Amongst my activities for the last month has been cleaning off the top of my desk. While for some this may be an easy project, for me it is a major proposition. One of the reasons is that the way I work can be best classified as “organized chaos.” Organized chaos builds piles of like items until there is no room. Rather than clean up the piles, priority items are reordered and piled on top of items that may not be needed until later. This keeps going until the desktop becomes unorganized as the piles get shifted looking for something that became buried. At some point the organization goes away and all that is left is the chaos. Finally, the day comes when a critical item can no longer be found.
I have had people tell me that the best way to keep my organization under control is to deal with the item right away. For some reason, I get attached to ideas, concepts, and the objects that are associated with them. Everything gets saved until I do something with them or I am faced with the difficult decisions to make it a priority when I finally dig out of the chaos.
But the digging can be fun because at the bottom of the pile, when the top of the desk is finally rediscovered, are the small items that are the most fun. In my case, there are a lot of coins, medals, tokens, and other items that I thought would be cool or nice to resell. Just to have a little fun, I gathered up some of the numismatic trinkets and decided to share it with my readers.
Some of the numismatic items found during my attempt to organize my chaos.
It looks like an eclectic little lot of stuff. I have a million dollar bill (talk about inflation money) sitting on top of a package of shredded currency that says has about $10 of chopped up notes, some Canadian money, and older U.S. coins. Those coins with the little numbered stickers were purchased at my coin club’s auction. There is a lot of five Canadian dimes, a copper 2-cent piece, and a nickel 3-cent coin.
Encased steel cent advertising John C. Roberts Shoes “for the particular man.”
But some of these coins are a bit interesting. Let’s look at this encased steel cent. Up until I bought this coin from noted error dealer Fred Weinberg through eBay I had never seen an encased steel cent. The aluminum ring says “Wear the John C. Roberts Shoe” around the top and “For Particular Men” on the bottom. The reverse has the address of a store in Chicago, Illinois.
John C. Roberts was one of the founders of the Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Company of St. Louis in 1898 as a wholesaler. The other founders were Jack Johnson, Oscar Johnson, and Edgar E. Rand. They were a competitor to Peters Shoe Company that was founded in 1836 but organized into a formal corporation under Missouri law in 1891 by Henry W. Peters. The Peters Shoe Company was a manufacturer and wholesaler.
Although these two companies were competitors, their policies, ideals. and business standards were so closely aligned that they were drawn together by a mutual respect. The companies merged in 1911 and changed their name to the International Shoe Company. The next year, in 1912, the International Shoe Company purchased Friedman-Shelby Shoe Company, another St. Louis-based shoe manufacturer. In 1921, International Shoe Company was incorporated in Delaware.
International Shoe Company was once the world’s largest manufacturer of shoes with Red Goose shoes being its flagship brand. At one time, International Shoe Company owned Florsheim and Savage Shoes, Canada’s largest shoemaker. In 1966 the company changed its name to Interco and tried to become a conglomerate in apparel, footwear, and retailing. The company’s troubles began as it branched into furniture by buying Ethan Allen and Broyhill Furniture in 1980 as the furniture manufacturing was declining in the United States.
Eventually, Interco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991 and sold off all of its operations except for Broyhill, Lane, Converse (which it bought in 1986), and Florsheim. By 1994, the company sold Converse and Florsheim to exit the shoe business. The company was rebranded as Furniture Brands International 1996 after buying Thomasville Furniture. Now they only manufacture and sell furniture leaving collectors with these encased coins to raise our curiosity.
Obverse of Montgomery County Coin Club medal with standard logo that was gold plated for the 50th Anniversary.
Reverse of the Montgomery County Coin Club medal with the special sticker commemorating the club’s 50th anniversary in 2009.
My next interesting find was my “gold” medal commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery County Coin Club in 2009. As president of the Montgomery County Coin Club, it was my job to help lead a celebration honoring our 50th anniversary. Since I was not a member for as long as others, I leaned heavily on longer tenured members for assistance. I believe the celebration went well.
