DOUBLE SHIFT
A PUBLICATION OF THE GREATER HOUSTON COIN CLUB
P. O. Box 2963. Houston, Texas 77252-2963
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Incorporated under the laws of the State of Texas:
June, 1971 ====================================================================================
August 2006 Meeting
The regular monthly meeting of the GHCC will be held on
Thursday, August 17th, at the Fair Haven United Methodist Church,
1330 Gessner. There will be a normal
Business Meeting with short Show & Tell,
Officer and Committee Reports, and Door Prize drawings. We will also have a short review of the
Money Show. At this date, no one has
volunteered to bring the meal to this meeting, so there will be no meal. We still need dinner volunteers for most of
the upcoming months. Please consider
donating your time to this effort. The
normal meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m.
An auction of numismatic items will begin ten minutes after the meeting
is adjourned. There is an opportunity
to set up items for a mini-bourse before the meeting. An auction follows the meeting.
Coin
of the Month – Any Token Gathering Begins about 6:00 p. m.
Jonathan Breedlove Presents
“
Counterfeiting U.S. Currency ”
Calendar
Snapshot
August 13th Directors Meeting at Fair Haven, 2:00 P.M. --note shift of a week from usual timing
August 17th GHCC regular monthly meeting at Fair Haven
September 3rd Directors Meeting at Fair Haven, 2:00 P.M.
September 12th The Numismatic Lunch Bunch will meet for lunch at The 59 Diner located at 10407 Katy Fwy, approximately two miles southwest of Fair Haven U.M.C. The new 59 Diner is in the Town & Country area. This is a Dutch treat event and is open to anyone interested in numismatics, although the conversations may not even include numismatics. For a good time, show up around 11:30 a.m. and feel free to bring a friend. For more information, call Richard Laster at 713-468-3276.
September 21st GHCC regular monthly meeting at Fair Haven
The DOUBLE SHIFT is sent to GHCC members monthly,
giving those unable to attend meetings information on the activities of the club. It is also sent to clubs across the nation
on an exchange basis. Information and
articles may be taken from this publication and used in other publications,
giving credit to the DOUBLE SHIFT.
Further information about the GHCC or the Money Show of the Southwest
may be obtained from the club’s web site at http://www.houstoncoinclub.org.
A
Perspective on Collecting . .
. words from the President
The thoughts of all the members of the GHCC are with Richard
as we grieve with him on the passing of his mother.
We look forward to the return of his traditional President’s Letter next month.
Regards and God Bless . . . . . Richard
Announcements:
If you have been remiss in sending in your GHCC dues, it is time to
renew your Greater Houston Coin Club
membership. They can be paid at the August meeting or
can be mailed to the GHCC at Box 2963, Houston, 77252. Dues are $15 for adults ($25 for a couple),
$6 for junior members (ages 11-17), and $2 for associate members (10 and
younger). Please also consider
bringing a potential new member to the club meeting with you.
Please consider volunteering to prepare a pre-meeting meal and doing a
program during 2006. Most months are
available for either or both. Tell
John Barber for meals and Sebastian Frommhold for programs.
The GHCC has acquired by gift from the Dallas Coin
Club some copies of the DVD “S.S.
Republic” by Odyssey Marine Exploration.
You can have one to borrow and view or have one permanently for your own
library by asking John Barber – two copies left at this point.
Future Educational Presentations
August - SA Jonathan Breedlove,
US Secret Service "Counterfeiting US Currency" - Beyond executive
protection, one of the many duties of the Secret Service is to prevent the use
and production of counterfeit currency. Special Agent Jonathan Breedlove will
discuss the security devices in our current currency, and the actions that the
Secret Service takes to protect the integrity of our money. The USSS is also
becoming involved with Identity Theft, so expect a discussion along those lines
as well.
September - John Herbert
"The First Coins" - A few meetings ago, Carl asked "What was the
first coin?". That question started a brief discussion, and prompted John
Herbert to consider this presentation. With his vast knowledge of history, archaeology,
and numismatics, this should be a great trip into the past to look at the first
coins as we have never considered them, and the first coins as we know them.
