MEMBERSHIP NEWS

I HAVE COMPETITION

The Anchorage Coin Club will soon have a second newsletter... Actually a YN newsletter to be edited by Robin Sisler. Look for this new publication to be attached to the present illustrious, world famous literary masterpiece, probably in the June edition.

The Board of Directors voted to have the club cover the additional cost of printing this YN paper, as well as the added cost of postage. I wonder if Q. David Bowers got his start by writing a YN newsletter?

The YN newsletter is expected to be about two to three double sided pages in length.

SHOW NEWS

It looks as if most of the details on how to proceed organizing shows have finally been ironed out. Combining a lively (!) discussion at our regular membership meeting with a continuation of dialogue at the Board meeting, several issues were finally resolved.

It was decided that the Anchorage Coin Club would try to sponsor six shows per year, with a maximum of one show per month. Each show will have a maximum size of fifty tables. It was also decided that the shows should be scheduled as far in advance as possible, preferably at least four months if at all possible.

Turned down was a motion to set a ratio of card dealers to coin dealers. It is hoped that an adequate percentage of coin dealers will be attending if the shows are planned far enough in advance.

Remaining Spring 1995 Show:

Sears Mall:

May 19-21

Planning for the Fall 1995 and Spring 1996 show schedule is in the works, and I hope to be reporting some dates for these shows in the next month or two.

OTHER NEWS ITEMS

The second installment of the YN donation auction was held at the March membership meeting. An additional $296 was raised toward the scholarship to be given to one YN to attend the ANA summer seminar in Colorado Springs this summer. Way to go! One more box of literature remains to be auctioned off.

It has been decided that the club will look into the purchase of a computer system, possibly new. The computer would be used by the club treasurer to hold all of the clubs records which presently fill several large boxes. Some research into prices will be done over the next month.

Larry is still signing up people to attend our seminar coming up this September. So far, fourteen people have committed to attend. The subject will be ancient coinage, with an emphasis on grading and authentication. For your convenience in signing up, a reservation form can be found on the bottom of page 4.

MAY MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Come one, come all, to hear a presentation by past president Bill D'Atri on the subject of colonial trade in Alaska. The presentation will use some of the materials that were seen in Bill's display at the Northway Mall.

Also in May, the drawing will be held for the 1865 Indian Cent in ANACS-63 red brown. Even though you do not need to be present to win, you will lose gloating privileges if you are not there.

DUES REPORT

Yes, it has been a while since we have had one of these. Our new treasurer, Kurtis Hawk, assures me that there will be more regularity to these reports. So, with no further ado, our May dues report:

Late or presently due:

#19  T. T.                #136  R. C.

#32  L. T.                #137  M. H.

#40  J. W.                #138  J. M.

#65  S. M.                #139  J. A. W.

#73  J. C.                #141  T. W.

#75  G. D.                #142  M. H.

#92  G. L. C.                #143  D. F.

#105  C. R. B.                #144  M. L.

#120  D. G.                #145  B. E.

#121  J. H.                #146  D. L.

#122  B. H.                #147  P. R.

#124  M. F.                #148  D. B.

#125  S. R.                #150  B. W.

#126  R. B.                #151  W. J.

#127  P. T.                #152  S. K. / L. K.

#128  M. F. H.                #153  J. L. S.

#129  J. N.                #154  H. G.

#130  R. A. K.                #155  D. R.

#131  K. M.                #156  M. D. A.

#132  C. P.                #157  T. B.

#133  E. A. L.                #158  M. S.

#134  J. B.                #159  B. S.

#135  W. D. H.                #160  G. B.

Due in May:

#17  R. W.                #162  E. B. D.

#18  J. L.                 #163  J. D.

#161  J. N.                #164  C. B.

CLARIFICATION

Larry Nakata has asked me to print a clarification of one point made in his article "Protecting Uncirculated and High Grade Copper Coins (As Told To Me By Skip Pelleteer)" published in the February newsletter.

In that article, Larry states that a sable painting brush can be purchased at any Anchorage art store for around $16. He has since found that they may also be purchased at Payless for about $3. Hopefully nobody was discouraged from protecting their coins because of the high cost of the brush!

ACC Classifieds!

Any member or subscriber may submit a classified ad for free publication. Ads are limited to 40 words, one per month, and may be rejected if suitability is questionable. Classified ads may be announcements, for sale, wanted, or whatever, as long as it is somehow related to numismatics, card collecting, or rondy pins. Call in your ad at 344-9856 or mail it to the club's PO box for publication.

Alaska 35th anniversary statehood coin, silver, $25 each. Call 248-6767.