To commemorate the occasion, we wanted a special medal but we did not want to spend a lot of money. Rather than buy new medals, we dipped into our ample supply of pewter medals and had them gold plated. On the back, I created a “50” logo that was similar to our regular logo that uses the reverse of the Maryland Tercentenary half-dollar but uses the reverse of the Lincoln Memorial cent that was released in 1959. That logo was added to a sticker and numbered. The club as #1 as a souvenir. Since I was the president, I was able to get #2. I just wish I made the background of that sticker a bit lighter.
Miscellaneous Items with Canadian dollar, dimes, a TBTA token, and Keith Hernandez souvenir “coin.”
Sometimes there is just some loose stuff on the desk including a Canadian dollar commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens (they are a professional hockey team for those who do not follow hockey), a token from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) in New York City, a small set of Canadian dimes, and a Keith Hernandez “coin” from a 7-Eleven promotion in the mid-1980s. Hernandez was the Mets’ star first baseman when they won the 1986 World Series. Yes, I know he played for St. Louis before being traded to the Mets, but that is inconsequential to my collecting interests!
The TBTA token is interesting because it is smaller than the ones I used to use because it is for other tolls than the East River bridges. This token was primarily used on the Henry Hudson and the Marine Parkway (now Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial) Bridges where the tolls were cheaper. The larger tokens were used on the Triborough Bridge, Verrazono-Narrows Bridge, the Queens Midtown Tunnel, and other nearby crossings.
Tokens are no longer accepted at the TBTA crossing and they stopped issuing special Staten Island resident tokens for the Verrazano Bridge in 1998 with the introduction of EZ-Pass. I should try to find a Staten Island resident token for my collection.
An 1865 3-cent nickel and an 1865 2-cent coin for my 2-, 3-, and 5-cent one-pager
Finally, something that was purchased relatively recently but made it to the bottom of the pile are two coins I bought to start my one-page collection of 2-, 3-, and 5-cent coins. The week after writing about this in a blog post, the coins were available in my coin club’s monthly auction. Since I plan to put the set together, I bought these 1865 2-cent and 3-cent nickel coins to begin the question. But like a number of items that ended up buried on the surface of the desk, this is where that stopped. Now that I found the coins, I am going to make note of where I am in this collection and bring the list to the World’s Fair of Money in August to see if I can fill in the holes. In fact, I will probably work on completing my one-page cent collection, too. It’s not like I will have anything else to do!
There is more but if I do not stop now I am not going to be able to finish my cleaning!
I am back after taking two weeks off for a little travel. As part of my ventures I spent some time in Canada. My wife, whose family is from the French-speaking areas of Quebec, had me trail along while she visited relatives. Even though I cannot speak French (très peu or “very little” is my response to when I was asked) I did have a good time. My wife’s relatives are good people and it would be interesting to see some of them come to the United States to visit.
While I was in Canada I decided that it would be interesting to buy rolls of one dollar (Loonies) and two dollar (Toonies) coins and see what I can find. The process was very interesting. First, I had to find a teller who could help me in English and accept U.S. currency. Thankfully, my wife had business at a local bank and the banker she worked with introduced me to a teller I could work with.
As I was introduced to the teller, I decided to buy two rolls of Loonies and Toonies. I thought this would be a good idea since these rolls may not have many coins. After all, rolls of U.S. dollars has 25 coins and the half dollars have 40 coins. I was surprised to learn that both the one and two dollar Canadian coins contain 50 coins! Playing it cool, I pretended I was not surprised and decided that purchasing 100 of each coin would be more fun to go through.
The rolls that were handed to me were clear plastic with locking tabs to hold the coins in place. Opening the roll is as easy as pulling apart the tabs. It does not require banging the rolls on the counter or tearing apart paper. While I did not open the roll all of the way, I was able to press the tabs closed to keep the rolls together.
