To bring back the weekly poll, I thought about my post the other day about desktop finds where I discussed the items I found while cleaning my desk. I was thinking about this and was curious as to what other collectors do? After all, many of these items are the results of my saying “oh neat” and buying something outside of my collecting interest. Others are items that were given to me that are also outside of my collecting interest.
I read articles that say if you’re not a collector you’re an accumulator. But it is not that simple. Sometimes I over buy just to get one specific item. For example, the lot of Canadian dimes I found on my desk were purchased because I wanted one of the dimes for my collection. I will probably resell the rest of the dimes, but in the mean time they are on my desk.
Other items are souvenirs like the faux million-dollar bill and the package of shredded currency. While I may not have an attachment to them, they are not salable and I just do not want to throw them away. Maybe I’ll create an auction lot of this stuff to see if someone else wants it but it is still here, too.
What about you? Do you buy extra items and think you’ll resell them later? What about those souvenirs? How many of you have cheap items that you know you cannot resell or even give away? Take the poll. Comments are always welcome!
What kind of "extra items" are in your collection?
I have bought something I thought was neat or unusual. (35%, 6 Votes)
I have bought lots of coins or exonumia just for one or two items. (24%, 4 Votes)
I have souvenirs that are not part of my main collection. (18%, 3 Votes)
I collect souvenirs but have bought more than I should have. (12%, 2 Votes)
I have a box of goodies, want to see it? (12%, 2 Votes)
I just have what I collect and nothing extra. (0%, 0 Votes)
Welcome to National Coin Week. This year, from April 21 through April 27, the National Coin Week theme is “Black Diamond Strikes Again” to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the introduction of James Earle Fraser’s Buffalo nickel.
According to legend, Black Diamond was Fraser’s model for the reverse of the Buffalo nickel. Black Diamond was a North American bison that was living in the Central Park Zoo. He was donated to the zoo by Barnum and Bailey and lived his life there until he was auctioned in 1915 to a game and poultry dealer who was later sold as steaks for $2 a pound.
James Earle Fraser, ca. 1920
When asked about the model for the coin, Fraser said it was Black Diamond and found him in the Bronx Zoo. At one time Fraser was not sure of the name of the animal but insisted his influence was at the Bronx Zoo. Black Diamond was never at the Bronx Zoo.
But like the story of who was the model for the Indian on the obverse, why should facts spoil a good story!
As a result of the the president signed the National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law No. 112-152 [TXT][PDF]), the U.S. Mint is required to hold a competition for the design of the obverse (heads) side of the three coins that will be issued as part of the set. The law states:
IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall hold a competition to determine the design of the common obverse of the coins minted under this Act, with such design being emblematic of the game of baseball.
SELECTION AND APPROVAL- Proposals for the design of coins minted under this Act may be submitted in accordance with the design selection and approval process developed by the Secretary in the sole discretion of the Secretary. The Secretary shall encourage 3-dimensional models to be submitted as part of the design proposals.
PROPOSALS- As part of the competition described in this subsection, the Secretary may accept proposals from artists, engravers of the United States Mint, and members of the general public.
COMPENSATION- The Secretary shall determine compensation for the winning design under this subsection, which shall be not less than $5,000. The Secretary shall take into account this compensation amount when determining the sale price described in section 6(a).
Here is your chance to design a coin that will be sold to collectors everywhere and if you create the winning design, you will win $5,000!
The obverse design must represent baseball and include the inscriptions “Liberty,” “In God We Trust,” and “2014.”
Your design must be able to look good on a coin about the size of a nickel, which is close to the size of the $5 gold coin.
You must be a 14 years old and older, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to enter. Employees in any area of the Department of the Treasury, current and former members of the Artistic Infusion Program, and contractor to the Department of the Treasury are ineligible.
Your design must not depict any real person, name, logo, stadium, field, etc. from now or in the past. It must be original artwork.
When you are ready to submit your entries, you must submit your line art in black and while (no color) to http://www.batterup.challenge.gov/. This site is not up but will be there, ready to accept your submissions on April 11 starting at noon EDT. Deadline is May 11, 2013 at noon EDT. You can also submit a plaster or plastic model approximately 8-inches in diameter.
Do not procrastinate because the U.S. Mint has said that if 10,000 entries are received prior the May 11 deadline, they will suspend the contest early with 48 hours notice. They also said that the contest will not end before noon EDT of April 26.
