MEMBERSHIP NEWS

THE SUMMER PICNIC

As mentioned in last months newsletter, our picnic is coming up very soon. August 12th (Saturday) to be precise. Thank you Larry Nakata for setting up the event and making reservations for us at Russian Jack Park.

Picnic hours are from 11 AM through about 6 PM. Do not be scared off by rain - the picnic will still go on! For those who are not familiar with the parks location, a map is printed on page 3 of this edition.

The club provides hotdogs, hamburgers, chicken, potato chips, sodas, and utensils. Members are encouraged to bring salads and desserts, as well as a good supply of coins (or cards) for showing around or trading or whatever.

AUGUST MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Get ready for a talk and slide show by our traveling YN, Robin Sisler. As you may remember, Robin was awarded our YN scholarship to attend this year's American Numismatic Association summer conference in Colorado Springs.

Robin went down, camera in hand, to attend the week long event in early July. Your editor has not heard any of the specifics yet, but it is known that Robin took many notes along with many slides, to present this month. Now we can see what all the rest of us missed out on!

WHILE ROBIN IS IN THE SPOTLIGHT...

You may have noticed that this month's newsletter is somewhat thicker than normal... You will find that the first edition of the YN newsletter is attached with the regular newsletter.

The above mentioned Robin Sisler is the editor of that particular publication, with some help by Mike Greer and an article by Larry Nakata. We will hope for some future editions from Robin in upcoming months.

GOODBYE....

Bill and Billy McGinnis have announced that the military is shipping them out to the east coast. Many of you know the McGinnisses from their attendance at the club meetings and their work with the YN program, as well as from their participation in the club coin shows.

Another member, Jim Susky, has moved down to Homer. Long time members remember Jim as the previous editor of the club newsletter, ACCent.

Good luck in your new locations!

JULY AUCTION

The July auction had a good array of material available for bidding, but few bidders. It seems that the July 4th holiday weekend was not the best time for such an event, as only 14 people were able to attend.

There ended up being 75 lots submitted. Bargains were available, with some lots having starting bids at 10 percent below Greysheet (wholesale) bid, which would be a very substantial percentage below Coin World trends. Values of the lots ranged from under $5 to several lots over $100.

The next auction is planned for the Christmas potluck meeting, scheduled for early December. We always have a good turnout for that event.

SEMINAR UPDATE

We still have open seats for our upcoming seminar. To refresh memories, the subject will be Ancient coinage, with emphasis on grading, authentication, identification, and proper storage techniques.

The seminar will be presented by Robert Hoge. A sign up form is available on page 5 of this issue.

SHOW NOTES

Yes, it is that time again! Our first show of the fall season will be held at the Northway Mall on October 20th through 22nd, a Friday through Sunday block.

First Fall Show:

Northway Mall

October 20-22

Of course, what everybody wants to know is how to sign up. Contact Robert Hall at 561-8343 to check on table availability and to make reservations. Once again, prepayment will be required to hold your reservation. Payment must be received by Robert on or before September 10th, or your tables will be given to people on the waiting list.

As usual, there are only about 40 tables available, and these will fill up very fast. A waiting list will be formed in case some people who reserve tables fail to cover their reservation by the September 10th deadline.

COINS SENT BY BILL FIVAZ

Our club's most famous member, Bill Fivaz of Dunwoody, Georgia, has sent up two coins to be auctioned by our club. (For those of you who are new to the club, Bill is credited with naming our newsletter, as well as conducting a seminar in Anchorage a few years ago). One of the items is a Hobo nickel, the other is a modern reproduction of the 1793 Chain cent.

These two pieces arrived just before the publication deadline, and no determination has yet been made concerning when these items will be auctioned.

PRIZES

The following prizes were awarded during our July meeting:

The raffle prize, a 1928-S Standing Liberty Quarter, was won by Mike Orr.

The membership prize of a 1977-S proof set was won by our newest member, Don Pazsint.

The door prize was a 1963 Washington Quarter in MS-63 which was won by treasurer Kurtis Hawk.

The Kitty prize will carry over to next month. Member #37, Debbie, was not in attendance.

