TRASH TO TREASURE
Midwest Historical Research Society Chicago, Illinois Founded in 1968 “Preserving the Past for the Future”
March 2015
OFFICERS: President: Jeff Hungerford, 847-­‐692-­‐7549 Vice President: John Ramoska, 773-­‐908-­‐4533 Treasurer: Pam Hungerford, 847-­‐692-­‐7549 Secretary: Vanessa Moctezuma, 773-­‐574-­‐6075 DIRECTORS: Steve Crundwell, 224-­‐392-­‐5298 Jan Kilanksi, 847-­‐915-­‐2981 COMMITTEES: Sergeant-­‐at-­‐Arms: Steve Crundwell Membership: Pam Hungerford FOM Table: Tom Halek Hospitality: John Fitzpatrick Editor/Publisher: Pam Hungerford Webmaster: Pat Anderson Historian: still vacant Facebook Admin: John Ramoska Picnic: Danielle Ramoska Huntmaster: Hungerford/Ramoska Recycling: Dale Snyder Christmas Party: Leona Tatman For Club information, call Jeff Hungerford or John Ramoska MHRS Mailing Address: Editor’s Mailing Address: Editor’s Email Address & Phone: Webpage: Webmaster’s Email Address: 1488 Vernon Avenue, Park Ridge, IL 60068 1488 Vernon Avenue, Park Ridge, IL 60068 [email protected] 847-­‐692-­‐7549 www.mhrsdetecting.com [email protected] Attendance at the February Meeting: 47 members and 1 guest March Meeting Program: Phil Zaleski, Executive Director of the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance will presented a check from the proceeds from our 2014 Penny Project Campaign. Pastor “Will,” the church’s youth pastor, will be presented a check from our Bible Camp donations and fund-­‐raising activity. And don’t forget the Swap Meet! We’ll also hear from Neil Loewe on Photographing Your Finds (see page 4). “CODE OF ETHICS” NEVER LEAVE HOLES! This is a cardinal rule and MUST be strictly observed! Use a small tool to recover your target NEVER a shovel. Replace all dirt and tamp down turf leaving ground level. Remove ALL objects you find, including junk; wear a nail apron or jacket with large pockets. Dispose of all unwanted refuse properly. Next meeting – March 29 th a t 3:00 p.m.
President’s Notes
Comments have been positive about the changes in items on our monthly raffle table. We have replaced a half dollar with two dated, standing liberty quarters, used or will use two and three cent pieces in place of halves and replaced a silver Eagle with either a one ounce Austrian Philharmonic coin or a Canadian one ounce Maple Leaf coin. Northwest Fellowship Church has merged with the North Maine Community Church and the church is now known as The Branch Community Church. Given this merger, there has been a significant increase in congregational size along with an increase in the use of the church’s facilities. Our March meeting date has been pushed back a week, to March 29th, as the church is having a large celebration of this merger and completion of much of the construction. Also note that the meeting time will be at 3:00 pm; this is a permanent time change! In the last month, the Board learned of the church’s frustration with the significant congestion in the parking lots (and street parking) and dissatisfaction with our members arriving considerably earlier than our stated meeting time. Despite announcing “doors open” at 12:15 pm, many members have been arriving earlier than the few of us who come early to set up for the meeting (raffle, FOM table, coffee, etc…). Not that we don’t appreciate member assistance, but this has resulted in the church requesting we push our meeting start time back to allow church activities to conclude prior to our arrival. Therefore, please do not arrive early and hang around the parking lots and/or meeting room. Remember, we are guests of the church, not the owners of the facility. Swap Meets will be continued this year; they have proved to be wanted and easily implemented; so bring your “stuff” and make a few deals. These swap meets and the newsletter want ads are good places to get and get rid of metal detecting gear not oth-­‐
erwise available at Windy City Detectors. Hunting season is here, so take inventory or tour gear and with see Ron Shore or the want ads for needed stuff! Everyone needs to start thinking of what you will be baking/bringing to our annual Bake Sale; this is our major fundraiser. Last year we raised $920… this year let’s break $1000! Feel free to “enhance” bake sale items with anything that would be appropriate raffle table or hunt prize item (thinking coins, here, folks). While the Spring Hunt this year will be heavier in field silver due to the lower silver prices, manufacturers have cut back substantially on contributed prize donations. So please, if you have any appropriate item(s) to donate, let John Ramoska or me know. The hunt will be at our usual spot, Gillson Beach in Wilmette. The worst of the winter weather may finally be over, let’s keep our fingers crossed! I can’t wait to get out and hunt!!! Jeff Hungerford Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