Since I was paying for the rolls using U.S. currency, the bank used the current exchange rate for the conversion. With an exchange rate of a fraction over 98-cents per Canadian dollar, the two rolls cost less than $150 in U.S. currency. This presented a problem trying to pay with coins. Thankfully, my wife had some Canadian currency and paid for part of the transaction and added the C$5.00 fee since I was not a customer. What was more interesting was that without one-cent coins in circulation, the change had to be rounded. In this case, the change was rounded up!
After I walked out of the bank I began to wonder how the bank balances its books? Having worked on computer systems that supports accounting with all of the auditing capabilities and the ability to balance many accounts at once, what happens when the balances do not match? Do the banks track the plus-or-minus cents in order to make the books balance?
While in Canada I had to continue with my usual coffee habit and found myself at a Tim Hortons. For the United States audience not in the northeast where there are Tim Hortons franchises, Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 by Miles “Tim” Horton, a hockey player and entrepreneur, in Ontario as a donut shop. Although Horton died as a result of a 1974 automobile accident, his namesake restaurant is the largest fast-food chain in Canada. When I am asked to describe Tim Hortons I say that it is similar to Dunkin Donuts but with a better system and better coffee. When purchasing coffee at the Tim Hortons and paid using cash, the store worker would enter the amount of money I handed over and the electronic cash register calculated the change. On the screen it noted the change and how much would be actually dispensed without the one-cent coins. When I made a $1.78 purchase and handed the cashier a toonie, the cash registers said I was owed 20-cents in change.
Even though these transactions were in my favor, I had mixed feelings about the situation. I could have paid the exact amount using a credit card, but I am not comfortable using my credit card for small transactions.
Canadians seem to be comfortable, or at least accepting, with the elimination of the one-cent coin. I noticed they are comfortable with the one and two dollar coins. In fact, I liked having the coins from change while purchasing my coffee or other items while in Canada.
I am not sure that eliminating the one-cent coin or the paper dollar is ever going to happen in the United States, but if Canadians can adapt then I do not see why we should not be able to!
Congressional Committee Discusses Budget Savings Benefit Of Dollar Coin
900 19th St. NW 8th Floor Washington, DC 20006
WASHINGTON (11/29/12) – Congress’ own budget watchdog once again recommended saving billions of dollars by modernizing U.S. currency from the $1 note to a $1 coin in testimony today in front of a House Financial Services subcommittee.
The independent, non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) has now recommended a move to the dollar coin eight times to Congress. They have estimated that the federal government could save at least $4.4 billion, if not more, without raising a single tax or cutting a single program.
“GAO stands for accountability, reliability and independence,” Philip Diehl, former Director of the U.S. Mint testified, “Since 1990, GAO has issued seven reports, all reaching the same conclusion: billions will be saved. The estimated savings over 30 years have ranged from $4.4 billion to $15.7 billion. It didn’t matter whether a Republican or Democrat asked the question, the answer always came back the same.”
“We continue to believe that replacing the note with a coin is likely to provide a financial benefit to the government if the note is eliminated and negative public reaction is effectively managed through stakeholder outreach and public education,” said Lorelei St. James, who testified on behalf of the GAO. “Many other countries have successfully replaced low denomination notes with coins, even when initially faced with public opposition.”
“Canada’s replacement of the one-dollar bank note with a circulation coin, and later the introduction of the two-dollar coin, can be deemed a success, from the perspective of the Mint and all end-users of Canadian currency,” noted Beverley Lepine, Chief Operating Officer of the Royal Canadian Mint.
Today’s hearing was chaired by Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ-5), cosponsor of the Currency Optimization, Innovation and National Savings (COINS) Act (H.R. 2977) and comes at a time when Congress is considering options for avoiding the fiscal cliff and addressing the federal budget deficit.
The COINS Act (H.R. 2977 and S. 2049) was introduced earlier this year by a bipartisan group including Congressman Schweikert, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Mike Enzi (R-WY) and is designed to save the country billions of dollars by eliminating the wasteful, inefficient $1 note.
