CHEROKEE NATION: According to a brief write-up (Birth of a Nation) from the December 25, 1978 issue of Time magazine, “a 400-acre island was created when Hurricane Beulah changed the course of the Rio Grande in 1967.” Apparently, the storms caused the disappearance of a small strip of land which once connected the spacious plot of land to the Texas side of the border. “Because the island is south of the main river channel, the U.S. decided that the land was Mexican territory. Mexico, however, refused to accept ownership.” So Colonel Herbert M. Williams, “a fifth-generation Texan of Cherokee blood,” purchased the islet from the Mexican populace for $400,000. By his reckoning, the 19th century Mexican Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and the Plan of Iguala gave the Cherokee people the right to establish a nation. Williams, who hailed from Brownsville, had great plans for his nation: “‘We’ll have ambassadors and citizenship,’ says he. ‘We’ll put in a gambling casino and a TV station, and we’ll register ships.’ He also hints at tax-free companies and Swiss-style secret bank accounts. What if the U.S. and Mexico interfere, as they surely will? ‘I’ll take it right to the World Court,’ says Williams. ‘It takes them 20 years to rule on anything, and if worst comes to worst, I’ll have my country for 20 years.’” His ultimate ambition was to make his own laws and to “run a country like God intended a country to be run.” Erwin S. Strauss, in How to Start Your Own Country, informs us that the micro-national entrepreneur “describes himself as a rancher, real-estate speculator and surplus-arms dealer, and appears to be quite rich”. Williams, who “is one-quarter Cherokee Indian”, insisted “that obscure Mexican law makes any Indian owner of border territory a Mexican citizen”. He “claims to have secured Mexican title to the land in 1974, and says that if Mexico doesn’t cede him sovereignty, he will legally adopt 300,000 fellow Cherokees, and sell them each a square foot of the island. This will make them Mexican citizens, and together they will outnumber the other residents of Tamaulipas state in Mexico, elect their own governor, and generally make trouble. In 1983, he was reported to still be active, offering stamps and coins for sale.”
CHEROKEE NATION OF 1839/UNITED CHEROKEE NATION (Tahlequah, Oklahoma): This is a 1 Adela coin, dated 2000. The unique denominational term is “pronounced phonetically as ‘ah-day-la’ which means money in the Cherokee language, since there is no word in Cherokee for dollar. This word is accepted to mean dollar in Cherokee, this could be said to be a Cherokee dollar in English...The apparent English D on the face of the coin is actually a character from the Cherokee syllabary and is the first character in the word Adela pronounced ‘ah’, in the center of the character D is 1 signifying one Adela, the English numeral ‘1’ was used because there is no single character representing one in the Cherokee language, the phonetic spelling and pronunciation of one is ‘sa-wu’. Therefore a Cherokee speaker would say ‘sa-wu-ah-de-la’ and would be understood to mean one dollar or one Adela if that be the conversation topic.” The coin's obverse “has a likeness of John Ross...the greatest and longest seated Chief of the Cherokee Nation, he served from 1827 till his death in 1866”. In the background, behind Ross' head, there is a small image of a rising phoenix; “The bird is called in Cherokee the coowescoowee bird which means the great white bird, which was John Ross's Cherokee Name!!” The back of the piece “has a likeness of the original 1839 Cherokee Nation Seal, which is different than the one the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO), The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma (UKB), or the Eastern Band of Cherokee (EBC) of North Carolina uses.”
FREE CITY OF CHRISTIANIA: A democratic commune in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1971 as an alternative society, which was an offfpring of the Danish counter-cultural movement and the student uprisings of the 1960s. The community appropriated some abandoned military/army barracks because the vacant tract and boarded-up buildings became an eyesore, and they wanted to convert it into a playground/park. So they knocked down the fence at the corner of Prinsessegade and Refshalevej streets and began their anarchistic social experiment. They pride themselves on not being part of the city, the country, or the European Union. The Freetown's “entrepreneurs” celebrated the City's 30th birthday on September 26, 2001.
CONCH REPUBLIC: On 4/18/1982, due to an upsurge of illegal immigration and narcotics smuggling in the area, the United States Border Patrol established a blockade on U.S. Highway 1 in front of “Skeeter's Last Chance Saloon” (in Florida City, just to the north of the Florida Keys), “effectively cutting off the Florida Keys at the confluence of the only two roads out”. According to the official Web-site of the Conch Republic (http://www.conchrepublic.com), every vehicle leaving the Keys was searched, resulting in “a seventeen mile traffic jam”. Since U.S. Route 1 is the only overland artery to and from the mainland, the government’s “heinous act” thoroughly isolated the Keys from the rest of the continent. “This roadblock portrayed Keys residents as non-U.S. citizens who had to prove their citizenship in order to drive onto the Florida mainland! Hardly an American thing to do!” Skeeter Davis, the proprietor of the previously-mentioned pub, “was immediately on the phone to his old pal Mayor Dennis Wardlow of Key West.” It did not take long for the media to start “reporting on the unprecedented action of the Border Patrol in setting up a border checkpoint within the United States, itself.” As the story was broadcast across the nation and around the world, “visitors started canceling reservations to come to the keys. The hotels began to empty, deliveries were delayed or stopped, attractions in the Keys went begging for customers; the Key were paralyzed…The very lifeblood of a budding tourism industry was threatened.” Therefore, “Secessionist talk was bubbling up in each discussion.” A group of “key” Conchs (the affectionate term by which the people of Key West are known) began to protest. It was “A totally American thing to do!” At the urging of David Paul Horan, one of the concerned community leaders, “the legal route was chosen as the first alternative. Dave filed an injunction against the government’s action in Federal Court in Miami.” Mayor Wardlow and Edwin O. Swift III “piled into Dave’s airplane, and off to court they flew. Dave argued brilliantly, but the Court essentially refused to enjoin the Border patrol from treating the Keys like a foreign country. Leaving the courthouse, the delegation from Key West was met by a gaggle of the world press.” There, on the steps, “Mayor Wardlow announced to the world, by way of the assembled TV crews and reporters, that; ‘Tomorrow at noon the Florida Keys will secede from the Union!’” It was decided that if the Keys were to be treated as a 3rd world country then they would become a 3rd world country. “As the news of the Mayor’s intentions hit the newspapers and the airwaves, the community splintered. When the rumor flew that the American flag was to be lowered, and the Conch Republic flag raised in its place, a number of people were very upset. The calls came pouring in to the Mayor. A compromise was reached, the American flag would stay. The Conch flag would be raised underneath it. Meanwhile, federal agents started pouring into town…What would happen? Would everyone involved be arrested? Would the Keys be placed under martial law? Fear was real. The community was deeply divided.” On April 23rd, 1982, Mayor Wardlow (“surrounded by his loyal cohorts mounted the back of a flatbed truck in Clinton Square in front of the Old Customs building”) delivered the Proclamation of Secession to the assembled crowd, which included some very vocal protesters: “I proclaim that Key West shall now be known as the Conch Republic…We serve notice on the government in Washington to remove the roadblock or get ready to put up a permanent border to a new foreign land. We as a people, may have suffered in the past, but we have no intention of suffering in