Current Currency with George S. Cuhaj - Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Iraq Dinar Counterfeit scheme uncovered!
Posted by george

Counterfeits valued at 900 million dinars uncovered !

It was only a matter of time that a counterfeit operation would be uncovered. Over the last week this was posted by the news service bureau of the Multi-National Corps - Iraq, Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20071130-09
November 30, 2007

Iraqi Army seizes counterfeit money
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Iraqi Army troops captured two suspected insurgents and recovered counterfeit Iraqi dinars during an operation in eastern Baghdad, Nov. 27.

More than 900 million counterfeit Iraqi dinars was uncovered in the operation, along with a printing press and four computers. The press and computers were also seized.

The suspects are being held for questioning.

The denominations and identifying information was not forthcoming when asked.

So there will be some interesting collectibles out there. And do be careful when buying bulk lots of currency on various internet auction sites.

George

Paper Money Values

12/6/2007 2:36:13 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Banknotes for sale, and they are going away, far away!
Posted by george

Shopping for Notes?

This fall I have had the opportunity to help a “retired” collector disperse his paper money collection. I found it was interesting in that it was a mix of numerous very expensive items and a bunch of common items, and then some non-saleable items. It was a collection in that it was organized, labeled and identified, but it did not form a pattern – it was purely random. There were no complete country type groups, nor topical areas such as birds or Queen Elizabeth II portraits. Many of the items were purchased in-country on overseas business trips in the mid 1960s.

That is what made it exciting. It was fresh material. Several high denominations, some of which I had never seen in person. When I priced it out and brought it to the Mid-west chapter of the International Bank Note Society, I created a feeding frenzy at two meetings straight!

Now, I have begun to sell the notes on a popular internet auction site. Due to the weak dollar, strong Pound and Euro, and many other currencies, and the ease of electronic payment, most of my sales have been to overseas customers, both in Europe and Asia. The cash availability and market for China is exploding.

It is nice to have the opportunity to experience and play in the marketplace, rather than being an observer.

George

Paper Money Values

12/5/2007 9:08:36 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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World Aids Day, numismatics and remembrance.
Posted by george

World Aids Day and Numismatics?

Okay, it is a few days after our annual global reminder that AIDS/HIV is still with us and still affecting various portions of the population. Sorry I did not post this on the proper day, I was traveling.

However, is also is a sad reminder for me about the loss of Michael J. Druck. Mike and I grew up together in NYC numismatics in the 1970s, I went to work for the American Numismatic Society, he for MTB. By late 1989 we both were working at Stack’s. It was during those years that his illness became more aggressive, and he became more active and vocal about it. As a hemophilic he received a bad dose of clotting factor – as it was deemed too expensive to check the blood supply at the time. Wow, to be killed by the drug that you needed to live. What a predicament. What absurdity that a company, or organization (International Red Cross), or country (France and the US) would not consider testing important enough. Most hemophilics of his generation or earlier are all dead, that is why you do hear of that illness anymore. You can read his article in the New York Times here.

On the other side of the pond, Nicholas Lowick, islamic specialist and curator at the British Museum died from the illness in the late 1980s. The Royal Numismatic Society has created a fund and award in his honor.

Sure, in retrospect we can say many people's initial responce was all wrong, but the illness still has a large stigma attached to it in the “developed” world, and an even voodoo-like stigma in some less developed countries.

Be educated, be careful. sticksandstones[1].jpg

Medallic Art has had some very interesting responses to AIDS/HIV. Canadian Sculptor Del Newbigging has done a series of medals. A cast bronze work exhibits the hatred of words and labels used to belittle and shame the victim. The scene is the angry crowd wielding bats, and defending their actions by carrying a holy book. The reverse is a famous rhyme, and a hanging victim. Newbigging notes on his website description that: “words can destroy the victim. By acknowledging the power of words, perhaps humanity will be able to control them when they are used to attack and kill.”

He also has designed an eight medal badge set denoting the various ethnic, distinction[1].jpg religious, social groups prosecuted by the Nazi regime. The color triangle codes used by the Nazis to distinguish the groups forms the continuity of the series. The pink triangle has seen a resurgence of use since the late 1980s with certain groups in the AIDS movement.

So, on this World Aids Day, you can play a part in education, and work with politicians to fund research properly.

George

12/5/2007 8:51:40 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Gold up, Gold Rush! just published by KP
Posted by george

Krause Publications releases Gold Rush! book, edited by Arlyn Sieber with Mitchell Battino as contributing editor.

