A reminder to check those coins handed down to the next generation
http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/05/13/news/nebraska/doc46453f533eac4040961466.txt
Coin worth its weight-plus in gold
BY REBECCA SVEC/For the Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, May 13, 2007 - 12:24:23 am CDT
David Thomas’ story is one we all hope for when we find a long-forgotten box tucked into a basement corner or attic eave.
The older the box looks (and the more “Antiques Roadshow” episodes we’ve watched), the higher our hopes that the box is worth something.
But few will find a treasure to rival Thomas’.
The Lincoln man and Doane College business professor found he possessed a rare and valuable coin — a Veldpond, minted in 1902 at Pilgrims Rest, South Africa, at the close of the Second Anglo-Boer War, along with a letter from the family member who served as the coin’s assayer.
A Veldpond coin recently brought more than $20,000 at an auction, according to Thomas and the Web site tokencoins.com. Thomas has been told that his coin — accompanied by the letter — could bring much more.
But, honestly, he said, once his research began, the quest became not as much about money as the thrill of the adventure, learning both about the coin and the fascinating branches of his family tree.
But let’s start with the box.
Thomas needed to update his passport last summer to take a group of Doane College students to China. When he reached inside a fireproof box he keeps in a closet of his home, a medicine container dated 1954 caught his eye. His father had given the container, and its contents, to him decades before, but this time Thomas decided to really examine it.
He sat down with the coin, noting the letters “ZAR” on its face, and an accompanying letter someone named “Cooney” had written to someone named “Maggie.”
He didn’t know either name. With many older relatives deceased, he turned to the Internet for answers, never guessing the story would bounce from Ireland to America to South Africa, far from his childhood in Portland, Ore.
Michael J. Cooney, he found, came to America from Ireland to seek his fortune in the Colorado mining districts where Carroll Thomas — later to become Thomas’ great-grandfather — also happened to work. Cooney’s younger sister, who followed him from Ireland to Colorado, married Carroll Thomas and they had a son, Carl — Thomas’ grandfather — and a daughter, Mae, affectionately called Maggie.
Michael Cooney, Thomas said, was educated, artistic and adventuresome, “always looking for the next rainbow.”
One of those rainbows took him to South Africa.
Rentia Landman, a researcher from Lyttelton, South Africa, has helped David Thomas fill in details of those late 19th, early 20th century years. By coincidence, Landman’s own grandfather was part of the team that had made the Veldpond coins.
The ZAR letters on Thomas’ coin stand for Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, the indigenous Dutch, or Boer, country in the late 19th century in southern Africa; the country’s English name was the South African Republic. It fought British takeovers twice, ultimately losing its independence in 1902.
Cooney, according to Landman’s research, supported the Boer cause with “great loyalty” and used his creativity and mining knowledge to refine gold from the Pilgrims Rest mine to minting quality, using limited equipment.
Cooney was arrested by British military intelligence on charges that he assisted the Boers during the war, Landman said. But a British head officer wrote a letter asking that Cooney be released, given no assistance, and allowed to return to his own country.
Before Cooney left, though, he sent his young niece, Maggie, a letter with details about the war and information about the coin. When he returned to Colorado, he gave Maggie the coin itself.
When Maggie died in her teens, the coin and letter went to her brother Carl, Thomas’ grandfather. Thomas’ father, Donald, inherited the coin and later gave it to Thomas.
Fifteen years ago, the coin had a modest value. But the 100th anniversary of the Boer War in 2002 heightened the interest of coin collectors and historians.
Thomas contacted agencies in South Africa, searching for the coin’s history and worth.
“Overnight, people started calling,” he recalled, inquiries ranging from a South African government official to Australian coin collectors.
What made his find valuable?
Thomas was told it’s because he possesses the assayer’s coin from the mint; that the coins were hand-pressed, with no two alike, and that the letter — confirmed by Landman — gives it providence.
The letter itself also may have changed the estimated value of the coin. Originally, researchers believed about 990 of the coins had been made, but Cooney’s letter pinpoints the number at 530.
As exciting as it was to learn the history of his coin, Thomas said, it was almost as exciting to research his family line, working with his wife, Debbie, “a good Internet sleuth.”
They found family ties to Daniel Boone: Thomas’ great-great-great grandfather was married to Boone’s mother’s sister.
They found more information on another famous relative, Lowell Thomas, a pioneer broadcast journalist and author who traveled the world, shot the dramatic footage of T. E. Lawrence of “Lawrence of Arabia” fame and gave one of the first television evening news broadcasts in 1930.
The couple found piece after piece of Thomas’ past “until the mosaic fit together and we could stand back and see the story,” he said.
He remembers the day they found the coin’s worth, and the little victory dance that followed in the kitchen.
The coin will remain in a safe place until they can decide its fate.
He could give it to the South African government for a museum. He could keep it as a unique family heirloom to pass on to three sons.
He has even more exciting news in his thoughts these days. He’ll leave soon for China and a five-year position as vice president of operations for the China branch of the Canadian Institute of Business and Technology.
He knows now that travel is in his blood.
He feels a bit like Cooney must have felt as he headed for Africa and adventures unknown.
He doubts it will be as exciting as war and gold coins.