the future at the hands of fools and bureaucrats…We’re Conchs, and we’ve had enough. We’re happy to secede today with some humor. But there is some anger, too. Big trouble has started in much smaller places than this.” Following the reading of the Proclamation, Wardlow — now the Prime Minister — farcically declared war on the United States, whereupon he “then symbolically began the Conch Republic's Civil Rebellion by breaking a loaf of stale Cuban bread over the head of a man dressed in a U.S. Navy uniform. After one minute of rebellion…Wardlow turned to the Admiral in charge of the Navy Base at Key West, and surrendered to the Union Forces, and demanded 1 Billion dollars in foreign aid and War Relief to rebuild our nation after the long Federal siege!” Thus, the Conch Republic, an independent nation separate from the United States, was established. The pelican was declared the Republic's bird and the hibiscus its flower. The Conch was declared the Republic’s currency (their lively Web-site, unfortunately, contains no numismatic information). Wardlow’s strategy generated tons of publicity, which ultimately helped to resolve the plight of the Conchs: “Amazingly, the United States government, although they immediately removed the roadblock, never bothered to react to the secession. They never sent even the littlest letter informing the Mayor that they objected to the secession, or ‘...while this was quite funny, you must realize you cannot be a real country...’ Nothing, zip, zero, nothing by way of response...The flags flew, passports were issued and traveled on, visas were issued to visitors, the government ‘functioned’; in short, all the trappings of nationhood were observed while the U.S. said nada.” During the intervening years, this lack of response from the federal government thereby established “sovereignty for the Conch Republic under International Law Governing ‘adverse possession between sovereign nations’.” The “plucky little Conch Republic” has endured: “We are both Conchs and we are Americans and we are proud to be both. By act of Congress we hold dual citizenship as Conchs and as Americans and will fight for the right to be both!” Furthermore, “To enforce the validity of our secession, the Monroe County Commission, in 1994, by unanimous vote, did pass a County Resolution recognizing Mayor Wardlow's actions, on the 23rd of April in 1982, as by, of and for the people of the Florida Keys.” Currently, the Secretary General of the Conch Republic is the Honorable Sir Peter Anderson. “Traveling solely on a Conch Republic Diplomatic Passport, the Secretary has been received by thirteen Caribbean countries and the United States. We have had citizens and diplomats received by Sweden, Russia, France, Spain, Monaco, Ireland, Mexico, Ecuador, the United States, and many other countries. We have opened Conch-sulates in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, New Orleans, Ohio, Maine, Atlanta, and have more coming on line all the time.” The Republic has, “as its stated Foreign Policy, ‘The Mitigation of World Tension through the Exercise of Humor’. As the world's first ‘Fifth World’ country, we exist as a ‘State of Mind’, and aspire only to bring more Warmth, Humor and Respect to a planet we find in sore need of all three.” Today, the Conch Republic continues to “celebrate our Independence annually in a ‘public and notorious manner’ during a ten day Conch Republic Independence Celebration which is held in April of every year.” In comparison to other micronations, the Conch Republic is described by Erwin S. Strauss (in his outdated, albeit classic micropatrological treatise How to Start Your Own Country) as a “mouse-that-roared” operation.
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA: The numismatic history of the CSA — they existed from February 1861 until April 1865 — is quite fascinating. According to Quentin David Bowers (one of the best-known and most noteworthy numismatists in America), “During its brief existence the Confederate States of America was responsible for two coins: the cent made on a contractual basis by a Philadelphia die cutter, and the half dollar struck in the New Orleans Mint.” First, he describes the origins of the Confederate cent: “Early in 1861 the Confederate States of America contacted Bailey & Co., Philadelphia jewelers, concerning supplying one-cent pieces for the South. Bailey commissioned Robert Lovett, Jr., a die sinker of that city, to prepare the pieces. Earlier Lovett had produced a one-cent-size token with an attractive bust of Liberty on the obverse and with his own advertisement on the reverse. This attractive design was considered ideal for use on the Confederate cent. Lovett then struck a small number of pieces…For over a decade the secret was kept. Numismatists were not aware of their existence.” In 1873 or 1874, John W. Haseltine (Hazeltine?) learned about the existence of the 1861 cents and the dies. He called on Lovett, from whom he actually purchased the dies. Haseltine then “enlisted the help of J. Colvin Randall and Peter L. Krider, also of Philadelphia, to produce restrikes. They were careful not to produce any restrikes in the original metal, copper-nickel, thus preserving the integrity of the twelve pieces originally struck in 1861 by Lovett.” After 7 gold, 12 silver, and 54 copper restrikes had been made, the dies broke on the 55th copper strike. For years the cent dies were thought to have been destroyed but in 1961 they surfaced in the hands of Robert Bashlow, a New York City coin dealer. Though the obverse die had been defaced by hammer blows and the reverse die by chisel marks, they were still marginally fit for use. Bashlow had August C. Frank & Co. of Philadelphia make a set of transfer dies and strike 30,156 copies in a variety of metals (not to mention red fiber) in time for the Civil War centennial. Known as the Bashlow “second restrikes”, they are the final run of Confederate cents (I purchased a goldine version from the World Proof Numismatic Association). Following his 1961 production strikes, Bashlow donated both dies to the Smithsonian Institute where they currently reside. Bowers continues his account of the coinage of the Confederacy: “The 1861 Confederate States of America half dollar also has an interesting history. In February of that year the state of Louisiana turned over to the Confederate States of America the United States Mint at New Orleans which had come under control of the South.” On April 30, Dr. Benjamin F. Taylor, the chief coiner of the Confederate States of America Mint, struck four genuine CSA half dollars. The obverse was to be made from the Liberty Seated federal die, but the proposed reverse (engraved by A.H.M. Peterson) featured a new Confederate coat of arms (a shield with seven stars — these represent the seceding States — with a liberty-cap suspended above it), surrounded by cotton and sugar cane, important symbols of the southern economy. However, before full-scale minting of this coin could commence, the price of precious metals rose dramatically as the reality of war set in, causing coinage throughout all of America, both north and south, to disappear rapidly. Tangible assets, such as precious metal coins, were considered a safe harbor in stormy waters. Moreover, bullion supplies at New Orleans were exhausted, with no hope of replenishment any time soon. Given these circumstances, [CSA Treasury Secretary Christopher Gustavus] Memminger concluded that releasing Confederate coinage would be futile, and ordered a suspension of minting operations. The Mint was closed. “As was true with the Confederate cent, the existence of the Confederate half dollar was unknown for many years after its coinage…The die subsequently found its way to J. W. Scott & Co., coin and stamp dealers.” Thus, in 1879, 500 restrikes were made from the original Confederate reverse die. Also that year, Scott struck 500 tokens in white metal using the reverse die coupled with a special obverse die bearing the inscription “4 ORIGINALS STRUCK BY ORDER OF C.S.A. IN NEW ORLEANS 1861” (plus some additional text). To many numismatists, the original Confederate half dollars and Confederate cents are the highest profile survivors of a long-ago vision to establish a coinage system representing southern values.
