Miami Valley Coin Club

A “Two Cent” Story

It lasted only ten years, a short time for most coins, from 1864 to 1873. The story goes that because of the shortage of coins caused by the civil war, the U.S. Mint was authorized to mint two cent pieces. That fact is possibly true, but the idea of a two cent coin was first proposed in 1806.

The first proposal called for a coin struck in a bullion alloy of mostly copper with a small amount of silver. Because coins struck in this composition were easily counterfeited, Congress decided not to authorize mintage of the coin.

Then in 1836 another proposal was made. Christian Gobrecht, the 3rd chief engraver at the Mint, and Franklin Peale, who at the time was titled “Melter and Refiner”, did composition testing. The counterfeiting issue was again the reason that the coin did not come to be.

In late 1863, Mint Director James Pollock recommended a two cent coin to be struck in “French Bronze”, 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc. Two different designs were submitted for consideration. One design featured the head of George Washington on the obverse, the other a large shield.

The original inscription on the ribbon read “God Our Trust” but Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Chase preferred “In God We Trust”. Thus, the 1864 two cent piece became the first coin to carry the motto “In God We Trust”. The motto was added to silver coinage two years later.

The prototype dies used small letters in the motto, subsequent strikes with regular dies used larger letters. So the 1864 coins are found with both small and large letters. PCGS reports that in Fine the 1864 small letter type is worth $425, the 1864 large letter type is worth $26.

The Young Coin Collector

“People just aren’t as interested in coin collecting as they used to be.”

Not true! Check auctions and coins for sale on eBay and you will find that some 90,000 coins are sold on average every day. It’s only the younger generation that isn’t as interested in coin collecting as they used to be. Kids and young adults say that coin collecting is just for “old people”.

One of the biggest problems is that today’s circulation coins are tired and boring when it comes to design. The Mint has been striking Lincoln cents, virtually unchanged, for 110 years; Jefferson nickels since 1938; Roosevelt dimes for 73 years. Okay, Washington quarters have interested some younger collectors with the 50 States program, but even that theme is getting old.

Another issue is the vast numbers of each year’s mintage. Used to be, some coins were only struck in the thousands and hundreds of thousands. Today’s coins, for the most part, are struck in the billions. It will be a rare occurrence when one to today’s coins will be worth any real value in the future. And these will probably be related to some type of error.

So how do we interest today’s younger generations? Sell them low mintage commemoratives? I doubt it. Most of these commemoratives come with above average price tags. Today’s youngsters are probably not going to drop $59.95 on a commemorative that they shouldn’t really touch with their own hands. At least not consistently.

PCGS and NGC have sort of the right idea. Their registry sets, seen and tabulated on the internet, are a step in the right direction. The only problem with their idea is that all the “sets” that are tracked involve “world’s best” or “low-ball” sets which can be costly to assemble. Some type of digital collecting, trading, and tracking system may interest our newest “online” generation.

First Club Meeting Of 2019

Tonight is our 1st club meeting of this year. Hope everyone had a great holiday season and we’ll see you tonight. Don’t forget to bring any coins you want to auction off. Buyers will be present with all their leftover holiday cash…

New Dollar Coins Will NOT Be At The Bank

Guess what? The Mint’s new dollar coin series is only available from the Mint… or the secondary market. That’s now and until the series is scheduled to end in 2032! That also means no face-value coins for collectors.

You can only order these new dollars from the Mint. A 25-coin roll sells for $32.95 plus S&H, and $111.95 for a 100-coin bag. There is one coin design available now, from the Mint only, for $6.95 plus S&H, with 4 new designs each year through 2032.

I, for one, am not a fan of this method. I have yet to order anything directly from the Mint, and maybe with the exception of the upcoming Apollo 13 coins, don’t anticipate doing so in the future. Actually, I’m not really interested in collecting golden dollar coins of any type. But that’s just my opinion.

Here’s a thought. At each club meeting a number of silver eagles are raffled off. How about the club buy a 25-coin roll of each new design as they become available and adding that coin to our raffles? Just an idea. What do you think?

