It's been a while since I last blogged about LKNS, but that doesn't mean we haven't been up to anything.� Quite the contrary.� We've been working on an exciting new project.In September 2022, LKNS took a tour of the Osborne Mint in Cincinnati, Ohio.� Osborne Coinage Company has been around in one form or another ever since 1835.� It has changed names, owners, and addresses over the years, but it has always been in Cincinnati and is the oldest still-operating private mint in America.� Their heritage includes presidential campaign medals for Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant, and Franklin D Roosevelt, among others.� They made store cards for businesses around the Civil War era, as well as company store tokens for coal mines and other businesses.� In the Second World War, they made all the familiar little red and blue ration point tokens and shipped them out by the boxcar load (in fact, they have a complete set of 24 blue and 30 red tokens on display in their facility).Every year LKNS awards Membership medals to our newest members who have applied for membership, paid their dues, and attended at least three LKNS events.� Last year we realized we were running out of medals and would not have enough to go around at the end of this year.� We needed to mint more medals.� Since we had this relationship with Osborne Mint, why not have them strike our next batch?� After all, if they were good enough for Abe Lincoln, they ought to be good enough for LKNS!We sent them our logo artwork and made a few suggestions as to how it might look rendered in three dimensions.� They produced test strikes seen in the accompanying photo.� As you can see, the results were outstanding!� This 39mm design rendered in Goldine brass has a slight dome to the obverse.� The relief has a satin frosted finish while the field remains bright and reflective.� The reverse (not shown) is a near-mirror image of the obverse.� This was done to achieve higher relief on the obverse.� Those familiar with the minting process know that this is a lot of metal to push around, so this design helps with that.� The finished product will have the Osborne mint mark on the reverse.� Our medal will be produced in two styles:� the first with an integrated loop at the top of the design to accommodate a jump ring connected to a ribbon drape; the second without the loop and ribbon drape.� The first will be issued to our new members who have earned the Membership Medal.� Our returning members this year will receive one of the non-looped versions, as a memento of being a member during this significant year in LKNS history.Our tour of Osborne Mint was fantastic, and our hosts were most generous and accommodating.� Perhaps I'll write more about our tour along with more of the story behind our medals in another blog post.

Hello all!Just wanted to let you all know that yours truly was recently interviewed by Jeff and Chris of Coin World Magazine's podcast last week, and that the podcast was published today!� If you would find amusement in hearing me talk about the Legacy Knights Numismatic Society and answer Jeff and Chris's questions about our history, what we do, and where we're going, CLICK HERE to get to the podcast, then give it a listen.Jeff and Chris start out with a discussion on the US Mint's activities recently regarding the WW2 Victory coin issues; the LKNS portion starts a little less than halfway through.� However, I would encourage you to listen to the whole podcast, as they offer a good discussion of the Mint topic that seems to have so many collectors annoyed.� In fact, the Coin World podcast features lots of good topical discussions and interviews.� One of my favorites is their interview with Fred Schwan, someone I consider a numismatic influencer for his work with WW2 numismatics and military numismatics in general.� Scroll through their episode listing and see what interests you.� Make your commuting time more fun and useful by learning more about your favorite hobby.

As an extracurricular activity of our school, the Legacy Knights Numismatic Society has been waiting for some word on back-to-school operational plans for the 2020-2021 school year.� We finally got the official plan in writing today.� Depending on how you feel about the pandemic and governmental and societal handling of it, the plans will either look like too much, not enough, or a reasonable approach under the circumstances.� I believe our school is doing the best it reasonably can, and they do plan to return to the classroom in about a month.� Of course this could change as the state and local situations and governmental requirements change.� But if it's safe to get back to the classroom and safe to do sports activities again, then it isn't unreasonable to hold other extracurricular activities, as long as we pay attention to reasonable health precautions.LKNS missed its 2019-2020 annual student members only auction because the school was closed for the pandemic.� Ohio has been gradually reopening and the state has issued guidance for reopening schools.� So that the faithful 2019-2020 members who worked throughout the years to earn KPC to spend at our auction aren't cheated out of that opportunity, We will start the 2020-2021 year by holding our 2019-2020 auction.��We have a pretty good collection of auction items started, even though donations were hampered a bit by the pandemic (not being able to meet with people to promote the auction and receive donations, etc).� Still we will do OK and have a good time with it.��Hopefully we can even turn this into some energy for renewing memberships for the 2020-2021 year.Normally we make the auction kind of a party.� We like cookies (they are round and flat like coins), and we wash them down with some bottled water.� This time though they will have to be served individually so that the kids aren't touching or breathing on other kids' cookies and water bottles when they get their own.� It's possible we might have to skip those altogether... I hope not, because sugar-fueled bidding really makes for a great auction.� :-)We usually have the kids bid with paper Knights Payment Certificates denominated in pre-decimal British pounds sterling (pounds, shillings, and pence).� We might skip the paper currency this year just to reduce handling it and passing it around.� Instead, maybe we'll keep a list of credit for each student.We will put all the auction items on a display table and allow them to be viewed but not handled by any but the auction hosts until the items are won.� It's important to see the obverse and reverse of what you're buying, so we will still try to accommodate that.We hold the auction in a large open room, so we will have plenty of tables, chairs, and space to spread everyone out around the room for social distancing.� Plus, the kids are being encouraged to bring and wear masks for school (we will see how that goes).� We can probably have their won items brought to them at their seat rather than have them walk past each other.� Of course, they get excited and have a hard time sitting still, so maybe walking to the table and back would be better than not.� (Hmmmm, might have to rethink the cookie-fueled bidding thing...)Maybe this will be a good model for other meetings.� With a little thought, clubs could find a way to meet in person again by employing some reasonable health precautions.� Lots of clubs involve older people, so I wouldn't want to see any of them catch a virus; but a lack of social contact and loneliness is also taking a toll on people's mental health, and there's a link between the health of a person's mind and their body.� So hopefully a safe, healthy balance can be found.� If nothing else, we are all a little more aware of how germs spread and can practice good sanitation and hygiene habits in our daily lives.

I like elongated cents, and I don't know why... Especially since elongating a cent goes against so many coin collecting rules.

Our club operates primarily during the school year, as we are a school based club. �We are blessed to receive donations from time to time and rather than distribute them willy nilly without regard to the students' interests, we hold a big student members only auction at the end of the year. �Members earn auction money through participation all year long: �meeting attendance, completing a project, giving a presentation, etc., all can earn them auction money. �This encourages participation, makes it fun, and provides a good way to make sure the donated objects go to interested students... if they like it, they bid; if it's not their thing, they pass.