CONFEDERATION OF ANTARCTICA: This coin was made by Richard Hanscom (akcoins@mosquitonet.com) in 1976. He is currently a partner in the firm Alaska Rare Coins, of Fairbanks, AK. Along with pre-existing stamps from the “US, Ross Dependency, AAT, BAT, and FSAT”, he planned to incorporate his coin into Philatelic Numismatic Covers (PNCs); unfortunately he “only got covers back from Ross Dependency. McMurdo (or Pole Station - don't remember which) only returned two of my covers rather than the batch that I sent. Their policy when servicing philatelic mail was two to a customer. So this project never got off the ground.” Prior to contacting Mr. Hanscom, I searched for information about the piece on the Internet; I saw references to “cinderella” stamps from an Antarctic Confederation of City Republics (ACCR) and an Antarctic Confederation of Federal Territories (ACFT). According to Mr. Bruce Grenville (see the Occussi-Ambeno listing hereinbelow), these were made by Geir Sør-Reime; ACFT was the original name the philatelist came up with, but he later changed it to the current one, ACCR. I also found the name “Antarctic Confederation (Federal Republic of)” in a list (having nothing to do with stamps) of micro-nations/micro-states. Apart from the coincidental similarity in names, these three have no direct relation to the coin; in fact, Mr. Hanscom “had not heard of the other Confederations.”
The numismatic item to which the author refers is a 50 Eagles piece dated 1967/1980. It was struck (in silver, brass, and purportedly gold) by Germany's B.H. Mayer Mint. Curiously, there is a second 50 Eagles piece (1 Troy ounce, fine silver), dated 1967/1989. Mr. Chaim Dov Shiboleth, a fellow member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/ and http://www.usns.info/), informed me that this coin is “smaller and thicker than the 1980 pieces”. Design-wise, it is strikingly similar in appearance to the original coin, but several of its characteristics/details reveal enough anomalies to definitively indicate that a new pair of dies was carved for this piece. The most notable difference, Mr. Shiboleth pointed out, is the addition on the obverse of three Cherokee letters: “wa”, “he”, “yo”. Another USNS member, Mr. David Starr, did some additional investigating: “I looked up ‘wa-he-yo’ in the Cherokee dictionary and there's no such word listed. My suspicion NOW is that they are the initials of the person who designed this coin.” Mr. Don Klopfer, yet another member of the USNS, ponders this coin’s authenticity: “Did Mr. Williams intend to make later issues of the 50 Eagles coin or is this an illegal likeness?” I found both the ‘80 and ‘89 pieces on eBay.
Images of the Cherokee Nation coinage can be viewed at the Coin Library of the USNS:
http://www.usns.info/coin-cherokee.html
This coin was designed by Mr. Robin Mayes, “who is the great-great-grandson of Chief John Ross.” Mr. Mayes was the Co-Chair of the “Cherokee Nation of 1839” (they also operated the “1839 Constitution Defense Fund”), which was established on April 15, 2000. It was renamed as the United Cherokee Nation (UCN) in 2001. There is an abundance of controversy surrounding this coin, because the issuing body has been accused of being one of more than 200 so-called “bogus” groups around the country which claim to have Cherokee ties. The UCN appears to be comprised of legitimate, card-carrying (CDIB) Native-Americans, but they initiated this project without formal authorization. Thus, there is pending litigation between Mr. Mayes (the UCN's Principal Chief), other defendants, and the federally recognized Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. It seems that this official entity does not want to relinquish or share any of its power; nor does it want the sub-group (or any other opponents) to use the name “Cherokee Nation”, the image of the 19th century seal, or to distribute car tags/license plates and tribal membership cards. They are also “effectively” blocking the availability of these commemorative silver coins for the UCN's non-profit political fund-raising purposes. So besides the coins that had already made it into the marketplace, this coin is purportedly not supposed to be for sale any longer. In spite of all this, Mr. John Cornsilk (johnc@cornsilks.com), who was the principal salesman in the coin's marketing program, has tracked down a limited supply of coins that were sold before the legal dispute began, and these can therefore be re-sold; but at a higher price than the original $40 donation to the Defense Fund. I think all of this colorful history gives the coin some “character”.
