This Web club truly is glued together by a
worldwide group effort. "It gives us the ability to talk all the time and
exchange information about the coins, despite time zone differences and
immense geographic distances," said Anderson
Gauging from the participation in the weekly
quiz and the periodic auctions, these are enthusiastic numismatists
well-steeped in their specialty. I don't know of any other club that has
stayed alive for so long and only ever operated on the Internet," said
Anderson.
Connecting only through the keyboard has
generated a membership that is anything but impersonal. Anderson
thoughtfully distributes a 'beautifully decorated" new issue parking token
put out by Charlotte, NC every year, to each member.
Such unique pieces are the appeal of
collecting bimetallic coins. By definition the term "bimetallic" refers to
a centre core of one metal surrounded by an outer ring of another type of
metal.
There are also so-called Tri-metallic coins, said
Anderson, although these are a bit of a misnomer, he added. They too have
a centre plug and two outer rings but usually only two metals are used in
the process.
Among Anderson's favourite Bi-metallic coins is
an old Canadian medal that celebrates the wreck of the SS Beaver.
Built in 1835, the Hudson's Bay Company ship was the first steamer on the
Pacific coast. It ran aground at Vancouver's Prospect Point on July 26,
1888.
So far, the WBCC has tallied 3,088 bimetallic
pieces. They come in more than one dozen varieties of "ringed" variations,
such as: Piedfort (heavy weight), Proof (polished, mirror-like), BU (an
uncirculated piece with a still brilliant luster), Uncirculated, Essais
(test) patterns, trial strikes, sets, counterfeits, legal tender and
non-legal tender, Ecus (the first quasi-currency for Europe, introduced in
1979) and euros. All 1- and 2-euro pieces are bimetallic, with each of the
12 countries that have signed on using their own design.
There are other types of bi-metallics too, such
as the non-ringed pieces. Besides coins, there are: tokens (transit, toll,
parking, car wash, amusement, market, municipal trade, industrial, and
gaming), medals (mint, commemorative and numismatic), casino tokens, and
of course, a lot of fantasy pieces.
Encased coins could be seen as bi-metallics,
but there are other clubs and Web sites that deal with them separately,
said Anderson. There are also other collectors who deal exclusively in
bimetallic casino tokens, so WBCC doesn't try to catalogue every one of
those that has been issued. As more and more
countries start issuing their own bi-metallics, the discovery of them
becomes endless, which is another appeal of this
numismatic off-shoot.
For Anderson, the best part of being a bimetallic
collector online, is that he doesn't buy every single one in order to see
them all. He came to numismatics after retiring as an FBI investigator,
in 1994. "I realized there were so many aspects to collecting that I
wanted to find a focus," he said. It was dealer in California, Joel
Anderson (no relation), who turned his attention toward bi-metallics.
Finding off-the-wall pieces, like the SS Beaver and the Charlotte
parking tokens, is Anderson's favorite pursuit of
late.
Membership in the WBCC is easy and enticing too,
because it's free. However, enthusiasm is a must, as is
participation.
Every two months, the founder Peeters also
composes and distributes a catalogue entitled The World of
Bi-metallics, which is also free. So is the weekly "WBCC Newsmail."
Membership also includes access to a comprehensive research library; back
issues of Newsmail; as well as an informal but quite comprehensive listing
of the world's current and historical bi-metallics.
Club members, however, can meet face-to-face
at the WBCC booth set up at the World Money Fair, held in Basel,
Switzerland in February and at the Open Day, June 11 this year, at the
Royal Dutch Mint in Utrecht, the Netherlands."
