The Chicago Coin Club (CCC), which is celebrating its 100th anniversary today, marked another momentous occasion last month as it geared up for its centennial.
On Jan. 9, the CCC held its 1,200th meeting, which was the first event to celebrate the club’s centennial.
On Feb. 14, 1919, a group of numismatists from both the Chicago Numismatic Society and the American Numismatic Association (ANA) founded the CCC by creating a formal constitution and holding its first official meeting.
Since that year, the club has informed, nurtured, educated and supported coin collectors of the greater Chicago and suburban areas. While its core membership is in the Chicago area, it also reaches individuals throughout the U.S. and abroad, including Canada.
In fact, in yesterday’s CCC meeting, director Dale Lukanich led a presentation highlighting Canada’s new vertical $10 note featuring Black rights activist Viola Desmond. The talk explored Desmond’s life as well as the security features on the new note, which was recently nominated for Bank Note of the Year by the International Bank Note Society.
CCC MEETINGS
CCC meetings traditionally combine three segments—a club business portion, an official numismatic presentation and a member show and tell, highlighting new, old, fun, rare, interesting, strange or other pieces from their collections.
The 1,200th meeting on Jan. 9 combined a celebratory reception and social hour with food compliments of the Chicago Coin Company. The club’s Latin motto is Docendo Discimus (“We learn by teaching”), and club members did not disappoint with the show and tell. A total of 25 presentations were given, covering items from ancient to U.S. coins, numismatic and other literature or publications, family numismatic gifts and history, primitive money and more.
The meeting also included a 100-year retrospective video presentation that played continuously, highlighting events, club medals, past presidents, publications, conventions and other club stories. All attending club members were asked to sign a copy of the January 2019 charter, the club’s monthly newsletter and a $100 bill.
Attending members also received a special elongated 1919 Walking Liberty half-dollar with the 1919 date visible on the obverse and “1200th Meeting” and the date imprinted on the reverse. Attendees also received a special brass plaque with a photochemically etched image featuring the Chicago Water Tower and the club’s anniversary information.
More than 45 people, including seven past club presidents, attended the meeting, where a toast was given to “a century of sharing numismatic knowledge, to the members before us, to the members present, and to the members who will follow.
The CCC will also play host to this year’s ANA World’s Fair of Money, which will be held Aug. 13-17.
For more information about the CCC, visit chicagocoinclub.org.