You can read about and view the coin at:
http://www.cornsilks.com/coins.htm
According to one seller from eBay, “Total mintage for this piece was only 4,000 yet (due to the scandal involving other Cherokee Tribes which disputed whether this Tribe had the right to use their Seal on this coin) the Government stopped all sales of this coin except for the first 1,000 that had already been sold. Also, rumor has it, that the descendants of David Hatton (the person who originally had these coins minted) have melted down the remaining 3,000 coins which they could not sale for the silver content. Either way there are only 1,000 of these coins available for sale to the general public making this an extremely rare and controversial piece for any collection.” It appears that David Hatton, now deceased, was an important associate of Robin Mayes in the UCN.
Images of the Adela can also be viewed at the Coin Library of the USNS:
http://www.usns.info/coin-cherokee1839.html
There are two series of coins in Fristaden Christiania. First, there are a number of “Fed” (fat, 1 gram) coins and a lone “Klump” (lump) coin, whose nicknames/values allude to portions/quantities of hashish, the personal use of which is semi-legal within the Free City. These began as a fun experiment, spearheaded by Vagn Sorento Dichmann, and date back to 1976. In his own words, “the FED was started by 3 guys who get the idea and had the money,” and the designs on that 1st coin “were made by me and a goldsmith friend (who lives in New York now), one side each, but I was the only one who could do the engraving. It's mine with the chillum and the snake, but I think that his design with the klondyke houses is more interesting today.” Initially, the project was very exciting and required total secrecy, because they all feared the coin would not be allowed by the Danish government. But once “the FED popped up on the street”, the authorities did not raise any objections to their existence — as long as they did not resemble the states' official coinage. If people had utilized them to make purchases, as opposed to saving them, thousands (instead of a few hundred) would have been churned out. Materially, the early ones were challenging for the novice coin-maker to fashion; the '76 coins, for example, “were cut in the hand in some steel we found”; starting with the 2nd coin (1977), he was working solo; the 3rd coin (1984) ended up being one-sided. But by the 4th coin (1985), Mr. Dichmann “finally found out how to stamp them in the right way”, thereby improving upon their overall quality. From then on, both sides of each coin have been perfectly centered, as was originally intended. It still takes “a lot of handwork” to make each coin, so mintages have been limited to 200 silver and 200 copper or bronze. Having become very popular, “they mostly disappeared in peoples pockets.” They are eagerly anticipated, like a tradition, partly because each coin is “a little mirror of what was happened in the year.” In 1997, he was asked to produce a fully machine-made coin to sell to the many tourists. It would also see regular hand-to-hand usage “as it was meant to be from the start”. So he referred them to a friend (Bent Jensen) who would be able to professionally machine-engrave them. Produced in December of that year, this coin turned out the be the initial Løn (wage, pay, salary, compensation), which are used as remuneration for commercial transactions, services and labor. These act as Christiania's second, more licit monetary system, and a different coin is minted annually. As circulating coins, the Løn in particular is referred to as a “complementary currency”. “I'm going on with the FED,” adds Mr. Dichmann, “which give me much more pleasure to make.” Christiania also has some anniversary-ralated exonumia, bearing the words aar or år.
Fellow numismatist and member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/ and http://www.usns.info/), Mr. Chaim Dov Shiboleth, confirms that the Løn coins — “a new economic experiment” — were introduced based on the success of Mr. Dichmann’s coins. “The local currency is accepted by everyone in the Free State — by bars, restaurants, shops, artisans and the Christiania exchequer. The coins are issued by the Coin Group, a unit within the Free State ‘government’, which initially uses them to pay the wages of Free State employees. After circulating within the local economy, coins are eventually returned to the Coin Group by enterprises or individuals who wish to exchange them for Danish kroner.”
Ditlev Nissen (utopia@christiania.org) is the person from whom I purchased 2 Christiania coins (1999 and 2000 1 Løn), directly from Denmark. I've also acquired the dazzling 1985 (“Dansemønten”/“Dancing coin”) and the splendiferous 1993 (“Dragon With its Children”; a.k.a. “Dragon Under Hemp”) silver FEDs from Mr. Dichmann (vsd@get2net.dk) himself. They're so visually exquisite that they far surpass what we normally expect from a coin. Each one is a miniature canvas, rendered with utmost care. The subject-matter is sometimes uncannily surreal, sometimes dizzyingly hypnagogic, but the craftsmanship is consistently of the finest, most mesmerizing caliber. Over a year after my initial purchase from Mr. Dichmann, I began to crave more of his irresistible pieces. This time around, I received several more FEDs, and I am still absolutely tongue-tied over their astonishing beauty: the original coin from 1976, the 1997 “Swimming Dragon”, the 1998 “3 Entwined Dragons”, the 2002 “Togetherness”, the 2003 “3 Dogs/City View”, and the 2005 “Broken Beehive/Phoenix”. The '02 and '03 pieces are considered to be “gambling coins”. On each of these, there is a small, sharp, conical protrusion rising from the center of one side (the reverse on the former and the obverse on the latter), which allows the coin to be spun. This entertaining function helps to explain why each dog on the reverse of the '03 piece holds a different symbol: one has the city-shield of Copenhagen, one has the logo of the Ministry of Defense (which owns the land), and one has the escutcheon of Christiania. I also couldn't resist the 1991 Klump. These pieces “were cast by a guy called Gonzo, living in Djursland (a part of Jylland) in Denmark. But I'm not sure that Gonzo designed it alone, it seems to me that other people have been involved, and I don't know who. But it was not me.”
More recently, from a fellow numismatist in Denmark (“s-man”), I purchased a piece produced for an establishment situated within Christiania's city limits: Nemoland. This is one of the Fristaden's 2 main watering holes, and among Copenhagen's most coolest/popular open-air bars during the summer. As a cultural society, the café sponsors several local activities. The side of the token which bears the word “Christiania” also depicts a marijuana leaf; the other side just says “Nemo”. There is no denomination on this token, which was minted “sometime in the eighties and only a few thousands were ever made. They were used in NEMOLANDs own slot maschines but they don't have slot maschines anymore and therefore no tokens. They got rid of the last ones years ago...That's what they told me.”
