WBCC Newsmail number 13, november 10, 1996 I hope you did visit the WBCC Homepage and saw what is achieved in a short time. I think it will be even better with more information about Bi-metallics in the future. In this 13th edition of the WBCC Newsmail from your Focal Point, you can still read good and interesting stuff about Bi-metallics made with help from several members of the WBCC. 1. Hot Bi-metallic news........By Larry Friemel, USA Iran has now a 1996 issue of the 250 Reils Bi-metallic. Some availble sone by Eugene Canham, USA. for 6 US Dollars. 2. More Hot Bi-metallic news......By Frans Dubois, The Nertherlands France has made 5 new different Bi-metallic Euros. Till now I only know the price, about 80 German Marks. Next week maybe more details. 3. A new member.......Koen Helling The WBCC has again a new member and his name is Koen Helling from The Netherlands. Unfortunally he has no E-mail facilities. He can be contacted by Martin. 4. More on the Canadian 2 $ Piefort.....By Larry Friemel, USA If you completed your task early would you take a little time off ? Obviously not if you are the Royal Canadian Mint and you had produced you total yearly quota of new $2 Bi-metallic coins 6 month early. The Mint was earlier this year deluged with anger citizans wishing to purchase several of the early promotional items, but found that they were sold out before the brochures hit the street (in the case of the gold and silver limited addition or shortly thereafter (like some of the items which included the coin and 2 dollar bill). Given they had the time and apparently a customer call for more product the Canadian Mint has released on 1 November a new $2 Bi-metallic piefort coin (as reported last week). The brochures are not even in the hands of their clients and already sales of this 15,000 piece limited addition are brisk. Many sale being fuled by a recent front page article in Coin World. I for one took advantage of that article and placed my order on Tuesday.The outer ring of the piefort is composed of .925 fine silver. The inner core is composed of .925 fine silver plated with .999 fine gold. It weights 25 grams, has a diameter of 28 mm and has a thickness of 4.5mm. This proof coin is sold with 2 uncut $2 Canadian notes and both are housed in a blue case. They sell for $133.45 US or $179.95 Canadian. I am really glad that they got the price down to those last few cents instead of rounding to a whole number. The 'Coin World' article has a serious error. It states, "The piefort-....- is also the first ringed Bi-metallic piefort coin struck anywhere.". Obviously, we all know that is wrong. Yes, you too are right; Isreal has produced a special piefort 10 new sheqalim's for both 1995 and 1996. As a matter of fact, I have never seen it called a piefort, but the Hong Kong $5 coins that I have are also double thickness. Just goes to show - you can not believe everyting you read in print. 5. What is a Piefort.....By Larry Friemel I had this question my self some time ago when I was staring at my first Isreal piefort advertisement given I had no knowledge of a US coin equivalent. Well the 11 Nov Coin World I think author Richard Giedroyc covers this quite well, "The piefort -- twice the thickness of a normal coin... The pieforts can be traced to medieval France and Britain, where the double-thickness planchet coins were struck as patterns to assist in standardizing coinage. Piefort coins are still struck on special occasions by some European Mints. The United States has struck just one piefort pattern, a 1907 Saint-Gaudens, Roman Numeral, high relief $20 eagle, but twice the thickness. Just two specimans are known and both are in the Smithsonian's Institute National Numismatic Collecton.". 6. Canada shows Tri-metallic 2 Dollar Test Token....From Coin World In the Coin World issue from september 19th , 1996 the following article was placed: "Canada shows Tri-metallic $2 Tokens at CNA. Canada 2$ test token show Tri-metallic capability. The Royal Canadian Mint now has the capability of striking Tri-metallic coins, one of perhaps two Mints in the world with such a capability. Two Tri-metallic test tokens were unveiled in a special Mint display showing a number of test tokens struck to test various metallic compositions for the recently released 1996 Canada $2 coin. The token display was on exhibit at the RCM both during the july 24-28 Canadian Numismatic Assocasion convention. Monaie de Paris (French Mint) has been striking Tri-metallic 20 Franc coins since 1992 A total of 15 different test tokens were on display. The design elements of 14 of these tokens shown previously to the public: three maple leaves facing outward from the corner with an inscription in French on one side and in English on the other. The two test tokens exhibiting Tri-metallic capabilities were technically Bi-metallic since each had an outher ring and center core composed of the same metal, seperated by an inner ring of different alloy." 