WBCC Newsmail 29, Vol. 2, March 1, 1997 Dear WBCC members, each week I wonder what Bi-metallics news there will be in the next WBCC Newsmail. As you can see again collecting Bi-metallics, and the WBCC, is a hobby to tell much about. I want to thank all who helped to put this weekly WBCC Newsmail together. Please keep doing this to me and to the WBCC. 1. Australian Bi-metallic Test Token...........By Rod Sell, Australia I have received a letter from the Archives Section of The Royal Australian Mint. The Test Token we have is the one mentioned by a collector to Martin. The mint sent me a copy of the Packaging a double sided plastic case and printed information. The copy of this printed information is next to the token in the WBCC Token page. They do confirm another Test Token very different to the one we have. It is a contemporary design by Wojciech Pietranik one side has a view of a worker at a hammer press and the words "AN ERA OF COINS - MEDALS" on the outer ring. The reverse has a worker at a screw press and the words "ROYAL AUSTRALIAN MINT" in the outer ring. The Mint cannot confirm the mintage but believe it to be about 1,000. I have enquired if there are spares that we can purchase and will let you know. 2. Chilean Bi-metallic Tokens.................By Francisco Jovel, Chile I just learned that there are some Chilean Bi-metallic tokens. Here goes the prliminary info. I still do not know the years but in the north of Chile several nitrate companies were setup to dig the nitrate. Since there was no money available this companies decided to strike some coins. One of this companies Oficina Delaware coined 10 cent, 20 cents, 50 cents and one peso Bi-metallic coins.This are very expensive in our days ( I just bought one 20 cent for U$25.- ) since the middle would fall apart. I was offered an inside piece and an outside ring as well. I will see them this weekend. One dealer will photocopy the information on the coin and I will sent it to Martin ASAP to be publish for the other members to see. It might be in spanish and I will have to translate it. 3. World Coin News article......................By Larry Friemel, USA This months issue of World Coin News Magazine has an article titled "World Mints Convene in Basel, Switzerlant". In that article were two items I found of some interest. They are: • From the Austra Mint, "The new Bi-metallic 50-schilling circulation coins were struck with a dual purpose: They prepare for the eventual Euro coins and they are good for young collectors." • From the Finland Mint, "Makkonen also announced that the Mint of Finland will issue medallic euro commemoratives in gold, silver and Bi-metallic for the First World Air Games, to be held in Turkey during September 1997." Who has heard of this yet? 4. Documentation...............................By Philip Chang, USA For the last five years now, I have been cutting and saving articles from the Coin World Magazine. I have accumulated quite a pile of usefull information. I have now started a separate notebook just for Bi-metallic coinage from around the world. If any member needs information that was published in Coin World on a specific Bi-metallic coin, I may have it on file. 5. Last sunday's Coin Show..........By Martin Peeters, Netherlands Last sunday I visited a Coin Show here in The Netherlands. Notice that our country is very small and so are the Coin Shows. There were about 50-60 tables. The most coindealers had Bi-metallics but only I already have. Still I saw some interesting and expencive Bi-metallics. * I saw the Great-Britain 1997 Mint set with the 2 Pound Bi-metallic. The price was 32,50 Dutch Duilders, about 18 US Dollars. I have already ordered the set. *. I could get for me and Frans Dubois a Hong Kong 1994 Proof Medal. It is a nine-petal plum blossom Bi-metallic, weight 66 g. diameter 50 mm, the ring is made from silver plated Brass and the centre is Gold plated Brass. Design Observe The great wall of China, Reverse Hong Kong scenery. Text in the ring: "1994 Hong Kong International Coin Exposition" and "Banknote Printing and Minting Corp.". Quantity 1888 pieces made by Shenyang Mint. (The price was 125 Dutch Guilders about 70 US Dollars.) * I saw a TRI-metallic 20 (yes TRI and yes 20) Dollar Gaming Token. Although it looked like TRI-metallic. It was not the same as the French 20 Franc TRI-metallic with 2 rings and one centre, but like the 10 Dollars Bi-metallic Gaming Token. This one has an extra, about 5 mm outer 'ring' copper collered. It seem that this was not really a ring but the outer edge was only another color I think. The text in the centre is: "West Ward Casino Las Vegas, Nevada" The price was 125 Dutch Guilders, about 70 US Dollars. I didn't buy it. *. For the first time I saw a Dutch Encased Coin. It has a Dutch 1/2 Cent 1903 with alumium Ring with the text 'Grand Hotel Comimg Rotterdam' and a Dutch text. The price the coindealer ask was 350 Dutch Guilders !!!! About 200 US Dollars, can you believe this !! He said we could talk about the price !!! I put it back on the table and said it costs less then 1 Guilder to make it !!. 