Greetings and Happy Holidays! 2015 club meetings are complete; we’ll see you again in 2016!

2015 Meetings and News

Reminder – Meeting Dates and Locations! The BCCOCO meets alternate months in Redmond and Bend, except as noted. Meetings, which had been held on the 3rd Tuesday, will temporarily move to the 2nd Tuesday beginning in February 2016. There are usually no club meetings in July or August.

The December 15, 2015, club meeting in Redmond featured the annual holiday potluck, a special holiday raffle, club elections and an auction. The club supplied sandwiches and beverages.

At the November 17, 2015, coin club meeting in Bend, Eric gave an illustrated talk about “Albert Einstein medals and the 100th anniversary of General Relativity.” There were no quizzes this time!

The October 20, 2015, coin club meeting in Redmond featured reports on the fall PNNA/WCC coin show in Portland, and a 14-question U.S. coin quizSee the quiz questions and answers, including bonus items.

At the delayed September 22, 2015, coin club meeting in Bend, there were reports on summer numismatic activities, including Walter’s annual trip to ANA Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs. In addition to the usual monthly raffle, we’re also continuing the practice of having a separate randomly awarded prize for show & tell participants. Photos: 1918-S Mercury Dime found by treasure hunting.

The delayed June 30, 2015, meeting at the High Desert Community Grange was a memorial to Michael Graham, owner of Mountain High Coins, who passed away in early June. There was also a potluck meal with the club supplying meat and cheese. Now it’s summer break until September. Photo: Group photo from the June 30 meeting.

June 2015 group photo
June 2015 group photo

The May 19, 2015, meeting included a brief report by Paul on the ANA’s National Coin Week 20-question challenge pertaining to the theme of “Building Tomorrows: Inspiration and Innovation at World’s Fairs.” Although Paul thinks he got the answers correct, he was a couple days late, so we’ll try again and get an earlier start next year. The meeting also had some interesting “show & tell” items, such as the coin glass shown in the photo!

Coin Glass
Coin Glass

The April 21, 2015, meeting featured a National Coin Week-related presentation by Eric on “So-Called Dollars for Expositions.” Photo: Club member display of medals, admission tickets and other memorabilia from the 1892-93 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. There were also a couple of nice raffle prizes donated by Mountain High Coins!

Display of World's Columbian Exposition items
Display of World’s Columbian Exposition items

The March 17, 2015, meeting at the Redmond location featured ANA Portland show reports and another month of show & tell with a prize awarded to one of the participants. National Coin Week (coming up in April) was also discussed. Photo: Beautifully toned belt buckle with an eagle design. Such items are popular with coin collectors, who of course also frequently desire attractive toned coins!

Eagle Belt Buckle
Eagle Belt Buckle

The February 17, 2015, meeting was held at the Bend location (High Desert Community Grange). This meeting featured a show & tell with a special prize drawn at random to one of the participants, and we had some nice items shown! Photos: Panama Canal centennial of completion (1914-2014) medal in silver. There was also an opportunity to answer any final questions about the upcoming ANA National Money Show in Portland in March.

The January 20, 2015, meeting was held at the Redmond location and featured a special private auction of coins and banknotes. Paul also spoke briefly about the U.S. Mint’s 2014 Native American $1 coin and currency collector set, which is sold out.