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Chronicles The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club August 2017 Volume 35 Issue 8

• Dave Krolak, Master of Ceremonies America the Beautiful • Janis Calella, Ellis Island Quarter President, Save Ellis Island

WHEN: and National Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, 11 a.m. Park Service to Launch America the ET Beautiful Quarters® Program Coin Honoring Ellis Island on Aug. 30 WHERE: Ellis Island WHAT: The public and the media are Flagpole Area invited to the ceremony to mark the Jersey City, NJ 07305 release of the Ellis Island quarter, the (Ferries leave from Liberty State 39th coin in the United States Mint’s Park, NJ or Battery Park, NYC. Ferry First Coin Struck America the Beautiful Quarters® fee applies.) Program have been collected since COIN FORUM the very first coins were struck in The event includes a coin exchange After the ceremony, the United the seventh century B.C. in Lydia, of $10 rolls of newly-minted Ellis States Mint will host a coin forum a kingdom that comprised part of Island quarters after the ceremony. 12:30 p.m. (ET), at the Ellis Island Barbara Fox, designer of the quar- Flagpole Area. The coin forum is an modern-day Turkey. Even in an- ter’s reverse, will be available for in- opportunity for the public to learn cient times, coins were studied and terviews before the ceremony. about upcoming coin programs and catalogued by both individuals and initiatives, and express their views institutions, and there are reports WHO: about future coinage. that the famed Roman Emperor • Todd Baldau, Senior Advisor, Augustus presented coins as gifts. United States Mint The United States Mint America • John Hnedak, Deputy Superin- the Beautiful Quarters Program, a tendent, Statue of Liberty National 12-year initiative that honors 56 na- --Numismatic Guaranty Corporation Monument and Ellis Island tional parks and other national sites • Zach McCue, Projects Director for authorized by Public Law 110-456. U.S. Senator Cory Booker Each year, the public will see five • Erica Daughtrey, Communica- new national sites depicted on the tions Director for U.S. Congressman reverses (tails sides) of the America Albio Sires the Beautiful Quarters. The United States Mint is issuing these quarters in the order in which the national In This Issue: sites were officially established. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Ellis Island quarter b-roll. Interview with Ellis Island quarter America the Beautiful/NGC engraver Phebe Hemphill. Cover Ellis Island quarter image. Show Schedule 2 Information about the United States America ctd. 3 Mint, America the Beautiful Quarters Alexander 3 Program, and Ellis Island. Meeting Schedule 4

Continued on Page 3 Coin Chronicles August 2017 TNC’s 65th Year Volume 35 Issue 8 The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club

COIN SHOW SCHEDULE By Bill Liatys

September 2017 LOCAL SHOW SCHEDULE

PARSIPPANY September 3rd Sunday 9 AM – 3 PM Pal Bldg 33 Baldwin Road Parsnippany NJ

BURLINGTON September 10th Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM Burlington Mason Lodge Route 541 Burlington, NJ

TREVOSE September 17th Sunday 10 AM – 4 PM Trevose Fire house 4900 Street Road Trevose PA

TRI-STATE COIN & STAMP SHOW September 24th Sunday 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM Sheraton Bucks County 400 Oxford Valley Road Langhorne, PA

TRENTON NUMISMATIC FALL COIN SHOW October 29 Sunday 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM Ramada Inn Exit 7 NJ Turnpike 1083 Route 206 North Bordentown, NJ

WHITMAN COIN & COLLECTIBLES November 9th-12th Thursday – Sunday Thursday – Noon – 6 PM Friday – Saturday - 10 AM – 6 PM Sunday – 10 AM – 3 PM Baltimore Convention Center One W. Pratt Street Baltimore, MD

Page 2 Coin Chronicles August 2017 TNC’s 65th Year Volume 35 Issue 8 The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club

