July ~ August ~ September 2008

ECI Store - the Wrangler - ShowCase - WebMaster - Letter To The Editor

Elaine Rexdale #94 Editor

EDITOR'S NOTES

~Dear Fellow Collectors, I don't know about you but my calendar's pages have been flying off the wall. And just like in the movies my clock's hands have been spinning around and around. To add to the moment, I've recently been suffering with an acute case of Need-More-Time-itis. My brain is overflowing with so many ideas that I hardly have time to earn a living.

Clearly it was time to take matters into my own hands. One overflow idea was to help my husband, a World War II veteran, participate in The Veteran's Administration's collection of World War II Veteran's videotaped interviews. The Administration will use these videos as part of their living history museum, which will be viewed by students and scholars. It was an easy project that just required a bit of organizing.

First we prepared an outline for his interview; I was to ask the questions off camera and he was to answer the questions on camera. Next, we actually read the operating manual for the borrowed video recorder. And finally we experimented with different backgrounds and lighting. After a mere two takes we had a masterpiece worthy of the Veteran's Administration and we were still talking to each other. It was almost time to load up the car and head west to Hollywood.

Just about then I received a letter saying I was going to inherit money from my Uncle Sam. And true to his word, my Economic Stimulus payment reached my bank account and called out: Lights, Camera, Action! It was no trouble deciding what to do with my inheritance. I had a mandate to stimulate our economy. So, with that in mind, I set out to complete my mission. My economic contribution came in the form of purchasing a new, hand-held video recorder known as the FLIP. I could video tape up to an hour anywhere just by pressing a little red button .

My first project was recording my husband singing a favorite song from the Broadway musical Carousal. The next video rendition was of the R. H. Macy 2008 Spring Flower Show. Then it came to me that I could use my new toy to tell people about encased coins. I've made my first attempt at video taping exonumia. It challenging because my idea and how I wanted to present it wasn't clearly solidified. Nevertheless, it was a start and it's had a few visitors.

Now I?m in the midst of preparing another short video about exonumia. I'm not going to guarantee it will be an exciting action film or a must see movie because I'm camera shy. But you're invited to visit anyway at http://www.YouTube.com/presbyopianGal. I think with all the newly encased pieces coming out I'll have no problem finding fun pieces to share and maybe even find a few new encased collectors.

If any of you have found a fun way to share our hobby I would be delighted to hear about it. Oh, and while on my first trip to the Clifton, NJ Coin Show I didn't find a single encased piece, my second trip found one dealer and my third trip found two dealers who brought along encased pieces. I have no proof, but I'd like to think my ECI flyers had something to do with it. Best wishes.

~ LETTER TO THE EDITOR ~

~I am sure that almost everyone has heard of the devastation that Mother Nature unleashed on parts of the Midwest. The 'Flood of 2008' has been on every News station all over the world. I have received a few e-mails from ECI members and I wanted to THANK YOU for your support. While my home wasn't affected, I do have family members who's homes were. My job was also affected, I work for a company in warehousing and distribution of Quaker Oats Products. I was only able to work about 24 hours the past week until we run our of work because the plant is shut down. I have spent most of the rest of my time helping the clean up and rebuilding efforts. The people in my town of Cedar Rapids and surrounding areas, have really pulled together. There is a real sense of community here, and countless stories of neighbors helping neighbors, and many acts of kindness. Many people who never knew there neighbors now know them all. It make take years for this towns businesses and economy to recover, but this community is strong. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. "We Will Rise Above!" acid_interval@hotmail.com Derek McDonough ECI #90

~That's what has been going on in my left front pocket for the past two years.  My aluminum encased coin has been living in that hostile environment every day. 
  A while back I thought I'd try a little experiment.  I wanted to see how well the newer encased would weather under the wear and tear of modern times.  So, faithfully, every day, into the "torture chamber" I would drop my encased coin along with keys and change.  Trust me when I claim this piece took a good daily beating.  As I remember it went through the washer one time too.
  I am just guessing but this piece produced by the Penny Press Mint seems more wear resistant that the much older pieces.  I wonder if the aluminum used by PPM is a better grade than that used in the past or possibly PPM presses it harder resulting in a more quality piece.  (ECI's answer man to the rescue please!)   Or maybe this is all in my imagination.   However, all in all, I think my piece held up quite well considering the torturous ride it has taken. Steve Swingenstein #123

