A PUBLICATION OF THE INDIANAPOLIS COIN CLUBThe PlanchetFebruary 2007
Issue 479

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 consist of a business session, anintermission, educational program, and a numismatic auction. Doors
open at 6:00pm, meeting will begin at 7:00pm.

The next meeting will be
Monday,February 26, 2007!
U.S Mint starts off this year's wallet reduction program !!!!
The mint is off and running this year with the release of the new2007 coins. Last year if you were to buy 1 of each item the mint putout you would have spent well over $14,000. This year does not look
to be any easier to keep up with your modern coins. To give you anidea of the first things they put out where the platinum, gold, and silver bullion coins. A set of 2007 Proof platinum will set you back
$2,585 The Proof gold, $1449.95. Of course don’t forget to order yourUnc. Silver Eagles at $19.95 each. The mint has also announced thatthe price of the Mint Sets and Proof Sets are going up this year because of the extra dollars in them. Speaking of the new Presidential
Dollars, the mint will probably be selling them by the roll for $35.00
plus $4.95 S&H. Don’t forget your “circulating coins” like the half dollar that you can only find by buying from the mint for 64 Cents each if
you buy them by the roll plus your $4.95 S&H. Not to mention all yourstatehood quarters for the year (5 different ones) at 32.5 cents each if
you buy a bag, plus $4.95 S&H. Then there is the endless stream ofCommemoratives, medals, and tokens. I think this year it will costyou well over $15,000 to update your complete collection to 2007.
Good Luck….
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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 2007-2008
Board Member 2007-2008
Board Member 2007-2008
Board Member 2006-2007
Board Member 2006-2007
Board Member 2006-2007

Vinton Dove
Jim Warden
Dave Reid
Bob 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
US Mint Release-CoverAdvertisers-

Page 2

Alaska Tokens-

Page 3

Secretary’s Report -Page 4

Treasurer’s Report -Page 5

Ed. Program For March -Page 5

Mint Products

Page 5The Monthly Planchet, February 2007

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The Tokens of the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation
By Amanda Rondot
Found near the back of the Red Book is a solitary page listing “Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation Tokens of1935.” But why are tokens listed in A Guide Book of UnitedStates Coins? Issued by the United States government to theparticipants in the Matanuska Valley Colonization Project,these tokens have a better claim to inclusion than do manyother non-coin items in the book. What were the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation (ARRC) and the Matanuska
Valley Colonization Project?
During the Great Depression, the Federal Emergency Relief
Administration (FERA) attempted 91 agricultural resettlement
projects, giving approximately 11,000 unemployed families achance to own land and put their skills to work farming. TheMatanuska Colony in Alaska was one of these resettlement
projects. It was designed by David Williams, FERA’s headarchitect, over the course of more than a year of research.
Colonel Otto Ohlson, General Manager of the Alaska Railroad, provided Williams with advice on planning the colony,having been involved in organizing his own earlier settlement
program. Matanuska Valley was chosen due to its proximity
to Anchorage, access to the railway, and climate similar tothat of the Upper Great Lakes region, making the area favorable for agriculture, as proven by twenty years of work by theMatanuska Agricultural Experimental Station.
President Franklin Roosevelt approved the Matanuska Valley Colony in February 1935 and made it a joint project between FERA and the Department of the Interior. The selection of 200 colonist families by state relief social workers
soon followed. The desired colonist were young families ingood health with four to six children and a background in
farming or an occupational skill. Due to time constraints andoverburdened social workers, the envisioned screening process was not used, resulting in nearly a third of the originalcolonists not having the needed farming skills or physical capability for farm work.
The Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation incorporated
in April by FERA’s authority to pay for transportation costs
for the colonists and to administer the colony in Alaska. Thelatter task included providing education, recreational, andhealth services, distributing livestock, and renting or selling
farm equipment to the colonist. Each family was allotted
forty acres, a house, a barn, farm equipment, livestock, and agovernment loan of $3,000 with a thirty year mortgage atthree percent interest. The colony was to be governed according to a “Settlement Agreement” outlining the responsibilitiesof the colonists and of the government, which specified thatcolonist follow all the corporation rules, including those forcrop selection and production, marketing, pricing, and distribution. The terms of the Agreement were later used by thecritics to accuse the government of experimenting with communism.
Transport of the families to Alaska was scheduled to begin
in May. FERA chartered two government ships to serve astransport vessels, the Saint Mihiel and the North Star. Four
hundred men from California were hired to precede the colonists to Alaska in order to clear the farmland and build

temporary camps and management buildings. Unfortunately, half of the hired workers arrived on the same shipas the first group of colonists, so the facilities the colonist
were expecting were not ready. After landing, the colonists were then stranded for days in Seward, since therailroad was unable to transport the workers, colonists,and supplies to Palmer, the closest settlement to Matanuska, at the same time. Once they finally reached
Palmer, the men selected their land through a lottery.
They expected the land to be already cleared for them,but it was not. A rainy summer amplified their problems
by creating deep mud through which supplies had totransported.
Further difficulties resulted from the lack of coinage
available for circulation, leading to an economy based on
bookkeeping credits and debits and on barter. Consequently, the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation
struck trade tokens in 1935 or 1936 for use in the colony.
Tokens bearing the face value of one, five, ten, twentyfive, and fifty cents and one, five, and ten dollars wereminted in a total amount of $20,300. These “bingles” ascolonist called them, were made legal tender for use at
the ARRC Company store in Palmer. Soon, other local
stores began accepting the tokens, causing the ARRC toredeem the tokens for federal coinage by 1937 and revoke
their tender status in 1938. Most of the redeemed bingles
were melted, although 200 complete uncirculated sets
were reserved from the original mintage for presentation
purposes.
However, most of the colony’s difficulties were due topoor organization and administration of the project.
Many of the original colonist chose to leave the project,either returning to the lower 48 States or moving elsewhere in Alaska. Though they were replaced by new,better screened, families through 1938, the Matanuska
Colony suffered an overall loss of approximately 2/3 ofthe participants during its first three years. The project
disbanded in 1938, but many of the settlers remained in
the Matanuska Valley. Today, this area is one of thechief agricultural regions of Alaska, supplying the statewith milk, eggs, and produce. The Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation tokens serve to remind us of therich heritage of this little known town in the North.