7. Members offer.................By Jean Verleg, The Netherlands In the beginning of 1997 I have an engagement to drink a cup of coffee in Poland. So if there is any demand, I'll take the '1995 Bi-metallic 2 and 5 Zlotych coins from Poland to Breda, The Netherlands. Please E-mail me if and how many you want. E-mail: jbverleg@concepts.nl 8. Bi-metallic coins versus cut coins....By Frans Woons, Canada Recently there has been an flood of bi-metallic coins. This made me think of cut coins which are more or less the opposite of Bi-metallic coins. Bi-metallic coins are produced by uniting two pieces of metal into one piece and then transforming the piece into a coin. Cut coins were produced by cutting existing coins into two or more pieces and each piece circulated as a coin. Sometimes these portions of coins were counter marked. This "technique" was done to alleviate a shortage of low-value coins at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, mainly in the West Indies. Often Spanish pieces of 8 Reales ("Pillar Dollars") were utilized. Several cutting patterns exist. The following is a, probably incomplete, list of countries that have used the pattern of a disk (also known as a "dump" or "plug") and a ring (also known as a "holey dollar"), not unlike the ingredients for a Bi-metallic coin. The cut coins were called "guiotin corta" (after the guillotine) in the West Indies. Dominica - Spanish pillar dollars cut into a 14-mm disk and counter stamed with a D (value: 15 d.) and a ring (value 8s. 3 d.). Some of these rings were counter stamed with 16 to indicate the value of 16 bits. Subsequently from some rings another ring was removed. Diameter of the smallest ring: 23 mm. Value: 4 bits. Also: Spanish pillar dollars were cut into 23-mm disks and counter stamped with a 6 (value: 6 bits) and rings counter stamped with 12 (value: 12 bits). Furthermore, Spanish pistareens (2 Reales pieces) were cut into 17-mm disks (not known as coins) and rings with a value of 2 bits. Essequebo and Demerara - Spanish pillar dollars cut into disks (off-centre) counter stamped with E & D / 3. Brs..(value: 3 bits) and rings and counter stamped with E. & D. / 3. GL. (value: 3 guilders). Guadeloupe - French or Spanish dollar-sized coins cut into 12 mm x 12 mm squares, counter stamped with a G (value: 20 sous) and rings, also counter stamped with a G (crowned) (value: 9 livres). Martinique - brass or billon coins and Spanish coins ranging in face value from 1/2 Real to 8 Reales cut into heart-shaped pieces and rings. New South Wales - Spanish pieces of 8 Reales cut into a plug (worth 15 d.) and a ring (value: 5 s.). Prince Edward Island - 1000 Spanish pillar dollars were cut into plugs and counter stamped with a 10-pointed star (each worth 1 s.) and rings, also counter stamped with a star (each worth 5 s.). St. Vincent - Spanish pillar dollars were cut into 23-mm disks, counter stamped with S/VI (worth 6 bits each) and rings, counter stamped S above XII (worth 12 bits each). Tobago - Spanish pillar dollars cut into 10-mm octagons, counter stamped with a T (value: 9 d. each) and rings (value: 8 s. 3 d. each). Trinidad - Spanish pillar dollars cut into 15-mm disks and counter stamped with a T (value: 1 s. each) and rings (value: 9 s. each). For additions, please e-mail me at mwoons@sos-connect.com 9. More on Austria New Bi-metallic.......By Larry Friemel Austria carries on with not one, but three multi-year commemorative coin programs. The Austrian Mint, which was privatized in 1989, happily threw into that mix two circulating commemorative coins for 1996 alone. In addition, to the series of gold and simemorating Austria's millennium, the Austrian Mint (also known as the Vienna Mint) introduced into circulation in late October a new 50-schilling commemorative coin, which will circulate alongside a 50-schilling bank note worth about 5 US Dollars. The coin as Frans Dubois reported is Bi-metallic, with an outer ring made of 92% copper, 6% aluminum and 2% nickel with a grayish silver core made of magnimat 7, a blend of copper and nickel acceptable to the European vending industry. Dedicated to the millennium year of "Ostarrichi", the 50 schilling shows the mounted figure of Babenberg Count Henry I, who is identified in the deed of gift of November 996 as the ruler of "Ostarrichi". In full armor, the Austrain count holds in his hand the banner of Lower Austria, which extends into the outer bronze-colored ring of the Bi-metallic coin. Below his horse is the Austrian shield with the word "Ostarrichi" as it appears in the 1,000 year old document. 