The Planchet

A Publication of theIndianapolis Coin ClubIssue 488
November 2007

The Meetings of the Indianapolis Coin Club are held the fourth Monday of each month at
the Northside Knights of Columbus at 2100 E. 71st Street in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Meetings consist of a business session, an intermission, educational program, and anumismatic auction. Doors open at 6:00pm, meeting will begin at 7:00pm.

The next meeting will beMonday,
November 26th, 2007!

ICC makes Big Presence at ISNA Show !
The ISNA show this year was a big success and the ICC capitalized on it. This year not only did
we have our Club Table to promote our club, we also had an entry as a club in the exhibits. This was
the first year that the ISNA allowed clubs to participate in the exhibiting. These two activities took
many hours of preparation and effort. I heard lots of good comments on both from various people.
I would like to start off with the “ISNA Show Table Committee” for doing such a wonderful job
this year. This is our clubs biggest opportunity to promote itself to the numismatic society of Indianapolis and this years team did a great job. A special thanks goes out to our Board Member Jim Fuson
for heading up this committee. I would also like to thank all the people that worked behind the scene
and at the table. A BIG thumbs up to all those who assembled, gave and collected items for the“Goody Bags”. Just like last year they were a big hit. We also distributed more than 100 flyers
about our club with next years meeting dates on them. Hopefully we will get some new members outof it. Manning the table this year were: Tom Ferverda, Joe Filipczak, Walt Brown, Bill Schutt, SteveHowery, Richard Kinnett, Ivan Lephart, Karl Kreck, Jim Luckey, Bob Bettcher, Bob and Jim Fuson.
As mentioned, this year was the first time our club put together an exhibit for the ISNA show.
Thanks to Past President Vinton Dove for heading up the “Exhibit Committee” and the rest of thepeople that put together an exhibit on Roosevelt Dimes. Not having much time this year, this teamperformed well.
It is efforts like this that will continue to make our club bigger and stronger for the future. Thanks
to all for your time and effort. Thanks again to all.

Note: ICC Annual Holiday Banquet. Details on page 4

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

$$$$ “ALWAYS BUYING” $$$$
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 & CoachR.O.M.A. COIN
Specializing in U.S. RARE COINS

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
APPRAISALSBUY AND SELL

PHONE(317) 753-7967

DOUBLE D. KOINSDONALD D. KING SR.
MemberANA CSNS ICCORVA (ORV) DETRICK
Professional Numismatist

PO Box 267
Donnelsville, Ohio
45319-0267
Phone: 937-882-6730
Cell #: 937-284-0412
E-mail: Romacoin@aol.com
Buy/Sell Bullion: Gold & Silver

Advertise in the Indianapolis CoinClub Newsletter! The cost is only
$35.00 for a business card size ad for
12 issues!

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

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

Table of Contents
ISNA Show-

CoverAdvertisers-Page 21794 Silver Dollars -Page 3

Secretary’s Report -Page 4Show Schedule-

Page 5

Treasurer’s Report -Page 5

Ed. Prog. For Oct.

