A Publication of the Indianapolis Coin Club

The PLANCHET
Issue 478
January, 2007

The Meetings of the Indianapolis Coin Club are held the fourth Monday ofeach month at the Nora Library at 8625 Guilford Avenue in Indianapolis,
Indiana. The Meetings consist of 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 be
Monday,January 29, 2007!

ICC Elects 2007 Officers and Board
The results are in and the Indianapolis Coin Club has its new Officers and Board for 2007. Afterthe elections, because no one ran for the offices of Secretary and Editor, President Mark Eberhardt
quickly made appointments to fill those positions. If anyone would like either position or the open
board position, please contact an officer of the club and the board will vote on it. Here are yourleaders for 2007:
President
Mark Eberhardt
Vice-President
Jim Roehrdanz
SecretaryVinton Dove
Treasurer
Karl Kreck
EditorMark Eberhardt(fubacoin@aol.com) ph. (317) 837-5682
Past President
Vinton Dove

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

Jim Warden
Dave ReidBob Bettcher
James Held
Jim Fuson
Charles AlberOpenHappy New Year 2007
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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 FusonRetired 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 ClubOfficers 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
Election Results-CoverAdvertisers-Page 2

Barber Half Dollars -Page 3

Secretary’s Report -Page 4

Treasurer’s Report -Page 5

Ed. Prog. For March -Page 5The Monthly Planchet, January 2007

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Page 2

Barber Half Dollars 1892 to 1915
By….

Michael Schmidt
As part of the Coinage Act of September 1890, all coin designs that had been inuse for at least 25 years were eligible for redesign at the pleasure of the Secretary of theTreasury. Since the Seated designs for the dime, quarter, and half dollar had been in use
for over 50 years they became an obvious target for a fresh new design.
The first attempt to change the design was to attempt a limited competition between invited sculptors. But the sculptors complained that the rules of the competition
were too strict, they did not allow enough time to prepare designs, we don’t like the judges,
the compensation for the winner is not enough, and even worse you aren’t compensating all
the contestants for their work, just the winner. So many of the selected sculptors formed an
informal “union” and boycotted the competition “striking” for more money.
Well the Secretary was not going to stand for that and he decided to hire “scabs”.
The competition was thrown open to all as a general contest and 300 entries were received. Unfortunately on at least on
point the sculptors were right. The three men chosen as judges were a disaster. Henry Mitchell, a Boston engraver ofgems and seals, was probably the least controversial of the three. The second judge was Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of
the foremost sculptors of the times and a man who had declared that there were only three people qualified to design anew coin. Two of them were in France, and of coarse he was the third. Not exactly an open mind. The choice of thethird judge was even worse, Chief Engraver Charles Barber. Barber believed that as the Chief Engraver it was HIS job
and no one else’s to design any new coins. With judges like that the competition was dead in the water before it evenbegan. Of the 300 designs only two of them even got honorable mention. After the second competition failed, the Secretary threw in the towel and just turned the job of designing the new coins over to Charles Barber.
Barber created for the obverse of his coins a right facing, very masculine looking Liberty with a Phrygian capvery similar to that found on a Morgan dollar, but with agricultural garden in her hair replaced with a simple laurel
crown. LIBERTY can be found on a small headband above Liberty’s brow. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST is placed
above Liberty’s head and the date below the neck. Thirteen six pointed stars are placed in arcs to the left and right of thebust arranged 6 and 7. On the reverse is a thin, almost scrawny, heraldic eagle with a US shield on its breast, holding theolive branch in its right talon and thirteen arrows in the left. The eagle holds a ribbon in its beak inscribed with the otherofficial motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. In the area above the eagles head and below the name of the country are 13 five
pointed stars, and the denomination is at the bottom.
Unlike the dime and quarter the Barber half dollar does not really have any super rare date/mint combinations.
All of the coins are available, but usually only in either low grade or high grade. Middle grades in Fine to Extra Fine are
extremely difficult to find. The half dollar circulated widely and about the time when they would normally have beenretired from circulation as an “old, obsolete design”, the Depression began and fifty cents was just too much money formost anyone to be able to put aside. So the coins continued to circulate ten or twelve years longer than they would ordinarily have done, and those middle grade coins that would normally have survived continued to wear out.
There are some tougher pieces in the Barber half series, mainly the Philadelphia pieces of 1914 (124,000 minted)
and 1915 (138,000) but being the last years of issue they tended to survive at a higher rate then the earlier years and sothey more available than their mintages would indicate.
The big rarities in this series come from some of the varieties, and there are notmany major varieties either. The two micro O varieties make up for it. The first is the1892-O micro O. Known for quite some time this variety is quite rare with only a dozen
or so pieces known. But even this pales to the second one the 1898-O micro O. The 98
micro O was reported by Beistle in his book on half dollar varieties in 1929, but was considered to be unconfirmed and an error as no specimen was known in any collection. Then
about three years ago one was discovered unattributed by a collector buying a 1898-O outof a dealers stock box for his Barber Half collection. It has since been slabbed by PCGS
and is still the only specimen known. Can you find the next one?

