MEETING NOTICES

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ACCLA
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The next meeting of the club will be held at the Getty Villa Museum on Sunday June 14, 2009 at 12:15 P.M.   The festivities will begin with a tour, which will begin at 12:30.  The tour will last about an hour after which we plan to have lunch and a short meeting at the Cafe. Following this the members may explore the museum on their own.

SUMMARY OF LAST MEETING

BUSINESS

The May meeting, held Sunday May 10, 2009 at Balboa Mission Town Hall, was called to order by President Mark Westerline at 1:38 PM. Treasurer Barry Rightman reported on the state of the Treasury. The necessary annual filing with the Secretary of State has been made.  Golden State show will be held August 22-23, 2009.  The members voted to donate $50 to cover the cost of the award for the best educational exhibit in the Ancient Coin category.  Mark reported that the ANA convention will be held this year in August.  Holding the August meeting the convention was discussed and getting flyers to pass out. Mike Connor reported 170-220 visitors per day to the website. Mike suggests the next project might be legends and inscriptions on coins, with members to compile an index. Roger reported that the Celator included a write up of our coin photography seminar.

PRESENTATION

Roger Burry gave a personal background concerning what lead him in the direction of collecting Roman Republican coins. He focused on what best to collect--picked Sear as basis. He started at beginning of Republic up to the Imperial. Roger found eight categories: Foundation myths; moneyer; image of significance related to major leader; historical event; major theme of Roman life; numismatic significance; archaeological images; and religious symbols. Roger showed slides dealing with he various aspects of collecting Roman Republican coins.

Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary

The next meeting of the club will be held on Sunday May 10, 2009 at the usual venue of Balboa Mission Town Hall, 16916 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Granada Hills. The time as usual will be 1:00 P.M. Don't forget to park in the rear. At the May meeting there will be a presentation by Roger Burry and Ken Friedman on "Collecting Roman Republican Coins".

BUSINESS

The April meeting was called to order at 1:54 by President Mark Westerline. Barry Rightman reported on the state of the treasury and the Secretary of State Report of Officers, which has been timely filed. Webmaster Mike Connor reported that there are 200 visitors per day to the website. Vice President Roger Burry gave a rundown on the upcoming presentations through July.

LAST MONTH'S PRESENTATION

A seminar on how member's keep coin records was presided over by Roger Burry. Roger uses paper forms. Bob Effler utilizes data sheets in a 3-hole binder containing the coins. Dean Ruby: a series of hard-plastic boxes, with pockets lined with protective strips. He assigns a number and puts a record into a spiral bound note book. Barry Rightman uses data sheets in note books--slides of each coin and coins and slides in exactly the same order.   Mark Westerline uses Microsoft Excel. Mike Connor uses Microsoft's "Access" database program which allows queries to be made according to characteristics of a coin or series. The program is highly flexible and fields can be added. It can display Greek text function and pictures of the coins. Coins can be indexed by region or any other parameter. Kelly Ramage uses Adobe's "In Design" to catalog his collection.

This presentation was more interesting than appeared to be on its face. Record-keeping is apparently the very soul of good coin collecting, as naked memorization has its drawbacks.

Respectfully submitted,
David R. Stepsay, Secretary

The next meeting of the club will be held on April 12, 2009 at the usual venue of Balboa Mission Town Hall, 16916 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Granada Hills. The time as usual will be 1:00 P.M. Don't forget to park in the rear.

At the April meeting we will have a group discussion of how we keep records of our coin collections. Bring an example of the record of one of your coins. Be prepared to talk about what information you record to describe a coin, what software you use, what added information [history of the coin, explanation of images, etc]. What "best practices" do you recommend. Hopefully we will all learn something and have a a good time doing it.

BUSINESS

The meeting was called to order by President Mark Westerline at 1:33 P. Treasurer Barry Rightman gave his treasury report. Secretary David Stepsay handed out the roster of Club members. Web Master Mike Connor reported 150-250 visitors per day. Mark reported that the Golden State Coin Show is the end of March in Pasadena.