The First American Innovation $1 Proof Coin

The United States Mint’s American Innovation $1 Coin Program is set to release its first coin on December 14, 2018. It will be minted at the San Francisco Mint.

The first coin features a lettered edge, a Proof finish with sharp relief and a mirror-like background with frosted foregrounds. The coin’s price is listed as $6.95 on the Mint’s website.

Christmas Party 2018

Thursday, December 6th, at 6:00pm is the Miami Valley Christmas get-together. Please plan to attend. It will be held at Archer’s, 2030 East Dorothy Lane, Kettering 45420, across the street from Applebee’s and Kroger.

The Trusty Metal Detector

In September, a retired treasure hunter in Australia hit the mother load. He had been searching for years with no great results but this day his ship came in. He unearthed a gold nugget weighing more than 7 pounds, containing 68 troy ounces (4.5 pounds) of gold.

It took him about 2 hours to dig it out. The value of his find: $80,000! That equates out to $40,000 per hour, not a bad day’s work.

Our Last Regular 2018 Meeting

It’s arrived again. Our last regular meeting of 2018 is this Thursday, November 1st at 7:00pm. Lot’s of information and fun for members and visitors. Don’t forget our club auction, interesting coins and medals at great starting bids.

Our club auction could be a fabulous opportunity to pick up that collector friend on your list a meaningful & appreciated Christmas gift!

There are only about 8 weeks left until Christmas!

Want Proof?

Although the Mint struck proof coins prior to 1858, it was in that year that the first complete proof sets were sold by the Mint to the public at large. As far back as 1817, proof coins were available for purchase, individually, by collectors and ordinary citizens, if they contacted the Philadelphia Mint and requested them.

A complete set of proof coins from the year 1858 totaled 13 different coins. How many can you name? Hint: there were 7 coins with copper or silver content; there were 6 gold coins.

2017 Proof Set

You Never Know

What’s that? It’s a coin of some type.

You never know when the next interesting coin will show up. One did for me last week. I was returning a rental truck and something caught my attention on the ground in the parking lot.

It was a coin or a token of some sort, but it was a lot thicker than a coin should be. It wasn’t in the greatest condition. How long had it been laying in the parking lot?

Upon closer inspection the coin appeared to say “One Pound” on it. After a little time on the internet, I found out that it was a 1996 one pound British coin depicting the Celtic cross of Northern Ireland. How a British Northern Ireland coin ended up on a rental truck parking lot in Dayton, Ohio I’ll never know.

Reverse of 1996 £1 Coin

I found out that it was decided that from 1984, British £1 coins would feature different reverse designs for each of the four parts of the United Kingdom. All £1 coins dated 1996 feature on the reverse a Celtic cross symbolizing Northern Ireland. The coin was demonetized last year and is worth only about $1.30 U.S.

But the story of how and where I found it… priceless!

(This is what my coin could have looked like… before it was run over and left in a parking lot! Keep you eyes peeled! You never know what coin may be out there just waiting to be found.)

Next Meeting This Week

Our next club meeting is this Thursday at 7:00pm. See you there, bring a guest. Let’s grow our club!

Reeded Edges

Did you ever wonder why the U.S. Mint began reeding the edges of gold and silver coins?

One reason was to keep would-be criminals from “shaving” the edges of precious metal coins, gathering the filings, and then selling the gold or silver. As a side benefit, the reeded edges also made our coins more intricate and harder to counterfeit.

Reeding has also gained some provenance to coin collectors. The 1921 Morgan Dollar has a “wide edge” reeding and a “normal’ edge reeding. Wide edge reeded Morgans feature 157 reeds (VAM 44), while the normal variety has 189.

189 Normal -Top
157 Wide – Bottom

Beginning in 1836, the Mint reeded all silver and gold coins with two exceptions. Can you name these two exceptions?

1963-B $1 “Barr” Notes

Joseph Barr served as Secretary of the Treasury only 28 days, from 12/21/1968 to 1/23/1969. The thought would be that Federal Reserve Notes with his signature would be rare. Not true!