About Dollar Coin Alliance
The Dollar Coin Alliance is a coalition of small businesses, budget watchdogs, transit agencies, and labor groups dedicated to saving American taxpayers billions of dollars by transitioning to a one-dollar coin, and focused on educating taxpayers and policy-makers about the benefits of increasing dollar coin circulation. For more information, or to get involved, please visit www.DollarCoinAlliance.org.
CREDITS:Press release from Dollar Coin Alliance. Edited to add hyperlinks.
First, the U.S. Mint’s product offerings do not make sense, specifically in the area of coins minted at the San Francisco Mint. First, in an attempt to resolve the issues surrounding the release of the 25th Anniversary Silver Eagle Set, the U.S. Mint changes their approach by making the ordering period for the 75th Anniversary of the San Francisco Mint Silver Eagle Set a month long and announcing they will mint enough coins to the demand.
Of course some people believed that would be the extent of the run of Silver Eagles with the “S” mintmark. However, many missed the fine print that said the U.S. Mint may continue to strike and sell S mint Silver Eagles following the sale—which they did. Buried in the news was the announcement of the Making American History Coin and Currency Set, a combined set to celebrate the U.S. Mint’s 220th anniversary and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s 150th anniversary. The set contains an S Mint Silver Eagle and a $5 Federal Reserve Note from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco with the serial number beginning with “150.”
Even though that set has limits (100,000 based on the number of $5 FRN available), there have been some complaints from the buying public about not putting limits on the number of S Mint American Silver Eagle products.
But does this matter? Is this a case of collectors trying to dabble with investment in their collection? I know we all would like our collection to be worth more than what we paid, but are we collectors or investors? As a collector, I am not concerned that my 1928 Peace Dollar is not worth that much more than I paid for it.
Legally (31 U.S.C §5112(e)), the U.S. Mint is required to supply the bullion market with American Eagle coins to demand. Striking of coins for the collector market is up to “the Secretary’s discretion,” which we saw with the American Eagle Proof non-production fiasco of 2009.
The American Eagle bullion coins are the most popular investments coins in the world with Canada’s Maple Leaf coming in a close second because of currency exchange rates. Even as the Canadian dollar passes the U.S. dollar in value, American Eagles are still selling. The demand for the product is there and by law, the U.S. Mint is required to supply the demand. There is even demand for the collector versions of the American Eagles, as we saw in 2009. The U.S. Mint does not have to limit sales, and why should they? After all, the U.S. Mint is one of the few profit making mechanisms for the federal government—and even with the price controls placed on them by the law, why should they not be allowed to take advantage of the market? If a complaint about the government is that they do not act like a business, and it is a business decision to sell more American Eagle collector products to satisfy market demand, then why are they being criticized?
The Royal Canadian Mint produces the popular Maple Leaf bullion coins as well as other issues based on the Maple Leaf and other precious metal coins. They can do this because the RCM is not a government agency. The RCM is what is known as a “Crown Corporation,” legally owned by the Crown of the Commonwealth Realm (Queen Elizabeth II) with exclusive rights to produce coins on behalf of the Bank of Canada. Issues and designs are decided by a committee within the RCM which is then approved by the Bank of Canada so that they have legal tender status before being approved by the Governor General of Canada, the Queen’s representative in Canada.
Since the RCM can issue many different non-circulating legal tender (NCLT) coins without the onerous permission requirements that the U.S. Mint needs to go through by getting a law passed, the RCM can create many limited availability issues and use the limited availability as part of their promotion. In the mean time, the U.S. Mint has a limited number of coins they can produce because this is what congress has allowed them to do.
Golino writes, “We need more coins with different and better designs.” This one is difficult to answer because of how the U.S. Mint is regulated by congress. Even if you try to extend the American Silver Eagle coins with different design, the law (31 U.S.C §5112(e)) says the design must be “symbolic of Liberty on the obverse side” and “of an eagle on the reverse side.” Maybe the U.S. Mint could use the American Silver Eagle coins to reprise old designs like the Christian Gobrecht’s Seated Liberty design with the reverse eagle designed by Titian Peale from the Gobrecht Dollar, but to create something else requires an act of congress.
