Next there was a reminder that back issues are still available from the Society for $5 each postpaid. About half of the issues still remain in stock for purchase by interested members. Anyone interested in purchasing some of these issues should contact Brad at PO Box 135 Harrison, OH 45030, or by E-mail at Karoleffs4@aol.com. 

The membership also would like to thank Jim Matthews for his presentation at last years meeting. He spoke in great detail about the inner workings of the coin industry pertaining to cleaning and doctoring of classic coins. We are still looking for anyone interested in presenting a program for our next meeting at the Atlanta convention. Should you be interested please contact any of the officers. 

A new book was announced at our meeting. Dr. Glenn Peterson released his book on attributing Capped Bust Half Dollars published by the Money Tree Press. He uses close-up photographs of individual indicators for each die to attribute the coins. His system is easy to use even for the beginning collector. Edgar Souders, author of Bust Half Fever announced he is writing a new book also on Capped Bust Half Dollars. Look for it from the Money Tree Press sometime next year. Dr. Peterson and Brad Karoleff are also working on a new book. They are rewriting the Browning Quarter text. Lastly, Rory Rea and Jim Koenings are working on a photo condition census of R5-8 Bust Quarters. They are interested in photographing any R5-8 quarter marriage. They can be reached at PO Box 2382, Riverside CA 92516. 

Finally two new discoveries were announced. The uncovering of a 1795 O132 half dollar was revealed. This marriage was reported in Overton, but had not been seen for decades. Many collectors had begun to believe it did not exist. Next a new die marriage was announced for the bust quarter series. 1837 B6 is now needed to complete the quarter series. Since the announcement of the discovery one additional coin has been confirmed. The search continues for more! 

The editoral notes were then followed by the PPP section of the journal where members write in with their comments and questions. Reid Goldsborough is looking for information on whether Anne Bingham was actually the model for the Draped Bust coins. This was followed by a request from KenCable-Camilleis for information about early gold coinages. Finally Michael Marotta wrote a review of Dr. Petersons new book, The Ultimate Guide to Attributing Bust Half Dollars. 

The first full-length article for this journal was by W. David Perkins titled J.H.South Collection of United States Quarters. This was a Stacks’ sale from 1951, which included many rare high-grade bust quarters. There were 120 lots of the early quarters, quite a grouping by any standards! 

The next article was a follow up to David’s on the South collection by Karl Moulton. Karl and David had corresponded prior to the submission of the articles and had authored them as companion pieces. Karl question whether Mr. South had existed, or if it was pseudonym. 

Glenn Peterson checks in next with an article about a newly discovered remarriage in the bust quarters. 1836 B1 has been proven to have a remarriage with the reverse being used on 1837 B4 between the uses. There is also a request for more die state information for other suspected die remarriages in the quarter series. Glenn also requests rarity-rating estimates from experienced quarter collectors. A chart suitable for copying is included to submit individual estimates. 

P.Reid Suttles follows with A Provenance Renewed. He relates how he rediscovered a numismatic lost soul. He recently purchased a rare 1798 B30 Bust Dollar that did not have a provenance listed in the auction catalog. Through careful study he determined it to be the coin from the famous Newcomer collection. 

Continuing with the Bust Dollar theme James Matthews authors the Early Silver Dollar Update, a recent market report as a prelude to W. David Perkins’ Early Silver Dollar Census. This is the third early dollar census that the society has published. Through a voluntary census of member’s collections a chart is compiled showing the varieties and grades owned by the reporting members. David also offers some insights as an advanced collector. 

James Matthews again checks in with the next article about the newly uncovered 1795 O132 bust half. He catalogued the coin as part of an upcoming Goldberg sale. He also includes some historical background on the former reports of the variety in the collecting community. 

Our treasurer, Russell Logan penned the next article, Stop the Press: 1827 O148, for our enjoyment. He tells us about this exceedingly rare marriage and the fact that most are known as double struck specimens. Russ lists a Census of the known coins along with grades and other information. This multiple striking tendency may explain the extreme rarity of this variety. 

Another of our officers, John McCloskey authored the next article, The 1837 Quarter Eagle. John is an ardent researcher of the early gold series. He tells us of his visit to the Smithsonian and his discovery of a new die marriage in their collection. He further describes his discovery of a new Die paring for 1837. The photos provided by Tom Mulvaney make it very easy to identify thevariety, even for those of us who do not collect the gold series. 

