Kent Ponterio Checks Out Paul Kagon’s Stock

Friday evening some of us were able to visit Kent Ponterio’s home for an evening of fun and games; literally. Kent hired a small bus to shuttle friends back and forth, but was forced to limit invitations due to constraints on space and transportation. He generously provided a wonderful array of foods for a catered dinner, and unlimited access to his game room. Now this game room was a thing of beauty. Pinball and arcade video games numbered about 15 units, along with a full size pool table (where Rick Ponterio beat me consistently at 8-ball) and antique shuffleboard table. Good food, great friends, lots of wine, beer and mead, two lovable greyhounds and a relaxed atmosphere made for a wonderful evening. Kent took time to give me a loving explanation on the Evolution of Acceptance before being called away on his duties as a host. Thanks, Kent.

Ute Wartenberg Kagan, longtime executive director of the American Numismatic Society, and Cori Sedwick Downing

The American Numismatic Society’s display

I personally attended only one of the seminars, “Identifying Counterfeits”. This was a hands on workshop presented differently than in years past. Each table of about eight people were shown about a half dozen coins and asked to determine if they were genuine or fake. We were to make our assessment and notes on a numbered sheet, then one of three supervisors explained coin by coin if we were correct or not, and why. The supervisory staff was Mike Dunigan, Kent Ponterio and Dan Sedwick. This was very informative and showed clearly how difficult accurate identification is for Portrait Dollars. Angel Herrera Smith did best at our table. I was only 45% accurate. I’m good with Caballitos though.

At day’s end Saturday, it was once again time for gathering on the patio and sharing beverages and the company of friends. This evening it was with ANS Director Ute Wartenberg and Peter Dunham, later to be joined by Cory Frampton. The conversation was light and humorous, a fitting close to the convention’s events.

As in the past, this was a successful and enjoyable event, and gets better every year. My thanks to all who did so much hard work to make it happen and the attendees who came from far and wide that made our organizers’ efforts worthwhile.

Allan Schein

Presentations

Peter Dunham

Cori Sedwick Downing presented some of her ongoing research on so-called Charles and Joanna coinage from the first mint in the New World at Mexico City. This was a mixture of basic information for those not very familiar with these pre-cobs and advanced information about the many rarities. With photo examples she illustrated what some of the earliest coins from the mint (which probably began production in the spring of 1536) looked like, and also showed with examples Early vs. Late Series coins. Overassayer coins illustrated the progression from one Early Series assayer to the next. A highlight was the discussion of rarities in both Series. Attendees also got to see some error coins, which are few in number compared to other coin time periods. Cori also shared some statistics on the numbers of coins and varieties by assayer. based on her years of research.

Kyle Ponterio discussed Philippines Countermarks Concerning Mexican host coins to a full attentive audience, with many examples shown during his presentation, being numismatic rarities in their own right. The Philippines, one of Spain’s last strongholds in Asia and major commercial center, started revalidating specie imported into the colony which included millions of coins from former Spanish colonies as well as other coins found in commerce. The first form of revalidation was in 1828 by completely overstriking the host coins; this method would ultimately fail and would be switched to hand held dies in 1832 and then again in 1834 with the change of monarch to Isabella II. While conducting his research Kyle has amassed more than 2,200 images, a plethora of host coins and denominations in both gold and silver with more than 500 of those being from various Mexican mints. Pieces of note shown included a 1287(1827) Ga FS 8 Reales, one of only four examples known to exist and specifically cited in Resplandores as such which had been overstruck with the Manila 1828 dies. Other interesting examples included an 1829 EoMo LF and 1828 EoMo LF 8 Reales countermarked with “F.7.0” (Ferdinand VII) 1832-34 and “Y.II.” (Isabella II) 1834-37 respectively. While some of the examples shown may not be the most interesting in terms of Mexican numismatics, common mints and dates ‘Cap & Ray’ 4, 2 and 1 Reales certainly garner much interest being a Philippines countermarked coin.

Peter S. Dunham, PhD, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cleveland State University, spoke on the ethnic and political history of banknote vignettes. Using the Montezuma vignette on the $10 El Banco de Londres, México y Sud America note, Peter presented images of Montezuma throughout history to identify their origins. Multiple images of Montezuma covering the Hapsburg reign in Europe, European and world history and Mexican history showed how Montezuma was presented to the Mexican people. The crown or headdress, sceptre, royal clothing etc. were analysed and discussed in detail.

On Saturday morning Phil Flemming spoke to a full room about the Mexico City gold coinage of 1711-12. In those two years, for reasons that are still not understood, the Mexican mint simultaneously introduced two new reverse designs for its escudos. Both designs were difficult to execute and had been abandoned by 1714, when the simpler and final design of the cob era (1679-1732) was introduced. Recent archival work hints that political rivalries and enmities may have a played a role in the introduction of the 1711-12 gold coinages. The audience wanted to know more about the wealthy and powerful personalities involved and seemed not at all surprised that politics may have reached into the mint.

Despite being the last presentation of the day Carlos Jara’s talk had a surprising good attendance. Carlos presented evidence linking Costa Rica’s first official issue of 1822 (described in contemporary documentation as “an imperial crown punch on Provisional 8 Reales received from Panama”) and the early Mexican War of Independence issues. Historical evidence points out, as shown by Jara, that San Blas rose in importance from its trade with Panama and other locales south of Mexico when access to the “usual” ports of Veracruz and even Acapulco was blocked by the insurgents. After explaining how provisional coinage from the northern mints must have reached Panama starting in 1812-1813, two examples of the provisional bust type issued in Zacatecas and Chihuahua were identified as pertaining to the aforementioned Costa Rican countermarked issue. Questions from the floor focused on the current population of known examples, so it appears that Carlos’ theory was accepted.

Exhibits

The award for the best display went to Kyle Ponterio for his “Philippines Countermarks Concerning Mexico”. Second prize went to Michael Ontko for his “A Mintmark Set of Gold Half Escudos, 1825-1870” whilst third went to Connor Falk for his “El Banco del Estado de Chihuahua Bromide Proofs”.

Other exhibits included “El Banco de la República Mexicana” from Cory Frampton.