ACCent: The Monthly Newsletter of the Anchorage Coin Club

Membership Meeting 1st Wed. each month, 7 PM, Central Lutheran Church, 15th and Cordova

Vol. 22  No. 1

JANUARY 7th, 2009 7:00 PM - GAMING TOKENS

    The last state commemorative quarter, Hawaii, is now in circulation but, as many of you already know, there will be quarters issued for each of the five territories as well as a quarter for the district of Columbia. But that does not mean it will be over then.

    It has now been passed into law that a series of commemorative quarters will be issued for parks of the United States. The books and wall displays will have to be redesigned again.

    These park commemoratives will generate a myriad of quarters with designs everywhere from Carlsbad Caverns to Mount McKinley. There will no doubt be some very nice images of great parks but it makes you wonder if we will ever go back to that old, boring practice of leaving just one design on the back of our coins.

    Back in 1792 the U.S. mint was opened with a mandate that non copper coins will have Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. I guess we are well past that now.

CHRISTMAS COINS

    There is no more Christian holiday than Christmas. It is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. They know pretty well what year he was born but with the changes in calendars, Gregorian etc., they do not know exactly what day of the year. Some very wise people chose the darkest part of winter for this joyous celebration.

    When Jesus was born Jerusalem was a small town on the ragged eastern edge of the Roman empire. There were no coins minted at that time to celebrate this momentous occasion. In fact coins related to Jews dealt with war and destruction even after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome. After the fall of Rome the Byzantines emblazoned their coins with a cross which is a reminder of how Jesus died.

    At the start of the renaissance small coins were issued with an image of the Madonna and child. This was a celebration of the birth of Jesus but you had to be pretty good at reading abstract art to see the image.

    As the renaissance progressed art got better and by the end of the renaissance the Holy Roman Empire regularly issued Thalers with the Holy Mary holding baby Jesus on them. Some of the later ones are absolutely beautiful.

    Today we have the Vatican City issuing coins with the Holy Mary and baby Jesus on them. Christmas island is a territory of Australia and a coin was just issued to commemorate their 50th anniversary. Private mints are pulling out coins (medallions) with a variety of Christmas themes on them. Every year the Isle of Man issues a fifty pence coin with a Christmas theme on it. You can even get Christmas tree ornaments with coins in them.

The best coins to get for Christmas may be a set of coins from the year you were born. After all it is a birthday celebration.

If every item on your Christmas wish list is an MS-65 coin...

You are probably a numismatist.

Membership Meeting December 11th

    It was not really a meeting nobody even called us to order. We were just there to visit with friends and eat a very good dinner. We did give out some coins and we did have a coin auction but mostly we were there to visit and eat. As usual we could count on our membership to bring plenty of desserts to go with the catered beef brisket and chicken. Everyone there was given a wrapped Christmas coin gift.

    The last of the raffle tickets were sold and the winning number for the AU Bust Half Dollar was drawn. We started with 54 coins but by time we got done with food and started the auction there were over 80 lots logged in. There were some amazing lots in this auction including a beautiful Seated Liberty Half Dollar and a complete set of Peace Dollars.

    It was a good opportunity to get to know our fellow club members better, pick up some nice Christmas coins, and gain a little weight from the good food.

Board Meeting December 17th

    The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM at the New Cauldron Restaurant. The Board mostly just had dinner. There was not much to discuss. Larry Nakata will be giving a presentation on gaming tokens at our next membership meeting and our good member Bill Fivaz will be sending us up some coins for the bullet auction. Everyone was wished a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The next board meeting will be January 21st.

NEXT YEAR'S CHRISTMAS WISH

    Next year the U.S. mint will be releasing a one ounce gold coin with St. Gaudens liberty in high relief on the obverse. This is the type of coin you would have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get. If you could find one.

This is a coin everyone should have on their Christmas wish list.

MISNUMICAT JUMBLE

KNETO________

Last: LINGLISH -SHILLING -an English coin denomination quite commonly used in early American trade.

BULLET AUCTION LOTS FROM BILL FIVAZ

1. 1861 1c VG/F $19Min

2.1864-L 1c G  $19

3.1866 1c VG  $34

4.1870 1c G  $34

5.1872 1c G  $35

6.1873 1c G  $9

7. 1922-D 1c F  $15

8. Civil War Token G $12

9.1863 Storecard Token UNC  $28

10. 1863 Storecard Token (Brass) EF $18

BULLET AUCTION LOT OF THE MONTH

    An Almost Ungambled casino token from RRR cruise line. Copper-nickel, 25 mm in diameter. Good for twenty five cents. To be used in the casino only. A good addition to your quarter collection.

Minimum bid - $5.00

You are invited to bring along a gaming token, or two, of your own to show us or to toss into the Bullet Auction game.

COME TO THE NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING
TO SEE WHO WON THE RAFFLE PRIZE
AND MAYBE SEE THE NEXT RAFFLE COIN