OUPEL = LOUPE
DATGILI REMCAA = DIGITAL CAMERA
SEGVOL = GLOVES
DER BKOO = RED BOOK
SLBAUM = ALBUMS
GIFMINNAGY SASLG = MAGNIFYING GLASS
BSLAS = SLABS
LOFDERS = FOLDERS
POECOMCISR = MICROSCOPE
RECHRSAE = RESEARCH
KUJN VELSIR = JUNK SILVER
TOGASACL = CATALOGS
PEYT TES = TYPE SET
ALOYL = ALLOYS

Phrase: JANUARY IS NATIONAL HOBBY MONTH

Prizes for the October quiz have been sent. We’ve posted the answers here anyway, just in case you were curious.

1. When did Columbus set foot in the New World, and when is his day observed?
October 12, 1492; October 12

2. When did the Age of Exploration begin?
The early 15th century

3. President (Thomas) Jefferson sent a group led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the recently acquired Louisiana Purchase.

4. Do a little more research: Leif Ericson was a Viking. Where was he believed to have been born?
Iceland

5. Which two state quarters pay tribute to the space program?
Ohio and Florida

The correct answers are posted here.

1) Who is the current U.S. Treasurer?
Rosie Rios

2) How many planes were hijacked, and where did they ultimately crash?
Four (4) planes: Two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, one crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

3) President Barack Obama signed the National September 11 Memorial & Museum Commemorative Act on August 6, 2010.

4) What does the water on the medal’s reverse symbolize?
Peace and the continuity of life

5) Did anyone who was on the flights survive?
No

6) Who designed and sculpted both sides of the medal?
Front: Designed by Donna Weaver, sculpted by Phebe Hemphill
Back: Designed by Donna Weaver, sculpted by Joseph Menna

1. The reverse of this classic commemorative bears an accurate likeness of the Liberty Bell.
1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence

 2. The portrait of the president on this coin faces right and takes up more than half of the design field.
2005 Jefferson nickel 

3. If you placed this silver coin’s obverse and reverse side by side, the symbols on this would have their backs to each other.
Peace dollar

4. The American flag is the background for another design element on the obverse of this commemorative.
1992 clad Olympic half dollar (gymnast)

 5. Independence Hall in Philadelphia is the central device on the reverse of this circulating commemorative.
1976 Bicentennial half dollar 

6. With Liberty on the obverse and the American eagle on the reverse, this coin’s design was later used on a silver bullion coin.
Walking Liberty half dollar

 7. Designed by Chester Beach, this 1925 coin commemorates two famous battles fought in 1775.
1925 Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial 

8. Adolph A. Weinman designed the version of Liberty that appears on this coin. Rumor has it that this coin’s design will be used on a palladium bullion coin.
Winged Liberty, “Mercury,” dime 

9. The Liberty Bell on the reverse of this coin is superimposed over an image of a cratered moon.
1776-1976 Eisenhower dollar 

10. A small eagle was placed to the right of the Liberty Bell on this coin’s reverse in order to fulfill legal requirements.
Franklin half dollar

True or False:
1. It is OK to handle raw coins like they’re ordinary pocket change. False
2. Make sure other customers can also see what’s in a dealer’s cases. True
3. Attending a show is costly, so allow the dealer to make a little bit of money. True
4. Place bags, purses, backpacks, etc. in your lap or on the floor between your feet. False
5. Always negotiate the price. False
6. Thank the dealer when you leave his table. True

Teacher Ralph Ross (back row, far left), Johnny Duncan of U.S. Coins and Mike Fuljenz of Universal Coin & Bullion (front row) with some members of the Lion Coin Club at Jack Yates High School in Houston, Texas. (Photo courtesy Ralph Ross.)

(Houston, Texas) — Students at Jack Yates High School in Houston who achieved outstanding performance levels this year in standardized tests recently were rewarded with silver coins donated by three Texas rare coin dealers.  Ralph Ross, a physics and math teacher at the Title 1 school, uses old coins to help students understand history, art, politics and science, and he enlisted the dealers’ help to honor high-performing students.

 Former school teacher and principal Mike Fuljenz of Universal Coin & Bullion in Beaumont, Johnny Duncan of U.S. Coins in Houston and Steve Ivy of Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas donated 2010-dated silver American Eagles struck by the United States Mint.  The one-ounce bullion coins, valued at about $20 each, were given to 50 students who achieved the “commended” level in science or mathematics on this year’s achievement test (TAKS).

 ”The coins are a way to encourage unprecedented academic success comparable to the basketball team triumphs,” explained Ross who started a coin club at the school two years ago.  The Yates boys’ varsity basketball team won the 2009 Texas and 2010 national championships.

Student Gregory Watts, who has two basketball championship rings and was the class salutatorian this year, said: “It meant a lot to me to be an athlete and a scholar.  I want to put those stereotypes about African-American athletes to shame.”

The Lion Coin Club at the school has about 80 members and two objectives, according to Ross: “To advance numismatic knowledge through educational, historical and scientific means, and to promote academic excellence in disciplines such as mathematics and science while preparing students for college and future career focus.”

Ross has been honored twice with Presidential Awards from the nonprofit, 32,000-member American Numismatic Association (www.money.org) for his educational work with coin collectors.

My daughter is only 3, but she is fascinated with all forms of money. She’s familiar with debit cards, credit cards and even those grocery-store discount cards.

