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. 10

OCTOBER 7th, 2009
TONED COINS
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FREE TABLES AVAILABLE
At The Anchorage Coin Club
Annual Permanent Fund Coin Show

    Here's the deal; the club has ten tables and we are going to have a coin show October 17th(sat) and 18th(sun) at the University Center. With a $10 deposit you can reserve a table. If you are there both days 10am to 6pm you will get your deposit back making your table at the show free. We can do this because the University Center is letting us use the space for free and the club owns the ten tables. There is room for more tables but you will have to bring your own and you will need to be there Friday the 16th at 6pm for setup.

    The Permanent Fund Dividend Checks will be in the bank by direct deposit October 8th. We believe the permanent fund money should be used for more than an extra round of drinks or an extra bingo card. This will be a chance to put some of that money into something that will grow in value.

    The University Center is centrally located in Anchorage. It is a mall but there are no video games -it is not a daycare center. The mall is dominated by classrooms for the University of Alaska and a large furniture store. There is also a grocery store at one end, a deli at the other end, as well as a brand new coffee stand in the middle and a restaurant upstairs. Other shops include the Museum Store which is full of interesting stuff. Carl's Jewelers is located just inside the front door of the center and is fully stocked with coin collecting supplies.

    The club also owns several display cases and separate arrangements can be made for them. You will need to bring your own chairs. There is a limited number of free tables and display cases so contact Carl today to reserve yours.

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If you know the exact number of 1909-S VDB cents that were officially minted - including the trial pieces...

You are probably a numismatist.

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YOUR COIN SHOW

    Our club's coin show Oct. 17th and 18th at the University Center (with free tables) is your chance to get back al! the money (and then some) from coins you bought when you were not so rich. Now you can afford to sell those old coins and upgrade.

    We encourage you to get a table at our coin show. Sell that old good 1909-S cent at full price and get that new XF one. Get with a friend who also has a few coins to sell and man a table for both days and it will not cost you a thing.

    And when you are at a show long enough to take your time looking through everyone's stock you will find coins that you need.

EXPAND YOUR LIBRARY

    There is a lot more to coin collecting than knowing how many coins of that die variety came from that mint. There is history and art in those coins. Recently people have been drawn to numismatics by the state quarter program. A good book on the history of the states should be in your library. It could tell you what brought that state into the union and why they have that design on their quarter. Check out "National Geographic History Of States" by Bockenhaur. U.S. history books will also tell you about the people and events celebrated in our long series of very collectable commemorative coins.

    World history books can tell you why 1943 cents are white and why "United States Of America" is on coins from the Philippines. The map of the world has changed over the years. Some countries don't even exist anymore and some countries only gained their independence in recent history. A good book such as "The Times Concise Alias of World History" should be in your library. A year by year history of events and way of life all the way back to ancient times can be found in the book "The Timetables of History".

Auction Lot Of The Month

    This is a proof silver quarter from the U.S. Mint. The reverse has the brown bear finely embossed with gold leaving the rushing river white and the fish bright silver.

NGC is Slabbing Ancients

    In January NGC, one of the most respected graders in the U.S., began grading and encapsulating ancient coins including Greek, Roman, and Byzantine.

    Other services have certified ancient coins with varying degrees of success. AN ACS slabbed them as authentic but did not go into any more detail than that. ICG slabbed with a grade but their holder limited the size of the coin. Many ancient Greek coins were much too thick to fit whereas a 1/12th electrum stater was too small. Sear, probably the most respected name in ancient coins, authenticates and grades ancient coins but does not offer encapsulation (many collectors do not believe it is proper to wrap plastic around an ancient coin).

    Now NGC has a slab that can be made thick enough for big coins and holds coins so that you can see the edge. They not only give the description and origin of the coin they give three measurements of the grade: strike, surface, and style. Probably the most important thing about NGC's ancient coin slabbing program is that the person in charge is the learned David L. Vagi. He has written an award winning set of books: "Coinage and History of the Roman Empire". Two and a half thousand years of impaired coins, old counterfeits, and artistic imitations is bound to challenge David's metal but Vagi being in charge of this service should give coin collectors confidence that those odd shaped pieces of metal with amazingly well developed art are actually ancient coins.

September 2nd Membership Meeting

    Door Prize: Set of Euro coins won by Frank Jasper. Membership Prize: Another set of Euro coins won by Jack Vinson's son.

    Discussion of coin show at the University Center on the weekend of October 17th, Our coin club has 10 tables available for the coin show. Members who would like tables should contact Carl at his business number (#561-2275). We want people to man their tables both days..... so if you get a table and stay the full two days... it's free to you. Show will run from 10 am to 6 pm both days.

    On the matter of our last raffle prize for this year....the drawing will be held at our club's Christmas Party (tentatively set for December 10th). Club members discussed and voted that since there are two raffle prizes, that the prizes be awarded in the order that they are drawn. The two raffle prizes for the December 10th drawing are:

• 1917 $1 U.S. Note in AU condition.

• 1877-S U.S. Trade Dollar in XF40+ condition.

The evening's presentation was made by member Tim Burke on the subject of "Carson City Mint Gold Half Eagles".

A bullet coin auction followed the presentation. The meeting ended following the auction.

Our next membership meeting will be on October 7th at Central Lutheran Church.

September 16th Board Meeting

    Meeting was called to order at 7:10 pm by Secretary Larry Nakata.

    Following a review of correspondence, John Larson distributed raffle tickets to Board members for sale. Raffle drawing - to be held at our December 10th Coin Club Christmas Party at Central Lutheran Church. In keeping with the membership vote on September 2nd, the first prize drawn will be for the 1917 $1 U.S. Note in AU condition. The second prize drawn will be for the 1877-S U.S. Trade Dollar in XF40+ condition.

    The coin show on October 17th (Saturday) and October 18th (Sunday) at the University Center was next addressed. Carl requested that volunteers help set-up tables at 6 PM Friday evening (October 16th). Frank Jasper will be bringing the tables to the University Center.

The Board wishes to give special thanks to Frank Jasper for volunteering to keep the tables at his place at this time.

Stan Mead will be giving a presentation on the subject of "Toning" at our club's October 7th membership meeting.

As there was no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM. Next meeting Oct 21st.

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MISNUMICAT JUMBLE

Last: ANNIDI - INDIAN; a name used for cents with Liberty in an Indian headdress: "Indian" head cents.