This 6x9 format, full color 272 page book takes the commonly traded modern gold value listings from the Standard Catalog of World Coins Catalogs (19th thru 20th Centuries) and packages them with selected illustrations into a concise guide for the non-collector bitten and smitten by the gold rise in the past two years.

United States, Great Britain, France, German, Austrian, Canadian, Italian issues of circulating types, as well as certain world commemoratives are featured. A handy Gold Bullion value chart is included to assist in the varitation between the price of Gold determined at publication and the current ever-changing (and of late rising) gold bullion price.

List price is 22.99 and it is number Z1025 in the Krause Books catalog, available directly from the publisher, or your favorite book dealer.

George

KP News | World Coin Stuff

11/16/2007 3:56:20 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Vacation and Book Production
Posted by george

December tends to be my busy month, with the editing of the next edition of the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Modern issues in full swing. So, I tend to enjoy a bit of "down time" in November before the final push.

That is not to say I have be idle in my cube wall all summer. This week alone I have processed over 900 photos of bank notes to scan for our eventual upgrade to NumisMaster's World Paper Money section.

On the other digital project here at KP, I have been testing the NumisMaster segment for the Standard Catalog of U.S. Paper Money. It will be a live version of the catalog, color photos of note types, and should be easy to navigate for the general public to find out information and prices of currency. After that roll-out, the Modern World Paper Money will be next, with General issues and Specialized issues soon to follow in 2008.

For the first time in nearly 10 years I have agreed to go back to Astoria, NY for Turkey day. For only the second time in the thirteen years I have been in Wisconsin, I decided to take Amtrak, but this time upgrade to first class in a roomette (meals included too).

After two anoying airplane trips earlier in the year, I've been trying to stay out of the skyways.

In NYC I plan to induce my Turkeyday comma with friends, visit at least two contributors to the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, and attend my grammer school's founding 50th Anniversary social.

So, perhaps you'll get a report from me off-site, but perhaps not.

George

11/16/2007 9:12:45 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Some Veterans Day reflections
Posted by george

November 11th. Orignally set aside for the rememberance of WWI soilders, as it was at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month that the Armistice went into effect after it was signed earlier that morning, as the time to end hostilities on the Western Front. It was signed in a railroad car in the French woods; which was later blown up by the German army during WWII. After World War II it became more widespread to honor servicemen from all wars, and the name was changed to Veterans Day in the US, and Rememberance day in the British Commonwealth.

Anyhow, it is also the day after my father's death in 1993. He spent six years in the Naval Reserves. But with preperations for the wake and funeral, I found out from the funeral home that short term in the reserves does not make him a veteran in the eyes of the Goverment. No plot, no headstone, no honor guard, no flag. So, as we family decided on a closed casket, I supplied a casket flag from my collection. But the funeral home placed it on the casket the wrong way. So, after getting that fixed, I had to show the funeral home staff the proper way to display a flag on a closed casket as listed in the flag regulations. It was the early 1990s and they were just not having the experience anymore with military funerals.

In 1951, his summer cruise was on the USS Navarro APA 215, out of Norfolk, Va. where he got to load 40mm guns. In 1952 he was on the USS Osberg, DE 538 (destroyer escort) out of Newport, RI where he was assigned to the 5-inch guns aft; and in the fall on the PC 1182 (sub chaser) out of New London, Conn. where they got to cruise down the East River (right past Astoria Park, near where dad lived at the time) into the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

My dad's other activites in the Naval Reserve included a long trip to the Panama Canal, Panama City, Cristobal, Panama and Cartagena, Columbia in late June 1954. On that trip he brought home for his fiance (soon to be wife) a Panama 1 Balboa coin in a jewlery mount. I remember looking at that coin when I was a grammer school student, and Mom still has it.

However, the coolest photo group I have is of the reserve unit's Christmas Party on the training ship Praire State (The former Battleship USS Illinois, of the Great White Fleet fame), with my dad in uniform, my mom in a satin ball gown, and music by Burl Ives and the Bob Logan Band.

In addition to what I rembember of my dad's stories of life aboard ship and his photo album, I have from his collection a lighter from the USS Osberg, and a water decal on metal car topper from the N.R. Surf. Div 3-79, NY.

No matter what else was in his wallet - up until the end, he always had a wedding photo and one of him working shipboard. He was proud of his time in uniform.

So, make sure you have your poppy on this week, and say thanks to a veteran.