She sees paper money on occasion, but she’s more interested in her play money. I think that’s because the designs and colors on princess dollars are more attractive than those on U.S. one- and five-dollar bills.

But she really likes to go through our change cups. She’ll spend a good 30 minutes—an eternity for my daughter—separating the “silver” coins from the “brown” ones. (She now knows that they’re “pennies.” The correct terminology will come soon.) She stacks them, knocks them down, puts them back in the cup—one at a time, of course. Lately she’s big on pretend play: The coins go into her tricycle basket and she goes “shopping.” She came back with a pair of shoes. Who doesn’t enjoy spending coins once in a while?

While on vacation, I tried turning the whole process into a matching-counting game of some sort. She told me, “I don’t want to play that way,” before she turned her back to me.

Point is, she enjoys handling the coins, sorting them into various groups and listening to them drop back into the cup. That’s the whole idea: enjoyment. Sure, you can “invest.” Nothing wrong with that. But to “collect” anything, the enjoyment must be there.

That’s the first step.

The rest will follow.

They say that some truth underlies all sarcasm. (Isn’t that what they say?) So, about two weeks after the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money was held in Los Angeles, pardon me while I let it flow freely.

* * *

For years, I’ve been trying to figure out how to draw younger people into coin collecting. It’s tough. The competition from video games, cell phones, social networking sites and other “cooler” hobbies is fierce.

So, I give up. It’s much easier to discourage young people from getting involved with coins. For example:

1) Put a major coin convention in a city that boasts five of the world’s busiest freeway interchanges. L.A. is 54 miles from my little corner of Ventura County. It took 2-1/2 hours for me to get there. Can you imagine if I had a first- or second-grader in the car? I can hear it now:

“Are we there yet?”
“No!”
“Are we there yet?”
“No!”
“How long before we’re there?”

Oy!

2) Charge $6 admission to anyone over the age of 12. What about that rare 17-year-old who may be interested in coins? What if he doesn’t have $6? What if he would rather put the money towards an actual purchase? Sales tax is, what, 20 percent in Los Angeles? That would almost cover the tax on a $40 coin (or note).

3) Once you’ve scraped up six bucks for admission, tour the bourse floor with a potential YN. Coin dealers and collectors are generally a colorful lot. Sadly, mostly gray.

4) If you’re a dealer, make sure you have an air of superiority about you. Glare at the young, potential collectors, glasses sitting on the end of your nose, as you lean out from behind your table into the aisle. Obstruct your coins completely. Scowl a lot and mumble about how kids today never read books and have stunted attention spans. Or, better yet, never sit at your table.

5) Don’t set up one booth where kids and teenagers can see fun, educational materials; spread them throughout the lobby. There were kiosks where you could buy tickets to outside events and banquets, purchase a membership, buy a convention medal, have a cocktail and form a line for the Jonas Brothers concert that was going on next door at Staples Center. (Thinking that I just missed the ANA’s gigantic booth, I even had them page a staff member. They probably couldn’t hear me over the buzz on the floor.)

6) Search through pocket change for the presidential dollars. You know those gold-colored coins that you get in change from the post office? Yeah, those. They’ll never find them all in circulation–at a coin convention or anywhere else.

]]> http://coinagemag.com/blog/shows-and-exhibitions/discouraging-words/feed/ 2 http://coinagemag.com/blog/young-numismatists/make-it-meaningful/ http://coinagemag.com/blog/young-numismatists/make-it-meaningful/#comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:49:14 +0000 Marcy Gibbel http://www.coinagemag.com/blog/?p=136 Make It Meaningful

I’ve already admitted that I am more of a coin accumulator. I have some Italian lire and Spanish pesetas from a monthlong European trip. I have a few pesos from a trip to Puerto Vallarta and I recently found some arcade tokens, probably from a first (or last) date during my freshman year of high school.

Those coins and tokens are worthless now, but they’re valuable to me. If I really thought about it, I could remember which arcade, the games we played, who I was with, the evening’s cost, etc. And between working two jobs and raising a toddler, I could even document everything and save it for the sake of nostalgia.

Chances are you have similar pieces in your collection. And chances are, you’re looking to reignite your passion for coin collecting. Maybe you’re even trying to find a way to share it with a new generation of collectors.

A few things led me to write this post, so bear with me. There is a point.

First, I am always trying to find ways for COINage magazine to promote the hobby to a broader demographic.

Second, I wrote a story for an upcoming issue about topical collecting. Collecting by topic or theme is a great way to combine two or more interests. Animals, Indians, automobiles—they’ve all appeared on coins and can be collected as such.

Lastly, I confess: I read a post on another blog. The host at http://coinsblog.blogspot.com/ recently wrote about his experience at the Whitman Baltimore Coin and Currency Show. There he spoke with ANA Vice President Patti Finner about rediscovering the hobby. You can read his entire story at the above link.

Finner’s idea is to create a personal album of coins, sort of a numismatic scrapbook. Document everything you can about your coins, then organize the information along with your collection in any manner you choose.

Many collectors enter the hobby as kids. Careers, families or finances force many to leave it for a while, then return after things are more settled. Creating a personal album is an affordable, fun way to get involved again. It’s an opportunity to document your family’s history.

And if you have kids, it’s something you can do together. Personal experience has taught me that children love to do two things: imitate adults and have fun. If they see you doing something you enjoy, they’ll enjoy it, too. You might even “craft” a lifelong collector.