The Monthly Planchet, January 2007

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Page 3

November 27, 2006
Minutes of the ICC
Meeting
The November meeting wascalled to order at 7:00 PM byPresident Mark Eberhardt. Visitors Don Kingand Bill Connell were introduced. It was announced that Bill Connell was our newestmember. Bill applied for membership at theISNA show.
The Secretary’s and Treasurer’s reports
were read and accepted.
It was announced that dues cards and receipts were available from the Secretary for
those members who had sent their dues to theclub’s Post Office Box.
The President announced that there were nonominations for the offices of Secretary andNewsletter Editor for the year 2007.
President Eberhardt thanked the companies
which had donated items which were includedin the give-a-way bags at the ISNA show. He
also thanked that volunteers who had manned
the ICC table at the show, and announced that
two members signed up at the show. One wasBill Connell and the other was a dues renewal.
Jim Held reported that a large theft ofcoins in Danville had been reported at theISNA show, and cautioned members to becareful with their collections.
Mail to the Club was read by Vinton Dove,including announcements of the Central
States Numismatic Society’s show in St.
Louis on May 10-12 and the ANA’s show inCharlotte, NC on March 16-18.
Mark then announced that the Christmas
banquet had been cancelled due to lack of interest. Also, he reminded the members that
the Club does not meet in December. Since

there was no banquet planned, he said there
would be no December newsletter, since
there would be virtually no news to report.
The Board of Directors would meet in early
December for their annual budget and planning meeting. He said that the January
newsletter would be published in January,prior to the January 29th Club meeting.
ICC Life Member Doc Gerth announced
that he would be giving a program at theMay 9-12 Central States Show, speaking on
Exhibiting at shows. He also reminded themembers of the June 16, 2007 Luncheon andprogram being presented by four of the nations outstanding numismatists at the Adams
Mark Hotel in Indianapolis. The cost of theprogram is $20.00 for CSNS members and$30.00 for non-members, and includes
lunch.
Elections were then held by the President,with the Nominating Committee’s slate being elected on a unanimous vote. Sgt.-atArms Jim Warden swore-in the new officers.
President Eberhardt then appointed himself
to fill the vacant office of Editor and Vinton
Dove to fill the Secretary’s position.
Mark announced that since Coz Raimondi
was President of ISNA he was resigning hisposition as ICC Director to avoid any possible conflict of interest. His position on theICC Board remains open.
After the break, Jim Fuson and Bob Bettcher presented the Educational program, titled “advantages of circulated collections vs.
uncirculated collections.” The presentation
was very interesting and included a MOST
impressive display of circulated and uncirculated collections of US coins.
Another excellent auction was then run byPresident Eberhardt and the club adjourned
at 8:25 PM.
Vinton Dove, Secretary

The Monthly Planchet, January 2007

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Page 4

Treasurer’s Report
November 2006

January’s Program

Income:50/50
Donation
Total Income$ 40.00$ 4.00$ 44.00

Expenses:
Newsletter Printing & Postage
ISNA Table
Refreshments
InsuranceTotal Expenses$ 46.54$ 88.88$ 36.08$100.00$271.50

October Checkbook Balance:
November Checkbook Balance:$2,530.55$2,303.05

ICC CD’s Balance

Coins Circulatingin the U.S. from1792 to 1857

By
Vinton Dove

$17,255.27

Respectfully Submitted,
Karl Kreck—Treasurer

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