George

11/11/2007 1:06:24 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Days at the Bullion counter at Deak-Perera, 1980, part two
Posted by george

Working the Bullion counter at Deak-Perera was interesting.

Our store manager was George Parola and he was assisted by an older fellow named Jack. After the numismatic division was closed, George transfered to the Foerign Exchange office which was located in the concourse of the World Trade Center, still later he moved companies and is now with a Foreign Exchange office in the Rockefeller Center complex where he is still. Jack was a veteran of the 1950s and 1960s Nassau Street Coin and stamp shops, he later went to the Stamford, Conn. office.

We had our shipping clerk, Tom, who packed the registered boxes of daily Kuggerrand and Maple Leaf sales. The post office was located on the basement level, so he did not even have to brave the weather.

Eric was another young fellow, who had studied Zoology, but seemed destined to never work in the field. Sometime in the late 1980s he was working as a floor manager at Macy's flagship 34th Street store.

There were one or two others, and some were a bit odd at best.

Then there was the public.

Being by the passport office was a great location for foreign exchange, and the street store got lots of traffic, but sometimes folks would stop into the numismatic division by error. On one of the days, it was Tiny Tim.

It was interesting to learn the rules pertaining to cash transactions, tax implications on taking possession or having stuff mailed, and remembering not to set off the alarm by removing the last bill in the cash till.

Working with the public was exciting. On one ocassion I was buying 11 ounce pieces, thus getting near to the 10,000 cash reporting limit, from a well dressed husband and wife who said they were farmers in the upper Midwest. A day later he came in again with his wife for another transaction. Finally, on a third visit, this time alone, he confessed that his wife should not know about this third sale. But he felt it was time to cash out of gold and move into something else.

Mostly we had Maple leafs, and Kuggerrands (there was not an embargo on them as yet) On a lesser scale, British Sovereigns, French 20 Francs and German 20 Mark coins, then Austrian and several others.

On several occasions we had UN diplomats visit. They got to exchange gold to cash without limit. We just needed to photocopy their diplomatic identification. This lady and her escort asked to make use of our private room, and then she started to pile out 1, 2-1/2 and 5 pahlevi coins. Those were nice to see, and when all was said and done the Shah's daughter left with a large bit of cash.

Life and times in the big city.

George

11/9/2007 11:11:16 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Yikes, Gold at 28 year high!
Posted by george

Okay, so gold today has gone over $825.00 an ounce, the highest since January 1980.

Boy, does that bring back memories. In 1980 I was at the ANS doing some research work on their transportation token collection when then curator of Modern Coins, Richard Doty received a call from the firm of Deak-Perera, looking for a fellow with some coin knowledge interested in working the counter of their 5th Avenue location. As I was there at the time, Doty recommeneded me, and within a week I had an interview, was getting a polygraph test, and figured out a college class schedule that was Tuesday-Thursday classes, leaving three days at the "office".

The midtown office was a first floor location opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral which did Foreign Exchange. The second floor office, just off the escalators from the lobby, was situated near the entrance to the New York Passport office. That second floor office handled the "Numismatic" trade, and Bullion.

In January it was crowded. People three and four deep at the counter. We has a front counter for gold and collector coins, and a side counter for silver, with a coin counter. The staff would be given price updates throughout the day, and we would buy or sell gold, and pay out in check or cash, up to the reporting limit of 10,000.

February, March, gold settled back. The office got quiet. April saw a two week NYC Subway Strike and a very quiet office.

By June, I was gone. Unemployed. However, I was soon back at the ANS, as a part-time photographic department clerk thru the rest of my college years.

I meet some fun people in that 5th Avenue office. Some I still see in the NYC numismatic scene, some I've never seen again, and others have gone onto their great reward. Including Mr. Nicholas Deak, who was shot in his 29 Broadway office in 1985.

What will gold do this time? I do not know, but it has brought back some fun memories for me.

George

11/6/2007 3:14:18 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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Iola kids get tokens as treats for Halloween !
Posted by george

What do you give for Trick or Treat?

Growing up in Astoria, NY, and living on the same block for my whole existence there, I was well known by many folks in the neighborhood, even at an early age. Apartment building doors were often opened, and with an older brother, his friends, and five cousins living down the street in an area filled with 6 to 60 family apartment buildings, the Halloween take of trick or treat candy would often be enormous. Coins too!