~LET US KNOW HOW WE'RE DOING. If you have comments or observations to contribute about any portion of this please let me know. Of course you are always invited to send me anything for publication that may be of general interest to our members. Elaine

NEW MEMBERS

~Roger Wayman #448 - Patrick Boyer # 449 - Tom Frances #450 - Tad Hill #451 - Don Stanton #452 - Timothy Frederick #453 - Aditya Kulkarni #454 - Gordon Donnell #455 - Dan Altman #456 - Bobby Bange #457 - Louis Johnson #458 - Mark Chapman #459 - Dorothy Snell #460 - Warren Plumer #461 - Tony Pellafone #462 - P. S. Borck #463 - Dave Petrashek #464 - Paul Kubala #465 - Michael R. Kutz #466 -

~Members recruiting new members this quarter Cecil Starcher #01 10 - Elaine Rexdale #94 02 - Jerry Ferrell #93 04 - Steve Swingenstein #123 01 Pennsylvania continues to lead in the total number of members with 36, California remains in second with 35. Florida continues hold a tight grip on third at 26 members - Ohio stays in fourth place with 20 with Illinois in a close 5th with 18 members. States still with 0 members: Alaska - Delaware.

THE BUCK DOESN'T STOP HERE by Tom Raum

~Things in the U.S. sure are tough. Brother, can you spare a euro? Signs saying "We accept euros" are cropping up in the windows of some Manhattan retailers. A Belgium company is trying to gobble up St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer and iconic Super Bowl advertiser.

The almighty dollar is mighty no more. It has been declining steadily for six years against other major currencies, undercutting its role as the leading international banking currency. The long slide is fanning inflation at home and playing a major role in the run-up of oil and gasoline prices everywhere.

Vacationing Europeans are finding bargains in the U.S., while Americans in Paris and other world capitals are being clobbered by sky-high tabs for hotels, travel and even sidewalk cafes. Northern border-city Americans who once flocked into Canada for shopping deals are staying home; it's the Canadians flocking here now.

Everything made in America — from goods to entire companies — is near dirt cheap to many foreigners. Meanwhile, American consumers, both those who travel and those who stay at home, are seeing big price increases in energy, food and imported goods. The dollar has lost roughly a quarter of its purchasing power against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners from its peak in 2002.

Since oil is bought and sold in dollars worldwide, the devalued dollar has made the recent surge in energy prices even worse for Americans, leading to $4 gasoline in the United States. Analysts suggest that of the $140 a barrel that oil fetches globally, some $25 may be due to the devalued dollar.

Further declines in the dollar will add to oil's appeal as a commodity to be traded.

Oil, suggests influential energy consultant Daniel Yergin, is "the new gold."

The limp greenback has had one big benefit to the U.S. economy: Since it makes American goods cheaper overseas, it has helped manufacturers who export and other U.S. based companies with international reach. Exports have been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise darkening U.S. economy.

Franklin Vargo, vice president of international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers, welcomes the dollar slide, as do members of his organization.

"We can see that, when the dollar's not overpriced, that people around the world want American goods and our exports are going gangbusters now," he said.

He doesn't see the dollar as undervalued. He sees it as having being overpriced in the 1990s — and what's happened since as something along the lines of a correction.

Still, Vargo acknowledges the dollar's decline has brought a measure of pain to some consumers. "As the dollar has gone down in value, that has added to the dollar cost of oil. No question. So having the dollar decline is not unambiguously a plus. That's why we say there's got to be a balance there somewhere. What we want is a Goldilocks dollar. Not too strong, not too weak. But just right. And only the market can determine that," Vargo said.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, said expanding exports due to a weak dollar are "an important source of growth, but it doesn't add a lot to jobs, it doesn't mean very much for the average American household. For the average American, for the average consumer, these are pretty tough times."

