MONTHLY MEETINGS ARE NOW HELD AT SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER.
JANUARY 2009
FELICEM ANNUM NOVUM HABEAMUS!
The next meeting of the club will be held on January 11, 2009 at 1:00 P.M. The venue will be the Balboa Mission Town Hall, Granada Hills. The meeting will feature our annual potluck banquet and a Coin and History Quiz.
LAST MEETING
The officers and Board of Directors were all elected unanimously and are as follows:
ACCLA Board of Directors 2009
President: Mark Westerline
Vice President: Roger Burry
Secretary: David Stepsay
Treasurer: Barry Rightman
Bob Effler (Past President)
Randy Butler
Hugh Kramer
Dennis Morley
Merrill Gibson
Paul Ranc
PRESENTATION
Randy Butler gave an illustrated presentation of part four of his travels in Turkey.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
FEBRUARY 2009
The next meeting of the club will be held on February 8, 2009 at the Balboa Mission Town Hall, 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
The meeting was called to order by President Mark Westerline at 1:40 P.M. Barry Rightman gave the Treasurer's report and announced that the rent and insurance have been paid. He also reported that on the History Channel there was a showing of man-made ducts below ancient sites. Ken Friedman read a letter of thanks from ACCG for our contribution. The lawsuit is still in progress. There ensued a discussion of the Ontario (California) and other shows. Roger Burry reported that there was a press release in the Celator regarding the meeting we held at Loyola Marymount University. The Long Beach Convention will be in early February. We then had a Round Robin evaluation of the best and worst coins of 2010. Roger solicited questions for another coin quiz in the future.
The officers and members of the Board of Directors were duly installed.
We then enjoyed the festivities of the day. Books were sold and a raffle held. A good time was had by all.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
MARCH 2009
The next meeting of the Club will be held March 8, 2009 at 1:00 P.M. at the Balboa Mission Town Hall, 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.
LAST MEETING - BUSINESS
The meeting called to order by President Mark Westerline. Treasurer Barry Rightman gave his report. The Secretary handed out the newest membership roster. Michael 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.
LAST MEETING - PRESENTATION
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. Michael 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
APRIL 2009
The next meeting of the club will be held on April 12, 2009 at the Balboa Mission Town Hall, 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 good time doing it.
LAST MEETING - BUSINESS
The meeting was called to order by President Mark Westerline at 1:33 P.M. Treasurer Barry Rightman gave his treasury report. Secretary David Stepsay handed out the roster of Club members. Web Master Michael Connor reported 150-250 visitors per day. Mark reported that the Golden State Coin Show is the end of March in Pasadena.
LAST MEETING - PRESENTATION
Dr. Robert Cleve gave a well illustrated presentation on Classical Greek Vase Painting.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
MAY 2009
The next meeting of the club will be held on Sunday May 10, 2009 at the Balboa Mission Town Hall, 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.
LAST MEETING - BUSINESS
The April meeting was called to order at 1:54 P.M. 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 Michael 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 MEETING - 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. Michael 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 Stepsay, Secretary
JUNE 2009
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 P.M. 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.
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 P.M. 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. Michael 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.
LAST MEETING - 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 using Sear as a 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 the various aspects of collecting Roman Republican coins.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
JULY 2009
The next meeting of the Club will be held on Sunday July 12, 2009 at 1:00 P.M. at the Balboa Mission Town Hall, Granada Hills. Don't forget to park in the rear. The presentation will be by Ken Baumheckel, one of our staunchest members. He will be present a program titled Sumer, Sumerians, and Cuneiform Texts. After giving an overview of the history of Sumer in the third millennium BCE, Ken will introduce Sumerian writing and grammar and illustrate these topics using four cuneiform texts with a total of 40 lines of script. Although these four documents are written in Sumerian and date from the end of the third millennium BCE, Ken assures us that they will yield their secrets to us.
LAST MEETING - BUSINESS
The meeting was called to order by President Mark Westerline at 1:35 P.M. Treasurer Barry Rightman reported on the condition of the treasury. Webmaster Michael Connor's gave a brief report.
LAST MEETING - PRESENTATION
The June meeting was held at the Getty Villa where we were given a tour by a very knowledgeable docent. After the tour we adjourned to the Cafe for lunch and a brief business meeting. It was moved, seconded, and passed that we hold our August meeting at the ANA Convention on Saturday, August 8 at 1:00 P.M. Admission to the convention is $6.00 for non-members of ANA and free for members of ANA.
Treasurer Barry Rightman gave a report on the current state of the Treasury. Michael Connor reported that Bob Lattanzi has finished his Claudius article for the website - the XII Caesars project is now complete.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
AUGUST 2009
The next meeting will be different from usual meetings. The meeting will be held as part of ANA Convention on SATURDAY August 8 at 1:30 P.M. The ANA Convention will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Our ACCLA meeting will be held in Room 511B of the West Hall. The September meeting will return to our usual scheduled second Sunday of the month at 1:00 P.M. at the Balboa Mission Town Hall.
As an added attraction to our meeting next SATURDAY Kerry Wetterstrom (Celator Editor) is teaching an "Introductory Class on Ancient Greek and Roman Coins" at the Convention. It will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 4 and 5. If you are interested, you can sign up on Tuesday at the Convention as there was still room in the class as of last Thursday. There is a charge of about $150.
LAST MEETING - BUSINESS
The meeting was called to order by President Mark Westerline at 1:20 P.M. There was an introduction of new attendees. Roger Burry reported that programs have been arranged through December. Michael Connor passed out flyers to fold. Michael Connor, Webmaster, has prepared a looping slide show for ANA Convention showing club activities. 150-200 visitors per day to website. Ken Baumheckel reported OCACC next meeting will be July 25, with Frank Martin talking on Ancient Egypt. Dean Ruby gave a brief review of upcoming auctions. Ken Friedman reported that the exhibit on Pompeii is still at LACMA. As initiated by Mark there ensued a discussion on loan of projector. A motion was made, seconded, and passed covering the conditions under which said loans will be made. A form to be designed by Undersigned was promised.
