The Award Winning
Monthly Newsletter of the Anchorage Coin Club
Volume 13, Number 7 July, 2000
July Membership Meeting:
Sunday July 23rd , 2000 Central Lutheran Church 7:00 open, 7:30 PM Meeting
"The Changing Face of Currency in Europe"
FROM YOUR EDITORS
After setting up the bid board we started the June meeting with the door prize, a 1991 US Mint set, being given to Mark Nagy and a membership prize, an uncirculated 1921 Morgan Dollar, being given to Bill Hamilton.
Many of our members have started using the bid board to put coins up for sale. There were 27 coin lots on the bid board at the June membership meeting. Only 7 of the coin lots on the bid board were bid on. One club member was fortunate enough to add a very dramatic double struck Jefferson nickel to his collection. We are sure that many of our members will catch on to the benefits of bidding on coins in the bid board in the future.
THIS IS SUMMER! We want you to enjoy this, all too short, Alaska summer. Make note of these changes in the club‘s schedule:
The picnic in the park will probably not be the biggest event of the summer for Sarah Bilak; she is going to the ANA Summer Conference in Colorado Springs. With support from the Anchorage Coin Club and the Alaska Mint Sarah will be going to the ANA Academy for the week of July 8th. Sarah is psyched about going and has chosen interesting courses that include field trips to the mint and other educational places. ANA is very good at making sure Sarah gets from the airport to the academy, is well cared for at the academy and on field trips, and safely gets back on her plane to Anchorage. Sarah is sure to have a great time in the mint state of Colorado.
Next year we will be sponsoring Corey Rennell on a trip to the ANA Summer Conference.
See you at the Summer picnic and bring coins to show, trade, or sell………Your
Editors.
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MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Schedule of Events for the Month of July
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Minutes of the June 21st Board Meeting
The Board meeting was called to order at 7 PM.
The first of business was approval by the Board to make a $50 patron donation to the ANA for the upcoming Philadelphia convention.
Larry Nakata then brought up the issue of the ANA’s Quarter Board Program. The ANA has produced Quarter Boards for the 1999 and 2000 quarters as a promotional item for coin clubs. Such Quarter Boards are being offered to coin clubs at cost plus shipping. The Board approved purchase of 100 such Quarter Boards at $44 (which includes shipping). These Quarter Boards will be given away as promotional items at the club’s shows later this year.
The Board then went over details for the upcoming July 23rd Summer picnic to be held at the Sports Field Complex at Centennial Park.
Larry Nakata and Loren Lucason will be getting the items for the picnic the weekend before. The Board reviewed the list of items to be picked up for these event.
Roy and Ann Brown will be contacting our members to determine the headcount and what potluck items will be brought for the picnic.
Loren Lucason and John Larson will be organizing the fun events for the picnic. Discussed was a scavenger hunt and a “Jeopardy” type event. Lots of coins will be given away as part of the fun events.
Following the planning of the Summer picnic, the Board looked at the Buffalo Nickel set being put together by John Larson. John is in the process of completing this set (which includes the 3 legged Buffalo). This set will be our club’s next raffle prize. John will hopefully have the set completed in time to show at our Summer picnic.
Meantime the present raffle prize, an 1884-CC Morgan Dollar PCGS graded MS64, will be raffled off at our club’s July 23rd picnic.
As there was no further business, the Board meeting concluded at 7:45
PM.
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We had a very good turnout of YNs and parents for the June 9th YN meeting. There was pizza and soda pop for everyone. YN Cody Lawhorn won the YN door prize….a 1911 Barber Half dollar.
The subject covered was “Collecting Foreign Coins”.
One of the first things pointed out to the YNs was how collecting foreign coins can be a vast area to explore. There are a lot of different ways for the YN to collect such coins:
We all discussed other ways one can collect such coins. The key
point brought up at the meeting was that the YN interested in collecting
foreign coins should focus on their area of interest. One can get “spread
too thin” collecting too many types of coins. Foreign coins can also be
very affordable for the YN. Different types of foreign coins were shown
to the YNs.
The balance of the evening was then spent sorting out and distributing a number of Australian coins donated to us by our sister club, The Tasmanian Numismatic Society. Thanks go to our sister club for those coins.
Some announcements: There will be no YN meetings held for the months of July and August. However, we expect to see all of our YNs and their families at the club’s Summer picnic on Sunday, July 23rd….starting at 12 noon. The Summer picnic will be held at the Sports Field Complex Pavilion located at Centennial Park. A map showing the location of the picnic is in this newsletter.
Be sure to bring your Red Books “A Guide Book of United States Coins” to the Summer picnic. We plan to have some events that will test your knowledge of coins. Expect a contest of some sort at this picnic for you YNs. There will also be lots of food for everyone.
Enjoy your Summer and we’ll see you at the July 23rd Summer picnic……Larry
Nakata.
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Chief Editor’s Note: This month’s
newsletter focuses on the subject of Paper Currency. In browsing the Internet,
I came across some very interesting information about the changes in currency
that will happen come January, 2002 in Europe….