The loss of the dollar's purchasing power and international respect has some experts worrying that the euro might one day replace the dollar as the so-called primary reserve currency. And that could trigger a dollar rout as foreign governments and international investors flee from U.S. Treasury bonds and other dollar-denominated investments.

Making matters worse: The gaping U.S. current-account deficit — the amount by which the value of goods, services and investments bought in the U.S. from overseas exceeds the amount the U.S. sells abroad — and the low levels of domestic savings means that foreigners must purchase more than $3 billion every business day to fund the imbalance.

Since roughly half of the nation's nearly $10 trillion national debt is held by foreigners, mostly in Treasury bills and bonds, such a withdrawal could have enormous consequences.

Yet Washington finds its options limited.

President Bush asserts longtime support for a "strong" dollar, and made that point again Sunday in a news conference in Japan with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. "In terms of the dollar, the United States strongly believes — believes in a strong dollar policy and believes that the strength of our economy will be reflected in the dollar."

But not once in his presidency has the U. S. bought dollars on foreign exchange markets — called intervention — to help prop up the greenback. There's no telling where the buck will stop these days, although for the past few weeks it seems to be in a holding pattern. Even as three Bush Treasury secretaries in a row spouted the strong-dollar mantra, the dollar kept tumbling against the euro, the pound, the yen, the Canadian dollar and most other major currencies.

The Federal Reserve could prop up the dollar by increasing interest rates under its control. Increased yields would make dollar-denominated investments more attractive to foreigners. But that could undercut the already anemic economic growth in a frail U.S. economy rocked by soaring fuel costs, falling home prices and rising unemployment — and the lowest reading of consumer confidence in 16 years.

The Fed must do a balancing act between keeping the domestic economy from going into recession and keeping inflation at bay.

Furthermore, no Fed likes to raise rates aggressively in a presidential election year. It seems more inclined to hold interest rates low for now to give financial markets time to recover from the housing meltdown and credit crunch. It did just that in its meeting on June 25, leaving a key short-term rate at 2 percent. The rate reached that level in April after a series of aggressive cuts that brought it down 3.25 percentage points since September. Those cuts helped ease the housing and credit crises — but drove the dollar further down.

In early June, Bush declared before his trip to Europe: "A strong dollar is in our nation's interests. It is in the interests of the global economy." That, plus a warning by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that the dollar's weakness was contributing to U.S. inflation, seemed to temporarily break the dollar's tumble. Presidents and Fed chairmen don't usually talk directly about the dollar and exchange rates — leaving that up to the Treasury secretary — and international bankers and investors took note of the high-level attention.

Over the past few weeks, the dollar has remained relatively stable, although it took a dip after the Fed decided to leave rates unchanged. The long slide may not be over.

Still, if the Fed moves to lift rates later this year, as some traders and investors anticipate, it could buttress the dollar and spur an exodus of speculators from the oil market — helping to both prop up the dollar and drive down oil prices. But few economists are sanguine that the economy will improve any time soon.

The other main tool to move the dollar — intervention in currency markets by buying dollars and selling other currencies — is risky.

It would take great sums of money to make any difference. The foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with over $1 trillion traded each day. Seeing the U.S. trying to prop up the greenback by buying dollars could be taken as a sign of desperation and possibly trigger a renewed round of selling.

Furthermore, there has been little encouragement for such a strategy from finance ministers from the Group of Eight wealthy democracies — Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia plus the U.S.

Leaders of the eight countries were to meet in Japan beginning Monday, but the falling dollar was not even on the formal agenda. It's too touchy an issue, and the dollar's relative stability over the past few weeks makes it easier for world leaders to steer clear. "People will be talking about it in the corridors," said Reginald Dale, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has suggested that nothing is "off the table" including intervention. But Bush has made statements suggesting he intends to let market forces set exchange rates.

The dollar has fallen so far, it will be difficult to halt or reverse its slide.

U.S. efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia and other major oil-producing nations to increase their production — and help ease pressure on both oil prices and the dollar — have brought scant results.