-Page 5Classified Ads-Page 5

Bill Lettered Edges-

Page 6

Election Information -Page 6The Monthly Planchet, November 2007

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Page 2

THE SILVER DOLLAR OF 1794
By Michael Schmidt
One of the leading demonstrations of sovereignty that a country
can demonstrate is the production of their own coinage and in the
16th to 19th century the most impressive way to do this was tostrike a dollar sized silver coin.
For this reason our young republic was eager to step out onto
the world stage and declare ourselves with our own dollar. Unfortunately there were some major difficulties to overcome. Difficulties of personnel,equipment, and law.
Establishing the mint had been difficultfrom the aspect of personnel. The President’s choice for director, David Rittenhouse, the foremost scientist in America atthe time, was very reluctant to accept thepost citing ill health. Fortunately he did finally accept the post and over the next few
years he lead the mint over many a roughtime before his resignation in June of 1795
after three years in office, dying a year later.
While he was in office he established manyof the regulations of the mint, built much of
the equipment used, and even provided asignificant portion of the raw material usedfor coinage.
The second personnel difficulty was theprocurement of a qualified assayer. Someone had to be found who could perform
quick and very accurate assays of deposits
of gold and silver brought to the mint. Not
an easy task in a young country little moreadvanced than the colonies they had beenshortly before. Finally a suitable person
was located in England, Albion Cox. But
there was a problem in getting him to cometo America. Cox was living in England because he had fled from America where hehad been involved with several of the firms involved with producing state coinages to avoid being thrown into debtors prison.
Before Cox would agree to return to America, the government
had to guarantee him protection from his creditors.
The equipment was a problem because the mint did not possessa coinage press large enough to effectively strike a dollar size
coin, and the mints rollers for creating strip and planchets were
not in good shape. A larger press for striking dollars was underconstruction, but was not ready in time so the press for the centsand half dollars had to be pressed into service for the dollar coinage.
The final problem was a matter of law. Under the Coinage actof 1792, both the coiner and assayer had to post ten thousand dollar security bonds before they would be allowed to work withgold or silver. But neither of the two men could come up withthat kind of money, which would be the equivalent of almost ten
years salary. This was the reason that silver and gold coinage didot begin in 1793.
In 1794 they tried to solve that problem by cutting the bonds tofive thousand dollars, but that was still too much for them tocome up with. Finally the bonds were paid by David Rittenhouse
and, according to one source, Thomas Jefferson so that silver
coinage could commence.
The new dollar coin was of a simple designon the front with a right facing head of Liberty
with flowing hair. LIBERTY is above the headwith fifteen stars surrounded the head arranged
eight left and seven right. the date appears below. On the reverse a rather scrawny eagle isshown with outspread wings within a laurel
wreath and standing on a cloud. Surrounding
the wreath is the country name UNITEDSTATES OF AMERICA. Nowhere on thefront or back does the coin show the denomination. But on the edge of the coin will be foundthe inscription one hundred cents one dollar orunit.
The first coinage and only coinage of dollars
for this year came in late October. The silver
for the dollars was provided by the Mint Director David Rittenhouse. Two thousand dollars
worth of silver was provided but only one thousand seven hundred and fifty eight coins wereconsidered to be suitable and turned over toRittenhouse. Because they were being struck
on a press that was too small, and because thedies became misaligned in the press, most of
the known dollars of 1794 are very weakly
struck on the left side of the obverse.
The dollar of 1794 has always been highly
desired by collectors but there have never beenenough of them to go around. Today there arevery close to one hundred and twenty fivespecimens known to exist in all conditions. The late Jack Collins
spent several years tracing the pedigree or every known specimen
with the intent of eventually publishing a book on the subject.
Unfortunately Mr. Collins died before he was able to finish thebook. The manuscript still exists and there have been plans topublish it from time to time, but that has never come about. Several years ago Martin Logies published his own book on the 1794dollar with every known specimen pictured and the pedigree ofeach.
The finest known 1794 dollar, today called the Contursi specimen (Formerly, and in my opinion more properly known as theAmon Carter specimen) has been graded by PCGS as a Specimen
66 coin. It has been widely promoted as possibly the very first
US silver dollar and proclaimed to possibly be some kind of apresentation coin on the basis of its early die state and prooflikesurfaces.
(Continued on page 4)

The Monthly Planchet, November 2007

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Page 3

(1794 Dollar)
While it is the earliest die state specimen
known, proving that it is one of the first coins struck, I find it
hard to believe that it was actually the first one struck or an
actual presentation coin. This dollar coin was of great importance to the nation, and it would be very easy to believe thatthe first coin struck would be one with which great care wouldbe taken, and that it would be struck as a specimen coin. Theprooflike condition of the coin would seem to indicate a specimen strike, but if you were going to create a special coin I
would think that you would take special care to make sure thatthe planchet would be as perfect as possible. The Contursi
coin on the other hand is struck on a planchet that was originally underweight. Underweight enough, that a silver plug had
to be inserted in the planchet to bring it up to the legal weight.
The plug must have been too heavy though because after it wasinserted the planchet was found to be too heavy and the adjusters had to take a file to the planchet to reduce the weight leaving obvious adjustment marks which are still visible on the finished coin. If you were creating a coin for presentation, would
you use that planchet, or would you pass it over for a nonadjusted blank of the proper weight?
The Contursi coin is probably one of the first struck before
the dies clashed and then polished to remove the clashmarks
and at the same time remove the mirror finish from the dies.
(It was also at this time that the dies were replaced in the press
misaligned creating the weak strike on the left side.) If it wasn’t for the prooflike surfaces, I think it would be surpassed by
the second and third finest coins which have fewer marks andbetter strikes.