Did The coin is on display this week from the musical Hamilton - embraced the idea that the U.S. should be hold this coin? at the World’s Fair of Money in . in units of 10. by JOSH BOAK, The Associated Press “You’ve used the progeny of The coin purchased by McCarthy had this one coin in every transac- a back with a wreath identifying it as a Old inns along the Revolutionary tion you’ve done in your life, “500” quint, essentially the forerunner War trails boast of George Washing- whether it’s a bitcoin, a of the half-dollar. It had initially been ton sleeping there. But coin experts or a euro,” McCarthy said.” found in 1860, about 15 years after the say they have found the first McCarthy published the details similar coin with the “new constella- piece minted by the United States - of his findings in the August is- tion” inscription. Because the new con- one likely held by the most en vogue sue of a coin dealer magazine, stellation coin was found earlier, experts of Founding Fathers, Alexander The Numismatist, as well as in labeled McCarthy’s coin as “Type 2.” Hamilton. a post on Medium . He vetted Over the years, that label was mistak- and refined his findings over enly believed to refer to the coin being David McCarthy figured the silver the years with other top ex- struck after the one with the inscription. coin had to be one-of-a-kind after perts such as John Dannreuther, “You have this powerful word ‘2’ that spotting it in the auction catalog. a rare coin dealer who found implies something and it hijacked Its front features the all-seeing eye identifying marks on another everyone’s ability to see what was right of God, surrounded by rays of light. coin that indicates that it had to in front of them,” said McCarthy, 44. The rays shoot out toward 13 stars have been struck days or even The day of the 2013 auction in Schaum- - one for each of the colonies that weeks later from the same steel burg, Illinois, McCarthy sat in his hotel had rebelled against Great Britain. A dies. room with his files and air condition- similar coin bore two words in Lat- ing cranked on high. He methodically in above the starburst: “Nova Con- “I’m 99.9999 percent certain convinced his boss, Donald Kagin, that stellatio,” or “new constellation” to this is the first U.S. coin,” Dann- the coin up for auction was the nation’s describe the infant United States. reuther said. first. It was a nuanced case since other But this silver piece bore no inscrip- It was well-known among col- dealers claimed it was a forgery. But tion at all. It was the first clue that lectors that a first coin existed. the initial explanation was that mints the coin was something singular, Robert Morris, the tended to add inscriptions to the steel said McCarthy, a senior research- merchant who financed the dies used to make coins after having en- er for the coin and collectibles firm , record- graved the images. Kagin’s. ed its existence in his diary on April 2, 1783. So McCarthy bid on the silver coin - and He had a hunch it was the first coin then began the research needed to make ever minted by the U.S. government As first Superintendent of Fi- his case ironclad. He searched through in 1783 - the prototype for a plan dis- nance of the United States, Mor- the National Archives for records, only cussed by both Hamilton and Thom- ris wrote he received a delivery to learn that the microfilm of original as Jefferson that arguably shaped of “a Piece of Silver Coin being documents didn’t correspond to the ac- the course of the nation. McCarthy the first that has been struck as tual files. staked his company’s money to buy an American Coin.” Hamilton the coin for $1.18 million at the 2013 visited Morris a week later and auction. After nearly four years of the two corresponded on the Continued on Page 4 late nights sifting through the papers “subject of the Coin.” The con- of the Founding Fathers and study- tinental Congress was then pre- ing the beading on the coin’s edges, sented with a fuller set of coins he is now making an exhaustive case on April 22, which was then that this silver piece is indeed the forwarded to Jefferson for his first American coin, the precursor thoughts. of what ultimately would circulate a decade later as the U.S dollar. Both Hamilton and Jefferson - now popularly known as rivals

Page 3 Coin Chronicles August 2017 TNC’s 65th Year Volume 35 Issue 8 The Newsletter of the Trenton Numismatic Club

His eureka moment came in a New York hotel room while re- al content but the history that viewing the original receipts for comes embedded to them as the steel dies used to make the they pass through the ages. coins. There had been a total of 10 dies made by a blacksmith, but the “People always ask, how could receipts showed that 12 dies had a coin be worth a $1 million or been engraved by two different ar- $5 million?” Garrett said. “I al- tisans. This suggested that two of ways say it’s because of the sto- Trenton Numismatic Club the dies had been recycled and re- ries.” fined after the first coin had been President : Andrew Waholek struck. He compared the beadings Vice-President: John Janeczek on the edges of the different coins, as well as a dent in the eye at the Treasurer: Randy Ricco center of the inscripted “500” coin Secretary: Joe Pargola and its plain cousin. The evidence Sgt at Arms: Gary Elmer all pointed to him having uncov- Committees: ered the nation’s first coin. Bourse: Bill Liatys Randy Ricco Jeff Garrett, president of the American Numismatic Associa- Programs: Ray Williams tion, called the research “really, Newsletter:Joe Pargola really good.” Auction: Bo Bobjak In terms of the coin’s possible val- ue, Garrett said the closest- com Give us your two cents! parison was a 1794 silver dollar Send an article to Coin Chronicles. that sold for more than $10 million [email protected] Trenton Numismatic four years ago. But the allure of Club is members of: coins isn’t just their rarity or met- To succeed, jump as quickly at op- portunities as you do at conclusions. -Benjamin Franklin Meeting Schedule The Trenton Numismatic Club meets on the fourth Monday of each month at the

HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY ONE JUSTICE SAMUEL A. ALITO JR. WAY HAMILTON, NJ 08619-3809

Mailing Address: T.N.C. P.O. BOX 8122 Hamilton, New Jersey 08650

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