Miami Valley Coin Club

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!

2021 Silver Dollars?

A House Bill was introduced in July to authorize the production of a 2021-CC Morgan Dollar and a 2021-P Peace Dollar. The amount of each type was not disclosed, however the total mintage of the two would be 500,000 coins.

The Morgan would be struck in either Denver or San Francisco using an old press from the Carson City Mint. The Peace Dollar would obviously be struck in Philadelphia. The Bill also says that the Peace Dollar would be struck in high relief, just like the 1921 dollar was.

Each of the proposed dollars would carry a $10 surcharge, 40% to the ANA, 40% to the World War I museum in Kansas City, and the remaining 20% to the Nevada State Museum in Carson City.

Coins As A Magic Ward

Drill a small hole in a silver dime and tie it with a red thread around your ankle (it’s not to hard to find a dime with a small hole in it).It is supposed to ward off illness.

Place a dime under the tongue to detect the presence of a jinx.

Early American thin silver coins were bent twice to ward off witches.

A Mercury dime is thought to have the power to attract prosperity, especially if it was minted during a leap year.

Place a coin under your welcome mat to keep bad luck from visiting.

Place a heavy coin on the eyes of the dead so that the eyes stay closed and the dead won’t find someone to go with them.

Coins For Luck

If good luck is your goal, carry a coin from a leap year between 1916 and 1946. Silver coins are said to work best (1916, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944).

Some people believe than wearing a penny in your shoe will bring good luck (penny loafers anyone?).

Anyone heard this: “See a penny, pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. See a penny, let it lay, bad luck follows you all day.” Some say it should be found “heads up”.

An Indian Head Cent is thought to be the “luckiest” lucky penny.

In days of sailing ships, the captain would nail a coin to the mast of his ship for good luck.

A bride was to place a coin in her left shoe on the day of her wedding to bring about a lucky marriage (an English sixpence was the coin of choice).

Toss a coin in a fountain and make a wish.

Holed Coins

We have a few members (at least one anyway) who collect holed coins. Most of us collectors turn our noses up and quickly dismiss any coin with intended damage to it. Maybe “we” should rethink intentionally “damaged” coins.

Back in June of this year Coin World had an article about a holed 1792 half disme that sold at auction for $20,400. It was graded PCGS Very Good Details, Holed. Just a few months before it sold at the 2019 Fun Show for $18,000.

Maybe we should recheck all those damaged coins we come across. Putting them in a junk box could be a big ($$$) mistake. Just a thought!

A Coin For Luck

Claire, a good friend of his father’s, gave the young lad a gold coin for good luck. You see, this fellow was going off to the war in the Pacific in 1942. He called it his “St. Claire medal” and said he would wear it right next to his dog tags.

After an August 1943 mishap, during which he was injured, the sailor sent a letter to Claire with his thanks. He told her his good luck coin did service “above and beyond its routine duties”.

He passed the coin on to a Solomon Island’s native who helped him and his crew after the accident.

Although there was never any mention of the type of coin it was, if you study the picture below, you will probably agree that it was a $20 gold piece. This is a famous photograph of the sailor, John F. Kennedy.

June Club Meeting 2019

Don’t miss this week’s club meeting. Exciting talk and a great monthly auction!

Why Colored Ink On Our 1st Banknotes?

In 1861, when the government started printing demand notes, a green ink was use used on the seals on the front of the note and most of the back of the note. The green color gave the notes the name they were to be known by, “greenbacks”. This basic color design was repeated on 1862 and 1863 Legal Tender notes.

Legal Tender

Demand Note

The big question is why spend the money to issue notes with colored ink?

Simple: it was hard to counterfeit.

Today we have color printers that can easily duplicate US currency. Back in the 1860’s there was no easy way to recreate any color. Photography was in its infancy and all photos were shades black and white. Nobody had a camera that could take color pictures. So the government thought they were pretty smart by issuing notes containing green ink

May 2019 Club Meeting This Thursday

Our next meeting is this week, Thursday May 2nd. Please plan to attend and have some fun learning new things about coins , currency, and medals. Also, the Early American Copper convention is this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

National Coin Week April 21-27, 2019

This year National Coin Week is going to feature the Great American Coin Hunt. Dealers from all across the country are going to be placing rare and valuable coins into circulation. The hope is that this coin release will spark the coin collecting hobby in non-collectors and especially younger people.

Here is a map of where coins are going to be mixed into circulation.

So make sure you pay with dollars and check out that change. You are liable to spot Indians, Buffaloes, silver dimes and quarters, and even some red and blue seal notes.

Also the Mint is releasing 10 million 2019 America the Beautiful Quarters with a first-ever “W” mint mark.

It should be a fun and interesting week!

April 4th Meeting

Thursday is our next Miami Valley Coin Club meeting. Come join us!

Learn something new, sell your extra coins, or buy the coin you may be missing!

Anyone Can Make A Mistake, However…

An 1847 $500 banknote was certified by PMG (Paper Money Guaranty) and auctioned by Heritage Auctions in January 2016. In the auction the note was described as newly discovered and the only example of this type of notes issued between 1812 and the 1860’s. When the hammer fell, the note sold for $199,750.

By studying newspapers starting in 1847, a researcher found articles warning the public about counterfeit $500 Treasury notes. After a lot more research, the note ended up being an example of one of these 1847 counterfeits.

Someone paid $199,750 for a certified piece of currency only to find out later that it was a fake. As our ability to look back and research more and more continues to improve, how many other “certified” coins and pieces of currency will surface as fakes? It’s a scary thought. How many times have we, as collectors purchasing an expensive item, been told that we should make sure that a third party has certified the item?

The Value of My 1853 Three-Cent Silver… Then

The 3-Cent Silver coin, or Trime, was produced beginning in 1851 and minting of these coins continued through the year 1873. The Type I coins, 1851-1853, were coined in the millions of pieces. After 1853 mintage numbers never again attained that kind of volume.

In 1850 the public began hoarding silver coins. With small-value coins needed for commerce, the three-cent silver was born. The Type I coins were only 75% silver and 25% copper, an attempt to discourage melting coins for their silver content. They cost the mint less than 3 cents to produce and are the smallest U.S. coin ever minted. In 1854 the silver content was raised to 90% in an attempt to encourage circulation, but the coin was thinned down to keep it at the same value. My 1853 coin was one of 11.4 million struck that year.

3- Cent Prices in the 1850’s… what could I buy?
Postage stamps had been recently been reduced from 5 cents to 3 cents.
1/3^rdpound of cheese
2 eggs – raw
1/3^rdpound of bacon
½ yd. of calico fabric

I wonder how many times my coin was spent to mail a letter? Apparently it was spent a lot because my coin only grades out as Very Good or Fine.

In the 1850’s a common laborer only made $1.00 per day; that comes to about $0.125 per hour. So on the bright side, someone would give you around 4 trimes for every hour you worked. What a deal!

The 1853, once I added it to my collection, completes my Type I set; an 1851, 1851-O, and an 1852. Now I have an 1853.