Since moving to Central Wisconsin, I decided not to give out candy. I have gone out of my way to give out “memorable” items. Sometimes that has been foreign coins - Canadian 5 cent pieces from the 1930s were a specialty one year – to California pinecones (you know the very very large kind), to sea shells – Hey kid, those are skeletons!, (“way coooool Mr. Cuhaj is giving out skeletons” they were heard to shout to their approaching friends.) The pine-cones and sea shells I bought at summer estate sales (the sea-shells amounted to over 35 pounds, for 25 dollars! – The California pinecones were two large garbage bags full, collected by an ex-crafter.)

Co-workers would question me the following Monday to see if the strange thing in their kids bucket came from me, yes, most of the time they did. (But seriously, folks in this town give creative items out, from comic books, to baseball cards)

Since 2003, I have been in town for Halloween for the odd years only. I’ve given away a cast pewter token as my treat item. It is quarter sized, so the kids think they are getting something expensive, but as they leave and reach into their plastic pumpkin then reality sinks in as they read it. I remember one young fellow who was walking away saying to his mom, wow a quarter, well no…so the mom says, Well what does it say….It says, “Listen to your Parents”…then his mom replied “Well, I guess you got tricked!”

Using 2x2 inch Corian® sample blocks that I bought in quantity on a popular internet auction site, I’ve gotten them simply engraved at a local trophy shop. The obverse with a pumpkin and the legend: HALLOWEEN, IOLA, WIS., and a simple GC as the eyes. The reverse, I have developed a simple reminder phrase. Pewter can be melted in a Pyrex® container on an electric stove. I just an old table spoon as a ladle, just the right amount in a scoopful to fill the mold.

In 2003, I used “Be Good to Others”, in 2005: “Listen to your Parents” and for 2007 they will be getting “Choose Wisely.” The tokens are dated on the reverse. I cast about 325 each year. And each year I have been giving that many out!

For ten years some of my co-workers have warned me that my line of cedar trees will get egged or TPd, however, I think that making a simple token, similar to a pocket angel, has been a fun way to share the hobby with the next generation.

Oh, yes, I dress up too, but you’ll have to come into town to see that. The date for Iola is Sunday, October 28^th from 2-4 in the afternoon. Be there or be square!

George

10/25/2007 9:01:57 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Posted by george

Tom Marringer’s Lord of the Rings Fantasy Coinage

With the revision of the fifth edition of Unusual World Coins now off to the printer, it is time to reflect for a moment on some of the stuff I have been exposed to during the production of this latest update of a ‘fun’ numismatic reference. Everyone wants a catalog for their stuff, even if it is out-of-the-ordinary stuff, UWC has provided that medium, and now with listings on the Web, www.numismaster.com does too! (via a subscription, thank you very much!).

As collectors of numismatic stuff, my co-editor Tom Michael and I often jump with both feet to support modern producers of UWC items. Yes, we do support the hobby we report on as book editors.

Mention of coinage in books has always been a welcomed treat while reading.

However, seldom has only three references in a famous trilogy created such a wonderful group of fantasy coinage, sadly now ended due to legal issues.

Tom Marringer, of Springdale AR, operated as the Shire Post Mint. He created at first a system of rubber stamps and postage labels mimicking postage stamps from the Shire and other lands in the J.R.R. Tolkien series. In time this operation was expanded to the creation of coins for some of the different lands in the Lord of the Rings series. The Shire, Mordor, Elves, men of Dale, Gondor and even the dwarfs were all eventually represented.

Sadly, there was a bit of a legal entanglement with the Tolkien Enterprises, the minting of LOTR material has now come to an end.

However, Tom does produce some items relating to other lands, such as Leif Erickson coinage from Vinland, items from Westeros, and a short series for Camelot and Arthur Pendragon.

George

10/23/2007 9:55:35 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Bank of Gringotts notes push legal limits
Posted by george

Harry Potter and Bank of Gringotts Banknote Series

Two years ago, after the 4^th edition of Unusual World Coins was released (after a 12-year break), there was a bit of inter coin – paper money rivalry in the department cubes and the success of the UWC book began to beg the question if I would do a book on Unusual World Bank Notes.

Well, I think that with the abundance of Hell bank Notes, political parody items, as well as the more traditional advertising notes, Base Ball team notes and MPC Fest certificates (which already has a catalog) that such a product could be extensive, but sadly economically unfeasible.

However, with the continual advancement of photo editing programs, and improvements in personal printing, some issues could be made quickly and still be of reasonable quality.