"There's no magic wand," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. "It's not going to be a problem that we solve overnight."

The impact of the falling dollar is not always visible to the average consumer. Not like the big numbers on gas pumps that give stark evidence of price levels.

But imported goods, from fuel to cars from Japanese automakers and toys from China — are getting more expensive just as U.S. wages are either stagnant or falling.

American companies suddenly look cheap to acquisition-minded foreigners, particularly those based in Europe.

Belgian-based InBev's hostile bid for Anheuser-Busch is a recent example. It has bid $46 billion to acquire the company — a 30 percent premium above where Anheuser's shares traded before the June 11 proposal.

A successful acquisition by InBev would put the last remaining mass-market American brewer in foreign hands. InBev is based in Belgium but run by Brazilians. Anheuser-Busch, which brews both Budweiser and Bud light, holds a 48.5 percent share of U.S. beer sales. Anheuser-Busch rejected InBev's bid, but the Belgian brewer forged ahead, seeking to unseat Anheuser's 13-member board and take its offer directly to shareholders.

If the takeover goes through, it might open the floodgates to other foreign takeovers of American companies.

Some of the dollar's decline depends on hard-to-measure factors, like the psychology of foreign investors.

When the U.S. economy is weakening, many investors stay away. The slide of the dollar has coincided with a long period of relatively low interest rates.

And some of the decline in the dollar's global role "is due to the foreign policy failures of the Bush administration, not just to recent economic developments and policies," suggests Adam S. Posen, deputy director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In other words, some international investors unhappy with Bush's policy on Iraq or toward other parts of the world might not wish to invest in American companies or buy U.S. bonds.

Still, he argues that the euro is unlikely to replace the dollar as the world's main reserve currency, and that the euro may be at "a temporary peak of influence."

David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, says he envisions a day when the dollar and the euro will share billing as the world's reserve currencies.

He predicts that the dollar will remain roughly at its present levels "for a couple years." Still, he says, "We might not be done with this down leg."

Another big problem for the dollar is that the European Central Bank is likely to hike rates while the Federal Reserve stands pat, giving euro-based investments a bigger yield advantage.

"I could see more downward pressure on the dollar, over the course of the summer, not dramatically, if the ECB does raise rates," said Robert Dye, an economist with PNC Financial Services Group. "If it is one and done, pressure will be minimal. But if it's an ongoing pattern of rate increases, there will be more substantial pressure."

A euro now buys as much as $1.55 in the United States.

The dollar has been the leading international currency for as long as most people can remember. But its dominant role can no longer be taken for granted.

Paul Volcker, who headed the Federal Reserve from 1979-87, warned in April that the nation was in a dollar crisis, and that what is happening now reminds him of the early 1970s, when serious inflation erupted as economic growth stagnated.

Then, as now, a weak economy limited the Fed's options. The result was a spiral of rising prices and wages — until the Fed, led by Volcker, suppressed double-digit inflation with huge interest rate increases that pushed the economy into a steep recession in 1982. He recently criticized the current Fed as defending the economy and the market, instead of defending the dollar. Volcker said that will make defending the greenback much harder later.

Energy consultant Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, recently told the House-Senate Joint Economic Committee that oil had become "the new gold."

"Oil has become a storehouse of value — reflecting broad global economic trends and imbalances. At the same time, oil is increasingly seen as an asset by financial investors, an uncorrelated alternative to equities, bonds, and real estate," he said.

When the credit crisis broke last summer, the result was a sharp reduction in interest rates by the Fed. That, in turn, accelerated the fall of the dollar.

"Instead of the traditional `flight to the dollar' during a time of instability, there has been a `flight to commodities' in search of stability during a time of currency instability and a falling dollar," Yergin said. "There's a painful irony here: The crisis that started in the subprime market in the United States has traveled around the world and, through the medium of a weaker dollar, has come back home to Americans in terms of higher prices at the pump."

 THE SECRETARY'S DESK

~Received from a visitor to our website. " I was doing some Internet searching and found "Maine Encased" and noted two entries: ME-Jon-001 and ME-Jon-002.

