Vallejo club extends Coin Week activities
The Vallejo, Calif., Numismatic Society, like many other local coin clubs, contributed to the 2009 National Coin Week in April, but also expanded its participation into an ongoing, summer-long public display at the local Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.
The Vallejo, Calif., Numismatic Society, like many other local coin clubs, contributed to the 2009 National Coin Week in April, but also expanded its participation into an ongoing, summer-long public display at the local Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.
“We read of other local coin clubs setting up exhibits in libraries and bank lobbies, and our neighbors, the Fremont [California] Coin Club, has sponsored a public exhibit for over a decade,” said Harry W. Davis, president of the Vallejo Coin Club. “We decided, building on our close and positive relationship with the local museum, not just to do only one week in April but the entire highly visited and tourist summer months with a unique, eye-catching display.”
With a collaboration between museum Executive Director James E. Kern and Vallejo members with unique numismatic items, the club came up with the display title, “Call This Money?,” according to Michael S. Turrini, club treasurer who coordinated the display.
“Jim [Kern] was kind enough to allow our display in two large cases in the museum’s main foyer, making it the first exhibit visitors would view” said Turrini.
Among the items on display are a 12-inch diameter Yap Stone, a $500 Series 1864 Confederate note, a Swedish copper plate money piece dated 1713, local tokens with one identified to a longtime local as a wedding gift in 1940, German porcelain money of the 1920s and a 1925-S California Diamond Jubilee half dollar.
Because Vallejo has a large Filipino population, the display also included Philippine guerrilla and World War II emergency paper money samples.
“We sought to have numismatic items that are eye-catching over albums of Lincoln cents or books, as well as historical background,” Turrini said. “Thanks to our members’ varied interests, we were quite lucky to assemble a nice array of items. Jim was quite pleased and hopes to have us follow up in the Fall 2009 months with a similar display accenting local tokens and medals.”
Along with the display, fliers and information about the local Vallejo Coin Club were available to museum guests.
The next big event for the club will be hosting the California State Numismatic Association’s 10th Annual Northern California Coin Collector’s Retreat Oct. 27 at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.
This year’s theme is “What You Need To Know,” featuring the following presenters: Robert E. Luna with “Morgan Silver Dollars,” Lee H. Gong with “Error Coins,” John P. Russell Jr. with “Metal Detecting” and James E. Kern with “Submarine Numismatics.”
The retreat is free and open to all coin hobbyists.
For more information, contact the Vallejo Coin Club by mail at P.O. Box 4281, Vallejo, CA 94590-0428, by phone at (707) 642-0216 or by e-mail at emperori@juno.com.
