A PUBLICATION OF THE INDIANAPOLIS COIN CLUBtehcnalPTheISSUE 483
JUNE 2007

The Meetings of the Indianapolis Coin Club are held the fourth Monday of each month at
the Nora Library at 8625 Guilford Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Meetings consistof a business session, an intermission, educational program, and a numismatic auction.
Doors open at 6:00pm, meeting will begin at 7:00pm.

The next meeting will beMonday,
June 25th, 2007!
Doubled lettered edge President dollar. The more impressive
ones come with the second inscription upside down and readingin the other direction. These are being found on the new John
Adams Presidential Dollars.

On May 15th we saw the introduction of the second President Dollar, John Adams. A ceremony
was conducted at Adams birthplace on the 17th. As with the Washington pieces the banks that orderedthem received them a couple weeks early and once again some of the banks didn’t follow the instructions and released them a week to early. See rest of story on Page 4

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$$$$ “ALWAYS BUYING” $$$$
VINTON G. DOVE

PAYING TOP PRICES FOR ALL U.S. COINS

Certified Public Accountant
Collecting U.S. Coins Since 1952

DON’T SELL WITHOUT GETTING OUR OFFER!!!

LARRY HYLTONBROWNSBURG, IN

ANA, ISNA-LM, CSNS-LM(317) 852-8458

443 Wellington Road
Indianapolis, IN 46260(317) 257-1906
Fax(317) 257-2220

Jim Fuson
Retired Teacher & Coach
R.O.M.A. COIN

Collector of old U.S. Coins
And old Sports Cards
Also have some coins and cards for sale5795 E. Co. Rd. 350 S., Plainfield, IN 46168
ICC & ANA
(317) 839-5178

Specializing in U.S. RARE COINSORVA (ORV) DETRICK
Professional Numismatist

PO Box 267
Donnelsville, Ohio
45319-0267
Phone: 937-882-6730
Cell #: 937-284-0412
E-mail: Romacoin@aol.com

Advertise in the Indianapolis Coin Club Newsletter! The cost is only $35.00 fora business card size ad for 12 issues!

The 2007 Indianapolis Coin Club
Officers and Board Members
President
Mark Eberhardt
Vice-President
Jim Roehrdanz
Secretary
Vinton Dove
Treasurer
Karl Kreck
EditorMark Eberhardt(fubacoin@aol.com) ph. (317) 837-5682
Past President
Sgt-at-Arms
Board Member 2007-2008Board Member 2007-2008
Board Member 2007-2008
Board Member 2006-2007
Board Member 2006-2007
Board Member 2006-2007

Vinton Dove
Jim Warden
Dave ReidBob Bettcher
James Held
Jim Fuson
Charles AlberOpen

The Monthly Planchet is the official publication of theIndianapolis Coin Club. It is published monthly in Indianapolis,Indiana. All inquiries should be sent to ICC, P.O. Box 2897,
Indianapolis, Indiana, 46206.

Table of Contents
Double Edged $-CoverAdvertisers-Page 2Kennedy Half Dollar -Page 3

Altered Lincolns-Page 4

Secretary’s Report -Page 5

Treasurer’s Report -Page 5Ed. Prog. For June
Classified Ads

The Monthly Planchet, June 2007

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Page 2KENNEDY HALF DOLLARS 1965 – 1970
byMichael Schmidt