One of our most popular authors, Edgar Souders, gives us our next submission, Capped Bust Half Dollar Secrets: The Lapping Process. Edgar, the author of Bust Half Fever, has again enlightened uswith a wonderful article from his extensive research into the Capped Bust series. 

David Lang of NGC finishes the article section of the journal with the official report of the discovery of the 1837 B6 quarter. A short description along with photos of the obverse and reverse are presented so the membership can begin the search for more new pieces. 

The journal ends with the Treasurer’s Report for the accounting period ending April, 2000. A breakdown of the membership by state is also included. 

We hope these short reviews of the articles presented in our journal have interested you enough to contact us about membership. We would welcome any comments and/or questions that you may have about the society. Please contact us at Karoleffs4@aol.com. 

Volume 13, Issue 1, Whole No. 39 of The John Reich Journal has been sent to the membership. It contains numerous articles by the members detailing the latest research into the early silver and gold coins issued by the United States Mint in Philadelphia. Visitors to the webpage are encouraged to send for a free copy of the journal and a membership application. 

The issue began with the editor's comments. An announcement was made that those planning to attend the annual ANA convention in Philadelphia should set aside the morning of Wednesday, August 9 at 8:30AM for attending our annual meeting. As always, the meeting is a wonderful opportunity to meet other members and discuss our hobby. It was stated that JRCS will host an open house for the membership on Thursday night, the room to be announced at the JRCS meeting. 

The minutes of the 1999 Annual Meeting were presented by Stephen A. Crain, JRCS Secretary. Highlights and awards from the 1999 JRCS meeting were reviewed. 

Next, in what is hoped to become a regular feature, Robert Stark offered his second installment of "Early Dollar Notes." Bob discussed the Rarity-8 1795 B-20 silver dollar die marriage with only three specimens known (to him). Bob has been collecting and studying early dollars for over 25 years and the sharing his knowledge and stories are much appreciated. 

"Bust or Bogus - An 1836 Dime" by Russel J. Logan was our next article. Russ writes about a number of "bogus" dimes that he and Henry Hilgard have studied over the last few years. A recent purchase on E-Bay added to the mystery. Were these struck from real dies? Do the dies still exist? And if so, where are these dies today? 

Major reference books for the silver dollars 1794-1803 have called the 1795 B-10 die marriage everything from "Unique" to Rarity-5, with most calling it R-6 (13-30 specimens known). Which rarity rating should be applied today? W. David Perkins traces all specimens known to him (and other specialists) from 1881 to the present and illustrates the different views on rarity over time. He concludes that this extremely rare die marriage is most likely a Rarity-7, with 8 specimens known (to him), one of which may be duplicate listing. 

Paul Hybert, in his first article for the John Reich Journal, writes about dentil die clashing on 1799 silver dollars. Paul states that he has seen clashing on four varieties of 1799 dollars - B3, B4, B7a and very rare B19. The article was nicely illustrated with close up photos of the dentil clashing. Paul encouraged members to check their 1799 dollars and report their observations to him for a possible follow-up article. 

Karl Moulton follows with a list of his "Ten Favorite Bust Auction Catalogues." He listed his top two catalogues for five different silver denominations - Bust Dollars, Half Dollars, Bust Quarters, Bust Dimes and Bust Half Dimes. Factors considered were the number of usable plates and catalogue descriptions, pedigrees and of course, the collection itself. 

Ken Cable-Camilleis covers the "reduced size" bust quarters 1831-1836. Ken believes that there should be a restructuring of some of the Browning variety designations for the series. Ken has done considerable research and examined over 800 quarters in his study. 

Jim Koenings put out a call for help on a series of books that he and Rory Rea are working on that will be called "The Rarest (enter denomination). The first book they plan to publish will be called "The Rarest Quarters - 1796-1807." They have been taking color photos of every R5 or rarer Bust Dime and Bust Quarter that they can. They requested collectors contact them to arrange for their coins to be included. 

The last article was by Stephen A. Crain, a half dime specialist and frequent contributor. Stephen's article was "Inspection of the First Coins of the First United States Mint." Stephen stated that "As photography would not become a reality until 1840, no photographs of the original mint are available today. Certainly, no photographs are available of such a historically significant event as the presentation of the very first United States coins." He shares with the readers the story behind and a 10" X 7" print (from a 1916 calendar) that he acquired of the John Ward Dunsmore painting "Inspection of the First Coins of the First United States Mint." Stephen is an avid collector of half dimes, and of course, the first coins produced by the Mint were the 1792 half dismes (dimes).