THE PLANCHETA Publication of the Indianapolis Coin Club
Issue # 470

NewsletterApril 2006

Membership numbers: ANA C-131170, CSNS L-600, ISNA LM 243

indianapoliscoinclub.org
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 beMonday,April 24, 2006!
2006 STATEHOOD QUARTER DESIGNS
Here are the Quarter designs for this year. The Nevada and Nebraska have already been released andwill be followed by Colorado, North Dakota, and then finally South Dakota.

$$$$ “ALWAYS BUYING” $$$$PAYING TOP PRICES FOR ALL U.S. COINS
DON’T SELL WITHOUT GETTING OUR OFFER!!!

LARRY HYLTONBROWNSBURG, IN

ANA, ISNA-LM, CSNS-LM(317) 852-8458
Jim Fuson
Retired Teacher & Coach

VINTON G. DOVE
Certified Public Accountant
Collecting U.S. Coins Since 1952

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

R.O.M.A. COINSpecializing 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

ORVA (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 Coin Club Newsletter! The cost is only $35.00 for abusiness card size ad for 12 issues!

The 2006 Indianapolis Coin ClubOfficers and Board Members
President
Mark Eberhardt
Vice-President
Jim Roehrdanz
Secretary
Jim Goaziou
Treasurer
Karl Kreck
EditorAmy Eberhardt(fubacoin@aol.com) ph. (317) 837-5682
Past President
Vinton Dove
Sgt-at-Arms
Jim Warden
Board Member 2005-2006 Dave Reid
Board Member 2005-2006 Donald Black
Board Member 2005-2006 Allen DoveBoard Member 2006-2007 Jim Fuson
Board Member 2006-2007 Cos Raimondi
Board Member 2006-2007 Charles Alber
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.

The Monthly Planchet, April 2006

Table of Contents
2006 Quarter Designs-CoverAdvertisers-

Page 2

Bust Half Dollars-Pages 3 & 4

Treasurer’s Report-

Page 4

Secretary’s Report-

Pages 4 & 5

Ed. Prog. for April-

Page 5

Coin Trivia-

Page 5

Page 2

Draped Bust Half Dollars 1801 - 1807by Michael Schmidt
Four years after the last small eagle halves
were struck; the beleaguered Mint again started
striking half dollars. Morale was low at themint. Production was way down. Gold was still
being struck, but only about 30,000 coins peryear. The official ratio between gold and silver
was such that silver was under valued andflowed out of the country as fast as it was struck,
and almost all of it was in the form of silver
dollars. The only minor silver coined in the past
four years was 27,000 dimes in 1798. The only
part of the mint keeping busy were those workers
busy making cents. But even though a lot ofcents were being made, it didn’t amount to a lotof money and the expenses of the mint almost
equaled the face value of the coins produced.
Criticism against the mint was commonplace andseveral bills had already been introduced toCongress to abolish the mint and have our coinsproduced via private contract. (The last suchattempt would be narrowly defeated in 1802.)
In 1801, a silver depositor once again
requested that his bullion be struck, not asdollars, but as half dollars. (At this point in timethe mint did not strike coins using government
bullion, or based on what was required by local
commerce. The coins produced depended upon
what the depositor of the metal wanted.) This
request allowed the Mint to extend the heraldic
eagle design to another denomination.
The obverse of the half retained the same
draped bust of Liberty that had been last used in
1797, but the number of stars has been reduced
from sixteen to thirteen, arranged with seven by
the left border and six by the right. LIBERTY
arcs above the bust and the date appears below.
On the reverse, Robert Scots Heraldic eagle
design, which was first used on the dimes anddollars in 1798 appears. Within the legendThe Monthly Planchet, April 2006

