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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 2905217, member: 42773&quot;]Last installment of the report. The Colonial Coin Collectors Club, or C4, held their annual convention at the show, which included a number of lectures like the one mentioned above. I also attended a talk entitled, “Transition From State to Federal Coins,” given by Chuck Heck. Chuck presented a number of Colonial types, Federal patterns, and the earliest official US mint issues, discussing how various themes and ideas on the coins were carried from the foreign circulating coins of early America, to the Colonial issues, to finally the US mint issues of 1793. There was lively discussion and debate afterward.</p><p><br /></p><p>As a collector of ancient coins, I felt very much at home with this group. The discussion they had was very similar to discussions we have here at CT, centering around numismatic and historical themes. It&#039;s interesting to note that the earliest Greek coinage presented gods, goddesses, mythological themes, and particular civic characteristics, while eschewing the busts of specific rulers. The Seleucids started putting their kings on their coinage, and by Roman Imperial times it was <i>de rigeur</i> for coins to propagandize the current emperor. That aesthetic remained the rule (with notable exceptions of course) throughout the Western world until the colonies took King George off of their coins and replaced him with civic and philosophic themes. The primacy of the ruler on the coinage was broken, and even George Washington objected to having his bust on any of the issues. In some sense, the colonists had come full circle to something akin to the early Greek aesthetic.</p><p><br /></p><p>All of this talk of colonial coins gave me the itch to acquire one, so I asked for plenty of advice from a few of the members of C4, and came away with this copper of New Jersey. It&#039;s not certain exactly why the state had the alternate name Nova Caesarea, but it is conjectured that the contemporary pronunciation of Jersey might have been easily corrupted into the contemporary pronunciation of Caesarea.</p><p><br /></p><p>I know this is long-winded, and I apologize, but one more thing. The dealer that sold me this coin perhaps thought that I was coming from the world of &quot;perfect&quot; moderns. Before he showed me a single example of a colonial coin, he carefully explained to me how the aesthetics of collecting these types was very different - how sometimes collectors of colonials have to settle for less-than-perfect coins, with oddly-shaped planchets and uneven, off-center strikes, and how they learn to love the coins for their imperfections and the stories they have to tell. It was a bit surreal to get that talk from a collector of modern coins, a talk we collectors of ancient sometimes have to give to collectors of moderns. But enough. Here&#039;s the last coin I bought yesterday, and I&#039;m thrilled to have it...</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]700697[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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