A Publication of the Indianapolis Coin Club

Issue # 458

Newsletter

February 2005

Membership numbers: ANA C-131170, CSNS L-600, ISNA LM 243
The Meetings of the Indianapolis Coin Club are held thefourth Monday of each 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
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The next meeting will be

Monday, February 28, 2005!

ICC member Now writing for Coin WorldICC Member Wendell Wolka will now be writing a monthly column for Coin Worldon U.S. Notes. This announcement was published in the January 24, 2005 issue. I recently had a few questions for Wendell to put in an article for all of you:Q. How long have you been a member of the ICC?
A. ummmm...two or three years I think
Q. How long have you been collecting numismatics?
A. Have been collecting something since I was about eight years old, so (gasp!) the better part of nearly fifty years.
Q. What was the first thing you collected?
A. Just like probably everyone else of the era, coins out of circulation and dad’s pants
pocket. In the late 50’s there were still all sorts of things in circulation...Mercury
Dimes, Buffalo Nickels, Walker Halves in addition to all of the current designs. I wasprobably able to get to 80% completion on sets just from circulation. Never found anyof the really key dates though. I started to get bored with coins in high school andswitched to paper money which seemed to be a lot more varied and historic. Since then,I’ve collected obsolete paper money from the Midwest, Indiana Nationals, French andFrench colonial notes, World Notes, Canadian chartered bank notes, and Confederate
Notes. Since I retired in 2000, I have sold off some collections to focus today on Ohio
Obsolete paper money, Canadian chartered bank notes, and Confederate notes (1864 $5s
by signatures...a challenging thing to attempt), plus some modern World Notes.
Q. How long have you been writing articles about numismatics?
A. Once I switched to paper money, I wrote for SPMC’s Paper Money magazine in theearly 1970s. Then I co-authored a book on Indiana obsolete paper money for SPMC in
1978 and did a second book on Ohio obsolete paper money in 2004. In between, I’ve
written for Bank Note Reporter and occasionally for Numismatic News and CoinWorld.
Q. How did you get the opportunity to write for Coin World?
A. Gene Hessler decided to pull back writing his monthly column in Coin World andsuggested to them that I might be someone to consider as a replacement. I talked with
Beth Deisher, and the rest is history! It should be fun.
Thank you Wendell for taking the time to share a little about yourself and Good
Luck!!!

$$$$ “ALWAYS BUYING” $$$$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

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(317) 885-8065
885-8066 R.O.M.A. COIN

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Cos Raimondi, President

Email: coinindex@sbcglobal.net

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

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The 2005 Indianapolis Coin Club
Officers and Board Members
President
Vinton Dove
Vice-President
Mark Eberhardt
Secretary
Jim Goaziou
Treasurer
Karl Kreck
EditorAmy Eberhardt(fubacoin@aol.com) ph. (317) 837-5682
Past President
Sgt-at-Arms
Board Member 2005-2006
Board Member 2005-2006
Board Member 2005-2006
Board Member 2004-2005
Board Member 2004-2005
Board Member 2004-2005

Jim Luckey
Jim Warden
Dave Reid
Donald Black
Allen Dove(vacant)
Cos RaimondiCharles Alber

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 Monthly Planchet, February 2005

Table of Contents
Wendell Wolka

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Cover

Advertisers-

Page 2Three Cent Nickels-

Page 3

Secretary’s Report-

Page 4

Treasurer’s Report-

Page 5

Important Notices-

Page 6

Auction Preview for Feb.