“But I hope Cooney would be proud.”
http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/05/13/news/nebraska/doc46453f533eac4040961466.txt
Coin worth its weight-plus in gold
BY REBECCA SVEC/For the Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, May 13, 2007 - 12:24:23 am CDT
David Thomas’ story is one we all hope for when we find a long-forgotten box tucked into a basement corner or attic eave.
The older the box looks (and the more “Antiques Roadshow” episodes we’ve watched), the higher our hopes that the box is worth something.
But few will find a treasure to rival Thomas’.
The Lincoln man and Doane College business professor found he possessed a rare and valuable coin — a Veldpond, minted in 1902 at Pilgrims Rest, South Africa, at the close of the Second Anglo-Boer War, along with a letter from the family member who served as the coin’s assayer.
A Veldpond coin recently brought more than $20,000 at an auction, according to Thomas and the Web site tokencoins.com. Thomas has been told that his coin — accompanied by the letter — could bring much more.
But, honestly, he said, once his research began, the quest became not as much about money as the thrill of the adventure, learning both about the coin and the fascinating branches of his family tree.
But let’s start with the box.
Thomas needed to update his passport last summer to take a group of Doane College students to China. When he reached inside a fireproof box he keeps in a closet of his home, a medicine container dated 1954 caught his eye. His father had given the container, and its contents, to him decades before, but this time Thomas decided to really examine it.
He sat down with the coin, noting the letters “ZAR” on its face, and an accompanying letter someone named “Cooney” had written to someone named “Maggie.”
He didn’t know either name. With many older relatives deceased, he turned to the Internet for answers, never guessing the story would bounce from Ireland to America to South Africa, far from his childhood in Portland, Ore.
Michael J. Cooney, he found, came to America from Ireland to seek his fortune in the Colorado mining districts where Carroll Thomas — later to become Thomas’ great-grandfather — also happened to work. Cooney’s younger sister, who followed him from Ireland to Colorado, married Carroll Thomas and they had a son, Carl — Thomas’ grandfather — and a daughter, Mae, affectionately called Maggie.
Michael Cooney, Thomas said, was educated, artistic and adventuresome, “always looking for the next rainbow.”
One of those rainbows took him to South Africa.
Rentia Landman, a researcher from Lyttelton, South Africa, has helped David Thomas fill in details of those late 19th, early 20th century years. By coincidence, Landman’s own grandfather was part of the team that had made the Veldpond coins.
The ZAR letters on Thomas’ coin stand for Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, the indigenous Dutch, or Boer, country in the late 19th century in southern Africa; the country’s English name was the South African Republic. It fought British takeovers twice, ultimately losing its independence in 1902.
Cooney, according to Landman’s research, supported the Boer cause with “great loyalty” and used his creativity and mining knowledge to refine gold from the Pilgrims Rest mine to minting quality, using limited equipment.
Cooney was arrested by British military intelligence on charges that he assisted the Boers during the war, Landman said. But a British head officer wrote a letter asking that Cooney be released, given no assistance, and allowed to return to his own country.
Before Cooney left, though, he sent his young niece, Maggie, a letter with details about the war and information about the coin. When he returned to Colorado, he gave Maggie the coin itself.
When Maggie died in her teens, the coin and letter went to her brother Carl, Thomas’ grandfather. Thomas’ father, Donald, inherited the coin and later gave it to Thomas.
Fifteen years ago, the coin had a modest value. But the 100th anniversary of the Boer War in 2002 heightened the interest of coin collectors and historians.
Thomas contacted agencies in South Africa, searching for the coin’s history and worth.
“Overnight, people started calling,” he recalled, inquiries ranging from a South African government official to Australian coin collectors.
What made his find valuable?
Thomas was told it’s because he possesses the assayer’s coin from the mint; that the coins were hand-pressed, with no two alike, and that the letter — confirmed by Landman — gives it providence.
The letter itself also may have changed the estimated value of the coin. Originally, researchers believed about 990 of the coins had been made, but Cooney’s letter pinpoints the number at 530.
As exciting as it was to learn the history of his coin, Thomas said, it was almost as exciting to research his family line, working with his wife, Debbie, “a good Internet sleuth.”
They found family ties to Daniel Boone: Thomas’ great-great-great grandfather was married to Boone’s mother’s sister.
They found more information on another famous relative, Lowell Thomas, a pioneer broadcast journalist and author who traveled the world, shot the dramatic footage of T. E. Lawrence of “Lawrence of Arabia” fame and gave one of the first television evening news broadcasts in 1930.
The couple found piece after piece of Thomas’ past “until the mosaic fit together and we could stand back and see the story,” he said.
He remembers the day they found the coin’s worth, and the little victory dance that followed in the kitchen.
The coin will remain in a safe place until they can decide its fate.
He could give it to the South African government for a museum. He could keep it as a unique family heirloom to pass on to three sons.
He has even more exciting news in his thoughts these days. He’ll leave soon for China and a five-year position as vice president of operations for the China branch of the Canadian Institute of Business and Technology.
He knows now that travel is in his blood.
He feels a bit like Cooney must have felt as he headed for Africa and adventures unknown.
He doubts it will be as exciting as war and gold coins.
“But I hope Cooney would be proud.”