LAST MONTH'S PRESENTATION

Dr. Robert Cleve gave a sell illustrated presentation on Classical Greek Vase Painting.

Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary

The next meeting of the Club will be held March 8, 2009 at 1:00 P.M. at the usual venue of Balboa Mission Town Hall, 16916 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Granada Hills.  Don't forget to park by the rear door behind the shops. The next presentation will be by Dr. Robert Cleve on "Everyday Life and Greek Mythology as Portrayed on Greek Vase Painting". Dr. Cleve has made numerous presentations to the Club and they have always been interesting and entertaining.

BUSINESS

The meeting called to order by new President Mark Westerline. Treasurer Barry Rightman gave his report. The Secretary handed out the newest membership roster. Mike Connor, Web-master, reported that visits were 10% higher in 2008 over 2007 however, traffic seems to be flattening off.  Many of the visitors are school kids researching for school projects. The following Guests were present: Laura Bogue, who is a photographer; Alice Noble, who is new to collecting and just bought her first coin today; Louis Beltran, who is likewise new to collecting; and Maurice Kuddies, whose interest is Greek and Roman coins. Roger Burry reporting on the Celator. Also, he is soliciting presentations for future meetings and planning some off-site meetings. Mark Westerline said that he is now getting a plethora of e-letters in his capacity as President including several from servicemen in Afghanistan and Iraq.

PRESENTATION AT FEBRUARY MEETING

The presentation was on coin photography. The central issues were what you want your coin to look like.  What is a good coin photo?  And how to take digital photographs.  Merrill Gibson posited that people look at a coin photograph differently from the way they look at the coin itself. A photo has the advantage that you can take a long, relaxed view of the coin; the magnification and light can be more elucidatory to illustrate the characteristics of coin. Discussed were lighting parameters, colors, definitions of terms, use of white and colored backgrounds, and other considerations such as temperature and use of fluorescent vs. incandescent light sources.  Randy Butler discussed the need for photographs: provision of evidence of value should a claim arise due to robbery; for purposes of buying and selling; appreciation when the actual coin is not readily available; more detail apparent; printing out for album or catalogue; and enhancement of appearance. Gold is the easiest metal to photograph and bronze is toughest. Sample photographs were passed around. Randy demonstrated his equipment and technique. The key to good pictures is even lighting.  If you want the background out of focus, focus on the most elevated part of the coin if you're using a SLR camera. Mike Connor uses a glass plate supported on styrofoam cups to remove shadows when photographing a coin, wears gloves to avoid fingerprints; and sometimes uses a turntable to help find the best angles. A paint brush is useful to clear off hairs.  It was a worthwhile and well presented session even for those who never have nor ever intend to photograph coins.

Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary

The next meeting of the club will be held on February 8, 2009 at the usual venue of Balboa Mission Town Hall, 16916 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Granada Hills. The time will be 1:00 P.M. Don't forget to park in the rear as the front door will be locked. The next presentation will be a Workshop on Coin Photography.

BUSINESS

At the January Banquet-Cum-Installation the following business took place:

Randy Butler was thanked for last month's presentation. Bob Effler was thanked for his services as President and was presented with a book from the Metropolitan Museum.

Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary

FELICEM ANNUM NOVUM HABEAMUS!

The next meeting of the club will be held on January 11, 2009 at 1:00P.M. The venue will be the Balboa Mission Town Hall, 16916 San Fernando Blvd., Granada Hills. The meeting will feature our annual potluck banquet and a Coin and History Quiz.

BUSINESS

The officers and Board of Directors were all elected unanimously and are as follows:

President: Mark Westerline
Vice President: Roger Burry
Treasurer: Barry Rightman
Secretary: David Stepsay

Board Members:

Bob Effler (Past President)
Randy Butler
Merrill Gibson
Hugh Kramer
Dennis Morley
Paul Ranc

PRESENTATION

Randy Butler gave an illustrated presentation of part four of his travels in Turkey.

Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary

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