Pacific Coast Numismatic Society Video Programs

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PCNS Program Videos Online

To further the educational goals of PCNS, we are recording our meeting programs on topics of interest. Once again, as we did at the 1915 PPIE…

San Francisco Welcomes The World!

New presentations are being added at the top of this list as they become available, soon after each meeting. Presentations are hosted by the PCNS Channel at YouTube. Click on a video’s image in the list below to play that presentation.


Title image of Mexican medal talk, link to playing the video

A Lie in a Medal:
Monte de las Cruces in 1810

The Most Controversial Medal of Mexico

  • Ricardo de León Tallavas — Feb 24, 2021 — 65 mins.
  • Guest speaker Ricardo de León Tallavas provides the history of a Mexican medal which records a famous victory which never happened, and the recently uncovered contemporary document which tells who, when, and where it was minted.

Video link to: Star Provision Co Ltd bread token presentation

The Star Provision Co. Ltd. Bread Token
  • Dean Neald — Jan. 27, 2021 — 34 mins.
  • Long-time PCNS member Dean Neald provides the history and dating information for a Canadian Trade Token which was previously unrecord and unreported. At the time of this presentation, only the single piece he illustrates is known to have survived. Learn how he researched and dated this previously unknown token.

Video link to: Coinage of the Plague Years

Coinage of the Plague Years
  • Stephen Huston — Dec. 23, 2020 — 58 mins.
  • For 2500 years, Plagues have had a serious impact on human society, including economies and coinage. From ancient Athens right on up to 2020, plagues and pandemics have taken their tolls on lives, trade and coinage around the world. This presentation examines them in order from the first historically-recorded plagues in Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, through The Black Death, Spanish Flu, and into the 21st Century.

Video link to: Lingering Wisps of Blue Smoke: Santa Cruz, California Cigar Tokens

Lingering Wisps of Blue Smoke: Santa Cruz, California Cigar Tokens
  • Wiliam D. Hyder — Nov. 25, 2020 — 58 mins.
  • The stories behind the Santa Cruz cigar tokens from those days when downtown backrooms were full of political deals, slot machines, and cigar smoke. How the tokens changed before, during, and after Prohibition, and why efforts to outlaw slot machine gambling were generally ineffective.

Video link to: Gone to Pike's Peak: A Mountain of Numismatic Discovery

Gone to Pike's Peak: A Mountain of Numismatic Discovery
  • Scott Safe — Oct. 28, 2020 — 48 mins.
  • An overview of the private coinage, tokens, and mining relatied numismatic products which came out of the Pike's Peak region during the first century after the mountain's "official discovery" around 1806. Private Gold, Exonumia, Local Dollars, etc.

Video link to: The Travels of the 1841 Lattice Cuban 2 Reales CM

The Travels of the 1841 Lattice Cuban 2 Reales CM
  • Federico Castillo — Sept. 30, 2020 — 46 mins.
  • An examination of the Cuban Lattice countermarks on 2 Reales Spanish coins, including where they circulated or turned up with additional countermarks, including Costa Rica and San Francisco.

The Little Rock Nine

The Little Rock Nine
  • Herb Miles — August 26, 2020 — 27 mins.
  • The story of the integration of the largest public High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, and the coins issued 50 years later to commemorate those historic events.

2nd mint's architecture

The Architectural Design of San Francisco's Second Mint
  • Paul V. Turner — July 22, 2020 — 53 mins.
  • Examination of the architectural design of San Francisco's historic second mint, The Granite Lady. A first look at previously unpublished original plans.

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The Great Cornerstone Mystery
  • Jason Macario — June 24, 2020 — 39 mins.
  • The laying of the Second San Francisco Mint’s cornerstone in 1870, along with info on some rare-to-unique coins that were supposed to be stashed in its casket…if it can ever be found.

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Big Trouble on Lower State Street: Santa Barbara, California
  • William D. Hyder — May 27, 2020 — 51 mins.
  • Saloon tokens and history of the lower State Street district of Santa Barbara, California, from the late 1800s to the 1930s. Special focus on The Lacey Saloon — the most notorious dive in the area. Riots and Arson and Drunks…Oh! My!

The Society thanks member Michael Wehner for recording these presentations during meetings and for preparing and posting the videos to the PCNS Channel.

We also thank each speaker for preparing a PCNS program and for agreeing to be recorded and published.

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We invite you to enjoy the programs of the first numismatic group of the American West.