2 FINDS OF THE MONTH: February 2015 GOLD & PLATINUM JEWELRY SILVER & OTHER JEWELRY 1. Naum Militsin – 18K Gold Ring 1. Vanessa Moctezuma – Silver Class Ring 2. Andrew Pollak – 10K Gold Class Ring Tom Halek – 14K Wedding Band 2. Bill Popowski – 1960s Silver Watch w/Diamonds and Ruby 3. Javier Castrejon – 14K Single Earring, red stone 3. Steve Crundwell – Tiffany & Co. Sterling Bracelet U.S. COINS 1909 AND BEFORE U.S. COINS 1910 AND AFTER 1. Tizoc Moctezuma – 1864 small 2 Cents 1. Steve Crundell – 1937 Walking Half 2. Jan Kilanski – 1905 Barber Dime 2. Tom Howell – 1913 Barber Dime 3. Tim Lopez – 1906 Indian 3. Bill Popowski – 1971 Kennedy Half Jan Kilanski – 1926D Merc Dime Tizoc Moctezuma – 1945 Silver War Nickel ARTIFACTS TOKENS 1. Mark Becker – “Dick” Pistol 1. Andrew Pollak – 1954 Winnetka Beach Token Tom Howell – Sunoco Car Token 2. Terry Spann – National Defense Army Medal Jan Kilanski – 1023 Chicago Dog Tag 2. Doris Patitz – Morris B Sachs 3. Bill Popowski – Military 30-­‐year Pin 3. Mark Becker – Grams Bros (Dundee) 5 cent-­‐in-­‐
trade Vanessa Moctezuma – Northwestern Token MULTIPLES FOREIGN COINS 1. Steve Crundwell – 2 Mercury Dimes 1. Mark Becker – Chien Lung Chinese Cash Coin (1700s) Bill Popowski – 1944 Mex Centavos 2. Jan Kilanski – 7 Quarters 2. Andrew Pollak – Indonesian Coin Tom Howell – Cyprus Coin 3. Tom Howell – ’35 & ’47 Washingtons, 1 Wheat 3. Steve Crundwell – 1980 2 Pence Jan Kilanski – 1957 Silver 20 Centavo Mexico Vanessa Moctezuma – Canada 25 cent What a great start to our Finds of the Month, Finds of the Year and Treasurer Hunter of the Year contests!!! There were 18 members participating, 14 earning points; for a total of 65 points awarded. To put things in perspective, last February, there were only seven mem-­‐
bers participating and earning points; for a total 48 points awarded. THE GAMES ARE ON!!!!!! 3 TOP “TEN” – February 22, 2015 1. Steve Crundwell, 8 points 7. Vanessa Moctezuma, 5 points 1. Jan Kilanski, 8 points 8. Tizoc Moctezuma, 4 points 1. Tom Howell, 8 points 9. Naul Militisn, 3 points 4. Andrew Pollak, 7 points 10. Tom Halek, 2 points 4. Bill Popowki, 7 points 10. Terry Spann, 2 points 4. Mark Becker, 7 points 10. Doris Patitz, 2 points SPRING BEACH HUNT DONATIONS Forget this never-­‐ending winter, spring will be here before you know it!! Think about it… only two more months un-­‐
til the Spring Beach Hunt (Sunday, May 17th at Gillson Beach Park in Wilmette)! We need your “prize” donations for the Hunt. Each token you find during the hunt represents a special donation by one of our club members or other friend of the club (vendors, dealers, etc…). Coins, tools, apparel, any metal detecting or non-­‐metal detecting related gifts are all candidates for donation; think of something you’d like to win! How about tickets to a sport-­‐
ing event… Cubs or White Sox games, or basketball playoff tickets?!? Please re-­
member, all donated items should be new (except coins ). The more prizes, the more fun the hunt! Donations can be given to any Board member at the next two monthly meetings. SILVER FOR THE BEACH HUNTS The club is purchasing SILVER COINS for this year’s beach hunts. Contact Jeff Hunger-­
ford or John Ramoska for the Club’s offer for buying silver dimes, quarters or halves. (We pay 95% of the Coinflation rate at the time of purchase.) Of course, all donations are greatly appreciated. Sell or donate your coins now! PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR FINDS CAN PAY OFF! …. by Neil Loewe I recently had an experience I’d like to share with you. It underscores the impor-­‐
tance of photographing your finds. I take close-­‐up digital pictures of my good finds from each hunt, silvers, jewelry, tokens, or any other cool artifact. I email them to a few of the guys I hunt with. I keep cop-­‐
ies of those pictures in a detecting folder on my computer. That practice paid an unexpected dividend last year. One morning, I discovered I had left my car unlocked, and someone cleaned out my console and my ashtray. They got twelve dollars in bills and about twenty-­‐
three dollars in modern change out of my center console, and a small assortment of old coins from the ashtray. That included a walker and a Franklin half, a silver Washington, a Barber quarter, a Mercury dime, some buffs and a few wheat cents. I kept them in the car to show curious peo-­‐
ple who stop to talk when I’m out hunting, and I wanted to give the walker away to one particular individual who lives in town the next time I saw him. 4 I’m well aware crimes of this nature are rarely solved, but I decided to report it anyway. I knew my old coins were out there somewhere in the hands of a crimi-­‐