Even if the U.S. Mint was allowed to alter the designs of the American Eagle coins, these designs have to be vetted by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. While a vetting process should continue, the redundant process of having to run the designs by both the CFA and CCAC is a business risk that the U.S. Mint will probably choose not to go through.
There is no incentive for the U.S. Mint to request a change in its current operating structure because it would require cooperation from congress where the current oversight subcommittee chair, Ron Paul, is not considered a friend to the the agency.
As a first step, it would be nice for the U.S. Mint to be able to leverage the American Eagle program to create a changing design for collectibles. One would be to revive some of the older one-dollar designs as a tribute to the large silver coins. Another would be to do the same for gold coins, such as a year where the Bela Lyon Pratt incuse half-eagle Indian Head design would be featured. But this would require a change in the law since the obverse design is not a representative of liberty.
If you want something different, write to your member of congress and suggest that the law be changed. Otherwise, if you do not like the offering, do not buy it. Nothing speaks louder than consumers exercising their rights not to buy a product.
Citing its low buying power and that it costs 1.6 Canadian cents to produce one coin, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced in March that the government will end the coin’s production. Cash sales will be rounded up or down to the nearest 5-cents while non-cash transaction will continue to be settled to the nearest cent.
After a brief ceremony that included Flaherty and Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint, the last penny was struck and carried from the presses by Flaherty. It will be given to the Canadian Currency Museum located within the Bank of Canada complex in downtown Ottawa for display
Ceremony images from the Royal Canadian Mint via Twitter. Cent coin image courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint.
“Every 1859 cent has something to offer if you look hard enough,” is the quote on the front page of a new website by noted numismatic researcher Dr. James A. Haxby. The website, www.vickycents.com, attempts to document every die variety and die combination used in minting the 1859 Canadian Large Cent.
If you haven’t figured it out, “Vicky Cents” are the cents produced under the reign of Queen Victoria.
The site is not complete and looks like it came online on December 10, 2011, but has some very interesting information on the coin whose handmade dies offers a variety hunter a lifetime treasure trove of searching. However, it looks like Haxby will help collectors of these coins figure out which of the many varieties they have of what seems to be a fascinating coin.
While searching for information about Canadian Victorian Cents, I found a few other interesting sites:
CoinsAndCanada.com is a complete reference of Canadian coin and currency, including price guides.
See what happens when you find an 1899 Canadian Cent in a box that was supposed to only contain United States coins? Now to go learn more about Victorian Cents.
Are you a tooth fairy looking for something different to give leave that little loved under the pillow? Then the Royal Canadian Mint has an answer for you, especially if the toothless child is into coin collecting. Rather than leaving money, the RCM has produced a Tooth Fairy Gift Card with a special 25-cents Tooth Fairy coin.
Tooth Fairy legends started in Europe where it became a tradition to bury baby teeth as they fell out. Later, it became tradition to place the tooth under the pillow where the Tooth Fairy would collect the teeth, leave the children money, and give the teeth to the parents as a keepsake of their child’s growth. Whatever the tradition, the bottom line is the giving of money for the tooth. Why not make it memorable?
The card from the RCM also includes an envelop so that you can include more money than a quarter. For children in the United States, you can include other world coins if the child is a beginning collector or you can just leave some modern, legal tender alternatives. On either side of the border, an idea is to include the current Presidential $1 Coin or a few National Parks quarters. In Canada, the RCM has a animal and flower coins that would satisfy any child along with having the tooth fairy card.
Some traditions mark the sixth tooth as being special because it represents the strength in the child’s growth. For those, why not look at a large silver coin. the American Silver Eagle is a nice choice for U.S. children. In Canada, the 2011 Maple Leaf Forever silver coin with the three maple leaves is a symbol of Canada like no others.
