WBCC Newsmail 19, december 21, 1996 ----------------------------------------------------------- Dear members of the Worldwide Bi-metallic Collectors Club, we start this week a competition among the members. Further a notice of a very special Bi-metallic and some nice informative articles from several members of the WBCC. 1. WBCC competition.......By Martin Peeters The Worldwide Bi-metallic Collectors Club (WBCC) starts a competition. It is a chalenge for all the WBCC members. The question is: Who will get the FIRST 1997 Bi-metallic ? The winner will get the title "The most fanatic WBCC hunter". So, if you are the WBCC member who gets the first issued 1997 Bi-metallic, please E-mail me: martinp@concepts.nl 2. Profile of a member Name: Tim Grubbs Age: 32 Profession: Pharmacy Technician Hobbies: Photography, camping Goal: I just want to be able to give my children all the love and understanding they need 3. Bi-metallic and diamont news......Fabio Guerriere, Italy In Italy is a very special Bi-metallic issued. This Bi-metallic Medal is struck in 1993 and made of Yellow and White Gold and never seen before, with Diamonts !!. Price 3.700.000 Lire. Specifications: Proof, Diameter 35 mm, 35 g Yellow Gold (.917/1000), 15.5 g White Gold (.750/1000), 14.5 g Diamont (16 pieces), mintage unknown. To obtain by: Servizi Europa Integrati Viale Liege, 44 00198 Roma Italy Fax: (Italy) 06/8549390 4. Thailand Bi-metallic....By Joel Anderson, USA I received a Thailand 1996 Bimetal 10 Baht that I had not seen before. The design is different than the earlier 10 Bahts. On it is the President of Thailand. The price is a bit high, $5 + postage, or the equivilent $5 in Uncirculated coins or notes from some country other than the United States. 5. Austrian Proof 50 Shilling Bi-metallic......By Joel Anderson, USA There is also a Proof version of the 1996 Hungarian Bi-metallic 100 Forint. It will be available from the Hungarian mint, or its US representative: Coin & Currency Institute, PO Box 1071, Clifton, NJ 07014. E-mail coincurin@aol.com. I have heard the price is about US$12, but have not confirmed this nor do not know any of the ordering details. 6. Members report..........By Harry Newton, USA The following was sent to American coin newspaper Coin World's "Readers Ask" at e-mail address cweditor@amospress.com; there responce is also shown. Questions about any coin may be sent to this e-mail address with "Readers Ask" on the first line. I have seen in Coin World about the U.S.mint making a BI-metalli coin as a trial strike but never issued. Bi-metallic being a coin like Mexico and Canada have made.What happen to this coin,what year was it made,what denomination and metal content and was this coin ? Did any person in American history ever suggest the making of Bi-metallic coins for circultion in this country ? Dear Mr.Newton: The U.S.Mint struck four or five ringed B-metallic trial pieces between March to May 1993, in response to a March 1,1993, Coin World story about Mexico issuing ringed bimetallic coins for circulation. Mint officials essentially saw the story as a challenge (we also challenged the government in an editorial), and struck the pieces just to see what the tolerances would be. The trial pieces were struck using medal dies, although Mint officials would not reveal which designs were used. Machine-made planchets were hand fed onto a medal press and struck. The composition was probably copper-nickel and brass, although Mint officials could not say which portion of the trial piece was which composition. All of the ringed Bi-metallic trial pieces were destroyed. The only U.S.ringed Bi-metallic coin proposed was the Silver Center cent of 1792. Trial pieces were struck bearing a small plug of silver embedded in the center of a copper planchet. The composition was not adopted. 7. Bi- and Tri-metallic Test Tokens ...By Frans Woons, Canada Last week I bought a copy of the book "The Carlton Standaard Cataloque of Canadian Coins", 51th edition 1997. On page 211 I found a list of all Bi- and Tri-metallics test Tokens for the new Canadian Bi-metallic 2$ In total I saw 10 different pieces. Cat. No. Des. Diameter Weight Edge Ring/Center (mm) (g) TT-200.8 round 22.5 5 int. reeded AlBr/Ni TT-200.9 round 25.25 6.2 int. reeded Ni/CuSnZn TT-200.10 round 25.25 6.2 int. reeded Ni/AlBr TT-200.11 round 27.1 7.7 plain unknown TT-200.12 7-sided 28 7.7 smooth CuNi/AlBr TT-200.13 8-sided 28 8.5 smooth CuNi/AlBr TT-200.14 9-sided 28 8.5 smooth CuNi/AlBr These seven pieces are Bi-metallics and not for sale. The following 2 pices are Tri-metallic and also not for sale. TT-200.14 11-sided 29 9.6 AlBr/CuNi/AlBr TT-200.15 11-sided 29 9.6 CuNi/AlBr/CuNi As you can see, number TT-200.14 occurs twice, a mistake by the author The followong piece was for sale by the Royal Cannadian Mint TT-200.16 round 28 mm 7.30 int serration Ni/AlBr 8. Encased Bi-metallics book...........By Joel Anderson I noticed in "The World of Bi-metallics" there are listed a few of the United States Cents in the aluminum ring. These are commonly called encased cents in the US. There is quite a series of them. Many, if not most, were issued by a gentleman named Earl Frankhauser. Earl issued over 670 different types from 134 communities in the United States and Canada between 1948 and 1965. There is an excellent catalog on these titled "Frederick Earl Frankhauser, 'The Penny Man' His Life and Work With Encased Coins" by Bryan G. Ryker. It was published by the Token and Medal Society, P.O. Box 951988 Lake Mary, FL 32795 in 1995 as TAMS Journal 35:6 (2). I believe it is still available from that organization, though I do not know the price. 9. Planning Bi-metallics in 1997......By Martin Peeters Italy planes 2 new issues in 1997. A Bi-metallic 1000 and 2000 Lire. Great-Brittain a new Bi-metallic 2 pound coin San Marino again a Bi-metallic 500 Lire "See" you next week, Martin Focal Point of the WBCC