Lew Brown (Lewie as most people called him) and "Pop" to his grandchildren was my Grand Father. He passed away in the late 70s. Pop was a coin and stamp collector, ran a shoe store in Jonesport for many years, dabbled in pets and other stuff. A real small town entrepreneur. I had so  coin collection for years but sold it off to help my mom many years ago along with a bunch of stamps that my dad collected. I still have a late 1800s Silver Dollar that I saved from Pops collection sitting in my small box of memories, it's in tough shape (maybe "good" to "very good") but something that reminds me of Pop.

I was just curious what you had here and if there was any information I could provide that might help you out. My dad died in 87 but my mom is alive and well. Kindest regards - Allan Brown"

~The following was written by Gary Eggleston in respect to coins; however, I believe it could relate to encased as well for the most part, even the bullion value.

"When one is just starting in coin collecting, often the first question is: “What is the value of the coin?: and the answer is that the coin will cost as much as you are willing to pay for it and the amount can vary considerably. For instance, a coin dealer’s offer can be much less than a coin collector that certainly wants your coin badly to add in his collection.

The following are factors that can influence the true value of a coin.

1. Grade or condition of the coin. Your coin will be worth or valued more when it is in good condition. When in a perfect or unblemished mint condition, an “uncirculated” coin will be worth many times more than a similar coin that has been in circulation.

2. The rarity of a coin is the principal basis for a coins value. Generally, the rarer that a coin is found to be, the higher it is priced. Do keep in mind that rarity has very little influence on the coins age. Chinese coins are a thousand years old normally sell for about ten dollars since there are so many of them; while a “1913 Liberty Head Nickel” can sell for up to or over a million dollars because only five specimens are known to be in existence.

3. Bullion value. A coin's precious metal content can determine its value. A platinum, silver or gold coin will not, in general sell for less than the coins value when melted.

4. Demand. There are coins that are greatly in demand; sought after by many collectors, and if that a particular coin is in great demand the price will be even higher. Even comparatively plentiful coins can mandate higher value when they are popular with coin collectors.

For instance, “1916 D dimes” are much more abundant than the “1798 dimes” yet in spite of this, “1916 D dimes” sell for so much more because there are many more individuals collecting 20th century dimes than 1700 dimes.

Here’s how you can determine the approximate value of your coin:

1. Properly, accurately, and correctly recognize and classify your coin, and know the to place value on that coin. You can do this successfully by examining your coin in a catalogue or online with the “coin price guide”; this will give you an idea of the going rate and price of your particular coin and you can determine the approximate value of your coin.

Everyday coin values are changing; so you need to use a “coin price guide” that is updated on a daily basis to obtain the current coin value. Look at online sites that offer step by step guidance on how to recognize your coin the proper way.

2. Grade your coin based on your thorough observation and examination of its current condition.

3. Consult coin catalogues for a list of retail prices in or estimates of your coins retail value. “A Guide Book of United States Coins”, popularly known as "The Red Book" to coin dealers and collectors, provides information on retail coin prices for US coins and is available in libraries, coin shops and bookstores. “The Standard Catalog of World Coins” (in volumes) is a guide commonly used by coin dealers and collectors as well, to provide information on world coins and is available in many public libraries.

You can also check current coin prices by basing it on the actual dealer coin price found in magazines and newspapers or online auctions such as Yahoo, Coin World, eBay or Teletrade.

Always keep in mind that you are not collecting coins primarily for money; you collect for enjoyment and self gratification, and profit is to be last consideration. The plain fact that a certain coin does not have a large monetary value, does not necessarily suggest that it is no longer interesting or fascinating or that it must not be included in your collection.

Each coin will have a certain interest in itself, regardless of the condition that it is in and regardless of its monetary value. There will always be a certain characteristic that will draw you to that particular coin; so when it does, then you should have it in your collection."

HOW TO DETECT COUNTERFEIT COINS  by Gary Eggleston

~A special machine does the stamping of coins to make them genuine. People who counterfeit coins are well trained and have the capacity to manipulate their duplication - especially those rare coins which have high value among collectors. The most common procedure used in counterfeiting is that they pour a liquid metal into molds that will leave die marks with cracking on the counterfeit coin.