October - John Barber "US
Cents - First to Last" - The most commonly collected coin in the US is the
Lincoln cent. And most are familiar with some of the changes to the cent as it
went through its life since the 1790's. Now we will get a comprehensive
review of the series. Since we have all been amazed at the scholarship that
John has done for his previous presentations, and the quality of the coins
shown has always been superior, I am quite confident when I say that this will
be amazing. John has mentioned that we might even get a little peek into the
future of the cent. Be there, and get your cent's worth.
Minutes from the July Meeting
Following an informal gathering of GHCC members and guests beginning about 6:00, Richard Laster called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. There were 39 attendees including guests Soi Truong and the sisters Andie, Ashley, and Allie Stone.
Brian Holland gave a short sequel to his fine presentation at the June meeting on Justinian II. The update featured two long-sought additions to the collection – gold solidi of Constans II (no emperor name on coin) and Constantine IV.
Show & Tell:
Sebastian Frommhold – reviewed birthdays in his family, noting that this would have been the 110th for his grandpa. He showed souvenirs of WWI -- an Iron Cross of the Bavarian Grenadiers (Bundes Verdienst Kreuz) and an August Medal (Purple Heart equivalent). Later, Germany awarded the grandpa its highest peacetime award for his union work.
Tom Bermel -- showed a 1921-S Lincoln Cent in a PCGS slab MS-66, noting that this is the only 1921-S slabbed MS-66 thus far by a major service (Pop. 1 coin).
Claude Mathes – noted he started his collecting with nickels, and early-on obtained a plastic type set holder. He said he just recently completed it. Nice, eye-appealing coins were in it.
Alvin Stern – went to a coin shop in the Philippines on a business trip to Manila. His pass-around tray included early 20th century coins from the time of U.S. administration there. He also had a nice looking “Rolex” watch obtained from a shop “where what’s not legal is sold”.
John Barber -- passed around a frame containing an ANA convention medal and ribbon from the Denver meet in 1963 which he obtained last month in the YN benefit auction at Summer Seminar. John explained that the Denver 1963 convention was the first ANA which he had attended. He also brought a couple of coins purchased there and offered to sell them now at 1963 prices (no takers on 1954 S cents or 1950 D nickels).
Bruce Burton – showed an impressive book on Romanian Numismatics Vol 3 (of 9 vols.) published in the 1970s. Since the book was in Romanian, Bruce said he looks for pictures.
John Dub – showed World Cup Euro Commemoratives.
The Show & Tell prize drawing was won by Sebastian Frommhold.
Jack Pavolvic gave a 40 minute educational presentation on “Finding Coins With a Metal Detector”. He explained that there have been a lot of technological improvements made in detectors in recent years. The equipment now gives a fairly reliable reading on what the target is and how deeply it is buried.
Jack showed a case of his finds – dozens of them. He invited all who are interested to attend a meeting of his metal detector club. Next meeting is August 1st at Dillards Ford Mall. Jack supplemented his own experiences with a VHS film on detector operations by Garrett Metal Detectors. Questions and Answers centered on what model detector Jack runs and what are the minimum features to look for in a new detector.
Gail Brichford and Pat Macken are members of a Lions Club which supports camps for physically handicapped children. One of the activities for the children is searching through a sand pile for coins which have been “salted” there. If you’d like to send a contribution of cash or (nonvaluable) coins to support this effort, address your package to “Amber” at Texas Lions Club, 4100 San Antonio Hwy, Kerrville TX 78028. GHCC donated the proceeds from some auction items at the July meeting to this effort.
Treasurer’s Report: Francis Townsend reported the Club balances are in good shape with two active accounts at Encore and one dormant at Sterling with total current balances (including checking account) near $83,000. But there are current expenses which will require disbursements soon, and this balance includes deposits for next January’s MSSW.
Carl Schwenker presented a short update on the status of preparations for the January show, saying tables were selling well. The club received donations from Encore, Krause, and Heritage in support of MSSW06.
Michael Wolford noted the Bellaire show is coming Aug 5-6. He solicited donations of material for the YN auctions. Volunteers are also needed for setup Aug 4th and to help at the door during public hours Saturday and Sunday.
