Miami Valley Coin Club

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to all the members and friends of the Dayton-Kettering Coin Club. We hope you have much in your life to be thankful for; we’re grateful for the friends and fellowship our club offers.

Central States Seminar Announced

Our good friend Dave Heinrich, a member of the Board of Governors of the Central States Numismatic Society, made a special visit to attend our November meeting to announce that their Spring Numismatic Seminar will be hosted by the Central Ohio Numismatic Association in Westerville on May 5, 2012. The focus will be on Civil War coins, tokens and sutler tokens. Speakers include Norm Bowers of St. Louis, Dennis Haskett of Noblesville, Indiana, and Cindy Wibker of Lake Monroe, Florida. More information and a mail in registration form can be found here.

Dave advised us that, even though the seminar is scheduled way over on the other side of winter, it would be wise to get your registration in quickly in you want to attend. These are popular programs and tend to fill up quickly. Let’s make sure the DKCC is well represented; get your registration in the mail today!

And while you’re at it, are you a member of Central States? It represents collectors from across the Midwest, hosts one of the better regional shows in the country, puts out an excellant quarterly magizine, funds the book donation program that we used earlier this year, sponsors a scholarship to the Summer Seminar educational program hosted by the American Numismatic Association in Coloardo Springs, and all sorts of other stuff. DKCC is a member club of Central States. If you’re interested in joining as an indiviual member (highly recommended), complete this application and mail it in today!

November Meeting Great Success!

What a great meeting with a big turn out! The DKCC met at the new Liberty Gold and Coin in Springboro, hosted by Richard and Tammy Hana. We had a great presentation on large cents by a well known and experienced collector –  she generously her extensive knowledge and love of early coppers with all present. We even had a young numismatist make his first large cent purchase from the Hana’s (our expert said he had a great eye for quality). Thanks to all for their participation and enthusiasm!

If you’d like to learn more about America’s big coppers, check out the following:

Early American Coppers

Dealer Shawn Yancey’s web site

A June, 2011 video market report on large cents 

Large Cents at November Meeting

Last month we had an excellent presentation on Liberty Seated Quarter Dollars. We’re continuing our focus on classic  American coins at our November 3 meeting when we hear what promises to be a great talk on later date American large cents. Minted from the foundation of the republic through the eve of the Civil War, these coins were a foundation of daily commerce during the first half of the nineteenth century. They’ve endured since then as a highly collectible, highly popular series in the numismatic community. Join us on November 3 to learn more about this fascinating coin.

November Meeting at Liberty Gold and Coin

We’re taking our November meeting on the road! Richard and Tammy Hana of Liberty Gold and Coin in Sprinboro will be hosting our next get together on Thursday, November 3 at 7:00 at their new store. They would like to extend their hospitality to us, so let’s make sure we have a great turnout. You can find Liberty Gold and Coin at 253 West Central Avenue (State Route 73) in Springboro. Here are the directions from our normal meeting location at Town & Country. See you at Liberty on November 3!

Sunken Treasure

Here in southwest Ohio our access to sunken treasure is somewhat slim – I found an old Robin Hood Cream Ale can while scuba diving at the old Sportsmen’s Lake in Cedarville years ago, but not much else. Maybe that’s why the following pieces that appeared in a recent issue of the E-Sylum are so interesting. The first details a website devoted to the wreck of the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet. It’s fascinating to see what’s come up off the ocean floor after almost three centuries. The second is from the same issue and tells the story of the SS Gairsoppa, a British cargo ship torpedoed by the Germans in WWII. The Gairsoppa went to the bottom with some 7 million (yes, that’s million) ounces of silver on board. Hmm, I wonder if there’s any submerged loot in the creek out behind my house…

Bunch of Coin Shows

There’s a bunch of coin shows happening in the area, including the good old reliable Greene County Club show on Sunday, September 11. Here’s the list:

September 11 Greene County Coin Club Show, Greene County Fairgrounds, Xenia, OH

October 9 9:00-4:00 Tri-County Coin Show, Auglaize County Fair Grounds, Wapakoneta, OH

October 13-15 ANA National Money Show, David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA

October 21-22 IKO-TAMS Token and Medal Show, American Legion Post #707 Banquet Hall, 200 West National Road, Englewood, OH

November 4-5 Indiana State Numismatic Association, The Indianapolis Marriott, 7202 East 21^st Street, Indianapolis, IN

So Go Collect Something Allready!

The operative verb applied to coin collectors is “collect”. One of the online dictionaries provides the following definition:

“to accumulate; make a collection of”

Some of us call ourselves coin collectors, but haven’t added anything to our collections in many a month. Well, at the risk of being obvious, it you ain’t collecting, then you ain’t a collector.