The Coinage Act of 1965 put things in motion
for the end of the 90% silver coins. The 1964 date
was frozen on all 90% silver coins no matter when
they were struck. Dimes and quarters were to bestruck from the new copper-nickel clad material witha beginning date of 1965. But the Kennedy half
would be different. In order to throw a bone to thewestern silver interests by not removing silver completely from the coinage, the half dollar would be of aclad composition, but it would be a silver clad. The
outer layers of the coin would be made of 80% silverand 20% copper and unlike the copper-nickel cladcoins which had a pure copper core, the core of the
new half would be 80% copper and 20% silver. This made the overall composition of
the new half 40% silver.
Another provision of the Coinage Act was intended to combat what the government thought was the major reason for the ongoing coin shortage, coin collectors. For aperiod of five years none of the coins struck in the US would carry mintmarks indicatingwhere the coins were produced. Between the date freeze on the silver, and the mintmark
removal it was thought that this would discourage the collectors, they would stop hoarding coins, and the coin shortage would be over! Trust politicians not to face facts. Itwas not the coin collectors hoarding coins that were causing the problem, it was theworld market price of silver, and the great increase in the use of coin operated machines.
Add to those reasons, the Kennedy half’s additional problem that people still wanted
mementos of the fallen President. So the Kennedy’s tended to disappear almost as
quickly as they were produced.
Another thing the mint did was to eliminate the annual proof set and mint set. Instead the two were kind of rolled into one with the “Special Mint Set”. The coins usually were better quality than those found in circulation, but not as nice as those found in
proof sets. These were produced in pliofilm in 1965 like the proof sets were, and then in
1966 and 67 in a hard plastic holder.
As the mint cranked out the clad dimes and quarters the coin shortage eventuallyeased. Not because the collectors were thwarted but because they finally were able toreplace the hoarded silver coins. The mint did such a good job of this that the mintmarks were returned to the coinage two years early in 1968. Circulating halves werestill only made at one mint though. Philadelphia did not strike any of the 40% silver
haves and the entire production was carried out at the Denver Mint in 1968 and 69.
San Francisco on the other hand, did strike 40% silver halves, (Continued P5)
The Monthly Planchet, June 2007

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The Variety SidebyJim Brown

This month, I will mention
some Lincoln cent alterations. The twomost common dates, of course, are the1909 S VDB and the 1914 D.
The 1909 S VDB can bealtered by adding the “S” Mint Mark,by changing the date from a 1939 S, orby adding the VDB. The best piece ofknowledge a collector can have is toknow what the “S” looks like on agenuine coin. One thing to keep inmind is that the end of the S cannot
have a point on it on the top or thebottom. You should be able to draw
two parallel lines up and down on eachside of the mintmark, and no pointshould stick out. (See drawing) There
will be a groove or notch in the top
right serif.
The point should end
flat, not at angle as shown in thediagram. There are four obverse dies.
On die #1, the S is close to the date,directly below the gap between the“90” in 1909. On die #2, the S tilts tothe right, it is Southwest of the “0”, andthe top of the S is line with the bottomsof the nines. On die #3, the S isslightly farther to the left, with the topof the S even with the bottoms of thenines. On die #4, the S is the lowest of
the 4 dies. It is also the farthest to theright, below the 0. This one is the mostcommon of the four varieties.
On the 1914 D, keep in mind
the mintmark must be the same style asfound on the 1916 D Mercury, with theparallel notching on the D on top andJ. Adams Dollars - pg 1