The notes were produced for only 5 Federal Reserve Districts: New York, Richmond, Chicago, Kansas City, and San Francisco. However 471,200,000 notes (including star notes) were issued. Given this number and the fact that they were printed less than 50 years ago, they are quite common.

What is different about the 1963_B $1 series is that it was the last series to include the old Treasury Seal that had its inscription in Latin:

THESAUR.AMER.SEPTENT.SIGIL ( “The Seal of the Treasury of North America).

The new seal is inscribed in English and has been in use since 1968.

September 6, 2018 Meeting

Our next meeting is two days away. We will be having our monthly coin auction so be ready to sell or buy. There will be some great deals to be had!

$2 Bills – Five Basic Facts You May Not Know

1. Thomas Jefferson is not the only person to appear on a $2 note. Alexander Hamilton was on the 1862 Legal Tender Note. Winfield Scott Hancock appeared on the 1886 $2 Silver Certificate. William Windom was pictured on the 1891 $2 Silver Certificate. Civil War General James McPherson was represented on the 1891 Treasury (Coin) Note. And then there was some guy named George Washington on the 1899 $2 Silver Certificate. Then there was a lady named Science on the face of the 1896 Educational Series $2 Silver Certificate.

2. When you visit Monticello, Jefferson’s home, you will receive a $2 bill as change when making a purchase of a tour ticket or souvenir.

3. When attempting to fit the picture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the back of the 1976 $2 Note, the signers on the extreme left and right in the picture where omitted.

4. The image on the back of the 1976 Note is NOT the signing of the Declaration. It is the representation of the Declaration being PRESENTED to the Continental Congress.

5. Yes, they still produce $2 bills! The Bureau of Engraving and Printing print them in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Dahlonega Mint

After the discovery of gold in the 1820’s in the region of northern Georgia, citizens began clamoring for a regional mint to coin their gold. Their yearnings fell on sympathetic ears in Washington D. C. In 1835 President Andrew Jackson signed into law a bill establishing mints at Dahlonega, Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Set to open in the spring of 1837, construction problems delayed the opening until February of 1838. It took until April for the mint to receive enough gold ingots to begin coin production.

Dahlonega produced only half-eagles in 1838 and today an 1838-D half-eagle in VF condition is worth about $4,000.

The first quarter-eagles were coined in 1839. Less than 14,000 were struck. What is unusual about the 1839-D quarter-eagle is that they are all overdates (1839/8). Today, an 1838/9-D quarter-eagle is worth about $5,800 in EF.

The Dahlonega Mint operated until the Civil War broke out when it was seized by the governor of Georgia, Joseph E. Brown. By war’s end, Union troops had recaptured the mint, which although never again used to coin gold, remained open until being officially closed in 1873.

Next Club Meeting August 2

Our next meeting and club auction will be next Thursday, August 6th. Plan to attend and maybe sell something or buy something new for your collection.

See a Penny…

Everyone collects or collected pennies (cents) at some time during their life. Well, you ain’t got nothing on this guy! Check out this video

You’re Kidding, Right?

When Liberty Nickel production was started in 1883, the first type did not have the word CENTS on them. Most people have heard about “Racketeer Nickels”, where unscrupulous individuals reeded the edge of the no-cents nickel, plated them with gold, then passed them off to unsuspecting merchants as $5 gold pieces.

The Mint caught on to this fairly quickly (about 5 million coins into the run, if that’s quick) and added the word CENTS to the reverse. The racketeers kept the Secret Service quite busy chasing down the passers of these nickels.

No one is sure who the first “racketeer” was.  Many writers at the time related that a man named Josh Tatum was arrested and convicted of passing these plated golden nickels. What you may not know is that this is where the term, “You’re joshing me!” originated.

Would I kid you?

On June 10, 1652…

In Massachusetts, silversmith John Hull, at age 28, opened the first mint in America, in defiance of English colonial law. The first coin issued was the Pine Tree Shilling, designed by Hull. This mint produced coins from 1652 to 1682 (or 83). As compensation, Hull was allowed keep 6 percent of all the silver he minted.

The deal was a sweet one. In England, the official mint-masters of the Crown were allowed to keep about 3 percent of the currency they struck – and they still got rich.