Door prizes were won by Claude Mathes and Richard Laster. Eve Barber won the Coin-of-the-Month drawing (Sacagawea Dollars). She named “any token” for next month.
Meeting adjourned at 8:32 pm.
Auction was called by Alvin Stern with Sebastian Frommhold, Claude Mathes, Barney Loebe, and Margaret Townsend as runners.
Auction door prize was won by Bill Watson.
We are indebted to Dr. John H. MacMillan for providing the following
Guest Article and permission to print it here. Your
Editor would love to include similar submissions from local GHCC members!
Opportunity lost, my encounter with
the 1955 “double shift” cent
By John H.
MacMillan
Dear John:
As the Houston Coin club was founded in 1955, the “double die” year, I
thought the membership might like to hear the true story of my encounter with a
55 double die. In 1955 I was an 11 year old boy that had already been
introduced to coin collecting by my grandfather, who gave me old Indian pennies
or severely worn large cents on our annual visit from eastern Massachusetts to
Illinois. As you know, eastern Mass was one of the areas where 55 double dies
were introduced. I had my Whitman penny board, which all collectors had at the
time, and I filled it with my father’s change. To get new “pennies” I would
break open the cellophane on his packs of Camel cigarettes. In 1955 a pack was
22 cents and so when a quarter was dropped into the machine, the pack came out
with 3 “pennies” inside the cellophane. One day on breaking the pack I noticed
that one of the three pennies was “fuzzy”. This amazing error was and is
obvious to any man in the street, and requires no magnifying glass. An awesome
“box office” coin if there ever was one. My father was a leather worker who had
no knowledge of coin errors, so he said I should put one of the “perfect” cents in my album, which I dutifully
did, as all 50’s boys obeyed their “old man”.
The blazing full red 55 double die was spent, as were nearly all of this
issue, as no publicity occurred on these at first, and interest was tepid for a
couple of years after their release. Of
course had I kept it and were able to preserve it as seen then it would be
worth a cool 15 grand or more. By 1960 I was far more coin savvy, and bitterly
remembered my earlier lost opportunity. In 1960 the cigarette pack was up to 23
cents (inflation!) so on examination as usual I found two 1960 “small date”
cents, which due to widespread
publicity in the media, I saved. Unfortunately these are now worth 10 bucks, as
opposed to 15 grand! Such are the hard learning experiences of a young
collector. Tell any young collectors you meet, if you find anything “weird” or
different in change, no matter how seemingly insignificant, save it!
As
an added twist, I ended up moving to the Philadelphia area in 1972 and marrying
a Philly girl. She vividly remembers hurricane Diane socking Philadelphia in
1955. The resulting cent shortage resulted in the mint officials releasing
these coins, already mixed with regular cents. Who would notice anyway?
Since my collecting interests diverged from Lincoln cents, and the price of the 55 double die
skyrocketed , my hole in a later Whitman cent board that included this issue
remains unfilled. Someday I will fill it, but never with a MS-65 full red!
UPCOMING
SHOWS
August 5-6 Bellaire
Coin Club Show. Bellaire Civic
Center, 7000 So. Rice.
August 16-20
American Numismatic Association
at Denver
Questions
for Dr. Coyne:
1)
In a date set of U.S. regular issue silver dollars, which
are the most difficult to obtain?
2) What is the first coin pictured in the “Red Book”?
3) Why can’t collectors find any repunched mint marks on U.S. coins from recent years?
4) What makes a proof coin different from a business strike?
Pot Luck
Dinners
Did you know that our members provide the potluck dinners and the club
reimburses them for the difference between their cost and the donations that
the diners put into the collection pot?
The reimbursement is limited to a reasonable amount, but the donations alone
usually cover the full costs of the meals.
We’ve had some great meals already in 2006, but we are now looking for volunteers to provide the meals for
later months in 2006. If you enjoy the
dinners provided each month and you have not volunteered to provide the dinner
in the last 6-12 months, please consider serving as a dinner volunteer for one
month in 2006. We especially need
volunteers for the next few months.