Those who are experts in determining counterfeit coins have observed that the changes seen in the coins have added, removed, or even altered the coin’s date markings. If a person thinks that he is in possession of a counterfeit collectible coin, he can compare it with another coin – one like the suspect coin – which is known be genuine and have the same markings.

If the coin’s value is more than 5 cents, look for corrugations in the outer edges of the coin. These are very thin railings (also know as “reeding”) on the edges of the coins. Genuine coins have very thin edges and the railings are even and distinct if one is very observant. Those coins that are counterfeit can be distinguished if the edges are not thin enough and the railing is uneven or missing in some areas.

Should there be an instance when a person perceives that he has received a counterfeit coin, he must not return the counterfeit coin to the person that handed him. He must try to delay the person – should he try to escape – or try to keep that person in sight and follow him to his destination if possible. It is important to remember the person’s clothes and physical appearance and if the person has any companion during the exchange: if they have a vehicle, get the car’s license plate number and immediately call the nearest police department or the United States Secret Service for help.

There are many things that can be considered to determine whether the coin is counterfeit or not. There are terms that are used to describe a counterfeit coin’s characteristics and they are as follows:

1. A restrike of a coin can be considered to be genuinely authenticated. These coins are actually dated earlier than those originally issued by the country that released them but have the same or exact features as the original coins.

2. Coins of a specific country in the ancient times are sometimes copied by another country. A person may think that it is forgery, but it is not because they had been legally approved in the country where they originated.

3. Forgery can be associated with the making of an illegal profit. It would be the main objective of the counterfeiting syndicate. The government sometimes uses forgery for political propaganda, as in the Second World War when Germans produced millions of American and British banknotes with the intention of profiting from them and destabilizing their enemy’s economic situation.

4. Another known type of counterfeit coins is replica coins. Replica simply means that the original coins are copied with the same features and markings. The usual counterfeit coins have differences that are noticeable when examined by coin experts. Some coins have the word “copy” intentionally put on the sides of the coins and these replicas are used for educational purposes and museum displays.

5. A Lebanese connection is said to have a huge production of counterfeit coins. These coins were found to be used in an attempt to fool many museums, collectors, business leaders and other countries that are searching for their ancient lost coins before the discovery of this syndicate.

6. The collector intended forgery and the circulated intended forgery are types of forgeries where the coins are intended to be okens yet the face values are accepted, despite of their illegality and irrelevant intrusive values.

It is important to consult an expert to determine if the coin is counterfeit or fake. An ordinary person can easily detect if the wrong metal was used for the counterfeiting. If the person is a collector of such items, he should be more aware of these coins. A collector needs to be more concerned with the collectible rare coins because this is where counterfeiters benefit frequently - their aim is to profit from the exclusive market for valuable coins.

POTPOURRI with Jerry Ferrell #93

~If anyone is interested, we have 0 complete set of ECI encased State quarters 1999 thru 2007 (LAST SET SOLD 7/13/08) left in inventory. . We will the encase the 2008 series in December and the Territories after all are issued in 2009. Those who are collecting the Presidential dollars we still have several James Monroe and will encase the J. Q. Adams by mid summer. We are sold out of the Washington dollar. There are 2 Adams, 5 Jeffersons and 6 Madisons remaining. We only have 2 sets of the 1979-PDS and 1 set of 1981-PDB SBA dollars remaining.

 eBay ACTION with Steve Swingenstein #123

~I have noted, with interest, when a "cigar encased" comes up for bid on eBay, it generates much interest and usually sells for a pretty good price.  I think most of these pieces are not actually rare but scarce enough that collectors want them.  I have a few and would like to see more added to my collection.  My interest in these pieces led me to explore this subject in more depth.  What I found seemed to be quite interesting.  Here is a little bit of what I discovered. The cigar industry in America is almost 250 years old. Ybor city near Tampa Florida at one time was the cigar capital of the world.