nal, and I figured the chance of them be-­‐
ing sold rather than spent was pretty high. That would increase the chance of identifying the offender. I went directly to our local coin store and talked to Frank, the owner. I explained what happened and asked him to keep an eye out for any-­‐
one trying to sell the unique little assort-­‐
ment I was missing. I asked him to try and get an I.D. from them if he could. He said he would. Then I reported the crime to the police. When I talked to the officer taking the report, I explained I had high-­‐
resolution pictures of the old coins that were stolen, and using them, I should be able to positively identify them if they were recovered. I also told him of my ar-­‐
rangement with Frank. He noted both of these things in the report. A couple days later, I received a phone call from the detective who was assigned my case. He thought they recovered some of my coins. Whoever was in my car also hit a bunch of other vehicles in the neigh-­‐
borhood. They apparently stopped at a bench in a nearby yard to divvy up the loot they had taken and either had too much to take with or were scared off, as they left a few things on and around the bench, including a bunch of change. The owner of the bench called the police when he noticed an old coin in the mix. It was my SLQ. I loaded all pictures of my silver finds that included SLQ’s, Barbers quarters, or any half dollar into my phone, then went to the station to view what they had re-­‐
covered. Using the pictures in my phone, I was able to identify that particular SLQ as mine. I signed a form and claimed the bag. It held eighteen dollars in new change, the SLQ, three buffalo nickels and a few wheat cents. I decided to stop at the coin shop 5 on the way home and tell Frank I got the SLQ back. When he saw me come in, he went to the back room, returning with a sheet of paper and a small brown envelope. He put the paper facedown on the counter and emptied the contents of the envelope onto it. Out slid four coins, a 1952 Franklin half, a 1914 Barber quarter, a 1920 Mer-­‐
cury dime, and a 1937 wheat cent. One of our home-­‐grown habitual drunks and frequent offender brought the small group into the store to sell. The sheet of paper the coins were on was a photocopy of the guy’s state I.D. Copying the I.D. was something Frank didn’t have to do by law, and something he wouldn’t normally do if I hadn’t tipped him off. I again flipped through coin photos on my phone, and matching wear patterns and scratch marks unique to the coins in front of me, was able to positively identify the half dollar and the quarter as mine. A quick phone call to the detective had him at the coin shop recovering the coins and the photocopy of the I.D. as evidence. My walker and a silver Washington were still unaccounted for, so I went back to the bench where the SLQ had been found and checked the area with my detector. My two silvers weren’t there, but I did man-­‐
age to retrieve another dollar in clad from the wood chips around the bench. The offender in this case was charged with possessing stolen property. With solid evidence to back up the charge, his attorney had him enter a plea bargain. I never had to go to court, and because of his extensive criminal record including burglary and theft, and getting what I consider a good judge, he was sentenced to a year in jail. Based on his past history, I’d say quite a few crimes are being pre-­‐
vented in my town and the ones sur-­‐
rounding it while he’s away. The return of my coins and the arrest of the offender never would have happened had it not been for the clear pictures I had taken of my detecting finds. Whether your treasures are coins, jewelry, or some other type of valuable items, take a little time and shoot some good quality close-­‐up pictures of them. It might pay off in the long run if you are the victim of a crime, a fire, or some other kind of disaster. It’s easier to walk into a pawn shop or coin store and show the owner a photo of what was taken than to try to explain what makes your gold cross or old ring stand out from all the others they see every day. COMING TO YOU SOON…. APRIL BAKE “SALE” (AUCTION) Next month we’ll hold our Annual Bake Sale/Auction. Be prepared to bring in your favorite baked goodies and lots of “dough.” Cakes, pies (pecan, Vanessa?), cookies, brownies and other sweet and savory goodies will be offered up to the highest bidder. For new members of the Club, how-­‐