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President's Message
#5 - August 1995
by Mike Orr

As we had expected, we had a rather sparse attendance for the July meeting. We had an auction, as several new members had requested, in an attempt to reestablish this activity and bring more people out. We had quite a lot of interesting material but few bidders. The bidders we had, however, did have a chance to pick and choose between many bargains. At any rate, it was good to be able to go through the process again and the club will plan another auction around Christmas time.

This months speaker at our meeting will be Robin Sisler who just returned from an ANA summer conference in Colorado Springs. He was able to view some extremely rare coins and has stories and slides to share with us. It will be very interesting and I encourage everyone to come out to the August meeting.

Unfortunately, I have several pieces of bad news to report this month. First, our YN, Nathaniel Grabman's father just passed away. I am sure all of our members join in offering his family our sincere condolences in this time of loss. I will be proposing a contribution to the American Cancer Society in his fathers name at the August meeting. We hope to see Nathaniel back very soon .

The coin club has also lost both of the Bill McGinnisses as they will have moved from Alaska by the time of the meeting. They were both actively involved in the club, at coin shows, and with the YNs. We wish them well in their new endeavors, but they will be sorely missed.

We are also losing Mike Nourse as our newsletter editor/secretary. Mike has a new job with the postal service and knows that as the holiday season approaches he will be unable to continue with these duties. I have promised him to find him a replacement by September. Thank you, Mike, for all your hard work and good luck at the new job!

So we have a call to action! We need people with computer skills and editing ability. We need YN supporters. This is a good time for some of our new members to become actively involved with the club.
Lets make it happen! The need has never been greater than it is now for leaders in the club. Rest assured that I will be talking to some of you to fill this vacancy and other as they arise. In closing, remember our annual picnic is August 12th from 11 AM till 6ish PM at Russian Jack Park, upper pavilion. See map for directions. Bring goodies and trading stock and we will have a great time. Until next month, good luck and good hunting.

                                -Mike Orr

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.

Looking for those few Morgan Dollars to close out your collection? Call 274-4950 to obtain those harder to get dates.

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

Start with a few statistics from 1910:

Imports: $1,556,947,430

Exports: $1,744,984,720

Population: 91,972,206

National Debt: $1,046,449,185

It seems that there was a bit more negative news than positive during the second decade of the 1900s. Besides, of course, World War I, there were such events as the sinking of the White Star Liner SS Titanic in 1912 and the beginning of our graduated income tax system in 1913. There were some positive items also, including the completion of the Panama Canal.

Of note to paper money collectors, 1913 was the year in which the Federal Reserve system was established by President Wilson. He set up a system of twelve Federal Reserve regions, each of which had a central bank located in a major city.

For the numismatists, there was the Panama Pacific exposition held in San Francisco in 1915. If you had attended, you would have had the opportunity to buy commemorative gold dollars, quarter eagles, and huge fifty dollar slugs.

World War I began when a Serbian patriot assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1914. At first, the war was confined to Europe, with the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey against the Allied Powers of Great Britain, France, and Russia for control of Europe and Africa.

America managed to stay out of the war until 1917.

Such events as the sinking of the British Lusitania and the French Sussex, both of which had numerous American passengers generated anti German feelings. The US entered the war with the plan that this would be the last great war, and there would be peace from then on.

The war finally ended in 1918 when the Germans suffered a long string of defeats. The armistice, or agreement to stop fighting, was signed on November 11, 1918.

In keeping with his plan that this would be the last great war, Woodrow Wilson gave a comprehensive plan for lasting peace known as the fourteen points. Included among these points was the creation of the League of Nations which would settle disagreements before they led to war.

The final arrangements of peace were outlined in the Treaty of Versailles. The Central Powers lost a lot of territory and had to pay large sums for war damages. In the US, the national debt increased from $1 billion in 1920 to $24 billion at the end of the decade.

The last big event of the 1910s was the passing of the eighteenth amendment which made it illegal to sell booze. Passed in 1919, this would be a very unpopular law which was finally repealed in the twenty first amendment in 1933.

This decade saw the beginning of some of our most beautiful and popular coin designs. The Buffalo nickel, Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter, and the Walking Liberty half all began their production in the middle of the decade.

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