We were graced with new members William and Petra Caulfield, who live in the Los Feliz district.
PRESENTATION
Ken Baumheckel presented a really interesting disquisition on Sumer writing.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
OCTOBER 2009
The September 13, 2009 meeting was called to order by President Mark Westerline at 1:45 P.M. Treasurer Barry Rightman gave the Treasury report. Roger Burry initiated a mini-discussion on counterfeit books. Anent the ANA Convention, Paul Ranc reported that Harlan Berk has sold the fabled Athenian decadrachm. A discussion of the ANA Convention then ensued. In connection with ACCG Ken Friedman reported on the State Department FOIA suit. Then ensued a round robin discussion of the acquisitions at the ANA show and some specimens were passed around for viewing.
PRESENTATION
Joseph Tooma presented on Sassanian Numismatics. He started with a brief introduction to the subject. The name can also be spelled Sasanian as the area is named after Sasan. They were the last major pre-Islamic Persians. Their domain ended with the 632 CE conquest by the Arabs. He showed a map of their region; coin denominations, gold, silver, copper, and billon; script was mid-Persian. Language on coins was Pahlavi, written right to left. Each king had his own crown style, which was a good way of attribution. Coins shown: Ardeshir I, the Founder. His contemporaries were such as Alexander Severus, Maximinius, Gordian I and II, Pupienus, and Balbinus. Joseph showed a chart delineating the evolution from Parthian to Sasanian hegemony; Shapur (Shah-pur: son of Shah) I, who captured Valerian--a beautiful coin of Shapur I whose dates ranged from 241 to 272 CE; Shapur II (309-379 CE), who expanded the empire; Piruz (459-484 CE), with mint-marks and regnal year to date it. King wearing two different crowns; Kavad I Son of Piruz.(488-497, 499-531 CE), beautiful metal art work; Khosro II (590-628 CE). Joseph also gave a brief bibliography, to-wit, Sasanian Numismatics by Robert Gobl and Decline and Fall of Sasanian Empire by Parvaneh Pourshariati.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
NOVEMBER 2009
The next meeting of the club will be held on Sunday November 8, 2009 at 1:00 P.M. at the Balboa Mission Town Hall, Granada Hills. The program will consist of a Seminar: Coin Grading and Evaluation lead by Bob Lattanzi.
LAST MEETING
The meeting was called to order by Roger Burry subbing for Mark Westerline who was sick and therefore not present. Ken Friedman has an article in the Celator called "Horse's Tale" (sic). Thereupon our host and presenter Professor Fr. Fulco was introduced. We were meeting in the Archaeology Library and Museum of Loyola Marymount University Archaeology and Classics Department. Dr. Fulco started with the generous donation by Mike Shubin of his entire antiquities collection including 1,000 volumes of books, Roman gold rings, and gem stones. The books contain rarities, i.e. Gondara material. All four walls are covered with books (periodicals are housed in another room). They have a growing collection of Gorgons, the history of which started with the Gilgamish. The students and faculty had to do their own attribution of Mike's legacy. The Library includes Mayan artifacts. We moved into the Museum, where we were introduced to, inter alia, Coptic textiles framed and hung on a wall. A rare ladle and a votive offering figurine were passed around (it is a hands-on museum). We gathered around a glass case full of various items, such as a Gorgon fastened to a breast plate to scare away the enemy, and a piece that had been repaired with the top half different by 1,000 years from the bottom half. Dr. Fulco demonstrated many items over which they are wracking their brains to ascertain the identity and attribution. Much praise was heaped on the students, who have lovingly restored, repaired, identified, and attributed items coming into the collections. And much time is devoted to new materials that need work. They have found that Israelis, who do impeccable restoration, use the cheapest glue and plaster. In another room smaller stuff in glass cases was displayed, including an ancient surgical kit painstakingly sorted out and identified.
The meeting concluded with questions being taken by Dr. Fulco and we thereupon departed. It was a delightful experience and we should do it again to keep up with developments taking place in the field of Archaeology and Classics.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary
DECEMBER 2009
The next meeting of ACCLA will be held on Sunday December 13, 2009 at the Balboa Mission Town Hall, Granada Hills at 1:00 P.M. The presentation will be by Randy Butler on Coins of the Severan Dynasty. Don't forget that the entrance is now at the back, as is the parking.
LAST MEETING - BUSINESS
Meeting called to order at 1:42 by President Mark Westerline. Barry Rightman gave the Treasurer's report. Michael Connor reported that in mid-October the website had its 250,000th visitor. He reminded us to use the special links to vendors on the website for holiday shopping so that ACCLA benefits from the commission. Roger Burry reported that the Celator's latest edition carried the article on our meeting at the American Numismatic Association.
PRESENTATION
Bob Lattanzi gave a Powerpoint Presentation on "Valuing the Worth of An Ancient Coin". He involved the audience in trying to evaluate the various coins they had brought in. Topics covered included: Style that Bob asserted is generally the most ignored factor. Style is related to the die engraver's skill and is generally described as good, average, or poor. He showed two or three comparisons of coins, indicating the wide variety of styles in the same coin; provenance; striking issues including die flaws and telling the difference between a weak strike and wear; and patination.
According to Bob Lattanzi, the lesson to be taken from all this is that there are only two grades of coins: 1) What you like, and 2) What you don't like. A kudos to Bob for his sterling presentation.
Respectfully submitted
David Stepsay, Secretary