6. The Long Beach, CA Coin Show.............By Larry Friemel, USA This 3 times a year event is generally a collectors paradise. I do not know the actual count, but there are 300-500 dealers in attendance. Again just guessing, I would say that the dealer categories are more or less statistically something like 70% US coins & currency, 15% stamps and baseball cards, 5% ancients, 5% foreign coins & notes, 1% calling card and 3% gambling tokens and 1% books and supplies. I obviously went there seeking new Bi-metallics for my collection, but I did not have extremely high hopes for most of the coins I am seeking are not your run of the mill countries, dates or denominations. However, I hoped I might happen upon either a 1997 Canadian or 1996 Mexican Bi-metallic even though it was still early in the year for 1997's. I also had a e-mail from Martin asking me to look for a book on gambling tokens and one from Rod asking me to check out Haiti polymer notes. Saturday morning appeared to be quite busy for the show floor was filled with visitors and many of the tables were surrounded by lookers/buyers. I went over to say hello to Joel Anderson and found him in the middle of buying and selling. I thumbed through his books and looked at some of his newest Bi-metallic, but I was unable to add a new coin to my collection. (Sorry Joel!) Browsing around the floor I found some of the following Bi-metallic highlights... • I found two very nice Joseph Moore Bi-metallic penny's from Great Britain, however, they were both priced at $80US. Looking down my list, I noted that the two I had previously purchased were in the $20-$30 range. They were, however, either uncirculated or about uncirculated compared to my extremely fine pieces. • A little further down, I was looking over a table of mint error U.S. coins. There I stumbled across two Bi-metallic coin mint errors of Canada's new $2 coin. The first had the center plug off center such that there was a large gapping hole between the ring and the center. On the opposite side of the hole, the center metal had been smeared upward into the ring material. It was still a very nicely and clearly struck coin. The dealer was asking $475 for this mistake. He also had a $2 blank. The ring and center were a single piece, however, there was no imprint on it. He wanted $125 for it. Interesting, but a little pricey for me. • There were many dealers with Bi-metallic or Bi-color (I still have a debate going as to which) casino gambling tokens. They appear to come from nearly every casino in Las Vegas, Reno, New Jersey, Colorado and many unknown (at least by me) American Indian reservation casino's. They appeared to all be in the $20 - $30 range. I did see one from Louisiana with a paddle wheel gambling boat on it with 6 diamonds embedded in the paddle wheel cross braces. I do not know if it was originally made that way or if someone later added the diamonds, but he was asking $850 for it. I also found out that there are several gambling casino chip catalogs and books available to the collector, however, none of them cover gambling tokens. I was told by two different dealers (coin now not gambling) that they anticipate by the end of the year that a gambling token catalog will be published, but I would not hold my breath. • I found about 4-5 dealers which carried Russian Bi-metallics either as singles, as the complete series or in various standard issue Russian mint sets. Russian bi-metals were the most obvious and numerous coins at the show. One dealer had a very large display of mint sets with the complete run of Bi-metallics. He was asking $18 for all of the mint sets except the first one which coincided with the forming of the new Republic. For that set he wanted $55 ("A real collectors item", he said). • The last Bi-metallic I found was in an Isle of Man set a dealer was selling. The set consisted of 11 various silver, gold and 2 Bi-metallic coins. He was not interested in selling the bi-metallics separately and was asking $3500 for the 11 coins. It at least gave me an opportunity to look at two of the five King Arthur Bi-metallic coins which Pobjoy minted last year for the Isle of Man. They were very nice. • I also found a dealer with a B&N Coin and Stamp Bi-metallic catalog. He said it was the only Bi-metallic catalog he knew of. I told him about Martin's, got his name and told him I would send him a copy. As it turned out, he was using it to price the few Bi-metallics he had since Krause doesn't have all of those we have cataloged and the prices Krause lists are those they may have been originally sold for -- not the price they are now being sold for when they can be found. He says he uses B&N as his source for coins when he has a want list he is trying to fill. I know nothing about them, but their name has now