Timeline:

1900 it was estimated four out of five men smoked cigars. 
1910 Bayuk Bros. introduced Philadelphia hand made cigars which ultimately became "Phillies" one of the biggest selling cigars.
1911 statistically every man woman and child in the USA smoked 78 cigars and 108 cigarettes.  By 1941 cigars were down to 45 and cigarettes up to 1,500 per year.  
1912 If all the cigars mfg. in America were placed end to end they would circle the equator 22 times.
1915 a high quality Cuban cigar sells  between .35 cents and $2.00
1920 was the biggest cigar production year, over eight billion US cigars were made.
1952 Tony Hyman founds the National Cigar Museum (he is 12 years old).  He continued his dream and presently has a wonderful and informative museum located in California.   My thanks goes to him and his web site for information received for this article.  His site.......Tony@cigarhistory.info

Well, after the aforementioned, I  thought this subject would be interesting  enough to warrant its  own encasement Topics category.  So cigars now have their own Topics listing.  Please check it out.  If you have any additional listings please email me with the info edistosteve@aol.com   Thank you in advance for your help.  Also kudos to Tom Cain Jr. #28  for the info he sent  on some of his cigar encased.

 INQUIRIES TO ECI'S ANSWER MAN by  Jim Lawniczak #17

~ANSWER: "Rich, there were so many encased pieces made, I'm sure no one person knows 1/2 of them, let alone all. Until your message, I had never heard of this Alona Club 10c cigar piece. I assume it comes with Indian cent? Because I have never heard of it, I can't send you a scan of it, or give you any other information. You might check on the ECI website to see if it is listed with the Wisconsin listings or the Indian cent listings."

~QUESTION: "I have an encased 1934s Liberty half-dollar with the inscription "ARAGON BALLROOM - Lick Pier - Ocean Park". The rim is red and it is in over  all good condition. Could you tell me something about it and maybe even a value range? Best regards, ."John C."

~ANSWER: "Hello, John, thanks for your question. This was an old time amusement park in Ocean Park California, back in the days when those parks had Ballrooms for entertainment. See http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/mapsdocs/oppier-map.htm. Click on no. 18. There were several encased pieces made for the Aragon Ballroom, Lick Pier, a maverick with cent (1953D) and one with cent (1955D) that had "Ocean Park, Calif." on it. Those were the usual aluminum pieces. Then there was the red plastic with half dollar in the center, covered with clear plastic, probably made in the mid-50s. Some contained Franklin halves and some contained Walking Liberty halves. You'll see some sell on eBay. With the Walking Liberty half and in decent condition they usually fetch over $50, but don't reach $100."

~QUESTION: "Hi, concerning the 1939 50 cent piece of the argon ballroom...the piece is encased in a red plastic ring, holed at the top. it reads lick pier ocean park. Is the coin supposed to be encased in plastic? I am thinking of bidding on the piece and asked the owner about the light test. He replied that the coin was encased in plastic and couldn't tell. So can you shed any light on this subject so I can discern if this coin is original to the piece. Also, I just thought of this, is it possible that Penny Press Mint could take a coin out of a piece and replace it with another and it would be IMPOSSIBLE to tell the difference. ( You have a valuable piece with a coin that is stained on one side and replace it with another of the same wear as the original piece had. Forget about the ethics involved, does PPM have the equipment to do this and would it be fool proof? Now, if that is true, where do that leave us as collectors.......we would never know what we were buying. Steve Swingenstein"

~ANSWER: "Steve, I have the Aragon Ballroom red plastic piece with 1953 Franklin half dollar in it. I have seen enough with the Walking Liberty half dollars in them to be fairly certain that those can be "original" pieces too, although I think all the pieces were probably made around 1953 or so. I think I can guess how the piece was made -- the half dollar is inside the plastic (which is clear in the center so that you can see through to the coin). I suspect that the coin was placed in the red middle section and then two layers of clear plastic were put on either sides and then the two halves were put together (I think I see what appear to be seams on the edge). I don't think the "light test" is applicable as the coin was not struck with the piece as in an aluminum piece.