Images of Christiania's entire output of coinage can be viewed at the site of Mr. Shiboleth's private collection:
http://www.taedivm.org/christiania1.html
These 3 sites focus on the Løn coins:
http://www.christiania.org/~ditlev/utopia/engelsk/comcur.htm
http://ide.idebanken.no/bibliotek_engelsk/ProsjektID.asp?ProsjektID=306
http://www.christiania.org/valuta/english.htm
This might be a good spot for a few timely/relevant words about “complementary/community/local currencies”: One of their foremost authorities is Belgian economist/banker/activist Bernard A. Lietaer (who has authored numerous landmark books and articles on this topic and who was a co-creator and a chief architect of the Euro). Back in 1975, he concluded that there would be a systemic series of fiscal crises and monetary crashes, starting with Latin America. He predicted that many existing money systems would become ailing, unmanageable and unfair. These, like unstable currencies in developing countries, can be destructive and cause irreparable tension and damage to the traditional fabric of a community, hastening its collapse.
“Below the radar beams of official thought, there has been a resurgence all over the world for the last 15 to 20 years of what I call complementary currencies, currencies that are operating on a smaller scale than the national level, and that can solve social, environmental and education problems.” Even though he cites the long history of “emergency currencies” in America and Europe, this particular monetary innovation is a fairly recent one; it has risen worldwide from less than 100 in 1990 to over 40 times that amount by mid 2003; “there are now more than 4,000 communities around the world that have started their own currency for social purposes as well.” In effect, a sustainable, parallel complementary currency “facilitates exchanges additional to the normal system. It makes it possible to match unmet needs with unused resources...I call it a yin currency — it's more feminine in nature. And it complements the national currency, which is a competitive currency and therefore of a yang, or masculine, nature.” This second currency, this re-envisioning and re-engineering of money itself, is created by the people themselves. It is a tool for tackling unemployment, inequalities, social breakdown, and environmental problems. “They are not what is technically called ‘legal tender.’ I call them ‘common tender’: commonly accepted as payment for debts without coercion of legal means.” Citizens then “don't have to compete in the outside world to obtain that second currency, and it fosters cooperation between the members of the community.” People, however, can't be forced to accept this highly specialized, well-managed, coherent medium of payment; they become willing participants and motivated promoters. “Conventional currencies are built to create competition, and complementary currencies are built to create cooperation and community, and it's important to be aware that both can be available to make our exchanges.” A well-designed complementary currency is not an alternative currency, intended to abolish or replace the national currency; both can co-exist and be integrated “into a single, local social-purpose currency.”
In America, “an island of perceived stability...it's just a question of time before privately issued currencies will be used to make purchases.” He quotes Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, as saying, “We will see a return of private currencies in the 21st century.” This has already begun, for there are currently dozens of operational examples of “time-dollar” models, such as the Ithaca HOURS, which began in 1991. The point Mr. Lietaer is trying to make is: “If money is an agreement within the community to use something as a medium of exchange, we can create new agreements, can't we? That is exactly what people are already doing all over the world. So why don't we do it here? If we're waiting for conventional currency to solve all our problems, aren't we waiting for Godot?”
To read the entire interview upon which the preceding paragraphs were based, please view either of these 2 sites:
http://www.nexuspub.com/articles/2003/july2003/interview.htm
http://uazu.net/money/lietaer.html
In regards to community currencies, an additional thesis by Bernard Lietaer can be viewed at:
http://www.appropriate-economics.org/materials/21stcent.html
http://www.transaction.net/money/cc/cc01.html
By searching on Google for “complementary currencies”, you will find endless information; these 2 links are among the best I found, and they contain a wealth of “further reading”:
http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/cc/
http://www.transaction.net/money/community/
Numismatically, I first obtained a silver (1 Troy ounce) One Conch Dollar from coin-dealer Allen Berman. The obverse features an aerial view of Key West, accompanied by the phrases “Conch Republic Commemorative” and “For the Good Times and the Bad” Though the coin’s reverse (a large conch shell is shown) does bear the date of secession (April 23, 1982), I would consider it to be “undated” in terms of indicating the precise year in which it was minted. According to Mr. Bill Pearson, its designer and creator (who was born in Key West and who owned/operated the Conch Coin Company, one of the largest retail treasure businesses in the world), “The first ones were struck at Green Duck (a minting company in Louisiana or Mississippi, I can't remember which now. It has been over 20 years). We only did about 300 with them before I transferred the dies to the Highland Mint here in Florida. We made about 2,200 more there. Now the dies are at Galaxy Metals.” There is no discernible difference between pieces from the original or subsequent strikings, “except that we noticed some of the first ones weighed a hair less than one ounce. Didn't know it until a couple of years later.” This is the only “official coin of Key West and the Conch Republic” ever made, as was publicly declared “in Key West by Mayor Dennis Wardlow and the Key West City Commission and by Mayor Gerald Hernandez and the Monroe County Commission, with both of the proclamations on file with the respective organizations. This coin is copyrighted. I have made a couple of hundred more since leaving Key West in 1993. I do not have any more plans at this time to manufacture more, but we still have the dies.” A few years afterwards, I learned that another variety of the One Conch Dollar exists. It was made from the exact same “conch shell”/“secession date” die described in the beginning of this paragraph, but the opposite side was heretofore completely unknown to me: it features a “Green Sea Turtle/Chelonia Mydas” just above a patch of lush marine vegetation, swimming through a school of fish (interestingly, this side does NOT say “Conch Republic”).
I later found a pewter 1822-1972 commemorative Conch Dollar on eBay. These dates allude not to the anniversary of its independence — the Conch Republic wouldn't even be formed until 10 years down the road — but to the year in which Navy Lt. Matthew C. Perry planted the U.S. flag in newly-acquired Key West, transforming it into a base of operations for ridding the area of piracy; thus, this coin is celebrating the sesquicentennial of Key West itself. It was marketed by a company called “Universal Sales”. Because this piece actually bears the name “Conch Republic”, it is apparent that the “seed” for a Republic was already present in 1972. Then, a decade later, when the blockade finally occurred, this crisis turned out to be the proverbial “straw that broke the camel's back”. Many Conchs, who’d already formed a sense of identity (as evidenced by the '72 piece) which they believed set them apart from the rest of America, had had enough and literally seceded. Like fellow collector and member of the Unrecognised States Numismatic Society (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnrecognisedStatesNumismaticSociety/ and http://www.usns.info/) Mr. Greg MacLean put it, the Republic was the result of a long evolution, and the pewter Conch Dollar was merely one manifestation of “the early sparks of their ‘separatist’ ideas”. In regards to these pieces, a numismatist named Mr. James Godwin says that “I believe they were back-dated coins issued in the 90s based on what some of the local retailers have told me.” But based on firsthand knowledge shared with me by Mr. William Dullea, who lived in Key West with his parents from 1967-1972, the token was indeed produced in the early 70s. His grandmother, who visited them every summer, actually purchased one in 1972 “at a small tourist shop on Duvall street. It was my/our last day in Key West and I fondly remember this day as we rode the conch train and visited many local shops.” The coin, still in its original packaging, is now in his possession. After the first batch of these tokens proved to be popular, it’s a possibility that additional ones were manufactured — without a change to the original date — for many more years.