The Monthly Planchet, February 2007

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Page 3

Secretary’s Report for January 29, 2007 Minutes of the ICC Meeting
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Mark Eberhardt. Visitors introduced were Steve Howry, Jack Connor, Ivan Lephart, Jonathon Shaw andJoe Boling.
The Secretary’s report was read. Doc Gerth said that he would not be giving theprogram on Exhibiting at the Central States show. He was preparing material for presentation
at a later time. The Treasurer’s report was read and both reports were accepted.
Under Old Business, Mark announced that the Club needs to find an Editor for the newsletter. He said that he would do the job as long as he could, but it was not his intention to takeover that position for the year. He also pointed out that there was one more vacant position on
the Board of Directors for the year 2007. There were no volunteers for either position fromthose in attendance.
The President also announced that the meeting of the Board of Directors had to be postponeddue to illness in his family.
Under New Business, Mark asked for volunteers to serve as Committee members, especiallyon the Coin Week (the week of April 16) and the ISNA Show committees. There were no volunteers.
Mail to the Club was read by the Secretary. It consisted of letters from several candidates
for ANA Officers and Board positions, which the Secretary said would be reviewed by the ICC
Board at its next meeting. Joe Boling stood up and volunteered that he was one of those candidates.
The Club President asked Joe to tell the Club about himself and his candidacy. Joe responded by telling of his coin collecting career and various positions he has held, including thefact that he was active in the ICC during the 1970’s and 1980’s. He said that when his job took
him away from central Indiana he had let his ICC membership drop, but had remained active inthe hobby, joining and supporting local clubs. He recently returned to the Indianapolis area andintends to participate again in the ICC activities. Joe has been a member of ANA since 1974
and a Life Member since 1981. He has also been a member of the ANA’s Judging committeefor the last 18 years and its Chief Judge for 14 years. He has received the Glenn Smedley
Medal, the Medal of Merit, the Howland Wood Medal, and the Farran Zerbe Memorial award,
all from the ANA. He asked for the support of the Club members in his bid to become a member of the ANA Board of Directors.
Under Show and Tell, Joe Boling showed a piece of counterfeit paper money and one genuine piece from Brazil. He said he had just received the genuine bill from a New York auction.
He then explained how to tell the difference, adding that a person should use a magnifying glass
to be certain of the authenticity of that particular bill, since the counterfeit was a very well done
fake.
The Club Secretary, Vinton Dove presented the Educational program. It was titled“Circulating Coinage in the US from the Revolution to 1857”. This was actually a continuationof a program he had given last year to the Club. He also had several coins of the period on display.
After the break, Greg Mitchell was introduced as a visitor to the Club, followed by anotherexcellent auction, run by President Eberhardt.
Membership applications were received from Walter Brown, Joe Boling and Jack Connor.
The club adjourned at 8:40 PM.
Vinton Dove, Secretary
The Monthly Planchet, February 2007

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Page 4

Indianapolis Coin Club Treasurer’s Report for January 2007
Income:Received from 50/50:
Donation for stamps:
Total Income for January:$37.00$ 4.44$41.44

Expenses:
Newsletter & Stamps:
Staples/Office Depot:
SD State Quarters:
ANA Club Dues:
Total Expenses for January:$39.00$ 8.30$10.00$36.00$93.30December Checkbook Balance:
January Checkbook Balance:$2,708.15$2,656.29

I.C.C. CD Balance: $17,958.14
Respectfully Submitted,Karl Kreck2007 U.S. Mint Product Schedule
Date Avail.

Product

1/10/07
1/23/07
1/23/07
1/29/07
2/5/07
2/15/07
2/15/07
2/28/07
3/20/07
3/20/07
March
March/April
April
April
April
MayMayMayMay

Jamestown 400th Anniversary Program
50 State Quarters Proof Set
50 State Quarters Silver Proof Set
Montana Quarter Bags & Two-Roll Sets
American Eagle Gold Coins
Presidential $1 Coin Proof Set
G. Washington $1 Coin Bags & Rolls
Montana Official First Day Coin CoverGolden Dollar Bags and Rolls
Kennedy Half-Dollar Bag &Two-Roll Set
American Eagle Silver Proof Coin
American Eagle Uncirculated Coins
American Buffalo Gold Proof 1oz Coin
Washington Quarter Bag & Two-Roll Set
U.S. Proof Sets
Presidential Spouse Gold Proof Coin
Presidential Spouse Bronze Medal 1 5/16”
John Adams $1 Coin Bags and Rolls
Little Rock Central High School Silver $Happy Collecting !!!

The Monthly Planchet, February 2007

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Note:
The club is always looking for people to give educational programs. It
can be on any topic that relates toCoins, Currency, or Tokens. It can besomething as simple as sharing a particular coin you like to a general topic.
All we ask is that it is about 20 minutes long and that you come somewhat prepared with some clearthought. The more people we get involved the more diverse the club willbe. If you are interested, please contact me (Mark) at: 317-837-5682.

February’s Program
1896 Educational Notes
By…..
James Held

Page 5