So revive yourself. Dust off an old collection that’s on the shelf and see what you’re missing, or start a new one. Recharge your collecting instinct and get back on the hunt.  Remember the thrill and fun you had when you started coin collecting? It’s still there – go get it!

Seated Liberty Quarters at October Meeting

The presentation scheduled for our October 6 meeting focuses on the Seated Liberty Quarter, issued from 1838 to 1891. Part of a similarly designed series of coins ranging from the half-dime to the silver dollar, the quarter was a 19th century workhorse of the growing American economy. Minted at Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco and Carson City, the series is full of sub types, with arrows at date, eagles with rays, and no-motto and motto coins. Our presentor will be sharing material regarding the series with those who attend; we’ve seen a preiview of the handout, and it’s obvious that some quality work has gone into it. Make sure you attend this session and learn more about this important American coin.

Wrap up of September meeting

What a great meeting! If you weren’t there, you missed a very interesting talk on Philippine proofs issued under the U.S. administration in the first decade of the last century and chance to see some quality specimens of the same. We also had our first club auction, with the majority of items selling at good prices. Finally, we picked up a couple of new club members – the DKCC continues to grow.

If you’re a member who hasn’t been able to make a meeting for a while, or someone who’s thinking about joining but just hasn’t got around to it yet, pencil in our October 6 meeting at 7:00 on your schedule. We’ll have more coins, more talk, and a speaker with an interesting topic. Best of all, we’ll have a great bunch of friendly coin collectors who share your interest and excitement about numismatics. What a deal!

Be Careful! – good advice about selling coins

As of the moment, gold is selling for about $1853 per ounce and silver is at close to $43.  As a result of those high prices, many people in these tough times are tempted to sell to one of the hoard of fly-by-night buyers setting up at local hotels and elsewhere. You’ve seen them – they offer to buy your coins at “top dollar” and “highest price guaranteed” with big ads in the local papers and on TV. Be careful! As this article at CoinWeek.Com revealed recently, many sellers are getting only pennies on the dollar for their coins. Most collectors know better, but we can easily imagine the general public getting ripped off.

So what’s the answer? Well, to get a fair price for your coins, it pays to know something about what you’re selling. For  many years collectors have used the Guide Book of United States Coins, known as the Red Book (because its red) to get an idea about what their coins are worth. The Red Book is cheap and widely available at local coins stores and  book stores – heck, if you join our club we’ll give you a free one every year for just attending the meetings. If you also want up to date information on what the metal in your coin is worth, this web site is is a good place to go.

Finally, consider selling to a local coin dealer. They’re usually people who have been in business for a long time – they’ll be here tomorrow after the hotel buyers have packed up and left town. We have a small listing under “Miami Valley Coin Dealers” in the  links section of this site (happy to list other dealers who send us an e-mail at daytonketteringcoinclub@gmail.com). You can also look for Dayton coin dealers in the local phone book or on line. Remember, if you really want a fair price, it pays to deal with someone who knows coins.

Phillipines really in September

Oops – we had our schedules mixed up regarding presentations for our August meeting (see below). The previously announced presentation on Phillipine proofs is really going to happen at our September 1 meeting.  Looks like we need more linear thinking around here.

Australian Lunar Series at August Meeting

One our newer members, Temi, stepped up and gave a very interesting talk on the Australian Lunar Series issued by the Perth Mint at our August meeting; a nice overview (with examples, of course) of a very attractive modern series produced by an innovative mint. The talk was also a good example of the key ingredients of good club presentation – knowledge and interest in your subject, some examples of your topic to look at and study and, most importantly, a willingness to share. It’s not much more complicated then that. Thanks, Temi!

Club Coin Auction at September Meeting

DKCC will be hosting the first of what we hope will be frequent coin auctions at our September 1st meeting. Talking about coins is fun, but collecting typically requires someone to buy something – here’s your chance! For this to work, though, we’ll need some coins to auction. If you want to submit your coins for the auction, here’s how it to do it:

1-You need to be a member of the club.

2 – Get us a list of the coins you wish to sell. We’ll need your name, a description of the coin (country, denomination, series, date, mint mark, etc.), the coin’s condition (you provide the grade), and any minimum price you wish to set. Please bring the list to the August 4th meeting or e-mail it to us at daytonketteringcoinclub@gmail.com by August 4.

3 – We’ll send a list of coins to be auctioned out to all members 7-10 days before the September meeting.

4 – Bring the coins to the September 1st meeting.

5 – You’ll receive payment for any coins that sell, less a 10% auction fee kept by the club, that evening. Any coins that don’t sell go home with you.

This is a great chance to turn those extra items in your collection into cash and move them to a new home.  Dig your items out now and help make our first auction a success!