If you have an idea give it a try! You do not have to be that artistic because the engravers at the U.S. Mint can translate your design into something that can be struck into coins. They are good, so give it a try!
While we are talking about the design of these coin, will you try to submit a design for this commemorative? Let me know in this week’s poll:
To understand the post’s true condition, you have to consider the following:
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve is Ben S. Bernanke. His first name is really Ben, not Benjamin.
The law requires the Federal Reserve to distribute the one-dollar note. Only congress can vote to stop producing the note.
The Acting Director of the U.S. Mint is Richard A. Peterson, not Pederson.
Seignorage is deposited in the Public Enterprise Fund. No, the leaving out of the “d” in the original post was not a typo because I was having fun!
The Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is Larry Felix. I do not know a Larry Felinks. Maybe he is a long lost cousin of the director?
The company that supplies currency paper to the BEP is “Crane and Company.” The Sandhill Crane Company does not exist, but there is a bird called the sandhill crane. There is also a blue crane, but I am reasonably sure that there is no such person as Violet “Blue” Crane; or at least there is not one associated with Crane and Company. Maybe there is a Blue Crane working for Sandhill Crane? There is a joke in there that can use “Whooping Crane” which I will leave as an exercise to the reader!
Finally, when was the last time you heard the Fed Chairman concerned with coin collectors? The last line was added to emphasize the date.
In other words:
Besides, who is giving a blogger an exclusive story that does not appear elsewhere? Like the Orson Well’s broadcast of The War of the Worlds, all you had to do is change the channel (or check another source).
Obverse of the 2009-present Native American Dollar
In a move that will shake the markets for time to come, Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin S. Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve and its member banks will no longer order one dollar Federal Reserve Notes from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. To replace the paper, the Fed will start to distribute the over one billion one-dollar coins currently being stored in the money storage facilities around the country.
“We have so many dollar coins, it makes sense to find a way to get them into circulation,” Bernanke said. “It will also help reduce the storage requirements to hold these coins.”
Bernanke, who has been both complemented and reviled over the Fed’s handling of the Great Recession, said that now that the economy was more solid, he would turn his attention to doing what he can for the federal government. Citing the GAO report that estimated the federal government could save at least $4.4 billion by using coins rather than money, Bernanke will use his power as Chairman of the Fed to determine the independent bank’s policy over circulating money.
“Not only will this keep our facilities busy but it will help the U.S. Mint maintain and increase its profitability,” said Richard A. Pederson, Acting Director of the U.S. Mint. “The reduction of dollar coins previous ordered by [then Treasury Secretary Tim] Geithner really hurt our bottom line. It significantly lowered our seigniorage and the size of our deposit into our Public Enterprise Fun.”
Pederson assured Bernanke that the U.S. Mint will be able to meet the new demand for circulating dollar coins.
Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Larry Felinks said that this change will help increase productivity in other areas of their operation. “Printing of the one dollar note is over 50-percent of our production. This reduction will allow us to concentrate on other projects including trying to figure out why we have not been able to produce $100 notes.”
“Obviously, we are not happy about this,” said Violet “Blue” Crane, family spokesperson for the Sandhill Crane Company who manufactures the paper for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. “Manufacturing paper for the one dollar bill was half of our business and gave us the most profit since that paper did not have to include anti-counterfeiting features.”
The U.S. Secret Service declined to comment for this story and any other story they were asked about.
Bernanke, sitting in his office obviously pleased with his new policy, also understood the impact of his decision on the numismatic industry. Leaning back in his chair, Bernanke closed with, “Collectors of United States coins will remember April 1, 2013 as the day I gave their dollar coin collection more meaning.”
Native American Dollar image courtesy of the U.S. Mint.
Drawing of Peace Dollar Liberty by Peter Max (1983)
Those of us that are a certain age remember growing up to with the artwork of Peter Max. His paintings and neo-expressionism posters are iconic representations of the pop culture of the 1960s. His vibrant colors made complex designs look simple as they some seemed to pop off the page. While times have changed and Max has worked on contemporary scenes, his style remains unique with an appeal that still brings a smile to my face.
