Growing up in Hannibal, Mo., Dr. Ed Porter, now of Neosho, developed a love of coins.
“There was a savings and loan association that offered coins if you made deposits in your savings account,” he said. “I got a few of those and I just became interested from there.”
Porter presented the monthly program of the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association Thursday night at the Newtonia Community Center.
“I mostly collect foreign coins and I have been collecting for a while,” Porter added.
His presentation dealt with coins and some of the history associated with them.
“The coin system in the United States from basically the Constitution was written up until the Civil War,” Porter said. “And the kind of coins used were unique. The problem is so few U.S. coins were produced for any number of reasons that a lot of foreign coins had to be made legal tender, for commerce to actually progress. And there were many different coins, different values and they circulated alongside regular U.S. coins.”
Porter also discussed the history of his coin collection and to coin collecting.
“There is a lot of history to coins,” he said. “And it is amazing how coins will appear when they are needed. Some of them are very crudely struck, some are emergency.”
An interesting point during his presentation dealt with the Confederates during the Civil War.
“The Confederacy had a problem, they did have a mint in New Orleans, La., that they seized from the federal government, but that was taken back by the federals pretty quickly,” Porter said. “They did not have the technology, which was all up in the north, to produce coins. So as a result, they had to really rely on paper money and they did not have a lot of gold in that area anyway.”
While visiting area Civil War sites, one can find in the gift shops reproductions of Confederate and Union paper currency for sale.
“Well, I have seen Confederate money sell for $10 or $15,” he said. “If it was authentic, it can be worth up to several thousand dollars depending on the rarity. And pretty much the same with Union money. There was a lot of it issued, but most of it was redeemed, some was in critical condition and some of it was in excellent condition.”
The next NBPA meeting, which includes a potluck dinner and program, will be held on Thursday, Sept. 23, at the Newtonia Community Center. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with the dinner and the program follows. The event is open to the public.