I remember after the first few teeth how monotonous losing teeth became. This card could help a child along having those feelings.
This card is such a good idea, I wish I was playing tooth fairy for someone who could enjoy a card like this.
The Bank of Canada formally unveiled their new polymer banknotes on Tuesday at its main offices in Ottawa. Canada’s central bank representatives explained the new currency designs and the security features that will be included in the notes. Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty said that the note’s “designs celebrate Canada’s achievements at home, around the world and in space. Bank notes are cultural touchstones that reflect and celebrate our Canadian experience.”
New polymer $100 notes, on schedule to be issued in November 2011, will feature images that focus on Canadian innovations in the field of medicine. The obverse of the note will include an updated portrait of Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada between 1911 and 1920.
Security features of the note are two transparent areas that will be difficult to counterfeit yet be easy to check. Most prominent are two transparent areas: the larger area extends from the top to the bottom of the note and contains complex holographic features. The other is in the shape of a maple leaf. “The Bank’s objective with every new series is to produce a bank note that Canadians can use with the highest confidence,” said Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney.
RCMP Commissioner William J.S. Elliott added, “These new and technically innovative notes will go a long way to deter the threat of counterfeiting in coming years.”
The Bank of Canada issued a video showing off their new $100 note and the security features:
Une version de cette vidéo en français peuvent être trouvés ici.
In the mean time, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has been silent on the production and potential release of the United State’s new $100 Federal Reserve Note. Release of the new note has been delayed since its scheduled February release date because of production problems.
“The single biggest obstacle to successful production was the tendency of the $100 currency paper with the three dimensional security ribbon to crease as the sheets of paper fed through the intaglio printing press,” BEP Director Larry Felix reported in the bureau’s 2010 Annual Report.
I tried to contact a BEP Media Relations representative about the status of the new notes. I was told there was no additional information available.
I ask again: With the new $100 note having printing problems, why has the BEP not looked into using the polymer substrate for U.S. currency? Why does the Federal Reserve, BEP, and Secret Service cling to 19th and 20th century printing technologies in the 21st century? Or is this a matter of “not invented here” to avoid alleged controversy by using a something invented by a foreign central bank?
It is time for the money producing cabal of the Federal Reserve, BEP, and Secret Service to face reality. They need to cut their losses with paper and look to the future for something better.
Normand Czepial of Ripon, Quebec was not happy with the increase of his property taxes by nearly $4,000. When he went to pay his tax tax bill, Czepial filled a children’s pool with 213,625 pennies and carted them down to City Hall to protest the higher taxes.
Ripon Mayor Luc Desjardins refused the payment and was forced to tell Czepial to find another way to pay his tax bill. In Canada the Currency Act says “A payment in coins… is a legal tender for no more than… twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.” This meant that Czepial was 213,600 over the limit. He wrote a check to pay the property tax.
There have been stories in the United States of people paying with small denomination coins but in all cases, the coins were accepted as payment. Unlike Canada, United States laws does not limit the number of coins that could be used in a payment. While a private citizen could refuse to take the coins, governments cannot. It is not something I recommend doing. Government employees have cell phones with cameras and they can do until you as you have done unto them. Caveat emptor.
Tonight, I watched the last medal event of the 2010 Winter Olympics. I love hockey and being a crass American, I was rooting for Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres), Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils), and Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks) to lead the USA team to the gold. There was also Ryan Suter (Nashville Predators) of the Suter family that seemed to dominate the NHL in the 1980s and into the 1990s whose dad, Bob, played for the 1980 Miracle on Ice team in Lake Placid. But Team Canada played well and won the gold when the Pittsburgh Penguin’s Sidney Crosby shot it past Ryan Miller for the game winning goal in overtime. It was a thrilling game and fitting for the Olympic Hockey finals.