Please let John Barber know if you would like to volunteer.
April GHCC Thanks Thomas Cooper (Jeff McClusky helping)
May GHCC Thanks Alvin Stern
June GHCC Thanks Pat and Carl
Schwenker
July GHCC Thanks Millie and Doyle Brown
August Volunteer needed.
September Margaret and Francis Townsend.
October Volunteer needed.
November Volunteer needed.
Dr. Coyne responds:
1)
Among the regular issue U.S. silver dollars, the 1794 commands the
highest price and is available from the smallest surviving population (some say 100-125 pieces). The 1851 would be a close second. We need to exclude the famous 1804 and the
1884 and 1885 Trade Dollars as they are not “regular issues”. For many years numismatists called the
Gobrecht Dollars of 1836 and 1839 patterns and not regular issues, but in the last decade new research has
shown originals of these dates were released to circulation from reported
mintages of 1600 and 300. 
2) For all editions of “A Guide Book of United States Coins” (the “Red Book”) from the first (1947 )
through the 58th (2005), the
first coin pictured is a Pillar Dollar
-- the Spanish Colonial 8 Reales.
This coin was the pattern for our own U.S. silver dollar in the Mint Act
of 1792, and the coins circulated
freely in the United States until 1857.
Much Colonial currency was payable in “Spanish Milled Dollars”. They form an interesting, collectible
series today.
3) At some point in the 1990s, the U.S. mint changed its
process. Traditionally, all dies to
be used by branch mints were hand-stamped with the appropriate mintmark at
Philadelphia and then shipped to the branch.
Since adequately impressing the letter into the die sometimes required
more than one stroke with the hand punch, if the workman was not precise in
aligning his repeated strokes, a repunched mintmark was visible on the finished
coins made from that die. The same
hand process led to variations in the positioning of the mintmark. Beginning in the late 1990s, the mint
began engraving the mintmark as part of the master die, and thus after that
time, no more positional variations or repunched mintmarks were possible. This ‘improvement’ was brought about by
using new equipment which could replicate dies with a ‘single squeeze’ and by
the Mint’s continuing trend to make our coins in lower and lower relief.
4) A proof coin differs from business strike issues of the same
design in its method of manufacture.
Some would say that ‘proof’ is a better condition than ‘uncirculated’, but
that’s not true. A proof coin is
‘better’ because more care was taken in the preparation of the dies, the press applied more pressure during the
striking, the planchets received more preparation and care, and the finished
coins were more carefully handled than business strikes. The key difference is the slower (usually
on a hydraulic press) striking using at least 50% more pressure than typical
business strikes receive. This brings
out all the design details intended by the engraver. Proof coins also usually
receive more than one impression from the dies.
Secretary’s Editorial Page
(Views
here may not reflect the views of the GHCC or its other officers)
“THERE’S MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE”
This month there’s no “rant” about slabs. Pure numismatics this time…..
Come with me as we explore what at first seems to be that most common and unexciting year of U.S. silver dollars… 1921. Even fairly new collectors are likely to know that there are two basic designs … the 1921 Morgans and the 1921 Peace Dollars. But closer inspection of the coins themselves will show that neither of these two silver sentinels are true members of their long-running series of earlier or later dated coins. They are cousins at best.
The 1921 Morgan dollar was never intended to be. The traditional series had ended after the coinage of 1904, and many millions were in stock at the mints and at banks, with no foreseeable demand for additional coinage. The means for making easy additions to the series (die replication tools called master matrices) had been destroyed in 1910. But national politics intervened, and with passage of the Pittman Act in 1918, the treasury was instructed to melt almost all standard silver dollars on hand. In 1918-20, some 270 million hit the melting pot. But in a seemingly wasteful step, Congress instructed that the silver (plus mandated new purchases) be used to coin millions more silver dollars. The mandated amounts were so large that the Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Denver mints were to be largely diverted from making other denominations to produce record quantities of new silver dollars. But first, where were the dies to come from? With the old tools gone, George T. Morgan was forced to cut new dies from scratch, being guided only by looking at one of his earlier models (likely the 1878 style). The 1921 results are in lower relief and not as nice looking as the earlier coins.