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is a spreadwinged eagle facing to its right with a shield on its
breast showing thirteen vertical stripes topped by ahorizontal band. In the eagles left talon is an olive
branch of peace and in the right thirteen arrows ofdefense. This is a heraldic error that Scot repeats
on all of his heraldic eagle reverses. In heraldry,
the right side is the favored side and in Scot’s
design the arrows in the eagles right talon
symbolically represents a preference of the country
for war or conflict.
Mintages for this type were small the first twoyears with only around thirty thousand coins struck
each year. After that though the mintages began torise, especially after President Jefferson issued anorder to cease the striking of dollar coins in 1804.
With the half dollar now being the largest silvercoin produced, it now became the favorite ofdepositors and of the banks which tended to usethem for the cash reserves that they were required
to hold to back the paper money they issued and tosatisfy demand deposits. In 1806 the mintage
topped out at 839,000+ coins.
While the 1801 and 1802 dates are harder tocome by, they are not overly priced as compared tothe other issues which makes this a collectibleseries. There really aren’t an key dates in Fine orless, and the two tougher dates can be acquired inFine, with the rest of the set in VF, spending about
the same amount on each coin. It is also a short set
comprised of only six coins. (There were no 1804
half dollars struck.) There is also a very obvious
overdate available, the 1805/4, which is only
slightly more costly than the normal date coin forthis year. Advanced collectors will often collectthese coins by die variety. These are cataloged by
Overton numbers and there are several very rarevarieties in this series. A new variety of 1806 wasjust discovered this year. (Sewn onto the jacket ofPage 3

a collector of holed coins! Ok, the variety wasn’t
discovered until after it was removed from thejacket and sold to another holed coin collector.)

Treasurer’s Report
March 2006
Income:50/50$ 32.00(7) Reg. Dues $ 84.00(1) Jr. Due $ 5.00
$121.00
Expenses:
P.O. Box rental
Newsletter Postage
Newsletter Printing & Labels
NV-D Quarters
2 rolls ‘05 5c. for coin week
2 rolls NV 25c. for coin week

February Checkbook balance
March Checkbook Balance

ICC CD Balance$ 46.00$ 20.67$ 19.13$ 13.50$ 10.00$ 27.00$136.30$2,914.63$2,899.33$17,226.85

Respectfully Submitted,
Karl Kreck - Treasurer

HAPPY
EASTER!
The Monthly Planchet, April 2006

Secretary’s Report
March 27, 2006
The meeting was called toorder at 7:00pm by President
Mark Eberhardt. Several
visitors were asked to
introduce themselves, andincluded Joe Rodgers, Matthew Eberhardt,
Sam, and Jacob Dickey and his father.
The Secretary’s report and Treasurer’s Reportwere read and accepted.
Under old business, Mark announced thequestionnaires had been tabulated and thewishes of the participants were now known andthe Club would be guided by them. He
reminded the members of National Coin Week,
April 9-15. He also announced that the club
would hand out Buffalo Nickels and Nevada
Quarters.
Under new business, Jim Luckey reminded
the members that he and Doc Gerth would havea table at the Children’s Museum April 18, 19,
and 20 for National Coin Week to represent theClub and the Indiana State NumismaticAssociation. He again asked for assistancefrom the Club members on those dates.
Mark called for anyone who wished to “Showand Tell” about items they might have brought
to the meeting, but received no response.
The Education Program was presented by thePast President, Vinton Dove. He spoke about
the coins and tokens which circulated during
the Revolutionary War period and the items
which were commonly used for barter in theColonies.
Joe Rodgers won the 50/50 drawing of$32.50.
After the break, President Eberhardt ran aspirited auction. Most of the lots were sold,and the meeting was adjourned at 8:32pm.
Secretary’s Report continued on next
page.........

Page 4

Two new members were accepted. They
were Shannon Spears and Wesley Alsman, aJunior Member.
Respectfully Submitted,

coin trivia
Q) What two United States
Coins - designed by thesame man - have different
designer’s initials on them?
And Why?

Vinton Dove

Educational Programfor April:“Mardi Gras Tokens”
byCharles AlberA) The Roosevelt Dime with theinitials “JS” - and the Franklin
Half Dollar with the initials“JRS”. The reson is that there
were many rumors when thedime was released in 1946
that the initials JS stood forJoseph Stalin instead of John
Sinnock, the designer of thecoins. So in 1948 when theFranklin Half was introduced
the designer’s intials werechanged to JRS to alleviate
such additional rumors.

If you have not paid your dues yet, please send
the bottom portion in.

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

E-Mail Address ________________________________________________MEMBERS - $12.00

The Monthly Planchet, April 2006

JUNIORS - $5.00

Page 5