Sometimes, the distribution methods for parody notes are a bit harder to track down both by way of merchandising and production. The group I would like to feature is two series of bank notes produced featuring characters and scenes of the Harry Potter Movie Series.

Gringotts Bank, plays a part in the second book and movie – The Scorers Stone, as the location of where the stone is kept until re-location to Hogwarts school by Hagrid, and the location of the cash supply of gold and silver coin which is Harry Potter’s inheritance, and which he needs to tap into to buy school supplies. It also plays a role in the final book.

The notes are produced in designs, colors and denominations similar to Bank of England notes. You can divide them into a student set and a teacher set. I’ll list out the face and back designs.

Featured on the student set are:

Drago Malfoy, 1 Galleon (Lucius Malfoy on back)

Hermione Granger, 5 Galleons (Hermione mixing Polyjuce Potion)

Ron Weasley, 10 Galleons (Hogwarts Express)

Harry Potter, 20 Galleons (Harry Potter and the flying car)

Harry Potter, Hermonie and Ron with house elf (Harry and the serpent)

From the Teacher set, we have represented:

Gilderoy Lockhart, 1 galleon (Sybil Trelawney on back)

Severus Snape, 5 galleons (Snape and Hedwig)

Rubeus Hagrid, 10 Galleons (Hagrid and fang and stone house)

Albus Dumbledore, 20 Galleons (Basilisk statue and Professor Quirrell)

Minerva McGonagall, 50 Galleons (Owl)

The one pound notes have a helpful conversion table from Galleons to sickles(17 to the galleon) and then knutes (29 to the sickle). The coins have been available for some time. They were struck and made available by the Pobjoy mint.

These bank notes have not been advertised widely in print or on the net, and certainly there would be a bunch of legal action against their distribution as they are unofficial merchandise.

George

10/23/2007 8:54:30 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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Medals in the news! Nobel, Olympic and Pulitzer
Posted by george

When one usually thinks of medals, these are the ones which come to mind: Nobels - The Peace Prize, along with prizes in medicine, chemistry, physics, literature and economics, overseen by committees in Norway and Sweden, and presented in December of each year (and anounced throughout this second week of October!). The Olympic medals awarded every four years, in bronze, silver and gold for athletic acheivement. For journalists and publishers in the United States it is the Pulitzer Prize Medal overseen by Columbia University. Awarded in bronze in many classes to individual writers and once each year in gold to a newspaper.

Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Tx, held a Long Beach Token and Medal sale September 28th. Presented in it were three gold medals awarded in 1954, 1970 and 1974 to Newsday, the major daily paper on Long Island, NY. The sale price for the medals were $7,000, $4,500, and $4,000. Not bad for a 14 Kt. 2 1/2 inch medal (a bit more than 3x melt at the lower levels.)

However, when informed of the sale, the current management of the paper thought the medals were actually safe and sound locked in the office safe. So now the plot thickens. The AP gets the story, it gets spread across the wire service to papers in the U.S., Canada and Japan. The NY Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post check their collection of medals (and find them all safe and where they belong). The Suffolk County Police start to figure out how the medals left the newspaper to be purchased at an estate sale in 2001.

Okay, where does this leave collectors?

Personal awards are nice, to the awardee and perhaps the immediate family members. However, once they get passed off to grandchildren who may never have meet the awardee, or worse yet, nieces and nephews who may not even have remembered the awardee, then it is just an item with value, to be sold. Sometimes the selling is done by the awardee, if they happen to fall on hard times. The funds that the award medal can generate can be used to raise some ready cash to pay rent, winter heating bills, or a medical expense. How can we judge how those decisions are made?

Why do we put such emphasis on the award trinket rather than the award action?

Yes, this case will cause a sensation. There is a question of true ownership, and possible theft in the past, thus clear title has not passed. I think that the medals will eventually be returned to the Melville offices of Newsday. The newspaper may have to pay someone for them, but they hereafter will be kept safer. The newspaper if they were really proud of them, should have had them on display, rather than copies! That would have kept them in the public eye, and safe!

But what about collectibility of other named and important medals? I feel that if they are acquired by legal means than they are available, then they can be collected. Numismatists can research their story and share them thru publication or exhibition at a convention.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences group has always conted that the Oscar is only a temporary ownership item, and now makes recepients of the statue sign "temporary custody" forms, that the gold plated statue is the propery of the Academy and not the actor, so that they will not come into collector hands. That goes a little too far. They give a price to an actor or actress, the award becomes theirs to do what they please.

George Cuhaj

10/8/2007 6:03:25 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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