More recently, I found (eBay again), a 1 Troy ounce (no denomination) “Liberty/Republic Mint” silver piece. This coin also bears the date of secession (April 23, 1982). The reverse side features the flag of the Conch Republic, superimposed over the familiar outline of the petite, L-shaped island-nation. The seller from whom I purchased my coin sent me a newspaper (or magazine) clipping that he had kept for over 25 years (he jotted “1982” across the bottom). It states that “Freedom for all was demonstrated by Wednesday’s presentation to the Mayor of the Conch Republic of this .999 fine silver conch coin.” It goes on to say that “a special limited edition of the coin” was struck by Republic Mint and Refining (of Fort Lauderdale) “to commemorate Key West’s historic secession from the United States in April 1982…Republic Mint reported a warm reception by Mayor Dennis Wardlow, the people of the ‘Conch Republic’ and coin collectors throughout the country.” The coin purchased by Mr. MacLean also came with a couple of informative clippings. The first is an advertisement for the coin itself: “The Conch Republic Secedes From The Union. Capture this event with a coin and collect a bit of that good old American free spirit in silver.” It goes on to inform us that the Republic Mint and Refining Inc. designed and struck “The Conch Coin” in order to commemorate “Key West’s squabble” with the U.S. Border Patrol and the ireful Conchs’ modern-day fight for freedom. The ad goes on to provide, of course, all of the purchasing information for the coin. But it was Mr. MacLean’s second clipping that fully convinced me this coin was minted immediately after the Conch Republic was born: it has a telltale reminder written in ink across the top of the article: “mailed check for coin May 22, 1982.” According to the text, “The Conch Republic struck a blow against bureaucratic roadblocks and Republic Mint has struck a coin for the Conch Republic. On April 23, the Mayor Dennis Wardlow announced they had seceded from Florida and the Union after the U.S. Border Patrol blocked the Overseas Highway and caused a 19-mile traffic jam on U.S. 1. The federal roadblock was used to search for illegal aliens and smuggled drugs. But it inconvenienced scores of weekend motorists fishing or vacationing in the Keys. The economic lifeline of Key West was threatened. Citizens decided that if the federal authorities could erect a barricade ‘border’ across the highway, then it was time to declare themselves an independent nation. Now that traffic is flowing more or less smoothly across the highway to Key West again, the Conch Republic is beginning to settle into the sunset. But coin collectors and memorabilia addicts can keep the event alive with a special silver coin being offered by Republic Mint.” The article also provides its readers with information about how to obtain the coin.
Furthermore, I was fortunate to find (eBay, where else?) the elusive “Conch Republic Forever/In Conchs We Trust” medallion. This finely-engraved 1 Troy ounce piece (no denomination), dated 1982, features the flag on the obverse and a pelican on the reverse. The founder of the USNS, Mr. Oded Paz, is in possession of a notarized (June 28, 1982) Certificate of Authenticity — it came with the coin in his collection — which indicates that this “Conch Republic Solid Silver Commemorative Medallion” was sold/distributed (exclusively?) by C.M.S. Investments, of Marathon, FL.
I have also encountered (also on eBay), a golden (anodized aluminum) “Key West/The Official Conch Republic” medalet (no denomination or date). The obverse features a conch shell “logo”. The reverse bears an image of the national flag, accompanied by the Republic’s brilliant motto “We Seceded Where Others Failed”. Thanks to a fellow numismatist and member of the USNS named Mr. Thomas E. Havelka, I later learned about a set of fantasy casino tokens (poker chips) which he found while on vacation in Key West. “They seem to be clay (definitely not plastic).” Their obverse has the exact same conch shell “logo” and “Key West/The Official Conch Republic” text as the just-mentioned golden piece. “The reverse has the denomination — $1 (mostly white), $5 (red), $25 (green), $100 (black), $500 (blue). I bought them in a plastic tube that has 5 of each denomination.” From Mr. Havelka, I obtained the $1 and $5 pieces.
A 2006 Conch Dollar, featuring a Spanish galleon, has also been issued by Mr. Godwin (whom I mentioned 2 paragraphs ago in connection to the ‘72 pewter token): “I use to live in the Keys and was unable to afford the first coins that were produced. I ended up leaving the Keys and starting my own business and I go to the Keys alot. I started looking for the Conch coins and could not find any in the Keys or online for sale so I decided that their had to be others like me that loved the Keys and love coins that never got the chance to buy the other coins so I made an all new coin.” Mr. Godwin has also issued a “Conch Republic 25 yrs.” anniversary/commemorative “Conch Dollar” medallion; the piece is undated, but it was minted in November of 2007. According to the packaging that accompanies the coin, “Conch Coins are the ‘unofficial’ coins of the Conch Republic. They are dedicated to the principles of Respect, Humor and the Life-style that is found throughout the Florida Keys.” Information about Mr. Godwin’s numismatic projects can be found on the Internet at The Conch Republic Coin Company (http://www.theconchrepubliccoinco.com/).