Raffle Tickets for Big Columbus Show

Our friends at the Central Ohio Numismatic Association (CONA) in Columbus are preparing for their big Ohio State Coin Show, scheduled for September 2-4 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dublin. As in years past, their raising some of the funds to deal with the costs by sponsoring a pretty neat raffle. A copy of one of the tickets is illustrated to show you the prizes on offer – pretty rich with silver and gold. Several of our DKCC members are also members of CONA, and will have the tickets available at our club meeting on August 4 for purchase.

August 4th meeting features Phillipines

From 1898 (You may fire when ready, Gridley) until 1946 the United States, with the exception of the brutal years of Japanese conquest during World War II, occupied the Philippine Islands. It was a checkered half century, marked in the beginning by desperate revolt and bitter warfare that matured into an understanding that independence would come. During that time, the United States issued a series of coins and paper money to support the economy of the Philippines. At our upcoming meeting at 7:00 on August 4th in the Community Room of the Town and Country Shopping, Dan Sheets will discuss the series, with an emphasis on the rare proof issues. If you would like to do some homework prior to the meeting, check out page 398 of the 2012 edition of the Redbook. Bring your own examples of Philippines coins issued under the U.S. administration to show your fellow members- should prove to be a very interesting topic.

New Coin Store in Springboro

Just wanted to drop everybody a note letting you know about my new store here in Springboro. We are open for business right now; however, our grand opening is scheduled for Thursday the 28th of this month. We will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony between 5 and 7pm–snacks and refreshments will also be provided.Our store location is: Liberty Gold and Coin LLC                       Phone: 937-748-8918 253 West Central Ave                              Fax: 937-748-8087 Springboro, Ohio 45066 Store Hours: Monday through Thursday — 10am to 6pm Friday — 10am to 8PM (open late for everyone) Saturday — 10am to 5pm Manager: Richard Hana Asst. Manager: Tammy Coffin Hana Please feel free to stop by and leave some information about your upcoming events. We have a Community Events board with a handy shelf for you to leave any calendars and newsletters. Please send us information on becoming members of the club. Thank You, Richard Hana Liberty Gold and Coin LLC.

1948 – Dayton Coin Club & Central States

As the Dayton-Kettering Coin Club approaches it’s 75th anniversary in 2013, we’ll be revisiting club history pulled from our archives. Today we’re looking at the 1948 Central States Numismatic Association convention held right here in Dayton. The Central States web site has a nice article detailing the event. Here’s the first paragraph:

“Young and personable James Kelly, Dayton, Ohio, dealer and auctioneer, chaired the 1948 CSNS convention in Dayton, April 16-18, at the Van Cleve Hotel. The Dayton Coin Club and Ohio State Numismatic Association were co-hosts. Due to the Ohio location, a larger than usual attendance was anticipated with Western New York and Pennsylvania mentioned.”

You can read the rest of the article here. We also had several photographs that, while lacking inscriptions, are almost certainly from the banquet from 63 years ago described in the even. See if you can spot Redbook author Richard Yeo(man) in the pic below, as well  other members and the strolling accordianist refered to in the article.

Finally, per the club’s records, here’s a list of members who joined in 1948: John Theodore Klangnberg, Don Stoneburner, Mrs. Arthur J. Krause, Christan F. Beilstein, Louis L. Suttman, Buddy J. Zent, Ernest Collins, Edward C. Dill, Warren Lewis, Tim Dineen, Carl M. Bunker, Chester Ray, Eugene Bowie Jr., Huber Gillaugh, Howard L DeHart, Charles J. Soehner, Robert R. Davidson, Eugene T. Snow Sr., Ronald Hoying, John W. Frye, Rev. F.R. Soneburner, Daniel Jaques, Ivan Greenfield, and Herbert J. Hoehl.

Picnic almost here!

Just over a week till the club’s annual picnic. We’ll be kicking things off at the Crains Run Park South Shelter, 10741 Dayton Cincinnati Pike in Miamisburg on Sunday, July 24 at 11:30 . The club will provide the burgers, dogs, and drinks. You can bring a covered dish, salad, desert or other items to share. We had a great time last year and are looking forward to an even better one in 2011, so plan on bringing the yourself and the family for some fun and eats.   Here’s a map to the park – see you there.

Newsflash – Gold Dollar not circulating

National Public Radio has used its vast resources to uncover the startling news that people are not using the gold dollar. Hmmm, we were wondering about that. Really, though, it is something of a shame. I can’t think of a reputable country left that still hangs on to paper currency possessed of the low value of the dollar. And the Sacajewa is really an attractive coin, particularly the first version with the flying eagle. Of course, these aren’t the first dollar coins to pile up unloved in the Treasury’s vaults. The old Morgan dollars spent decades there beginning in the 1800’s before the last ones were released early in the 1960’s. Some things don’t change much.

While they’re not being used here, can you guess where they do show up in change?