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Page 7

Page 2

Three Cent Pieces 1865-1889
By Michael Schmidt

During the Civil War much of the coinage of theUnited States disappeared into private hoards. The commerce of the country was largely taken over by
fractional currency notes and private tokens made of"French Bronze". Seeing that the pubic accepted thesetoken pieces, that did not contain an intrinsic value equal
to the full face value, the government passed legislation
outlawing the token production while adopting the samealloy for its own use. In 1864 they stopped using the 88%
copper 12% nickel alloy in the one cent piece. The mint
was rather happy about this, since the nickel alloy had
been hard on the dies and had always given them problems in getting the design to strike up. But Joseph Wharton, rather than losing his lucrative customer, appliedpressure in high places and got a bill passed to authorize a
new three cent piece to be struck in an alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel. After all if you own a Senator you
might as well use him.
The obverse of the newcoin bore James Longacre's
standard Liberty portrait that
had long wavy hair whichcurled above the shoulder.
Liberty wears a coronet above
her forehead inscribed with
LIBERTY in small incuse letters. The bust is within the
country name UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and thedate appears below the truncation of the bust. The reverse
is a simple Roman numeral III, within a wreath of laurel,tied by a ribbon at the bottom. The ribbon ends extend
below the wreath but do not reach the denticals. This design remained unchanged throughout the run of the series.
Care should be taken when examining 1865 dated
three cent pieces. One 1865 pattern for this series is almost identical to the approved design. (The 1865 in the
Eliasberg collection was actually one of these patterns.)
The easiest way to identify the pattern is that on the reverse the ribbon ends overlap the denticals and almost
reach the rim. Another pattern issue that looks very similar to the approved design has the proper reverse, but Liberty's coronet has a star on its peak.
The new copper nickel alloy was much harder on the

The Monthly Planchet, February 2005

dies than the older alloy used for the cent coins had ever been.
Dies started breaking down almost immediately after being put
into production. (It is almost impossible to find a nickel threecent piece that doesn't have at least one die crack.) Trying tokeep up with the tremendous number of dies required, naturally
meant that quality control suffered. The three cent nickel series
is filled with doubled dies, repunched dates and misplaced
dates. Add to these the die cracks, breaks (cuds), and clashes
and the three cents series becomes a rich source of material forthe error/variety collector. Surprisingly though, the series has
never been thoroughly studied. Until recently no true reference
book had been published for the series. Sometime in the last
two years, Ed Fletcher published a book on the varieties of thenickel three cent piece. The book has never been widely advertised though and I have not managed to get my hands on a
copy. If it is like his Shield nickel book though, it will be concentrated on doubled dies and repunched dates and will contain
only a portion of them with very little on all of the other die varieties.
The date/series collector also hasa real challenge trying to complete
the three cent pieces . As with most
new coins or designs the first few
years saw very large mintages. By
1870 the channels of commerce were
well supplied with this odd denominated coin and demand began toslack off. Also about this time, muchof the silver coinage that had been
hoarded, or gone overseas during the war, began returning
home. This caused a glut of coins piling up in the Treasury
vaults. If coins were piling up, there was little reason to coinmore. Mintages began dropping. While still priced as common
coins, the 1870 to 1876 coins are much tougher to find than theearlier dates. An additional tough piece during this era is thefirst variety of1873, the 1873 closed date. As with every new year, a new setof logotype date punches were created to date the various
coinage dies for 1873. Almost immediately criticisms reachedthe mint that the new choice of date style with a "closed" 3 was
not satisfactory. The rounded shape of the 3 combined with avery small separation between the knobs on the ends of the 3and the central spike, gave the coins coming from the mint a
decidedly futuristic appearance. Specifically they appeared toPage 3