CONTEST ENDING

The investment contest has finally ended after six months. The results are quite interesting, especially the race for first place. Robert Hall managed to win the contest by $1 over Mike McKinnon, based on a $1 increase in his 1939-S quarter, which he told me was just a filler to use up the entire $1000!

Your editor came in third, having lost $47 gambling on the speculative MS-64 silver dollar market. The red lantern award goes resoundingly to Larry Nakata, who lost fully 25% of the original $1000 kitty.

Now that we all know where to go for investment advice, here is the complete listing for one last time.

Once again:

CONGRATULATIONS ROBERT!!

Robert Hall

1. (5) 1893-O Barber Quarters                Fine                        95.00

2. (10) 1898-S Barber Quarters                Fine                        190.00

3. (8) 1900-S Barber Quarters                Fine                        148.00

4. (5) 1907-D Barber Quarters                Fine                        95.00

5. (5) 1911-D Barber Quarters                Fine                        350.00

6. (5) 1912-S Barber Quarters                Fine                        110.00

7. (1) 1939-S Washington Quarter            Extra Fine              13.00

Portfolio Value = $1001.00

Larry Nakata

1. (1) 1936-D Lincoln Cents                BU Roll                 110.00

2. (1) 1942-P Silver Nickels                BU Roll                 240.00

3. (1) 1945-P Silver Nickels                BU Roll                 120.00

4. (1) 1945 Washington Quarters         BU Roll                  85.00

5. (1) 1952-D Franklin Halves              BU Roll                 185.00

Portfolio Value = $740.00

Mike McKinnon

1. (1) 1922 Grant No Star                Commemorative Half                MS-65                    800.00

2. (1) 1925 Lexington - Concord          Commemorative Half             MS-64                    200.00

Portfolio Value = $1000.00

Mike Nourse

1. (4) 1880-S Morgan Dollars              MS-64                    152.00

2. (4) 1881-S Morgan Dollars              MS-64                    152.00

3. (4) 1882-S Morgan Dollars              MS-64                    160.00

4. (4) 1885-O Morgan Dollars              MS-64                    160.00

5. (4) 1886 Morgan Dollars                   MS-64                    160.00

6. (4) 1887 Morgan Dollars                   MS-64                    160.00

7. (1) 1875-CC Seated Dime                CC Below Wreath           VG              9.50

Portfolio Value = $953.50

Final standings:

Robert Hall: $1001

Mike McKinnon: $1000

Larry Nakata: $740

Mike Nourse: $953

President's Message
#2 - May 1995
by Mike Orr

Much has been said in the last month about the number of coin shows we have had this past season. I feel that the last board meeting was very constructive. It set the number of club sanctioned shows to six per year. Along with this it was agreed that we would try to see that these shows are occurring monthly. We want them planned far enough in advance so they can be well attended and provide a good mix between coins and cards. As much as possible, we will try to avoid major conflicts that reduce opportunities for our membership. The committee should be able to oversee these events and it is my hope that this will improve our shows.

With this (hopefully) behind us, I would like to focus on our monthly meetings. Education!!! Education!!! Education!!! Bill D'Atri has graciously agreed to share with us what he learned while putting his display of pre territorial Alaskan trade goods and money together. Anyone that saw the display at the Northway Mall realizes how much work went into this. It was very impressive. This should prove to be a very interesting evening and I encourage you to attend. The following month, Mike Nourse has also generously agreed to talk about Peace silver dollars. He did research here and at Atlanta at the ANA convention. This also should be very interesting and I will have more on this in the next newsletter.

Anyone who has input into programs for the upcoming year is encouraged to step forward. When we can fit special programs into our meetings, we will. Another thing that has been discussed is a return to our coin auctions. In the past this has been met with mixed success. We also tried a bid board, but this did not do well. So, lets try the auction at least three times a year. It will give us an opportunity to consensus grade at the board meeting again. This brings me to another concern. I have heard, especially from our new members, that they would like more time spent on coin grading. Since our show at Northway, we have added eleven new members and there are several that have indicated that grading is a priority to them. I propose that during swap and shop meetings we help these folks learn the basics. If anyone is a supergrader, like J. P. Martin, please step up and we will have a meeting dedicated to coin grading. Remember, this club is only as good as you make it. You all have special talents that need to be shared. I encourage you to join in and I hope to see you all at the next meeting. Good luck and good hunting!