10. Profile of a member Name: Fabio Guerrieri, Italy Age: 34 years Profession: Driver Hobbies: Collecting Coins and nature Goal: Happyness and live long 11. Members request.................By Martin Peeters One of our members, Fabio Guerrieri from Italy, who has no Internet facilities has ask me to put a little personal story: I'm a collector of European coins and Bi-metallics coins. I'm a dealer of world coins and at this moment I have many Bi-metallics available from Algeria, Taiwan, Ecuador, Morocco, Monaco, Chech Republic and more. I have a little catalogue of Bi-metallics for exchange or trading and if you want this catalogue please write to: Fabio Guerrieri, Via Campagna 14, 60033 Charavalle (An), Italy. 12 Nice Websides..................By Martin Peeters Here you find some Websides. In some cases there more to read about Bi-metallic coins and Bi-metallic Medals. WBCC Homepage: http://www.hotlinebbs.com.au/~Rod.Sell/WBCC.htm Kyle Mutcher: http://www.mts.net/~kmutcher Austria Mint: http://www.austrian-mint.com. Canadian Mint: http://www.rcmint.ca Coin World: http://www.csmonline.com/coinworld Israel Mint: http://www.coins.co.il British Royal Mint: http://www.royalmint.com/ French Mint: http://www.monnaiedeparis.fr/english/index.html Dutch Mint: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~fjjunge/NUMIS/world/Netherlands/mint.html Mint addresses: http://www.coinlinks.com/cl/coinfacts/mints.html 13. France 10 and 20 Franc 1996...............By Martin Peeters The French Bi-metallic 10 Franc and Tri-metallic 20 Franc from this year 1996, are only available in a BU Mintset. The reason for this that there are made in the past a lot of FALSE Bi-metallic 10 Franc pieces. (1988 till 1993) The French Mint, La Momaies de Paris, was established by Charlemagne and is one of France oldest institutions. Dating back twelve centuries, La Monnaie de Paris has the exclusive rights to strike the currency of France. The 1996 French set consits of the ten circulating coins of France. The coins have been struck in Brilliant Uncirculated quality and the mintage has been strickly limited to 5,000 sets for worldwide distribution. The exceptionnal quality of the 1996 French coin set is the result of the special technique used by La Monnaie de Paris. Maybe there are still sets available by the French Mint. The addres is: Monnaie de Paris 11, quai de Conti 75006 Paris France 14. Allowing Coindealers to the WBCC....By Martin Peeters This week I had a request from a coindealer (not a Bi-metallic collector) to join the WBCC. The question is now to you, members of the WBCC, should we allow these dealers the WBCC ? One of the goals of the WBCC is to bring together Bi-metallic Collectors to exchange Bi-metallics. I suggest not take coindealers in the WBCC. When coindealers in general have Bi-metallics for sail we spread that offer, like this week happened, to all the members of the WBCC What do you think? Reactions to: martinp@concepts.nl. 15. Warning, warning !!......By Martin Peeters This article has nothing to do with Bi-metallics but is a serious warning for 2 Virusses. The Virusses can't detected by Anti-Virus programs and wipe out your whole harddisk. The 2 Virusses duplicate themselve by sending copies to all mail-adresses in your PC First Virus is Good Times virus, packed in an E-mail message, titled 'Good Times'. DO NOT read or open this message, delete it immediatley. Second Virus is packed in the file PKZIP300.ZIP. This is NOT the newest version of PKZIP, but a Virus. Do not open it delete it also delete immediatley. 16. At last Well, those members who didn't help to make this WBCC Newsmail feel free to do this next time. You have 7 days till the issue of the Newsmail to do so. Happy Bi-metallic (Virusfree) Hunting, Martin, Your Focal Point of the WBCC ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Home Power Search Post to Usenet Ask DN Wizard Help Why use DN? | Advertising Info | Press Releases | Jobs | Policy Stuff Copyright © 1995-97 Deja News, Inc. All rights reserved.