Miami Valley Coin Club

April Meeting Cancelled

Concerns about the Covid-19 outbreak have caused us to cancel our

April 9, 2020 meeting.

Stay Safe! Stay Healthy! See you in June (we hope)!

March Meeting Tonight!

Our club is getting bigger and bigger with great presentations and exciting club auctions with no buyer’s or seller’s fees. Join us and let’s talk

MONEY!!

Paper Money Trivia

Let’s have some fun with U.S. currency trivia. The answers will be revealed at our next club meeting, Thursday March 5th, 2020.

How many “1’s” are on a Series 1935 $1 Silver Certificate?

What was the first U.S. paper currency to have the motto “In God We Trust” on it?

How many paper notes does the Mint print every year? You don’t have to be exact, just close!

Which U.S. colony was the first to issue paper money?

“In God We Trust”: How Much Longer?

I’ve read on an Internet coin forum lately about whether we should keep the motto “In God We Trust” on our coins. Some are of the opinion that the motto should be removed and they have been putting forth legal challenges to do just that. So far these challenges have been unsuccessful. But is it a matter of time before this happens?

The courts so far have decided to write this off as a “tradition” and say that the motto is not really a religious message.

I think one of the real problems is that people want the American way of life as long as it fits their beliefs, traditions, and lifestyles instead of conforming to what American is: the land of the free and the home of the brave. I think that there are many more problems in our country, things like homelessness, quality education, and hungry children. We don’t need to worry about “offending” someone who has nothing better to do than complain about the motto on our money!

It’s just my opinion. Maybe it would be interesting to discuss this topic at our next club meeting on March 5th.

2020 MVCC Coin Show

A Cashless Society?

Will digital commerce spell the end to coins and paper currency? As collectors we certainly hope not. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t think coins and paper money will go away either. Below is an excerpt from last weekend’s edition:

“It turns out that good old-fashioned cash has a constituency—and investors may regret ignoring it. Shares of companies whose fortunes are tied to physical cash in a major way, such as ATM providers like Cardtronics or Diebold Nixdorf, or companies that transfer or protect cash, like Western Union or Brink’s, soared last year. Over the past year through Thursday, those four stocks on average are up 83%. That easily tops the average 39% gain for Mastercard, PayPal, Square and Visa.

Only two countries, Russia and Sweden, had a net substitution of cards for cash from 2007 to 2016, with cash in circulation shrinking as card payments grew…In other countries tracked, including the U.S., both cash demand and card payments have grown.”

Warning to all you online only shoppers:

If and when a major power outage occurs you may as well go to bed because you wont be able to spend your electronic money. And If the power does go out, where can you go shopping anyway? And another thought; do you really want all of your money to be stored digitally on a piece of silicon, one that could be hacked and stolen?

George H. W. Bush Dollar Coin?

In a second attempt, Congress may authorize a coin to be added to the Presidential Dollar Series, that of George H. W. Bush. Last year a bill for the coin was introduced in legislation but neither house of Congress passed the bill. This year a bill for the coin was once again introduced and has been passed by the Senate. We’ll have to wait and see if the bill is brought in front of the House of Representatives and then sent to the President’s desk for signing.

Just when you think you have completed a coin series, a new coin is added.

First Meeting of 2020

Tonight is our first meeting of 2020. This will be our first chance to show off any new Christmas additions to our collections. Come on out and have some fun!

A Man’s Man

He was a champion for small business; he renamed the executive mansion the White House. He was a war hero, doubled the number of national parks and created 16 national monuments. He won a Nobel Prize and helped physically dig the Panama Canal. He was the first President to ride in a car, a plane, and a submarine. Then Theodore Roosevelt started on U.S. coins.

Teddy loved the look of ancient Greek coins. In 1905, at a Washington dinner, Teddy met someone who thought the same way he did about ancient coins, Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Along with Saint-Gaudens and others he began to transform U.S. coins into some of the most beautiful in U.S. history. The cent, the quarter eagle, the half eagle, the eagle, and the double eagle were all redesigned. His only loss in his redesign endeavor was that Teddy didn’t want “In God We Trust” on the coins. Due to public outrage over this, Roosevelt gave in and allowed it.

2019 MVCC Christmas Party

Our Christmas party will be held this Thursday, December 5, at Archer’s Tavern (2030 E. Dorothy Lane) at 7:00pm. Come enjoy the party and toast ole St. Nick. Good food, good talk, good friends, GREAT door prizes! Everyone interested in numismatics is welcome!

Christmas Tradition Origins

The Stockings Were Hung

A widowed man who was worried he could not provide for his three daughters. St. Nicholas heard about the family’s hardships and filled the daughters’ stockings, which were drying by the fire, with gold coins.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Evergreen trees have long been thought to be lucky since they remain green even in the dead of winter. The modern Christmas tree can be traced back to German Lutherans in the 17th century, and they were first seen in the US in Pennsylvania in the 1820s (where many German immigrants settled).