be dated 1878! A new logotype was created with a greater
spacing on the 3 and production of the coins continued.
Only about three hundred thousand of the closed threecoins were produced before the change, but even thissmall mintage is still fairly large in the post 1869 era. By
1876 the annual mintage had dropped down to 162,000
coins.
With essentially no minor coinage needed now due tothe flood of returning coins, the mint chose not to strike
any three cent pieces in 1877 or 1878 other than proof
coins for collectors. These two years are looked upon as
the keys to the set but are actually much easier to findthan some of the later issues. Although the 1877 has an"official" mintage of 510, the number produced was actually much greater, probably fairly close to the 2350 pieces
recorded for the 1878. The uncertainty stems from poor
record keeping due to a lack of accountability in the basemetal coinage. The 510 figure quoted is that of the number of silver proof sets sold. The silver sets also included
the base metal coinage as well. However, the base metalcoins could also be ordered as sets by themselves, or as
individual pieces. Since the metal did not have the same
stringent accounting requirements as the silver, no record
was kept of the number of pieces sold.
In 1879 production began again, if you can call it that.
Eighteen eighty one was the only year for the rest of theseries that had any significant mintage with just over one
million coins being struck. No other year saw more than
38,000 business strikes coined and that was in 1879.
Mintages dropped to the low twenty thousands in 1880
and 1882. In 1883 they fell further to the "Why bother?"level with just 4,000 struck that year, seventeen hundredfor 1884, and a single nice round thousand for 1885.
Proof coins for these years are much more common thanthe business strikes with between three and four thousand
being struck for collectors each year. In 1886 they finallygave up and produced the third proof only year for theseries. For some reason proof production then crashed thenext year with only twenty nine hundred being struck. To
make up for it though regular issue production began
again with five thousand coins being struck. Perhaps interest in the denomination was beginning to pick up again
because in 1888 coinage was back up to the level of ten
years earlier. Over 36,000 coins were struck for circulation. However, such was not the case. Only 18,000 werestruck in 1889 and none in 1890. Not even proofs!
Which was just as well, for the Coinage Act of September
1890 finally did away with this coin as well as the gold
dollar. The economy was booming and the postal rate hadrisen. There was no longer any justification for a threecent coin.

Secretary’s Report
January 24, 2005
President Vinton Dove opened themeeting at 7:04pm at the Nora Library meeting room to 41 persons in
attendance.
Secretary and Treasurer Reports were presented andapproved. Visitors Dave Anderson, Mary and Ivy
Kitzmiller were welcomed and Charles Buck became
ICC’s newest member.
Charles Alber reported that the summer picnic will
be held on Sunday June 26th at a location to be announced.
It was announced that the April meeting will be
GOLD EXHIBIT NITE, May will feature a programby the Madison County Coin Club and July will consist of ICC’s annual EXHIBIT NITE.
Jim Luckey, National Coin Week Chairman reported
that one or more tables will be staffed during that weekat the Childrens Museum by I.C.C. members. The
dates are April 17-23 and members should contact Jim
to volunteer.
Don Black, Juniors Committee Chairman announced
he is seeking members to assist in making presentations to Boy and Girl Scouting groups about Numismatics.
Upcoming Coin Shows in the area include Bloomington Coin Club Show on April 2, 2005 and the Logansport Coin Show on April 17th in Kokomo.
Donn Wray, I.C.C. member and currency collector
provided the evenings educational program about assembling an affordable collection of U.S. large sized
currency of the various types. His presentation was
well received as being educational and practical.
The meeting closed at 8:55pm following an auctionof many lots, with all but a couple purchased by thebidders. It was called by Lou Coppinger assisted byAllen Dove, Vinton Dove, and Karl Kreck.
The February meeting will be on Monday evening,
February 28, 2005 at 7:00pm at the Nora Library.
The dealer bourse opens at 6:00pm preceding the meeting.
Respectfully Submitted,
J.W. Goaziou, Secretary

The Monthly Planchet, February 2005

Page 4

Coin Trivia Question

Treasurer’s Report
December 2004

Q: What 1851 Silver Coin is made of 75%
silver alloy rather than the usual 90% ?

Income:Membership (6 SR)(Answer at the bottom of page)

UPCOMING COIN SHOWSMarch
6th - “Wat-Cha-Kee Coin Club
Annual Spring Show” - Watseka, IL Celebrations Banquet
Center 209 W. Oak Street.
Hours: 9am- 4pm
13th - “71st Street Coin Show” Indianapolis, IN K of C Hall off
Keystone Ave.
Hours: 9am - 3:45pm
18th-20th - “11th Annual Paper
Money Expo” - Rosemont, IL
Holiday Inn O’Hare 5440 N.
River Road. Hours: Fri. 10am 6pm, Sat. 10am - 6pm, Sun.
10am - 1pm$72.00

