Raleigh Coin Club N e w s l e t t e r

Transcription

1 Raleigh Coin Club N e w s l e t t e r Established 1954 Septemer 2014 Contents The Coinage of 1793 Page 1 Raleigh Coin Club Info Page 2 Minutes of August RCC Meeting Page 2 President s Message Page 3 September RCC Meeting Notice Page 3 Free Books Page 6 Content copyright Raleigh Coin Club 2014 The RCC grants permission to reprint for non-profit educational purposes only any articles not individually copyrighted to the author provided that the RCC Newsletter is cited as the source. THE COINAGE OF 1793 (Reprinted by Permission from The Collector s Corner) Submitted by Val Weiss The year 1793 may not have been an iconic year like 1776, when Britain s American colonies declared their independence. Still, it marked the start of something very big for hobbyists who collect United States coins for that was the year when regular federal coinage began at the first U. S. Mint in Philadelphia. Establishment of the mint and its governing regulations had been approved by Congress in the Coinage Act of The act specified that the mint should be located at the seat of government of the United States. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States at that time - and with a population of around 30,000 was also its second largest city (after New York) Erecting the mint was the first building project undertaken by the federal government under the U. S. Constitution. It consisted of three separate buildings: a smelting house, where ore was smelted and refined; a mill house where horses turned a rolling mill to flatten metal strips; and a three-story main building, which housed the mint s offices, vaults, deposit and weighing rooms, as well as an assay lab. Before construction began, workmen had to demolish an abandoned whiskey distillery which occupied part of the property at Seventh and Filbert Streets. Located at what is now known as Center City Philadelphia, the property consisted of two contiguous lots and cost the government $4, Building began on July 31, 1792 and all three buildings were ready to begin operations within three months. The very first coins struck by the mint 11,178 pure copper large cents were officially delivered on March 1, Another 2,000 followed a day later. The monetary system set up by Congress authorized 10 coins three made of gold, five made of silver, and two of copper. Only the two base metal coins, the cent and the half cent, were produced in The delay in production of precious metal coinage stemmed partly from the requirement that gold and silver coins had to be made from bullion brought to the mint by private depositors like banks, in direct exchange for the coins made from that metal. Because of this provision, the mint had to wait until if received gold and silver from depositors, rather than buy the metal on the open market. A bigger problem, though, was a strict provision in the 1792 Coinage Act requiring that the mint s chief coiner and assayer both post $10,000 surety bonds before handling gold and silver. Although it might seem modest today, $10,000 was a modest fortune at that time and neither Chief Coiner Henry Voight nor Assayer Albion Coxe could come up with that amount. In December 1793, Mint Director David Rittenhouse turned to Congress in frustration, asking the bond requirements be reduced. The lawmakers did so the following March, lowering Voight s bond to $5,000 and Coxe s to Continued Page 4 1

2 President: Vice President: Treasurer: Secretary: Sgt-at-Arms: RALEIGH COIN CLUB PO Box Raleigh NC http// Paul Landsberg Steve Pladna Sanford Steelman Benji Harrell Directors (with terms ending): Ben Parker (2014) Robert Izydore (2015) Dave Provost (2016) Newsletter Editor: Halbert Carmichael Web Master David Boinott Club Affiliations American Numismatic Association Member #C Blue Ridge Numismatic Association Member #C3383 North Carolina Numismatic Association Member #C14(Life) MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE RALEIGH COIN CLUB August 19, 2014 Vice-President Paul Landsberg called the meeting to order and welcomed visitors. This meeting was the annual August ice cream social. 17 members and guests were present. Old Business There was no treasurer s report. New Business Jim Neely, President of the North Carolina Numismatic Association announced that their 56 th Annual show would be held at the Greensboro Coliseum on the first weekend in October. He asked for volunteers to help work the show. D.P. of our club will be the exhibit chair. Halbert Carmichael received two awards at the American Numismatic Association show in Chicago. He received his 50-year ANA membership pin and also was awarded one of the Association s prestigious Recognition of Service awards the Glen Smedley Memorial Award in recognition for his years of deep involvement in volunteer service to the ANA as a national, exhibit chairman, exhibit judge and chair of ANA Exhibits and Awards Committee. The next club meeting will be onseptember 16, 2014 at the Wilson Library in Chapel Hill. Roger.B. was recognized for an article on an overstruck Chilean Peso Continued Page 5 2