Old Saint Nick Himself

The oldest legend of St. Nicholas dates back to 280 A.D. in modern-day Turkey. As the story goes, a monk named St. Nicholas was generous and kind, giving away his wealth to those in need.

Last Regular Meeting of 2019

Tonight is the last regular meeting of 2019. Come out and talk numismatics and get the final details about our 2019 Christmas party!

What Can A Penny Buy Today?

Most people would say next to nothing and they would usually be right. After all there are no more penny arcades and penny candy is extremely rare. But…

If you had a 1923-S Lincoln cent, graded MS-65+ red by PCGS you would own something worth more than one red cent. At a Legend Rare Coin Auction in Las Vegas a 1923-S sold for $67,562.50.

If you collect Lincoln cents, I suggest you start digging!

Housekeeping

A collector of ancient coins couldn’t wait to show his wife his new addition. She asked him who was depicted on the coin. He told her it was the goddess Venus. She said it looks like a housekeeper with a Hoover in one hand and a dust cloth in the other.

Some people just don’t “get” us crazy coin collectors!

2019 Club Picnic

Our club picnic will be this Sunday, October 13, 2019 at 1:00pm. It will be held at Cranes Run Nature Park, 10741 Dayton Cincinnati Pk (Old Dixie Pk.) Miamisburg, OH 45342. The picnic is open for members and non-members alike. Bring a side dish or a desert to share. I’m sure that the subject of coins will come up some time during the picnic.

Our Next Meeting

Our next meeting is this Thursday, October 3rd. Come and have fun talking coins. Buy and sell paper currency, coins, and all things numismatics. Membership is growing so if you have any friends that may be interested in coin collecting, BRING THEM ALONG!

Hobo Nickels

Hobo nickels are coins that have had their designs modified with carving tools. The most popular coins that were used were Buffalo or Indian Head nickels. They were easy to work with using hand tools and the Indian head provided subject matter that was ripe with possibilities. The most common theme was the transformation of the Indian head into a hobo wearing a derby-like hat.

Hobo nickels vary in quality from very fine to crude and amateurish. Many soldiers returning from World War I were unable to find work and lived a hobo’s life and hitched rides on railroad trains, going from city to city looking for work. Some hobos were skilled enough to work the Indian head nickels during stops and sell them to tourists or locals for a few bucks or a meal. Hence the label “Hobo Nickels” was coined.

This phenomenon of working coins didn’t originate with Buffalo nickels. It began earlier in the late 1800’s with other coins. One of the favorite coins to work over was the U.S. Trade Dollar. These were called “Potty Dollars” and depicted Miss Liberty sitting on a toilet.

The most sought after hobo nickels from the classic period were made by Bertram “Bert” Wiegand, and his protege George Washington “Bo” Hughes. Very few of their coins are signed, but the ones that can be attributed to them bring high prices and signed examples bring very high prices.

I don’t think the nickel pictured above is from the “Classic Era”, but then again, who knows how old Willie really is?

September 2019 Meeting

Our next meeting is just 2 days away!

Meet with friends,

Talk coin collecting,

Show off your newest,

Sell off your extras,

Have a great time!

Not A Bird This Time

Beginning with some of our earliest coins, an eagle was the only animal to appear on a circulating U.S. coin. The depiction of the eagle changed over time, from just an eagle, to a small eagle, to a heraldic eagle, and even a “silver” eagle. In 1856 the Mint engraved a “flying” eagle on the obverse of a one-cent piece, the lowest denomination U.S. coin to have an eagle on it.

In 1913 the Mint placed a buffalo (or bison if you prefer) on the reverse of the five-cent piece. The official name was an Indian Head Nickel but the public called it a Buffalo Nickel. Up until 1999, the buffalo, or bison, was the only animal other than an eagle to ever appeared on a U.S. coin. In 1999 the Delaware quarter showed a rider on a horse on the reverse.

They May Last Longer…But

In order to add a bit of preservation and to make their notes last longer, the Central Bank of Russia is going to coat their $100-ruble notes with varnish.

Think of the possibilities! The US Mint loves different types of finishes on coins: matte, reverse proof, satin, etc. Now they can attempt to extract more money from currency collectors by adding different shades of varnish to our currency.

“Let’s see, give me the clear polyurethane $20 and a couple of orange shellac $10’s please.”

It would also be a boon to the wallet making industry. Just try placing a varnished note into a standard wallet and then fold the wallet closed. Yikes! There goes the saying “how much folding are you holding?”

If this comes to be, President Trump won’t be the only one “colluding” with the Russians!