come up three times in the last month. They may be worth look into as a source?? I had limited success in looking for Rod's Haiti polymer notes. I did find a dealer that at least knew Haiti had polymer notes and he did have three denominations; but as luck would have it, they were none of the three Rod was looking for. I got his name for Rod and maybe they can do business in the future. I ended up purchasing only one item for myself which was not even a Bi-metallic. It was a 1997 American Silver Eagle dollar. Maybe June's show will be better more prosperous 7. Good Public Relations..........................By Larry Friemel, USA This weeks World Coins Magazine, honors the WBCC organization. There is a little article under Datelines. It reads... The Netherlands - An organization serving collectors of bi-metallic coinage has set up an Interned web site to generate further interest and to encourage membership. Martin Peeters of Zevenbergen, The Netherlands, co-founded the Worldwide Bi-metallic Collectors Club in 1996. The group is over 25 members strong and includes residents of the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands. To view the WBCC homepage, visit http://www.Hlos.com.au/~rod.sell/WBBC.html. Peeters also publishes a bi-monthly catalog of Bi- and Tri-metallic coins, ecus, euros, medals and tokens from around the world. For more information, contact Peeters at Amer 7, 4761 HS Zevenbergen, The Netherlands; his e-mail address is martinp@concepts.nl A nice, to the point article. Congratulations 8. My Homepage.................By Patrick Glassford, USA Check out my homepage: http://www.netcom.ca/~err The WBCC is linked in my directory: http://www.netcom.ca/~err/home/index.html 9. Update Dutch Ecus/Euros.....................By Martin Peeters The following Ecus/Euros are issued and available by the Dutch firm 'Muntpost': 5 Ecu/Euro1996-Queen Beatrix 5 Ecu/Euro1996-President Mitterand The following 5 Ecu/Euro you must delete from your list. Although it was anounced but never made. 5 Ecu/Euro 1997-King Juan Carlos The following Euros are struck and issued by the Dutch Mint: 10 Euro 1996-Willem Barentsz 10 Euro 1996-Constatin Huygens 10 Euro 1997-P.C. Hooft Refering to an earlier WBCC Newsmail the following Euro doesn't excist: 10 Euro 1997-King Willem I 10. Bi-metallic US 10 Dollar Gambling Token......By Rod Sell I have just obtained from Cliff Anderson a US 10$ Gambling Token from LUXOR Las Vegas. On one side is LUXOR above a pyramid with the usual gold ring with standard inscription. The other side has a portrait of King Tut and the standard gold ring with LUXOR at the bottom. My other similar piece was from the HILTON Las Vegas and the reverse side had the Portrait of Poppa from Starlight Express and the words STARLIGHT EXPRESS and Poppa underneath the portrait. 11. Israelian Bi-metallic Piefort 1997.......By Martin Peeters As reported in WBCC Newsmail 26, this year the Israelian Mint will issue a Piefort 10 New Sheqalim, Palm Tree. This Bi-metallics is available only in 2 different sets called 'The 1997 Prestige Set --100 Years of zionism' , One is packed in a nice Blisterpack and the other one is a Plastic case set (together Limited 6000 pieces). Both sets can be ordered for a price of 40 US$ (Blisterpack) and 34 US$ (Plastic case) by the Israelian Mint; Address: Israel Government Coins and Medals Corporation LTD 5 Ahead Ha'am Street P.O. Box 7900 Jerusalem 91078 Israel Fax 972-2-5634496 E-mail: medals@coins.co.il In the brochure I've got from the Israelian Mint there was also a "Subcriber Brings Subcriber" form where I can put several names to recommend to add to their (free) mailing list. So If you have interest to get in the future their brochure, please let me know and I put you that form and send to Israel. Notice that this offers counts till next Friday, March 7th, when I will post it. 12. Canadian Cameo Bi-metallics............Daniel Shoemaker, USA I went to the Canadian mint site (http://www.rcmint.ca) and found the section about Bi-metallics. I saw two coins which are not in the WBCC catalog. You can view one of them at http://www.rcmint.ca/en/numismatic/624206.html. This coin is gold and silver, but I think the gold is just added onto the surface of the coin, so it isn't a REAL 'ringed' Bi-metallic. 13. Experiment.....................................By Martin Peeters Last week I have done an experiment with several WBCC members sending "The World of Bi-metallics" catalogue as an attached file to an E-mail message. The experiment did go well, but it only works correctly when you have the Spreadsheet programm "Excel" version 7.0. So when you have this version (7.0) of Excel please let me know. I hope to send in the future "The World of Bi-metallics" catalogue by E-mail instead of Airmail, it saves some stamps and paper. Maybe I could then go to a frequence of once a mounth. "See" you next week, Martin Peeters, Focal Point of the WBCC martinp@concepts.nl