Images of some of the Conch Republic's coinage can also be viewed at the Coin Library of the USNS:
http://www.usns.info/coin-conch.html
All of this numismatic heritage has inspired an entirely new incarnation of CSA coinage. First, a cluster of Silver Dollar commemorative coins have been designed by Richard O. Liptock of Humboldt, Tennessee. His Web-site (http://www.csasilverdollar.com) affirms that “In 1996 I was trying to find a silver coin that had the Rebel Battle Flag on it. To my amazement, no mint had ever produced one. So, I decided to see how much it would cost to have one made myself. When I called the first mint, I told them that I wanted the battle flag on one side...right away they told me that I could not have that coin made because it was not politically correct. They said that I would never be able to get a coin like that made.” When another mint turned him down and also refused to give him a price, this fueled his determination. “After six months I finally found a mint that would make my coin if I signed an agreement stating that they were not liable for any law suits that may result.” During a subsequent telephone conversation with Mr. Liptock, he clarified that his quest for a mint in fact began in 1994. There are 13 Silver Dollars in the “Rebels Of Liberty” series, and 4 in the “Reflections Of The Confederacy” series. I purchased the 1996 (actually undated) General Nathan Bedford Forrest coin (the 1st from the first series) and the 2000 Gen. Forrest on Horseback at Shiloh coin (the 2nd from the second series), directly from Mr. Liptock (rliptock@csasilverdollar.com).
Next, I was alerted to another CSA coin, completely unrelated in origin to the ones mentioned above. This piece is a silver One Confederate Dollar dated 2002. The person who designed it and had it minted is a “Southern Patriot” named Henri Klingler (of Jesup, Georgia), who is a supporter of The Southern Nation (TSN), a Southern nationalist group/e-list and Web-site, “created for the honourable and noble Cause of restoring and advancing the Southern nation”. Mr. Klingler also happens to be the great-grandnephew of a Confederate cavalry colonel (whom he describes as “a somewhat renowned small-unit commander of a band of guerilla-type fighters during the war.”) named John Singleton Mosby (the legendary “Grey Ghost”). The coin can be viewed by scrolling down this page to the “Silver Dollar Gift Shop”, from where I purchased it:
http://dixierising.com/an_index.php?Page=http://dixierising.com/products/csa_index.phtml
Thirdly, there is a noteworthy quartet of coins — 4 varieties of CSA Half Dollars, all purchased on eBay — that I cannot fail to mention. One is a “Deo Vindice” piece, which features a rendition of the Great Seal of the Confederacy. This circular design contains George Washington riding a horse (the Virginia-born hero of the South was considered to be a founding father of the Confederacy; documentation from the Confederacy indicates that the horseman is indeed Washington), along with the date February 22, 1862 (this is when Jefferson Davis was inaugurated/sworn in as President of the Confederacy; 2/22 is also Washington's birthday). According to one source, the coin was purportedly struck in 1961 for the Coin-of-the-Month Club of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The second item is a “General Robert E. Lee/1807-1870” piece. A numismatist named Mr. Harold Levi, who also has both of these medallions, is convinced that they are from the same source because both pieces have matching die cracks on the Confederate side, “near 3 o'clock at the rim. The break is not big, just a spur coming from one of the dentals toward the top of the M in America.” The tiny flaw is hard to see, even with a magnifying glass. “I am led to believe the coins were struck by the same people for the same purpose...Mine are in 1950's-1960's style 2x2 cardboard holders. I have always assumed they were struck in the early 1960's as centennial pieces.” I later saw both pieces (and this supports the supposition that they are of identical derivation) in a set of 8 “So-Called Half Dollars” produced by the Whitehead & Hoag Company of Newark, NJ. Only the “Deo Vindice” and “Lee” coins fit the bill as 50¢ pieces, however; the other 6 were unrelated, non-CSA medals (Thomas A. Edison Centennial, Pony Express Diamond Jubilee, Byrd Antarctic Expedition commemorative, a “Lucky Lindbergh Coin”, a Battle of Lexington 150th Anniversary piece, and a Lexington Sesqui-Centennial Celebration piece) which bore no denomination whatsoever. I later encountered yet another interesting Half Dollar piece (maker unknown) which depicts a Rebel shield and flag motif, accompanied by the phrase “Nulla Patria Amictae Fidei”; therefore, I sought Mr. Levi's opinion once again: “I have seen this version before, but do not know where it came from. I have seen the crest described as being something from Virginia, but I am not sure this is correct. I am a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and have not seen this crest used anywhere. The diagnostics of the Confederate half die...are different from the coins with RE Lee and the Great Seal on them.” I then picked up one other “Deo Vindice”/1862 piece, which displays an even more prominently sized horse and equestrian. Once again, the details on the Confederate side are noticeably different; these diagnostics (as Mr. Levi would say) don't match those of the previously mentioned ½ Dollars, indicating that the obverse was struck from yet another inexact interpretation of this seemingly popular die.
Images of one of the Confederacy’s Half Dollars can be viewed at the site of Mr. Haseeb Naz’s private collection:
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Confederate_States_of_America.htm
Lastly, there is a special set of CSA pieces currently produced/distributed by the Ruffin Flag Company, of Crawfordville, Georgia (according to a collector named Mr. Greg MacLean, these sets go as far back as the 1960s, though it is unclear whether Ruffin has been their sole manufacturer; the older, “original” foursomes, supposedly made for the Civil War centennial, appear to be of higher quality). Though these groupings (which I came across on eBay, yet again) include reproductions of the 1861 1¢ and Half Dollar, what is truly remarkable about the set is that it comes with a Five Dollar piece and a Twenty Dollar piece. Their obverse shows a circle of 15 chain-links encompassing the border: 11 of them are occupied, in chronological order, by the names of states which had seceded from the Union; the remaining 4 are unmarked, serving as an invitation to the “Border States” to hasten to join the CSA and inscribe their names in the blank spaces. The reverse shows the Goddess of Liberty. Her right hand grasps a staff surmounted by the liberty cap. Her left arm rests on a shield that is adorned with the stars/bars of the CSA flag; there is also an unfurled parchment — the Constitution — being held by her left hand. Adjacent to the female figure, there is a hogshead of sugar alongside bales of cotton and tobacco. The rest of the composition shows a field of these crops, in various stages of growth, surrounding our seated maiden. Even though both coins are dated 1861 and marked “copy”, they are by no means replicas/reproductions of actual pre-existing coins. Both of them are bona-fide fantasies, albeit based on a design for the new coinage of the Confederacy. Mr. Levi elaborates: in a 1/22/1863 letter addressed to CSA Senator Clement Claiborne Clay, Judah P. Benjamin (the Confederate Secretary of State) “proposed issuing a five-dollar gold coin, called a ‘cavalier,’ of the exact value of the English gold sovereign. This coin, part of a series that included ten and twenty gold dollar pieces, called double and quadruple cavaliers respectively, would facilitate direct commerce with Europe rather than the United States. However, there is no evidence that the gold coins were ever produced.” The perfectly detailed description of all the visual elements on these “cavaliers” had originated in an earlier document, which the New Orleans architectural firm of Gallier and Esterbrook had submitted to William A. Elmore (Superintendent of the New Orleans Mint) in April 1861, in accordance with his request. On 4/29, Elmore forwarded this information to C. G. Memminger, the Confederate Secretary of the Treasury.