3 President s Message Hello and welcome to September. Oh how a month changes perspective. The big event in our rear view mirror is our August ice cream. I think there were over a dozen different containers of ice cream, a few boxes of cookies, and a quite delicious homemade batch of hummus social. If our evening was measured simply in calories there would be no scale big enough for us. Also, a thank you to Dave Provost for a light hearted brain teaser of a presentation. Although I am sure Halbert will be forcefully reminding one and all, in this newsletter, that we will be meeting at UNC Chapel Hill Wilson Library, I will pile on and repeat: Meeting 7pm, out by 9pm September 16 th. Above and beyond (quick) club business and show and tell), there will be tours of the Wilson Library. Refreshments available. Every time I have been to the Wilson Library as part of a Raleigh Coin Club event I have greatly enjoyed it. I do hope everyone makes the effort!! Show planning activities continue for our now distant 2015 show. Dave Provost will update us at the meeting. I realized that in last month s message I indicated the club would reimburse for ice cream brought only to find our treasurer was not around. Do follow up with Steve P as needed. Finally, we will have our show and tell time, so please do bring something interesting to share. SEPTEMBER MEETING NOTICE Tuesday, September 16, :00 PM Wilson Library UNC Campus Chapel Hill Map showing directions and parking available at under Meeting section Program Introduction by BOB ANTHONY Tour of THE ART OF NORTH CAROLINA MONEY led by Bob Schreiner Tour of North Carolina Gallery led by LINDA JACOBSON Members Show and Tell Onward ye fellow numismatists!! Paul Landsberg 3

4 The Coinage of 1793 continued from Page 1 $1,000. The men met these amounts, clearing the way for the start of precious metal coinage. Silver production began with half dimes, half dollars and silver dollars in 1794, while gold coinage began with half eagles and eagles, $5 and $10, in Originally there was a strong sentiment for placing the likeness of President Washington on the nation s coinage. However, Washington himself rejected this idea. He deemed it monarchial and contrary to the values that the 13 colonies had fought so valiantly for. Instead the decision was made to portray a female likeness as allegorical embodiment of Liberty. Although the concept was a good one, the actual design on the earliest coins received less than rave reviews. The coin depicted a right-facing personification of Miss Liberty with free-flowing hair an image intended to represent the fresh, unfettered spirit of the fledgling United States. It was inspired by the famous, Libertas Americana medal conceived by Benjamin Franklin and struck at the Paris mint in 1783 to celebrate the end of the American Revolution. Even with this distinguished lineage the American public s reaction to the coinage adaptation was less than enthusiastic. One reviewer wrote that Liberty, appeared to be in a fright. The design on the cent s reverse prompted even louder criticism which must have startled Washington, since it is believed that he is the one who recommended it. The president admired the Continental dollar of 1776, which used the image of 13 interlocking rings to convey the ideal that the 13 colonies were strong because they were united. Quite possibly at his suggestion, the first cents portrayed similar rings to symbolize the strength of the new federal union. Critics of the cent say a darker kind of imagery. They groused that the links conveyed the notion of Liberty in chains, and warned that the design was a bad omen for the new nation as it set out on the still perilous path of independence. Of less concern to contemporary critics but of considerable interest to collectors, the Chain Cents bore the abbreviated UNITED STATES OF AMERI, while later ones had AMERICA in full. Both are of about equal rarity. Cent production was halted in March because the mint s supply of planchets, or coin blanks, was depleted. This break gave the mint officials a chance to re-evaluate the design of the Chain Cent. That review followed growing objection that the chain on the reverse stood for subservience, not unity. They decided to replace it with a new design showing a simple wreath. Coinage of the Wreath Cents began on April 4th and continued through April 19th as the mint used a new supply of 40,000 planchets. Once these were used, more than two months passed before cent production resumed on June 27th. The mint made a total of 63,353 Wreath Cents during In part the delay in cent production resulted from a shift in emphasis to half cents. By mid-may the mint had produced some 20,000 blanks for the smaller coins. Dies were then prepared, more blanks were readied, and production began on July 18th. By July 26 the mint had struck 31,934 examples of the nation s smallest-value coin, and another suspension ensued again because the planchet supply had been exhausted. Another 3,400 half cents were delivered on Sept 18th, bringing the total mintage to 35,334 for the denomination in The Libertas Americana portrait served as the model for the half cent s likeness of Liberty, just as it had for the cent. However, on the half cent Miss Liberty faced left and had a more pleasing appearance. Instead of free flowing hair she wore a Liberty Cap, while a Liberty Pole behind her completed the composition. The coin s reverse carried the words HALF CENT within a simple wreath surrounded by the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Chain Cent (Photo Courtesy of Heritage Auctions) The public s general acceptance of the half cent s design could have led to a second major change on the cent. In late summer the mint decided to drop the still unpopular image of Liberty (which had been retained on the Wreath Cent) and substitute a modified version of the Liberty Cap design this time with Liberty facing right. Just 11,056 examples were minted, making this the scarcest of the 1793 coin types. From Sept. 18th through the end of the year, the mint did not make any coins. In fact for much of that time the mint was shut down. A yellow fever outbreak gripped Philadelphia in the latter part of 1793, killing 4,044 inhabitants more than one tenth of the city s population. It remains the worst health disaster ever to befall an American city. Among the victims was Joseph Continued Next Page 4