Did you know that the American Numismatic Association owns a Peter Max original? While I was in Colorado Springs the week of February 19, I met briefly with Executive Director Jeff Shevlin in his office. Hanging on the wall across from his desk is a drawing of Liberty based on the design from Anthony de Francisci’s Peace dollar.
The picture looks like it was done in charcoal on paper. It is hand signed by Max and dated 1983. The picture is mounted on a fame that would have been contemporary to 1983 and has a plaque under the glass that reads:
Presented to American Numismatic Association by PETER MAX VINCENT VAN ROTTKAMP August 20th, 1983
As a fan of the Peace Dollar and Peter Max, this is a fantastic picture.
1928 Peace Dollar is a classic and under-appreciated design
Someone in the ANA offices said that this picture was the inspiration for the Peace dollar logo that used to be the official ANA logo. Remember, it was Farran Zerbe who helped push the idea of Peace dollar with his paper at the 1920 ANA convention in Chicago entitled “Commemorate the Peace with a Coin for Circulation.” In the paper, Zerbe wrote:
I do not want to be misunderstood as favoring the silver dollar for the Peace Coin, but if coinage of silver dollars is to be resumed in the immediate future, a new design is probable and desirable, bullion for the purpose is being provided, law for the coinage exists and limitation of the quantity is fixed—all factors that help pave the way for Peace Coin advocates. And then—we gave our silver dollars to help win the war, we restore them in commemoration of victory and peace.
Does anyone know why Max did this drawing? Who Vincent Van Rottkamp was and what was his association with this picture?
Maybe, we can convince Jeff to display the picture at an upcoming show for all members to enjoy.
Aside from being in charge of the department that includes the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, currency collectors now get to look forward to the addition of Lew’s “Lewpty” autograph on United States currency. When Lew was nominated to succeed Tim Geithner, it was joked that Lew’s autograph resembled a series of loops or the icing decoration on the Hostess Cupcake. There was even a petition on the White House website to “Save the Lewpty-Lew” autograph on U.S. currency (the petition ended and can no longer be found on the White House’s website).
Given the realities of the Treasury and our current economics, we wish Jack Lew well in his new position. We also hope he does not follow through on the promise he told Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) he made to the president “to make at least one letter legible.”
Please Mr. Secretary, Save the Lewpty Lew!
A mock-up of what Jack Lew’s signature would look like on a one-dollar note
Credits
Picture of Jack Lew courtesy of Wikipedia.
Dollar Bill mock-up with Lew’s Loops courtesy of New York Magazine.
Greetings from somewhere over the southeastern United States as I fly to Dallas-Fort Worth on my way to the American Numismatic Association Headquarters in Colorado Springs for a meeting with the Technical Committee. What better way to celebrate technology than pulling out the iPad and writing a blog entry. Of course this will be posted after I land and can connect to the Internet.
Being on my way to the ANA brings to mind this past weekend’s coin show by the Tidewater Coin Club at the Tidewater Convention Center in Virginia Beach. After waking early, I climbed into the X3 and headed fours hours south to check out another club’s show. Although I anticipated coffee stops I was not prepared for the Sunday construction I found along the way. Although the drive took longer than expected, I arrived with plenty of time to browse and schmooze.
When I arrived at the convention center I found it full with two other events being held along with the coin show. The Tidewater Convention Center is a modern facility that would rival that in any medium size city and is a nice representative of the Virginia Beach-Tidewater region.
The coins how was held in a large meeting room upstairs, so I passed the two shows to the escalator going up. When I arrived at the greeting table I was met by members of the Tidewater Coin Club. The three gentlemen at the table were pleasant and engaging. The handed me a door prize ticket and I purchased tickets for the gold raffle—a quarter-ounce and tenth-ounce American Eagle gold coins. I do not think I won since I did not receive a call asking how they can send me the gold coin.
Once inside I was delighted and surprised. Delighted in that all of the tables were occupied and there were a number of people browsing the various offerings. I was surprised in the number of dealers that I have seen in the various shows around the Washington, DC area. At least a third of the dealers attended the Alexandria Coin Club show three weeks ago. The is nothing wrong with seeing the same people, they are all fun people with good inventory, but it would have been nice to meet new people.
As I made the rounds I looked at their various offerings and spoke to the dealers. I did buy but I was able to get in a little campaigning in between purchases.