ever you bring in your treats, will be the way they are sold. Cakes and pies will be left “whole.” Plates or trays of cookies or brownies or whatever will be left “as is.” In other words, we won’t be breaking up and creating new trays or plates for variety. Oh, and if you want your tray, plate or container back, please make sure you put your name on it! All the money we make goes to pur-­‐
chase coins in the sand and prizes for this year’s hunts; the more funds we raise, the more fun the hunts! So bake and buy… it all contributes to the “bottom line.” (Of course, more than one “bottom line” is likely to be added to if you buy a lot.) SPEAKING OF BAKED GOODS (or even savory items)…. Don’t forget your fellow Club members would be more than happy to sample one of your culinary creations (or purchases) at our meeting coffee break. Have a new recipe you want to try? Use Club members as your “test subjects,” I’m sure there’s a discriminating palate or two out there. Your contribution doesn’t necessary have to be a sweet, baked good; grapes and cheese went over well in January. (Did someone mention wings?  ) NAME BADGES AND MEMBER CARDS With the exception of our two new members who joined in February, all name badges for our new 2015 members have been ordered and received (sorry Dan & Fred). See Pam over at the raffle table to pick yours up if you haven’t already done so. Badges will be or-­‐
dered subsequent to the March meeting for new members. If you happen to need your badge replaced, for whatever reason, let Pam know (and pay the $8 replacement fee). At this juncture, everyone should have a member card! They were put out on the table by the sign-­‐in book last month… and will be put out again at the March meeting. PLEASE REMEMBER…. … to sign the “sign-­‐in” book when attending our monthly meetings. If you don’t see it by the door when you walk in, ask Steve Crundwell (there were a lot of members who “forgot” last month). We would like to capture attendance levels as best as possible to assess the impact of the change in our meeting time. Thanks! 6 WANTED PULL TABS FOR CHARITY Bring in those little tabs you pull off your soda or beer cans, or pick up off the ground, beaches, etc. John Fitzpatrick is collecting them for charity; bring them to the membership meeting. (Not feeling charitable? Leave the tabs on the cans and give it all to Dale Snyder for recycling; proceeds going to silver for our hunts.) WANTED BOX TOPS/LABELS FOR EDUCATION Save those Campbell Soup labels and little Box Tops for Education “squares.” Gene Zschernitz is collecting them and turning them into cash for schools in our area. WANTED We still need a member to volunteer to serve as the Club’s Historian. It’s not über labor intensive, unless you want it to be. Think of all the archival stuff and pictures you can dig through! Talk to Jeff Hungerford or John Ramoska. WANTED Officers and Committee Chairs for 2016-­2017. At this point in time, none of the current elected (or appointed) officers intend to run for another two-­‐year stint. “Committee” openings forty-­‐eight will include running the monthly and Christmas raffle tables, editor/publisher of the newsletter, membership (if separated from the Treasurer responsibilities), and some FOM responsibili-­‐
ties. Want to know what these folks do? Ask! Better yet, volunteer to help out at one of the meetings or attend a Board meeting or “shadow” that person for a month or two. FOR SALE Microsoft Surface Two, only 5months old, with charger, travel case, pen and keyboard. Paid $629, asking $400. Call John Ramoska. LOOKING AHEAD…. Sunday, March 29, 2015 Tuesday, April 7, 2015 Membership Meeting @ The Branch Community Church Deadline for newsletter articles and “Classifieds” Thursday, April 9, 2015 Sunday, April 26, 2015 Executive Board Meeting Membership Meeting @ The Branch Community Church BAKE SALE! (Test out your recipe(s) – we’ll be happy to taste test at the March meeting. ) SPRING BEACH HUNT!! Sunday, May 17, 2015 7 Midwest Historical Research Society Membership Meeting & Program The Branch Community Church 6125 W. Foster Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 WHEN: Sunday, March 29, 2015 TIME: 3:00 pm PROGRAM: IFSA Burn and Bible Camps presentation of donations, Photographing Your Finds and Swap Meet NOTE THE CHANGE IN BOTH THE DATE AND TIME OF THE MEETING!!!! VISITORS WELCOME! ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES: $30 individual, $50 couples, and $20 junior. NEW MEMBERS pay the annual dues for the current year plus a one-­‐time initiation fee of $15. An annual fee of $10 will be charged to members requesting a hard copy of the newsletter. A $5 late fee will be levied for dues paid after the January meeting TRASH to TREASURE
Midwest Historical Research Society 1488 North Vernon Avenue Park Ridge, Illinois 60068 8