Minutes of the 2001 Annual Meeting
of the
John Reich Collectors Society
(Preliminary)

At 8:32AM, on August 8, 2001, the annual meeting of the John Reich Collectors Society was convened in Room 106 of the Cobb Galleria Convention Center, during the American Numismatic Association Summer Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. A total of thirty-three (33) officers and members were present.

JRCS Treasurer Russell J. Logan brought the meeting to order, and welcomed all present. All members were asked to stand and introduce themselves, giving their name, home town, and specific area of collecting interest.

The reading of the minutes of the 2000 JRCS Annual Meeting was waived, by unanimous vote of the membership, after entertaining a motion and a second to that effect, as the minutes were published in the most recent issue (July 2001) of the John Reich Journal.

Treasurer Russell J. Logan gave an interim treasurer’s report, which did not include figures for the latest issue of the John Reich Journal. That report included:

It was moved, seconded, and passed to accept the Treasurer’s Report as read.

Treasurer Logan reported that 90% of the Society’s expenses are for the JR Journal. A final Treasurer’s report, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001, will be included in a subsequent Journal.

A Nominating Committee report was presented by Committee Chairman John McCloskey, with the following names placed into nomination for the annual election of officers:

It was noted that the names submitted for nomination were the same as for the previous year.

A motion to close nominations was made, seconded, and approved. A motion to elect the slate of officers, as nominated by the committee, was made, seconded, and approved.

Nominating Committee members for the 2002 Annual Meeting were appointed, as follows:

Life Membership applications were received from the following seven (7) members:

The general consensus from the membership was that John Reich Journal Volume 13, Issue 3 was the best ever. JRJ Editor Brad Karoleff made a plea for more new article submissions, in order to continue the high caliber of the Journal.

Treasurer Logan stated that the JRCS is becoming more specialized than ever before, and there is a need to acknowledge scholarly effort by giving recognition for effort and input. There should be more regional meetings, and more frequent census reporting. The Executive Committee needs to revise the by-laws, within the constraints of the 501(c)(3) IRS requirements, to accommodate various satellite study groups under the umbrella of the JRCS. Satellite group chairmen would report to the JRCS Board, updating them on activities of the various satellite group’s activities. JRCS member and attorney Bill Hancock will review the current by-laws, and recommend on any required changes. The changes to the current by-laws will be voted on at next year’s annual meeting by the membership. Inclusion of such satellite study groups, under the umbrella of the JRCS, represents a “major change” to the JRCS, according to Treasurer Logan. Additional comments on this subject were offered by members Steve Thompkins, Glenn Peterson, and Brad Karoleff.

The Jules Reiver Literary Award was presented by JRJ Editor Brad Karoleff, who stated that votes were received for nearly every article. This year’s award was presented to Edgar Souders, for his article “Capped Bust Half Dollar Secrets - the Lapping Process”, published in JRJ issue 13/2.

Editor Karoleff indicated that some back issues of the John Reich Journal are still available, for $5.00 per issue.

The recently published Index of Volume 1 through Volume 10 of the JRJ, with articles listed both by subject and by author, also includes the by-laws of the John Reich Collectors Society, as well as a brief history of the organization.

A discussion ensued of Internet ethics, specifically as it applies to online auctions such as eBay and Yahoo. It was acknowledged that there is the possibility of dishonesty and fraud, but the JRCS should not be expected act as the Internet police. However, JRCS members should be expected to adhere to and uphold the by-laws of the organization, and any member proven to be involved in the fraudulent sale of coins should be expelled. It was pointed out that there is no vehicle to accomplish this presently, and there is no review committee to hear grievances of members. In addition, eBay has no policing of its sales, either.

An example of the kind of abuse that presently occurs on eBay was brought to light by JRCS and BHNC member David Finklestein, who related that a fake 1815 bust half had recently been auctioned on eBay, modified from an 1825 O-112. Word of the fake quickly spread on a message board frequented by about 45 BHNC members. The seller ended the auction, and eBay ended the auction, but the seller re-listed the bogus bust half a short while later. Ebay backed off, and would not terminate the offending seller’s account, yet, ironically, had Dave Finklestein contacted any bidders, apprising them of the fake, he would have been terminated from eBay.

A discussion ensued on the sale of counterfeits.

JRCS member John Lusk was introduced to the membership, who is presently involved in developing computer software to attribute and catalog die marriages of various series on computer. John is well known in the copper world, and has worked with Bill Noyes and the EAC (Early American Coppers) to develop “Numistudy”, a software package with high resolution pictures and text. John related that the software can be used to attribute both die marriages and die states, and that the user can add his own notes to the images. There is no ‘pixelization’ of images, and each obverse/reverse image utilizes 5Mb of memory. A high resolution digital camera is needed for the photography. The user does not need a writable CD, as the notes are kept on the computer’s hard drive. More information on the software may be obtained at their website, which was unavailable at the time these minutes were written.

Brad Karoleff announced that the JRCS hospitality suite would be in room #635 of the Waverly Renaissance Hotel, at 8:00PM, on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

The meeting was turned over to Program Chairman W. David Perkins, who noted that there has been renewed interest of late in the bust quarter series, and in turn introduced members Dr. Glenn Peterson and Brad Karoleff, who have been working on rewriting the A. W. Browning bust quarter reference. Glenn provided a review of the available bust quarter literature, including the 1925 Browning reference, the 1975 R. Duphorne monograph, the 1992 Breen update of the Browning work, and a well researched but never published 1999 work by JRCS member Larry Blackwelder. By special agreement, the Blackwelder work is being completed and expanded by Peterson and Karoleff, and should be available to collectors in 2002. As the last bust coinage series to be reviewed, this work will be a welcomed addition to the available literature. A major part of the work to date has involved photographing of major bust quarter collections, including the only complete collection, owned by a mid-western collector, and the collection of a prominent East coast collector, as well as the Smithsonian collection and the American Numismatic Society collection. In addition to the high quality photographs, the book will contain quick attribution charts for each date in the series, as well as a detailed discussion of the E and R counterstamped quarters (1815 B1, 1825 B2), and the few remarriages known in the series.

Although the Peterson/Karoleff work will not include a condition census for the series, mention was made of another research venture, by Rory Rea and Jim Koenig, who are conducting a photographic census of the finest known examples in the series. Another pending reference work on the bust quarter series is being written by Karl Moulton, but little information was available.

Mention was made of an article by Karl Moulton, in a recent Bowers and Merena Rare Coin Review, which proved that the 1827 quarter was struck using the same obverse die as the 1823/2.

There was a rumor of an 1835 B1, with no die crack through STATES, but that could not be confirmed. The newly discovered die marriage for the series, 1837 B6, discovered by Brian Greer, and now residing in the collection of a mid-western collector, is joined by a second confirming specimen. The most obvious diagnostic for this reverse is the consecutively smaller arrow heads, from top to bottom.

Announcement was made of a meeting to discuss the formation of the Bust Quarter Collectors Society, under the mantle of the JRCS, on Friday, August 10, at 11:00AM, in Room #116. Interested collectors were encouraged to attend. Membership would be open to any interested collectors with at least ten (10) marriages of the bust quarter series, who were also members of the JRCS.

An aural auction was conducted for the sale of three Whitman Bookshelf albums, to benefit the JRCS. The albums were sold to Myron Xenos, for $20.00.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Treasurer Logan adjourned the meeting in time to make the bourse opening at 10:00AM.

Respectfully Submitted,

Stephen A. Crain - Secretary
10-14-01