As companion-pieces, I also purchased the “1861” German silver 1/10 (dime) and copper 1/100 (penny) demi-restrikes from eBay. These attractive fractional pieces were made around 1955 for the upcoming centennial of the Civil War. They can be seen at: http://www.csacurrency.com/csacoin/csafcoin.htm.
According to another knowledgeable numismatist named Mr. George Corell, these “fractionals remain an enigma…While I agree there are some made for the Centennial...there are a few that massively pre-date that.” His Web-site (http://www.confederatequarter.com/cent.html), which provides a thorough overview of several Confederate coins (including the originals, the restrikes, and the ensuing assortment of replicas, fantasies, and fakes), also features a mysterious ¼ (quarter) piece. In order to ascertain the approximate age of this “worn specimen”, he had it tested by the radiochemistry experts at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “I was sent there by the Michigan State Police crime labs who as consultants to the Secret Service helped make the appointment…The testing done was by neutron activation…the coin was irradiated with neutrons and then a ‘scan’ was done of the radioactive isotopes of the content. From that an analysis of the trace elements was done.” They concluded that metallurgically, his piece “dates to the ‘mid 1800's’.” Furthermore, the complete set (1/100, 1/20, 1/10, ¼) of fractionals owned by John J. Ford originated in the F.C.C. Boyd Collection, which existed long before the centennial (Mr. Corell has a similar set; though his ¼ piece is “exactly the same” as Ford’s, the other coins bear “some differences…mine are more clearly struck, without shifting in the letters…and other small distinctions”). Mr. Corell and Mr. Levi — they are both colleagues — are genuinely convinced that some of the fractionals were minted at the time of the Confederacy. They are certain “that there were more coins than just the cent and half dollar. Letters from the mint to Memminger record at least four shipments of samples, specimens, and models…most of which we have never seen?” All the evidence therefore seems to indicate “that there appears to be substance to the Fractionals…that copies exist, some by casting, some by minting.” Thus, when these fractionals are compared to one another, a person might “immediately see a difference in the numerals” alongside other discrepancies, to some degree or another. Mr. Corell also mentioned that “there were more than 12 original cents by Lovett.” He and Mr. Levi have pictures of 14 unique specimens, “all originals...all discretely different coins.”
In terms of banknotes, the Confederate States of America released their first issue of paper money in April, 1861, when their provisional government was only two months old (the Civil War started that same month). Due to the scarcity of metal, however, the Confederacy never issued coins, instead releasing seventy different paper note “types” between 1861 and 1865.
This is a “Good for 1/100 Troy oz. 999 Ag.” piece, dated 2076; its reverse has a seemingly generic 1776-1976 motif. I purchased the thought-provoking coin from Mr. Hanscom, who explains that “Since there was in fact no Confederation of Antarctica in 1976, I dated them for the future.” It may have been an arbitrary decision, but he chose to postdate his creation by 100 years because the roundness of that number “sounded good.” He settled on Antarctica because numismatically, nothing was being issued from there in those days — and ultimately, this frigid, moneyless continent justly deserved a no-frills coin of its own. “The bicentennial die was used because that is what Patrick Mint was doing at the time...I am also a believer in hard money, thus the 1/100 oz. silver value. It was just one of the things I did to amuse myself. Now, nearly 30 years later, I am providing amusement to others. Not a bad investment.” You can say that again! Now that this coin has finally re-surfaced, the attention it is now receiving is well-earned and long overdue. It might have gone under our collective radars for 3 long decades, but now, thanks to the Internet, it'll no longer go unnoticed. Hopefully, it shall be appreciated by all those collectors who missed it the first time around. It was quite a shocking and unexpected sight, I must admit, to be shown — out of the blue — a coin that clearly antedates Mr. Fred Zinkann's earliest Antarctica piece (please see my write-up for Îles Kerguelen, located underneath the McMurdo [Station] listing) by 5 years. As a result, I am now obligated to think of it as the great-granddaddy of the entire Antarctic lot. I am pleased to announce that Mr. Hanscom is currently exploring the possibility of issuing a silver, 2006 follow-up! Images of his intriguing '76 coin can be viewed at the Coin Library of the USNS:
http://www.usns.info/coin-antarcticconfederation.html
REPUBLIC OF ANTARCTICA: This is a uniface wooden piece (no denomination) dated “1990-2005”. It shows an image of the entire continent, but the grainy texture of the token did not offer an ideal surface for picking up small details; therefore, the location names cannot be fully read because the printing on this map is too small. These labeled regions are partially decipherable only with the aid of a magnifying glass and an actual atlas for more exact visual reference. After much eyestrain, these areas are: Marie Byrd Land, Victoria Land, Wilkes Land, MacRobertson Land, Enderby Land, Coats Land, Palmer Land, and Ellsworth Land; at the center of the map — the geographic South Pole itself — a bold star marks the apparent “capital” of the Republic, Amundsen/Scott Land (the official name of this American research base is the Amundsen-Scott Station, and this facility is the southernmost continually inhabited place on the planet). Though my initial piece came from Mr. Richard Hanscom, I later obtained a few other samples of this “concept token” directly from its issuer, a numismatist from Anchorage named James Hill (his minuscule monogram, JVH, appears at the 5:00 position). There are some additional pieces in which the wood had been stained a deep red color prior to being stamped, as well as a small batch made from plastic poker chips (“About half are smudged and the rest are poorly struck” because the chips have been painted white and this glossy coating didn't accept the ink very well).
Images of the Republic of Antarctica’s coinage can be viewed at the site of Mr. Haseeb Naz’s private collection:
http://chiefacoins.com/Database/Micro-Nations/Republic_of_Antarctica.htmReturn to the Main Index