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“THE CHANGING FACE OF CURRENCY IN EUROPE” by Larry Nakata (Member #41)
For our club members who collect foreign coins and currency, there are going to be lots of changes that will occur in Europe come January, 2002.
Eleven European countries will be changing out their coinage and paper currency that year. These countries are:
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History: The Maastricht Treaty essentially started the process of one uniform coinage and currency in Europe. By 1997, criteria was established in the treaty that European countries must meet in order to become eligible for conversion of their respective currencies to the Euro. These criteria centered around the economic stability of that country. The decision to give up the country’s coinage and currency, in favor of the Euro, would be voluntary.
By 1998, eleven European countries signed into this agreement becoming participants in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The agreement calls for these countries to give up their currencies and adopt the new Euro currency on January 1, 1999.
Since Euro bank notes and coins will not likely be printed and circulated until 2002- except for small commemorative issues- these participating countries will retain their existing currencies until that time.
The values of the participating currency units have already been established against the new Euro currency with the following conversion rates:
There will be eight different coins and seven different banknotes in the Euro currency.
The coins will come in 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 & 50 Euro-cent denominations. There will also be 1 Euro and 2 Euro denomination coins minted.
The paper currency will come in 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 Euro banknotes.
With the banknotes and coins expected to circulate in early 2002, the legal tender status of the present national banknotes and coins will cease by July, 2002.
What does this mean for the collector: Lots of interesting opportunities!! There are the Euro commemorative issues that are out there right now. There will be all these new denomination of Euro coins and banknotes expected to circulate in 2002.
And…don’t forget all of the existing national banknotes and coins from these 11 countries that will be demonetized that same year. Better collect them…especially the older dates. In all likelihood, the prices for these notes and coins will go up in value. As demonetized banknotes and coins get redeemed for Euro currency, it is likely they will be destroyed.
So I would make the recommendation that for the foreign coin and banknote
collector, zero into these 11 countries over the next year and a half to
“beef up” your collection. I see possibilities here……Larry Nakata.
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SURFING THE INTERNET
More Chief Editor Comments:
While continuing to browse the Internet, I came across this interesting
article that was posted on the Coin Universe webpage. Alan Herbert
has an interesting perspective of how progressive our new U.S. paper currency
“stacks up” against our foreign counterparts. From http://collectors.com/articles/
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“COLLECTING PAPER MONEY” by Alan Herbert- April 25, 2000.
It’s rather surprising, but many of the questions I get from coin collectors indicate either a total lack of knowledge of paper money collecting, or surprise that anyone would collect paper. In spite of this lack of awareness of a related hobby, if you ask almost any paper collector you will quickly find out that paper money collecting is alive, well, thriving, and growing fairly rapidly.
Here again the primary interest in the U.S. is in our own paper, but there is a growing interest in foreign bank notes that compares very favorably with the matching interest in foreign coins. This is certainly a natural reaction or trend, as we tend to gravitate toward those things that are most familiar to us. When we get into notes of the world, we are bucking an atlas full of strange languages, denominations that may or may not be readable, and features that you never have seen on U.S. bank notes.
As a single example of that, many countries use matching partial design elements on both sides of the note, which on a genuine note line up exactly to complete the design. This is something that never has been successfully used on U.S. paper money. Whether the Bureau of Engraving and Printing couldn’t make the technology work or for some other reason, this and other anti-counterfeiting measures have never appeared on a U.S. bank note.
Another eye opener, after growing up with notes that carry two ink colors- green and black- is to see the rainbow of colors used on world bank notes. The newer U.S. bank notes have finally begun using some of the better anti-counterfeiting measures, but they are sticking to the same old color scheme. Many countries use specific different primary colors foe each denomination. While the BEP claims for a variety of reasons that this won’t work, it has been successfully used for many decades in other countries.
The BEP’s chief argument against color is that it will distract the eye from signs that the note has been altered, or is a counterfeit. They feel that the public would become dependent on the color, allowing crooks to deceive the public by altering the color.
Fighting counterfeiting is a never-ending battle as the fakers constantly improve their product. The governments are forced to turn more and more to high tech methods of protecting the genuine notes from being copied. The use of inks which shift color with the angle of view, and holograms are just a couple of the newer deterrents. Keeping up with all of the new methods can become a full time job and researching them is often nearly impossible as the government printers fight to keep their secrets out of the hands of counterfeiters.
All in all, you are less likely to run into fake bank notes than you are into fake coins. Because of the higher values involved, most governments concentrate on catching crooks who print fake notes with coins coming in second……Alan Herbert.
Club Archivist/ Photographer
Robin Sisler
DUES
The Anchorage Coin Club is a non-profit organization formed to provide information, education, and a meeting place for individuals having an interest in numismatics.
Correspondence Address: Anchorage Coin Club, P.O. Box 230169, Anchorage,
Alaska 99523
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