5 The Coinage of 1793 (Continued from Previous Page) Joseph Wright, an engraver who was working on the designs for the nation s early coinage. One very special 1793 Chain Cent was auctioned in January The coin, certified as Mint State-65 Brown by PCGS, changed hands for a whopping $1.38 million. It was formerly part of the only complete dateand-mint set of United States coins ever assembled, held by the Baltimore banker Louis E. Eliasberg Sr. The term large cents often used to describe early U. S. copper coins is no exaggeration. The very first cents were roughly 26 millimeters in diameter and weighed grams, making them heavier than the current Kennedy half dollar and almost as big. This reflected the Founding Father s belief that U. S. coins must be of nearly full value intrinsically to gain acceptance from the public. The weight was reduced in 1795 to grams. The 1793 half cents, also pure copper, were about 22 millimeters in diameter and weighed 6.74 grams Wreath Cent (Photo Courtesy of Heritage Auctions) Coins of both denominations carried edge inscriptions partly as anti-counterfeiting devices, and partly to help a largely unschooled public in confirming the coins values. On Chain Cents and some Wreath Cents, the inscription took the form of bars and a slender vine. On other Wreath Cents, all Liberty Cap Cents and all half cents, the edge bore letters denoting the coin s face value: ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR on the cents and TWO HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR on the half cents. Both coins also displayed fractional statements of value at the base of the reverse: 1/100 for the cents and 1/200 for the half cents. Some might say that the U. S. mint got off to a very slow start in the first full year of operation. No gold or silver coinage was produced, and the mint made fewer than 146,000 examples of the two copper coins it produced. In many ways, however, 1793 was a highly eventful and richly historic year for the mint. Just like any newborn it had to learn how to walk before it could run. In more ways than one 1793 was the beginning of something big. August RCC Minutes (Continued from Page 2) Dave Provost was recognized for receiving an award from the ANA for his article in the NCNA Journal, Exploring North Carolina Exonumia. Dave P. the 2015 bourse chair announced the dates for the 2015 Raleigh Money Expo; June at the Expo Center of the North Carolina Fairgrounds. Dave P. announced awards for exhibits at the 2014 show to S.S. and Jeff for first time exhibitors. Halbert Carmichael won the People s Choice award for the best exhibit. Show and Tell Paul L. brought a marks emergency coin from Westphalia, in Germany, and also a Tibetan coin. Dave P. brought a $5 silver coin from Canada, commemorating the First World War and the Expeditionary Force. He also brought silver and bronze medals from the1962 ANA and CNA show in Detroit. Halbert C. showed a 25 cent coin from Canada, the last of a series on birds that had been brought to him by Dave P. Sanford S. brought 2 medals celebrating the victory of the British navy at the battle of Vigo Bay. Russ brought a Columbian ½ dollar with an applied monogram. Roger B. brought a South Carolina quarter, MS-67 with a reverse rotated. Benjie H. brought two Standing Liberty Quarters; a 1917-D and Both graded MS- 63. Matt brought a 1909-S-VDB cent, certified in a low grade, but authentic. Program Dave P. conducted a numismatic quiz dealing with the collections of club member. Drawings Members of the club drew the winners of the coins for the raffle, and for the winners of the food drive prizes. 5

6 FREE BOOKS The following table lists books that are still available to members for the taking, thanks to John Page, former president of the Raleigh Coin Club. Charlton Mint Anderson Davenport Shilke & Solomon Craig Friedberg Krause et all Friedberg Krause & Mishler Krause & Mishler Krause & Mishler Scott Briers Government Paper Money Striking Impressions Lincoln Cent Encyclopedia German Talers America s Foreign Coins Coins of the World Coins of the British World Std Cat of US Paper Money Paper Money of the United States Std Catalogue Std Catalogue Std Catalogue Copper, Nickel, Brass & Bronze Roman True Stories About Money ? th 17th Cooper Coins & Minting >1970 Gimbels International 1933 Coin Catalogue Ruddy New 1976 Photograde Schon World Catalog 1989 Modern World 1984 Coins Modern World 1974 Coins Del Monte Fell s 1953 International Coin Book Mint Striking Impressions 1986 Mint (paperback) Striking Impressions (hard cover) 1986 To claim books contact: hhcarmichael@mindspring.com and I will bring them to the OCTOBER meeting of the Raleigh Coin Club. 6