Manhattan Coin Club

Manhattan Coin Club Minutes

Nov. 12, 2013

The meeting was called to order by President Zeke. There was a large attendance. Our treasurer Dave reported a balance of $1,865.80 and had just received $10 for membership.

Jerry announced and passed out flyers on the upcoming Topeka coin show: Nov 23 - Topeka Coin Show. Heritage Hall, 17th Topeka Blvd. Hrs: 9AM-5PM. Topeka Coin Club. Louis Hartness, PH: 785-221-5669. FAX: 785-272-1210. Email: lhartness (at) cox (dot) net

President Zeke talked about the email he had received from the Numismatic Crime Information Center. The Numismatic Crime Information Center is a 501 (c)(3) non profit corporation established to coordinate and collaborate initiatives between law enforcement and the numismatic industry in "Targeting Numismatic Crimes Around the World." The club discussed the possibility of having the information sent out by the NCIC to our webpage. Mark said he was receiving emails from them and could print them out and bring them. There were concerns about security and after discussion the item was tabled to allow people to do more research on the group.

President Zeke also brought up the program schedule for 2014. There are a number of openings and ideas were solicited. The club has reoccurring programs: Mystery Grader, Alternate Collections, Coin Show, June picnic, and Christmas Party. Ideas and presenters were discussed. The final program schedule was tabled until next meeting pending dates established by presenters.

Dave announced he had free coin literature available.

Guy gave the program on book resources for coin collectors and passed out a bibliography. One of the books, "Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins" was described as a classic. A number of people described some of the eccentricities of the author. He is best known among coin collectors for writing the book and "Breen numbers", from his encyclopedia, are widely used to attribute varieties of coins. He is also well known for activity in the science fiction fan community; for his conviction for child molestation, and for his writings in defense of pederasty. Walter H. Breen on Wikipedia

Guy talked about the differences between the Red, Blue, and Black coin books. Collectors of United States coins generally consider the "Red Book" as a good authority. The book is clearly written, contains the important information, and included pictures of the coins. The prices for coins not made of precious metals have to be set once for an entire year, and the lag time between preparation of the book and its publication does allow for the prices to be a little old, but coin values for most issues change slowly enough to give one a good idea of a coin's value.

The Blue Book is like the Red Book, and contains much of the same information. However, it is usually smaller. The main difference is the prices quoted. Dealers must make a profit. No dealer can buy and sell coins for the same price. So, while the Red Book is what one can expect to pay, the Blue Book is what one can expect from a dealer.

The Black Book breaks down average coin values for all types of U.S. coins and also provides information on coin grading, mintmarks, and other useful bits of coin info, including some detail on coin auctions.

Mark and others informed the group that early coin books may have considerable value particularly those published as commemorative editions.

President Zeke talked about buying all the coin books from the Abilene library when they were deaccessioning books.

Winners of the Red Book door prizes were Zeke, Ray, and Hanna Marie.

After the silent auction the meeting was adjourned.

Chuck T.