Expenses: N/A
November Checkbook Balance $4,912.96
December Checkbook Balance $4,984.96
I.C.C - CD’s
235153$5,085.44
241115$5,070.39 (est for November Report)
248114$5,068.55$15,224.38
CD# 241115 Balance as of 12/18/04 was corrected toread $5,070.40
Total CD Balance corrected to read $15,224.39
Respectfully Submitted,
Karl Kreck - Treasurer

20th - “Old Fort Coin Club” Fort Wayne, IN Allen County 4H
Fairgrounds. Hours: 9am-4pm
26th - “Marion Coin Club’s 47th
Annual Show” - Marion, IN
Grant County 4H Fairgrounds
Community Building on St. Rd.
18 (One mile East of the Court
house on the West Bound Side).
Hours: 9am- 4pm

A: The Three Cent Piece.
The Monthly Planchet, February 2005

Page 5ICC notes passing ofBoard Member
It is with great sadness and shock
to note the passing of our long-timemember, Lawrence Wistoff.
Lawrence died on January 21,
2005 of cancer. He was 58.
He was a veteran of the Desert
Storm War and had served as amember of the ICC Board of Directors from January 2000 until his
death. Lawrence was always available when the Club needed help,
and we will miss him dearly.
Please keep his wife, Donna andthe rest of the family in yourthoughts and prayers during thisvery difficult time.

February
Educational
Program:“Double Die Nickels”
byMark Eberhardt

The Monthly Planchet, February 2005

Thanks Donn!
The educational meeting for
the January Meeting was given
by ICC member Donn Wray.
The topic was Large Notes.
Donn came prepared withseveral different scans of Large
Notes so that everyone in attendance could get a “handson” education of some very incredible looking Notes!
This educational program
was very informative and interactive!
Thanks Donn for all of yourhard work and preparation in
sharing this topic with the ICC.

2005 Scheduled Release dates
from the U.S. Mint
Feb. 28 - American Bison Nickel bags &Two roll sets
Mar. 3 - California Official First day
coin coverMar. 9 - Mint Proof Set
Mar. 15 - American Eagle Silver Proof
Coin

Page 6

February Auction Items
Here is just a short list of what will be in
the upcoming February ICC auction:
ICC shirt - white pull-over shirt with collar,
has ICC name and logo. Size XL, min. bid$10.00 (proceeds will go to the club)
ICC shirt - white pull-over shirt with collar,
has ICC name and logo. Size XXL, min. bid$10.00 (proceeds will go to the club)
ICC hats (3 hats, one white & 2 tan) eachwith ICC logo patch, adjustable size (sold inseparate lots), min. bid for each lot $1.00(proceeds will go to the club)
1908-O U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00
1909 U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00
1909-D U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00
1909-S U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00
1911-D U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $5.00
1912 U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00
1913-D U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $5.00
1914 U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00
1914-D U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00
1915 U.S. Quarter Good - min. bid $3.00

Receive the ICC newsletter by
email
If anyone would like to receive thenewsletter by email instead of through thepost office, please email me at:
fubacoin@aol.com.
It will be sent in an Adobe format so that
it is easily readable————————————
Also, if anyone has any articles that you
have written on Numismatics, please send it
to me and I will be happy to include it in the
newsletter for everyone to see.

IMPORTANT NEWSBuy your Numismatic Resourcesfrom Amazon.com and help support
the ICC! Here is how:- go to our website:www.indianapoliscoinclub.org- Click the title “Resources”- Click on the Resources that you
would like to purchase.
This will take you directly to Amazon.com to finish your order. The
club will then receive a proceed fromthis order.
Last year the ICC benefited $50.00
from this. So if you are going to add
to your Numismatic Library, pleasekeep the ICC in mind!

Thanks!!

The Monthly Planchet, February 2005

Page 7

ICC
P.O. Box 2897
Indianapolis, IN 46206

FIRST CLASS