Show & Tell

July 2010
Last month J.P. displayed his on-going collection of fake trade dollars. No one guessed the real one so I have a few dollar coins to give away. I'll work out something.

A.B. also had a sampling of movie dollars and was kind enough to give J.P. one! Movie dollars are used as props when money needs to be shown as part of the film. Since, for obvious reasons, real money cannot be used, the film companies have fake money printed with just enough detail to allow it to look real on-camera. At the next meeting, J.P. will also have an item or 2 in support of Angus's lecture on Odd and Curious money. I hope that other members will also!

June 2010
We had and excellent Show and Tell last month.

A.B. brought a display of Military Jump Wings. These are presented to military parachuting jumpers and instructors and are coveted by the recipients.

B.B. displayed a "Where's George" currency note that he received in change. The note is stamped with a "Where's George" website stamp and that shows that it's been entered into a database that can be accessed to see where the bill has traveled. I just checked the website and almost 175,000,000 bills have been entered for tracking!

J.P. presented a new book just out, titled "Curious Currency" by Robert D. Leonard Jr. It details items that have been used as currency from the stone Age to the Internet age.

J.M. presented a beautiful 1943 Steel Penny graded MS66 by PCGS and a 1911 Bust Dime graded MS64 also graded by PCGS.

May 2010
There was no Show & Tell this month due to the picnic.

April 2010
With the holding of the Super Auction we certainly had enough items for Show and Tell. J.P. showed a business display of wooden Nickels that were sold supporting the "1958 Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Oceanside CA". They were sold by local businesses to raise money for the Jubilee.

March 2010
J.P. displayed his collection of Uncirculated Roosevelt dimes and also displayed an 1890 Utah Lottery ticket. A.B. brought a vial of real gold flakes. With gold over $1500 an ounce, virtually any gold is worth a fair amount of money. Thanks for displays!

February 2010
J.P. displayed his collection of Mercury Dimes. While not the prettiest set, it is complete with the difficult 1916-D. He also had a brochure from the Long Beach coin show display called "Ship of Gold". The display included a monster ingot weighing 933.94 ounces, produced by Kellogg and Humbert, that was sold to a "Forbes 400" business executive for $8 million in November 2001. For those on a budget, the catalogue does list cheaper ingots starting at $70,000!

January 2010
We had a couple of items for Show and Tell. A.B., in keeping with the theme of the main presentation, displayed a set of fossilized horse teeth dating between 20-40,000 years old. Surprisingly, he discovered them himself while hiking. Nice Find!

J.P. displayed a counterfeit Trade dollar he obtained at the San Bernardino Coin show. The Chinese are making these in large numbers and it is starting to become a problem in the U.S. as they become better at making fakes! He also displayed a recent E-Bay purchase of some trade tokens that had been packaged for a long period in PVC flips and had been seriously damaged. Make sure your coins are properly stored to prevent this from happening!
December 2009
None due to the Christmas luncheon

November 2009
A.B. showed a currency note called a "Short Snorter". Servicemen used them to keep a register of where they had traveled, usually during World War 2. This one was signed by the owner, Jack Dempsey, and dated 4/25/45. Since then, Angus has done a little more research and a comparison of the signature on the note to known Jack Dempsey signatures indicates a strong probability that it was signed by the famous boxer (World Heavyweight Champion 1919-1926) himself!

J.M. had a 1903S Barber Quarter, a 1853 Liberty Seated Quarter (with arrows as described in last months Coin Facts), and a beautiful 1880 Morgan Dollar certified MS67 condition. Thank You!

J.P. had his complete BU Jefferson Nickel collection and also talked about a new book "Pocket Full of History" by Jim Noles. The book covers the designs of the State Quarter program and the symbolism of each State quarter design.

D.W. spoke of his visit to the Elks Club on November 7th where they were honoring the Marine Corps which is 239 years old. This is the 3rd year this honor was presented by the local Police Force of which 1/3 are Marines. Even if not actively serving, a Marine is always a Marine!

F.G. mentioned that our current Club President had been spotted on the Oprah Winfrey show taking a guest on a tandem skydive! I had great fun and you can see a still Freefall picture on Oprah's website. The school I work for took 5 guest's from the show on tandems, (One fainted before exit and didn't go), for a segment called "Step Outside Your Box".

October 2009
A.B. showed a currency note called a "Short Snorter". Servicemen used them to keep a register of where they had traveled, usually during World War 2. This one was signed by the owner, Jack Dempsey, and dated 4/25/45. It probably is someone with the same name as the famous boxer but it's fun to imagine.

A.B. also brought free bookmarks with information about the Lincoln Bicentennial One Cent Coin Program.

J.M. exhibited a 1849 2 ½ dollar gold coin. Gold is always impressive.

J.P. showed his complete set of Buffalo Nickels. He also showed an Alaskan Belikan which is a native Alaskan good luck token.

September 2009
A.B. showed a U.S. Trade dollar. However, it was a Chinese counterfeit! This is an ongoing problem in the coin world. It has spread to the point that there are even fake coins in fake certified slabs. At the ANA convention there was a symposium on the subject but there was no consensus on how to stop it.

J.M. showed his 2 Peso gold coin that he won in the NASC drawing. He also presented a Standing Liberty quarter dated 1930 and a 2 ½ dollar certified gold piece. Very nice coins!

J.P. showed his complete set of Indian Head cents. He also showed a new WWII book printed in a scrapbook form that he obtained at the ANA convention.

Also "Thanks!" to A.B. for identifying my puzzle coin from last month as a Venezualan 2-Bolivar coin.

August 2009
A Liberty Nickel (V-Nickel), plus, keeping in mind last months factoid on 3 Cent pieces, presented examples of both types, the nickel and the silver.

Some items that were picked up at the ANA convention, notably a small souvenir packet of shredded money from the LA Federal Reserve Bank. Also a dollar size coin, (country unknown), cut into a 25 piece puzzle. Also this years Mint Passport from the ANA convention with a coin from each mint represented at the ANA. There were 12 mints represented at the ANA.

Items picked up at the ANA. A $50 bill with Grant's portrait graded PCGS 66 (Very Nice). There was also an example of the 2009 ANA Convention medal plus a spurious $1,000,000 Thank You note.

An article on POG's which were (are?) used at overseas military installations for small change. This reduces the need to ship heavy bulk quantities of coins to overseas locations. At the ANA Convention one of the personal competitive exhibits was a huge display (10+ cases) of POG's. They are made of cardboard and can range from very decorative to very plain.

July 2009
A 1861 ½ Dollar. The "O" mintmarked version, (New Orleans mint), while having a total mintage of 2,532,633, 330,000 were struck for the U.S. Government, 1,240,000 for the State of Louisianna afte it seceeded from the Union, and 962,633 after Louisianna joined the Confederate States of America. All using the same U.S. dies. Certainly historical! A 1946 Base Liberty Pass to Seoul, Korea and also a Korean ration card both issued to a Cpl. Also showen were a 1909-S VDB cent and, yes, he did get it back! The new 2009 U.S. Proof set was brought and was avaliable for sale..