Hockey is to Canada as basketball is to the United States. Hockey was invented in Canada and they consider it their birthright to win. In the United States we had that same feeling about basketball. Those of us who were around for the 1972 Munich clock controversy remembers how it felt when the Soviet Union was given the break to win the game. The US Basketball Federation protested the game to FIBA, international basketball’s governing body. The protest was denied when the representatives from the communist nations out voted the non-communist nations 3-2.
As much as the Olympic committee wants to keep politics out of the games it will play a role as long as the athletes wear country designations. The 1972 Munich summer games included the killing 17 members of the Israeli Olympic team by Palestinian terrorists. Israel withdrew its remaining members while the Soviet Union, most of the eastern bloc under the control of the Soviet Union, North Korea, and ten Arab nations refused to allow their flags to fly at half-staff for the rest of the games. With the Cold War becoming its chilliest, the loss in basketball was not only a national tragedy but fueled a nationwide hatred against the Soviets.
This is not to say hockey does not have its place in the United States. We celebrate the 1980 Miracle on Ice when the United States sent true amateurs against the world, especially those countries from the eastern bloc whose players were technically in the army but played hockey all of the time. The Soviet Union were the prohibitive favorites but hated by Americans for being professionals and for being Soviets. There was a lot of Cold War hatred between the countries. But nobody gave the U.S. team a chance except for Coach Herb Brooks. That 4-3 win against the Soviet team continues to raise emotion not only because how the team won, but for the political attitudes at the time. Democracy and fair play prevailed over the communists and cheaters. Even USA Basketball took great pride in watching the hockey team stick it to the Soviets.
What people forget is that the game against the Soviets was not the gold medal game. The US team had to play one more game against Finland in order to win the gold. It was a tight game which the US won 4-2 allowing the US to stand atop of the hockey medal stand. One of my memories was that after the game Ken Morrow joined the roster of the New York Islanders (my favorite team) and won a Stanley Cup making him the first player to win a gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the same year.
We should not forget about what is being called the Forgotten Miracle of the 1960 US Hockey team. The winter games that were held in Squaw Valley, California featured the powerhouse Soviet team and the Canadians who were also considered favorites for a gold or a silver medal. But the US team of “nobodys” beat Sweden, Germany, Canada, Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia in the round-robin series to be the only undefeated team in the final round. The team celebrated while the news made front page news but the celebration did not rise to the levels of the 1980 team. While the Cold War was ongoing, it was ongoing (remember Duck and Cover?) it was not considered at the same level as in 1980. The level of rhetoric had not started to climb. Tensions would begin to increase in October 1960 when Soviet Union Prime Minister Nikita Khruschev banged his shoe on a table in protest during a meeting at the United Nations while denouncing “American Imperialism.” This was two years before the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The actual medals that the Olympians receive are the physical reward for winning. In years past medals used to made of the metal they represented (e.g., the gold medal was made of gold), nowadays the price to create solid gold, silver, and bronze medals are prohibitive. Medals are made of less expensive alloys with plating of the precious metal. Although Royal Canadian Mint does not publish the makeup of the metals on their website, the fact that they are the largest and heaviest medals ever produced allows us to make a logical assumption that the medals are made of base metals plated with the precious metals. Regardless, the medals created by the RCM are the most uniqued in the history of the Olympic games. The wavy medals feature a unique design where no two are alike that are based on four designs that are imprinted randomly on each medal. While the medals received by the 1960 and 1980 hockey teams can be considered traditional in their design, the 2010 medals have a unique artistic quality that will make them memorable for years to come.
In the future, the 2010 US Hockey team will be prouder of their silver medal accomplishment than they feel tonight. But tonight belongs to the Canadians. They played a good game and deserve their gold medals.
Congratulations also goes to Vancouver, the province of British Columbia, and the people of Canada for helping make these two weeks one of the most memorable in Olympic history.
P.S., I love visiting the west coast of Canada. If you can go to Vancouver and even Vancouver Island (take the ferry, it’s a great trip), it will be a very enjoyable vacation. I look forward to my next visit!
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