I don't think that deceptive replacements are made by re-striking pieces (like with the Penny Press mint equipment), but I would be much more worried about jewelers who know how to rework metal. The best protection is in low prices -- until a piece starts getting real expensive, there is no profit in faking it. I suspect that real experts (like the coin authenticators) could tell even those by using their techniques, but they use them on coins that are very valuable and highly sought after and not after thin markets like encased coins. Usually some tell-tell sign is left but you can't always tell. I'm sure I have a couple replaced cents in my collection that fooled me. Hope this helped a bit, Jim."

~QUESTION: "When and where were the first encased coins made?" Howard Ribbentrop #358.

~ANSWER: "Based on patent application filings and knowledge of the legitimate dates in encased pieces, I would think that the first pieces were made in 1900. The first pieces were probably made in Newark NJ (the Whitehead & Hoag Co., who made the wishbone pieces) or perhaps in Boston -- one of the earliest patent applications for encased pieces was by someone from there. That's the best information I have."

HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT ENCASED? ASK THE ANSWER MAN. THE LINK IS ON ECI'S HOME PAGE.

E-CUBED By: Elaine Rexdale #94

~Over the past few newsletters I’ve invited members to write me about how they share their encased hobby with other collectors. Howard Ribbentrop #358 emailed information on how The Oak Forest Numismatic Society in Illinois shared their hobby. For twenty-one years in a row, they featured an annual coin show. As often happens, when the organizing members moved to another state, other members involved in the annual coin show lost momentum. The bottom line was - there would be no more shows.

However, last year Howard had the idea of a society garage sale. All items for the garage sale were donated and they made $645.00 for the club. This year the sale was held on Friday and Saturday, June 20-21.

The garage sale gets all members involved. The financial results this year came in at $412.05 for the club. However, the club reaped other rewards. Members not only contributed items for the sale, but also created a picnic style atmosphere. Members contributed classified ad space, donated coffee, sweet rolls, donuts and supplied food as well as doing the cooking. Others did the groundwork in placing garage sale signs in the neighborhood and removing them after the sale was over. It was teamwork through and through all the while talking about various facets of collecting. What an enthusiastic way to present a hobby to others.

But that’s not all. Howard has been delighted in his discovery of the ECI website. The latest edition of The Oak Leaf (The Oak Forest Numismatic newsletter) gives a detailed description of the benefits of exploring and joining ECI to its 60+ members. And Howard has planned an Encased Coins Highlight Talk at their July meeting. Another opportunity to talk about ECI and get folks interested in encased pieces. Oh its tough to stop enthusiasm once it gets rolling.

Here’s a brief rundown on Howard W. Ribbentrop who is a retired Manager of Manufacturing for Continental Can Company. He was born in 1934. His favorite cowboy is Red Ryder and so his email address is Redryder_34. He’s very, very happily married for 45 years to Diane – she’s a realtor for Century 21 Pro Team. He has two children and one Cockatiel who is now 27 years old.

He graduated High School and then went on to the University of Illinois for two years on a pre-journalism course. He organized the Oak Forest Coin Club in October of 1977 and changed the name to OF Numismatic Society in 1997 because he didn't want people to think the only thing they collected was coins. The very first meeting in 1977 had an attendance of 17 and since then there have never been fewer than 25 in attendance.
Active members of the society have included Donn Pearlman (WBBM Newsradio 78) who now lives in Las Vegas as well as Roger Boye, Coin Collector Columnist for the Chicago Tribune in the 70's and 80's. Boye is presently Dean at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and is still an active member. Another member, William Nawrocki, is a photographer who specialized in photographing coins for auction houses and frequent contributor to Coinage Magazine.

Howard’s personal collecting interests include first and foremost a collection of Abraham Lincoln medals, tokens, and Lincolniana. In addition he has a large George Washington collection of medals and tokens including a good size collection of Civil War Tokens. And lastly he loves collecting advertising medals and tokens. This is where his love of encased pieces fits right into his hobby.

Seems like collecting encased pieces has the side benefit of collecting great friends too.

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