CONA June 2018 Newsletter
June Meeting
Oakstone Academy: 939 State St. Westerville, Ohio 43081
Topic: S.S. Central America
Speaker: Bob Evans
June Presentation
The S.S. Central America sank in a hurricane Sept. 12, 1857, taking 425 souls to their graves and tons of California gold to the ocean’s depths. One hundred and thirty-one years later, the Columbus-America Discovery Group, salvors with strong ties to Columbus, located the shipwreck.
Our speaker this month is Bob Evans, who served as chief scientist both on the 1983-1991 and 2014-to-date salvage operations. He has been concerned not only with the numismatic and archaeological aspects of the shipwreck but has also been mindful of the tragedy’s human toll. In January he told CoinWeek, “Every year on Sept. 12, I send out a memorial email to a list of people that I’ve compiled over the years, reminding everyone to pause this evening at 7 o’clock Eastern Time and mark the moment when the Central America sank. In 2014 I had the honor and privilege of conducting a service on the bow of our ship, tolling the bell for that minute that commemorated the loss all those many years ago.” We are privileged this month to have Bob tell us about his work conserving the shipwreck’s coins and artifacts.
May Presentation Recap
John Roberts told us about fantasy American coins that were produced on a genuine U.S. Mint press by Dann Carr. In 2007, Carr purchased a decommissioned 1886 Denver Mint coinage press and has been using it ever since at his Moonlight Mint to strike fantasy pieces, such as 1914 Liberty Head five-cent pieces, 1910-D Indian Head cents and 1909-O (micro O) Morgan silver dollars. The New Orleans Morgan, Roberts said, was an homage to the counterfeiters responsible for the highly collectible 1896, 1900 and 1902 Morgan dollars with a tiny O mintmark. The fakes were outed in 2005, but are probably even more prized by collectors than ever because of their illegal parentage.
In 2016, Carr bought a bronze casting of the first Peace Dollar reverse design. The design, which featured a broken sword to symbolize peace, never
reached production – until now. Carr used it on his 1917 and 1918 Peace dollars. Roberts noted that Carr usually (over) strikes his creations on genuine U.S. coins. He said, “They are technically modifications of existing legal tender coins.”
By: Gerry Tebben
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