My purchases from this show may be considered mundane but is significant in that they were all geared to putting together the One Page Cent type collection I wrote about last week. Even aft verifying prices with online price guides, I wanted to verify that it could be done. In the process. I was able to find a nice 1858 small letter Flying Eagle cent for $30, a 1859 copper-nickel Indian Head cent, a 1902 Indian head cent in red-brow, and a 1909 VDB cent all under $20 each. I was able to add a nice 1944 shotgun shell cent, 1959 blazing red Memorial cent, and the 7-coin 1982 copper and copper-player zinc set for less than $10 for all of the coins. With the four Lincoln birth bicentennial cents I already have, I was able to progress far into this collection.
I will finish this collection by the Whitman Baltimore Show in March and start on the next typeset. I am already working on a plan for a cent to represent 2, 3, and 5 cents coins on one page. As part of this effort, I will be turning my experience into a Money Talks program for the next National Money Show this May in New Orleans.
After making two passes around the floor, I found the president of the Tidewater Coin Club, introduced myself, and complemented him on a good show. He seemed a little overwhelmed since this was his first show as the club’s new president, but he seemed to be the type that could get things done. If my experience at their show is any indication, he will have a successful term as their president.
Before leaving the show area, I stopped to look at the nearby exhibits by club members. One that really is interested me was one about nickel typesets. Rather than being an extensive collection of copper-nickel composition five-cent pieces, it was a nice representative of various type coins with an index card for each coin explaining why each are part of the set. It would not win an ANA exhibit award, but it was very interesting and was really great to see.
We are getting ready to land. I will end here about the Tidewater Coin Club Show.
For the next few days, watch the @coinsblog Twitter feed and my Pinterest site for pictures and news from the ANA headquarters in Colorado Springs.
Growing up in the metropolitan New York area, you can find people who live around all of these famous landmarks but had never visited them. Whether it is visiting the observation deck Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty, sometimes jaded New Yorkers just never get around to it.
My mother was different. She grew up in Coney Island and was adept at navigating the subway, so she wanted her children to be as wise about our hometown. During breaks from school, especially the winter break, we would take the Long Island Railroad into Penn Station and do something or see something that a tourist would do.
One of the treats about taking this trip was seeing my father in his office in Manhattan. As a youngster, it was cool to see the people who you might have spoken with on the telephone when trying to call my father or someone he had spoken to my mother about. It was also my first look into my future of working in an office, something I tried to resist to no avail.
Lunch at the Automat (ca. 1940s)
Part of that visit was lunch at Horn & Hardart’s Automat. The Automat was first opened in Philadelphia in 1902 and New York in 1911 before becoming a real institution in the areas between the cities. First opened in 1902, it was a fast food restaurant that sold meals, beverages, and deserts through coin-operated vending machines. Diners would choose what they wanted to eat, insert the correct change, and lift the window to get your food. The food was wrapped in plastic wrap when I went with my mother but in a era long before I was able to go the food was wrapped using waxed paper.
Behind the machines was a kitchen that refilled the machines and a cashier was in the center of the dining hall to give change. When the Automat first opened, the machines only accepted nickels. Things were a little more expensive in the 1960s, an era before vending machines were able to accept currency, Horn & Hardart used tokens. Remember, this was a time there were almost no dollar coins in circulation, a reported shortage of coins, and when half-dollars stopped circulating because the silver was worth more than their face value.
Tables were set up all around the room like a cafeteria and the decor was what I would later understand to be art deco.
Automat in Times Square Postcard ca. 1939
I have a distinct memory of visiting an Automat with my mother the winter break of 1968. That year was the first time my brother went with us and my youngest brother was just a baby, so he stayed with my grandmother. We went to Rockefeller Center and tried to skate on the famous skating rink. There was a man teaching the kids how to skate and I took great joy in watching my brother fall on his butt even though my skating style would not win points at any competition.
A dash to see my father and then we went to the Automat. I remember I had a sandwich and soda. Then, as my mother ran to a quick shopping excursion, I argued with my father about getting a piece of pie. He finally gave in and bought the pie that the three of us shared as we waited for my mother to return. When she did return, packages in hand, my father went back to work and we took the subway downtown to see Macy’s front window. From Macy’s it is a short walk down 34th Street to Penn Station. We went downstairs under Madison Square Garden to board the Long Island Railroad to go home.