                                - Mike Orr

The YN Corner
by Larry Nakata  

Our thanks go out to the adult club membership for their generous support of the YN scholarship program. The remaining donated items for the YN scholarship auction resulted in an overall total of approximately $1150 towards the scholarship to the ANA Summer Conference in Colorado Springs. These remaining items were auctioned off at the Anchorage Coin Club's April membership meeting. Much of the material was books and catalogs which went for very good prices. I never thought that old numismatic books and catalogs could go for so much money in the auction.

The Anchorage coin Club Board must now deal with the task of determining which deserving YN will go to the ANA Summer Conference in Colorado Springs. It is not going to be an easy choice.

On other subjects, the YNs had their April club meeting (held at the Central Lutheran Church) on April 14th (Good Friday). The subject covered at that meeting was "Coin Grading". Pizza and soda pop were enjoyed by everyone at that meeting. After viewing a VHS tape supplied to us by the American Numismatic Association on the subject, the YNs had a chance to grade some 30 coins over a 15 minute period as part of the contest. Prizes (mostly old coins) were given to all of the participating YNs. These YNs worked in teams of two people to test their skills at coin grading. They were allowed to use their ANA Grading Guides to grade the coins.

The result was that the team of Mike Greer and Sarah Bilak (our latest YN to join the club) were declared the winners with some 78 & 1/2 points out of a possible 100 point score. They got to keep several of the grading sets as their prizes.

This was a very difficult contest for the YNs. Trying to grade 30 coins in 15 minutes is very tough. One of our illustrious adult members, Robert Hall, participated in the contest and could only score 80 points.

As for me, I had the luxury of grading all of the coins at a more leisurely pace. I was the individual setting up the contest. It's good to have a nice incandescent light, a good magnifying glass, and a couple of hours to really look at the coins.

Overall, this month's YN meeting was a very enjoyable session.

Our next YN meeting will be held at 7 pm, Friday, May 12th at our usual meeting place, the Central Lutheran Church. There will be refreshments provided for all who attend this meeting.

The subject that will be covered at this meeting will be "Errors and Varieties". We hope to see a lot of you YNs at the meeting.

                                - Larry Nakata

Editor's note: this is the tenth installment in a series of articles started in August 1994.

Start with a few statistics from 1880:

Imports: $667,954,746

Exports: $835,638,658

Population: 50,155,783

National Debt: $1,919,326,748

Westward expansion continued throughout this decade, particularly around major railroad lines. Annexation of the Indian lands continued without letup, culminating with the surrender of Geronimo and his Apaches to General Miles in 1886.

On the political scene, Republican James Garfield won against Democratic candidate W. S. Hancock, in what  would become one of the shortest presidencies in US history. He was inaugurated on March 4, 1881, only to be assassinated six months later on September 19th. Vice president Chester Arthur took over the presidency the next day.

The election of 1884 was a lot less exciting; Chester Arthur did not run for reelection, leaving Democrat Grover Cleveland running against Republican    J. G. Blaine. Cleveland won the election, and would serve out his entire term until losing the election of 1888 to Benjamin Harrison.

A notable event, which will seem amazing (even bizarre) to us today occurred twice in the decade of the 1880s. In 1883, the cost of first class postage actually went down from three cents per half ounce letter to two cents. It happened again in 1885 when letter postage was reduced to two cents per full ounce. Second class postage rates were also reduced at this time to all of one cent per pound!

In 1885, it was announced that the people of France would give a statue commemorating liberty to the United States. The statue was unveiled in 1886 in New York Harbor. The unveiling would be commemorated with a series of coins one hundred years later.

Also taking place in New York in the mid 1880's was the establishment of a state park in the area of Niagara Falls, on the Canadian border.

The year 1887 saw the celebration of the centenary of the signing of the Constitution in Philadelphia. This event would also receive a commemorative coin series when its bicentennial arrived. Also that year, Labor Day was celebrated for the first time as a national holiday.

The biggest single event of the year 1889 was actually a natural disaster. The Conemaugh dam had been built fifteen miles up the Conemaugh river from Johnstown in southwestern Pennsylvania to provide a recreational area for the amusement of the wealthy citizens of that steel processing community. The dam was known to be in need of repairs, but they were put off. After prolonged rain, the dam overflowed and finally broke. The resulting wall of water came down the river valley at 90 miles per hour, destroying Johnstown without warning and killing 2300 people.

On a less dramatic note, four states were added to the US in early November 1889: North Dakota (39th), South Dakota (40th), Montana (41st), and Washington (42nd).

Coming in June: The 1890's

To save cost, members not responding to renewal notices within three months will be considered inactive.

The Anchorage Coin Club is a non-profit organization formed to provide information, education, and a meeting place for individuals having an interest in numismatics.

Correspondence Address: PO Box 230169  Anchorage, Alaska 99523