The combined 1921 mintage of Morgans blows away records of all earlier years. Indeed, this is one of the most common coins in high grade in collector hands today from the early 20th century. It has been easily available at not much over silver value since the time of issue. Indeed your scribe recalls his disappointment when a trip to the Cheyenne bank to get a bag of dollars to sort turned out to be all 1921 D. They all got a return trip to the bank – none retained.
Because your scribe in those days was focused on filling out date/mint sets, it was only later that the numismatic trail led to study of some lesser-known and today VERY attractive other 1921 Morgan dollars: The “Zerbe” and “Chapman” proof coins. These were stuck in separate batches and delivered to “friends of the Mint” as favors due to the influence of Ferran Zerbe and Henry Chapman. Opinions vary, but the quality of the Zerbe ‘proofs’ does not measure up to that of traditional proofs of earlier years, and some say that the Zerbe ‘proofs’ are just carefully handled circulation strikes. The Chapman proofs, on the other hand, do seem to be of better quality.
The second major class of 1921 dollars, the Peace dollar, represents a major break with tradition. The design, by Anthony de Francisci, noted artist of the time, was submitted at least partly as a response to pressure by Mr. Ferran Zerbe, and important numismatist and coin dealer of the time. The design did not come from the U.S. mint engraving staff, as had almost all prior U.S. silver coin designs. Furthermore, the design style was like nothing else. It was in high relief, like a medal, following in the immortal footsteps of Augustus St. Gaudens on the gold coins of 1907. The dies were not basined in the same way as Morgan dollars. (This is why there are no deep mirror proof likes to collect in the Peace dollar series).
Alas, the high relief Peace dollars of 1921 were to suffer the same fate as the high relief $20 gold pieces of 1907. The mints had difficulty getting the coins to strike up fully. The ‘fix’ was to let mint staff alter the artist’s conception and drastically lower the relief. The production run of 1922 (and all later years) of the Peace dollars are a different sub-type than the 1921 versions. Collectors today avidly seek any 1921 Peace dollar, but they especially value examples showing full details. Despite the mintage of just over one million, not many seem to have been saved by the public in pristine condition.
As with the 1921 Morgan, the early Peace dollar has two very scarce proof counterparts. Collectors have seen a few specimens dated 1922, but prepared in the high relief style of 1921. These show perfect details, have broad rims, and are clearly proof strikings, but have matte (not mirror) fields. A small number of low-relief proofs of 1922 also exist.
We have in the GHCC a wealth of experience and diversity. One of the potential great benefits of membership and participation at monthly meetings is the opportunity to grow and learn, and at the same time have a great time doing it! We don’t have to criticize another member’s ‘style’ of collecting to learn something valuable from it. An open mind is one of the best tools for
moving along the path from accumulator to collector to numismatist.
John Barber
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Meeting Reminders
·
Bring your token (any kind) to participate in the
coin of the month drawing.
·
Bring an item and a MAXIMUM 3-minute story for Show
and Tell.
·
Consider volunteering to bring dinner for a meeting
and sign-up with John Barber.
·
Bring a guest to the next meeting.
GHCC EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
President
Richard Laster 713-468-3276 rlaster@fairhavenumc.org
Vice-President Sebastian Frommhold 281-655-8985 drechemist@aol.com
Secretary John Barber 281-363-9279 numis32@aol.com
Treasurer Francis Townsend 979-285-9575 fet.dod@juno.com
Director Ricardo de Leon 713-805-5595 ricardodel@aol.com
Director Carl Schwenker 281-586-9727 texascoins@houston.rr.com
Director
Alvin Stern 281-498-7505 cosmetex85@yahoo.com
Director Gail Brichford gbrichford@AOL.com
Director/Webmaster Odis Wooten odis@msn.com
Director
Emeritus Bernard Loebe 713-329-9629 barven@houston.rr.com
And ANA representative
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The
MONEY SHOW of THE SOUTHWEST, January 26-28, 2007
Chairman Carl Schwenker
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