This trip down memory lane is courtesy of the Alexandria Coin Club whose annual show was held on February 2. It was a show filled with a nice mix of dealers with varying types of collectibles, I made the trip in the snow flurries to see what I could find. While searching through an exonumia dealer’s box, I found a token that was as irresistible as a youngster picking a sandwich from an Automat vending machine. A wide smile ran across my face as the memories of the food in the machines ran through my memories. There was no way I was leaving the show without an Automat token!
I am not sure what the token is made from, but it is heavier than aluminum. It is 20 mm in diameter, larger than the cent (19.05 mm) and smaller than the nickel (21.21 mm). The front has the distinct Automat logo and the reverse has a child at one of the set of vending machines reaching up for his treat. Around the edge, it says the token commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Automat, which dates the token to 1981. What a great addition to my New York collection. Not only is it different but the memories are priceless.
Along with the Automat token I also found a commemorative medal someone issued for the Statue of Liberty centennial in 1986 and an aluminum souvenir from the Democratic National Convention held July 12-16, 1976 in New York City. When I picked it up I thought it had the look of a Mardi Gras token. When I turned it over, it says it is from Louisiana. The reverse image is that of a pelican since Louisiana’s official nickname is “The Pelican State.” Since the convention was in New York, it is added to my New York collection. Now I need to find something numismatic related from the 2008 Republican National Convention that was held in Madison Square Garden to balance the collection.
By the time I was old enough to become interested in the Automat it was in its decline. In the 1960s saw a decline in their clientele as people started to leave the city to live in the suburbs. Then companies began to open their own cafeterias and buildings reconfigured their lobbies to bring in retail customers including eating establishments. Finally, the city closed a loophole that allowed cafeteria patrons to avoid paying sales taxes and it forced the Automat to raise prices to cover the new tax burden. High labor and food costs drove its regular customers away as quality declined and the restaurants grew seedy. H&H closed half of their locations by 1971. By 1991, the last Automat in New York closed its doors for the last time.
Additional Reading
Read more about the Automat by Steve Stollman who restores old Automat equipment.
Anyone that holds congress in contempt for the dysfunction that plagues the government should love the first two coin-related bills that have been introduced to congress.
The first pitch of political piffle is H.R. 77, the Free Competition in Currency Act of 2013. This folly was introduced by Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) that takes up where the now retired Ron Paul has left off by introducing a bill “To repeal the legal tender laws, to prohibit taxation on certain coins and bullion, and to repeal superfluous sections related to coinage.” It marks the fourth congressional session that this bill has been introduced and it is likely to meet the same fate as its predecessors.
Although I took this seriously in the past, it appears that Broun did not get the memo that the government needs people to govern and not pontificate. Then again, it is difficult to find anyone of the 535 members of congress who really wants to govern on either side of the aisle, so I expect more of this hooey from this congress. It is unfortunate that he and I share the same undergraduate alma mater.
Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer, is asking the public to suggest names, and has even created a proposed design for the coin. Information about naming the coin now is on Heritage’s Facebook pages.
Then again, asking for sanity from this congress may be too much to expect. Rather than responding to fact, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), and 19 other “quick” thinkers, introduced H.R. 220, Stop the Coin Act, that will “amend section 5112 of title 31, United States Code, to limit the face value of coins that the Secretary of the Treasury may issue, and for other purposes.”
I love that phrase, “and for other purposes.” Adding it allows congress to add their favorite brand of pork onto any bill.
The problem is that H.R. 77 might make sense if it was not introduced in reaction to the rumored $1 Trillion platinum coin. Aside from the platinum coin idea being a nonsense proposal, the idea did not even come from the administration. The best I can find, it was some blogger’s delusion that problems can be solved without the understanding of basic accounting—essentially, balancing the books when you create money. It is amongst the reasons why the nation is in such debt.
At another time and in a different context, it might be worth discussing the merits of H.R. 77, which would limit the face value of any coin produced by the U.S. Mint to $200. But for now, both the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve said that it is not going to happen and that neither “… believes that the law can or should be used to facilitate the production of platinum coins for the purpose of avoiding an increase in the debt limit.”
Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the Treasury’s statement will not end the discussion.
The Alfred E. Neuman-head Trillion Dollar coin mockup courtesy of Heritage Auctions. And if you think that’s funny, it seems that the mad folks at Mad magazine thought if it first!
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