ICC Annual Holiday Banquet
This years Banquet will be on
Monday, December 3rd at theMCL Cafeteria 5520 Castleton
Corner Lane in Castleton. The
hours are 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Just
take Allisonville Road exit off I-465
North, and take the first right handturn and then right again into theMCL’s parking lot. If you would
like to participate in a gift drawing
please bring a numismatic itemwith a value of at least $5.00 or
more. Each person that brings agift will get one in return, but witha twist. Please contact Mark E. or
Vinton D. if your plan on coming.
It will be OK if you come at the lastminute too. Just need a number.

If you have not paid for your 2008 dues yet, please send this portion in.
ICC at P.O. Box 2897 Indianapolis, IN 46206
Please continue to support your club.

Your Name_______________________________________________________________Your Address ____________________________________________________________
City_____________________________ State __________ Zip ____________________
Ph. Number _____________________________ Member #_______________________

E-Mail Address ________________________________________________MEMBERS - $12.00
Would you like your newsletter:

JUNIORS - $5.00
Mailed to you

The Monthly Planchet, November 2007

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Emailed to you

Page 4

October Minutes of the ICC Meeting. Lou Coppinger then ran the Auction. It was excellent.
Open - The meeting was called to order at 7:00
PM by Vice-President Jim Roehrdanz. 30 people
signed the attendance book.
Visitors - There were no visitors.
The Secretary’s report and the Treasurer’s reportwere read and accepted.
- Old Business – none.
- New Business – Jim announced that the ISNA Show willbe November 2nd and 3rd. There are still times when Members are needed to man the ICC Table at the show.
- Jim said he had ordered First Spouse coins from the US
Mint. He said that the Web Site was very slow in operating
during the order process, but that it did work. He said thatthe Madison coins will be the next ones available in the series.
- Doc Gerth, a Life Member of the Club, is the Chairmanof the ISNA Show Committee. He gave the Club a numberfor its exhibit at the Show.
- Secretary, Vinton Dove, announced the slate of Officers
nominated to serve in 2008 as Officers or Board Members.
Since not all of the offices were filled, he called for volunteers. Matt Dinger volunteered to replace Mark Eberhardt asEditor. Then Don King and Sarah Hansberry volunteered torun for the Board Member position. That means the slate ofnominations will be: President – Mark Eberhardt; VicePresident – Jim Roehrdanz; Secretary – Vinton Dove;
Treasurer – Karl Kreck; Sgt-at-Arms – Jim Warden; Editor – Matt Dinger; and four members are running for thethree Board Member positions – Jim Fuson, Charles Alber,
Don King and Sarah Hansberry. The membership was reminded that the Club’s election would be held at the November 26 meeting, and anyone desiring to hold officeshould call Mark or Vinton to get their name put on the ballot. November 1st is the deadline.
- The Club’s Banquet is scheduled for the 1st Monday inDecember. Mark was going to try to arrange for the Banquet to be held at the K of C hall this year. Since Mark wascalled away on a family emergency during the day of themeeting, no word was available as to his success. An announcement will be made in the newsletter and at the November meeting.
The Educational Program for the evening was presented
by ICC member and ANA Governor, Joe Boling. His presentation was titled “Counterfeit World Paper Money (PartOne).” He had many examples and showed them on a projector. It was very interesting. (I would be more descriptive, but I am not highly competent in the field and much ofit was beyond my grasp. My apologies. Sec.)
After the break Karl Kreck ran the 50/50 Drawing. The
winner was Jack Connor.

Jim Fuson, Joe Boling, Karl Kreck and Vinton Dove assisted. Most of the lots sold.
The club adjourned at 8:43 PM. Vinton Dove, Secretary

Indianapolis Coin Club
Treasurer's Report October 2007
Income:Received from 50/50:
James Lasarre Dues:$ 37.00$ 12.00

Total:$ 49.00

Expenses:
No bills received
September Checkbook Balance: $ 2,118.14
Reported Corrected Checkbook Balance for
September: $ 2,139.14
October Checkbook Balance: $ 2,188.14
I.C.C. CD Balance $ 18,029.00 as of June 1,2007
Respectfully submitted,
Karl Kreck

November’s Program
Modern Business Strikes
Collectables 1965 to Present
By: Mark Eberhardt

Classified Section:
Wanted to Buy:
1919-D Walking Half Dollar in Fine or Better. Jim
at: (317) 839-5178
JanThe Monthly Planchet, November 2007

PDF created with pdfFactory trial version www.pdffactory.com

Place your Want to Buy orSell Ad here for just $1.00
a month.

Page 5