This time there did not seemto be the great interest among
either the general public or thecollection community. Manybottom. There have been 1914 Lincolns
banks that had ordered one orthat have had the D Mint Mark added, but
two boxes of the Washingtonnearly all of them have the wrong style D,
coins, and in some cases extra
and there will be buffing or polishingboxes for customers after themarks around the Mint Mark. Watch forplain edge coins hit the news,
extra space between the 9 and 1 in thefound themselves sitting on
date. Also watch for the VDB on thethousands of coins after theshoulder that should not be on Lincoln
Cents until 1918. Also, check the area on
public searched them all for
Lincoln’s shoulder where the VDB would“Smoothies”. Then they
be on a 1944D Cent. Thousands of 1944D dumped the rejects back to theLincolns have been altered in this way, and banks. With all those unas a dealer, it amazes me how many ofwanted dollars sitting in their
these could be passed off to anvaults, they had no great desire
unsuspecting collector. There are dieto order any Adams dollars.
struck counterfeit 1914 D Lincolns out
It’s bad enough they still havethere, and they are much more difficult todetect. When these coins are encountered, all those unwanted Susan B’sand Sacagawea. How muchthey are almost always in EF condition orhigher. They will have a sharp or squared
will that desire decline withedge resembling a proof coin, and have afuture releases?
general lack of detail. Also, look for tool
The burning question withmarks or depressions. Other Lincoln Cent the release of the Adams coinalterations to beware of are: 1910S altered was whether or not there
from 1940 S, 1911 S altered from 1911 S,
would be a repeat of the plain
1912 S altered from 1942 S, 1922 plainedge error. While a few havealtered from a 1932 D or 42 D, and abeen found, it appears they
1931S altered from a 1937 or 39 S.
have corrected whatever fault
Authentication skills are not that difficultthat led to the large release of
if you use good resource material and you
work at it. There is no other series of U.S. Washington coins. This coins
coins that has anywhere close to thewhen they first came out were
number of alterations found on the Lincoln selling on eBay for $600.00,
Cent. A good rule of thumb is that any
and now are around $35 to $40
coin worth more than $10 is a possible
in a holder. It is estimated thatcandidate for alteration. I hope some ofover 85,000 have been slabthese tips can help some of our members
bed. And of coarse the first
not become victims of alterations or
fake plain edged coins havecounterfeits.
shown up already as well.
The error on the Adams
coin though seems to be coinswith doubled edge letters frombeing sent through twice. This
happen on the Washington’stoo, but not as many of themturned up. Judge them foryourselves.

The Monthly Planchet, June 2007

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Page 4

Treasurer’s Report of May 2007

Secretary’s Report forMay 2007

No report was given, Treasurer
was out.

Classified Section:
Wanted - Wooden Nickels,
elongated coins, & Mardi
Gras Tokens. Call Charles:
317-856-4553

Your ad could be here forjust $1.00 a monthJune’s Program
Is being put on by our friends from theLogansport Coin Club.
Presenter: Bob Julian(Kennedy from p3) but only in Proof condition.
In 1968 proof sets and mint sets returned to themint sales list but the proof set production was
moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco and forthe first time the proof coins bore a mintmark.
(Not including a few rare branch mint proofs
struck in the 19th century on special occasions.)
By 1970 the mint was finally getting on topof the Kennedy memento problem and a few half
dollars were starting to appear in circulation. But
there was another problem. The market price ofsilver had continued to increase and soon the metalin the half dollar would again be worth more than
the face value. So legislation was introduced to remove the last of the silver from the circulation
coinage. While awaiting the decision the mint
stopped striking halves for circulation and only
produced enough for the proof and mint sets. But
the decision came to late in the year to do a clad
production run and the last of the 40% silver
halves were collector coins only.

May 21, 2007 Minutes of theICC Meeting held at Nora
Library
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM byPresident Mark Eberhardt. 36 members signed theattendance book.
Visitors introduced were Joel Shartzer and BrianRiggs.
The Secretary’s report and the Treasurer’s reportwere read and accepted.
Old Business – Richard Kinnett said that he hadreceived several old coins in change from his bank.
He suspected that they were from Coin Week bags.
New Business – Joe Boling reported that at theCentral States Numismatic Society’s Coin Show inSt. Louis, the dealers he talked to said that thedealer-to-dealer business was brisk, but the retailtrade was rather lackluster.
The Educational Program was presented by theBoard Member Charles Alber. The subject was“Wooden Tokens”, (also known as “Wooden Nickels.”) In his presentation, Charles reported that thewooden tokens were imprinted using a type of printing press called a letter press, and that in his
younger days he had owned a letter press. However, when asked, he admitted that he had nevermade imprints on wooden tokens. His presentation
was both interesting and informative, and sparked
many questions after he concluded his preparedspeech.
After the break, the 50/50 Drawing was held, andone of our guests, Brian Riggs, was the winner. Itwas also announced that Joel Shartzer had become
the newest member of the Club.
President Eberhardt then ran an exciting Auction,and most of the lots were sold. The auction included a few lots donated by members, with the proceeds going to the Club.
The club adjourned at 8:20 PM.
Vinton Dove, Secretary

The Monthly Planchet, June 2007

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