed to to replace them with a proper set
of notes, and at Ken's request got for him the autograph of Mary Ellen Withrow
(Treasurer of the United States) and Thomas A. Ferguson (Director
of the BEP).
So, by virtue of his patience and the kindness of the BEP, Ken reported
that he was able to "make lemonade out of lemons" and ended up with a
fine set of US notes --- regardless of any arguments as to whether the new
millennium began in 2000 or 2001.
Door Prizes & Gold Raffle
The door prize table was run this month by Willy Massey.
The prizes included:
- a 15 cent bag of 1973 P-D-S cents from the US Mint
- a George Washington token
- a proof-like 1982 Canadian set of coins
The gold raffle prize this month was a 1976 proof "$100"
coin from Trinidad & Tobago containing 0.0998 ounces of the
precious metal.
Gold raffle tickets sell for $1 each, or six for $5.
Door prize winners this month were Ken Glickman,
YN Andy Luck,
and Frank Palumbo.
The Gold Raffle was won by Bob Truman.
Congratulations to all!
The Bison Chip drawing named (lucky!) Ken Glickman, giving him
one "leg" toward the three necessary to get a prize.
Remember, you must be present when your name is called in
order to win a Bison Chip.
The May 2004 MCCC meeting adjourned at ~9:12pm, following an
active auction led by Ken Swab.
Willard Mumford at the MSNA Education Forum
Willard Mumford has agreed to be the featured speaker at the Education Seminar
during the Maryland State Numismatic Association's
Berg Show. The talk will be at 5pm on Saturday July 10.
The title is "Digging for the Chalmers' Mint".
Colonel Mumford will present an account of his experience in conducting an
archaeological dig at No. 10 Cornhill Street, Annapolis, Maryland, which for
many years has been the legendary mint of John Chalmers. Some believe that
it was in this basement that the colonial silversmith, John Chalmers minted
the first silver coins in the United States of America. While digging, Will
found some interesting artifacts and a very rare Chalmers' threepence.
Does this prove that No. 10 Cornhill was the first mint in the United
States? Col. Mumford will share his conclusions with the audience.
Willard R. Mumford is the current chairman of the Anne Arundel County Trust
for Preservation. He is the past president of the Maryland Association for
Higher Education, the Maryland State Numismatic Association and the Ann
Arundell County Historical Society. Will served as the Chairman of the
Engineering and Technologies Division at Anne Arundel Community College
from 1981 to 1992 and is a retired Lt. Colonel from the United States Air
Force. He has presented over 300 programs on Maryland history and
numismatics and currently serves as the editor of the Civil War Token
Society Journal and the Journal of the Maryland Tokens and Medals Society.
Colonel Mumford has actively participated as a volunteer archaeologist in
Anne Arundel County since 1983 working on numerous sites in the Lost Towns
Project. He teaches a course on Anne Arundel County History for Anne
Arundel Community College and is a numismatist specializing in the coins
and currency of early America. Will has published numerous articles and has
written two books on local history, Strawberries, Peas and Beans: Truck
Farming in Anne Arundel County and Barter, Bits, Bills and Tobacco: the
Story of Money in Early Maryland.
Will Mumford has a B.S. degree in education from the University of
Maryland, a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Southern Methodist
University and a M.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A & M
University.
Comments and Feedback
The MCCC online archives, including all issues of the online Bulletin
since January 1997 are now relocated to the new MCCC domain,
http://www.montgomerycoinclub.org/, where they are available for reference.
Please send bug reports and suggestions for improvement to
"z (at) his.com" (and see also http://zhurnal.net/, esp. http://zhurnal.net/NumismaticRamblings).
The MCCC Bulletin is copyright © 2004 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.