Owner Comments:
MASONIC ISSUE APPEARANCE/CONDITION:
Copper Variety - Brilliant Gem+ — Designated “Red-Brown” by NGC - Pedigree: Maurice A. Storck Collection
*This example is “certainly” fully red. Based on NGC’s grading standards, 85-90%+ original red luster must be present. I am struggling to see how that is not true for this piece. For such a beautiful example, I am displeased by NGC’s grading practices here. — An absolutely gorgeous example with beautiful color. The quality is understandable as it is pedigreed as having been in the Maurice A Storck Collection.*
MASONIC ISSUE BACKGROUND:
Issued in recognition of the Masonic Chapter from Denver, Colorado, also known as Chapter #2. Struck in copper and was once included in the Maurice A. Storck collection, along with its counterparts struck of the same design which are now in this collection: Brass and Nickel-Silver. — All 3 issues are very rare. Their obverse designs are uncommon for Masonic Pennies, and to have matching issues in different metals (copper, brass, and nickel-silver as seen here), is “extremely” rare. The following are their details:
- Undated: Denver, CO Chapter Number 2, Copper, 31mm (Maurice A. Storck Collection): NGC MS-66 RB
- Undated: Denver, CO Chapter Number 2, Brass, 31mm (Maurice A. Storck Collection): NGC MS-64
- Undated: Denver, CO Chapter Number 2, Nickel-Silver, 31mm (Maurice A. Storck Collection): NGC MS-64
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COLORADO CHAPTERS:
Utilizing various resources such a King, as well as my own sought out research, I have attempted to document “all” Masonic Chapters within Colorado. If 63 chapters, only 2 are missing. The list is as follows:
- Chapter 1: Central City, CO
- Chapter 2: Denver, CO
- Chapter 3: Pueblo, CO
- Chapter 4: Georgetown, CO
- Chapter 5: Golden, CO
- Chapter 6: Colorado Springs, CO
- Chapter 7: Boulder, CO
- Chapter 8: Longmont, CO
- Chapter 9: Lake City, CO
- Chapter 10: Leadville, CO
- Chapter 11: Fort Collins; Cache La Poudre Chapter, CO
- Chapter 12: Pueblo; South Pueblo Chapter, CO
- Chapter 13: Greeley, CO
- Chapter 14: Canon City, CO
- Chapter 15: Durango; San Juan Chapter, CO
- Chapter 16: Gunnison, CO
- Chapter 17: Salida, CO
- Chapter 18: Alamosa; San Luis Valley Chapter, CO
- Chapter 19: Aspen; Keystone Chapter, CO
- Chapter 20: La Junta, CO
- Chapter 21: Ouray; Kilwinning Chapter, CO
- Chapter 22: Glenwood Springs; Glenwood Chapter, CO
- Chapter 23: Trinidad, CO
- Chapter 24: Grand Junction, CO
- Chapter 25: Montrose, CO
- Chapter 26: Akron, CO
- Chapter 27: Walsenburger, CO
- Chapter 28: Telluride, CO
- Chapter 29: Denver; Colorado Chapter, CO
- Chapter 30: Idaho Springs, CO
- Chapter 31: Fort Morgan, CO
- Chapter 32: Lamar; Orient, CO
- Chapter 33: Cripple Creek, CO
- Chapter 34: Steamboat Springs; Steamboat Chapter, CO
- Chapter 35: Florence, CO
- Chapter 36: Rocky Ford, CO
- Chapter 37: Meeker, CO
- Chapter 38: Delta, CO
- Chapter 39: Denver; Highlands Chapter, CO
- Chapter 40: Windsor, CO
- Chapter 41: Silverton, CO
- Chapter 42: South Denver, CO
- Chapter 43: Del Norte, CO
- Chapter 44: Loveland, CO
- Chapter 45: Colorado City; Euclid Chapter, CO
- Chapter 46: Paonia; Zion Chapter, CO
- Chapter 47: Sterling, CO
- Chapter 48: Rifle, CO
- Chapter 49: Las Animas, CO
- Chapter 50: Denver; Montview Chapter, CO
- Chapter 51: Brighton, CO
- Chapter 52: Limon, CO
- Chapter 53: Craig, CO
- Chapter 54: Silverton; Rhodonite Chapter, CO
- Chapter 55: Granby; Mountain Parks Chapter, CO
- Chapter 56: ?????
- Chapter 57: Littleton, CO
- Chapter 58: Englewood, CO
- Chapter 59: Cortez; Montelores Chapter, CO
- Chapter 60: ?????
- Chapter 61: Aurora, CO
- Chapter 62: Breckenridge, CO
- Chapter 63: Lakewood, CO
RARITY: Unknown; Likely rare - I have never seen another example
MASONIC ISSUE DESCRIPTION:
(Copper, 31mm, Round, Plain Edge)
OBVERSE: Denver Chapter R.A.M. / NO. 2 / Denver, Colorado
REVERSE: One Penny / (Raised/Smooth Masonic Keystone)
MASONIC ISSUE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
“Short History of Masonic Pennies:
Equitable pay was a major theme among Royal Arch Masons. When the Mason became a Royal Arch Mason, they earned a penny - the symbol of a Day's Wages. This evolved through the 1800s. In the early days a US or foreign coin was shaved and made into the Penny. We have found one on a 5 Franc coin that the Mason was a Union Colonel and died in 1861. Early datable ones are scarce. Many were engraved on US large cents. The date of the coin has no bearing on when the penny was made - most were 1880 - 1910. Engraved dates are often when the Mason became a Royal Arch Mason. The penny may have been engraved 20 or more years after the date.
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There were Stock Pennies beginning in the 1870s to present. Stock Pennies allowed a local jeweler to engrave the Mason's Penny. They were used by Chapters that could not afford the cost of a die or until they could get a die made.
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We do not know when the first Pennies were made from a Chapter Specific Die. We know there was a Mark Lodge Penny in 1880. There were several created in early 1890s. George H. Lovett was probably one of the first engraver of Masonic Chapter Pennies. He died in 1894. He made a dozen different pennies - all in Copper and Silver. All Lovett?s except the copper Washington Chapter No 2 from Houston are RARE.
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A Charter Date before 1890 is meaningless as to when the penny was made.
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Dr. B.F. Wright, fifth President of ANA, as the first to attempt to catalog the pennies in a series of Articles in The Numismatist (1901-04) - republished in 3 booklets. Wright lamented that the Masonic Chapters often would not furnish their pennies to fellow Masons. This opened the door for Masons to collect the pennies.
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A.E. King assembled the Alfred Hanauer Collection at the House of the Temple in Washington D.C. He then wrote letters to all the state Grand Chapters asking for Pennies. In the late 1920s he glued the pennies under glass and wrote Masonic Chapter Pennies. This King book was a major effort, but many of the pennies cannot be identified due to limits of 1920's technology and inability to observe the reverse.
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William Waken and Richard Watley undertook the massive project of inventorying the major collections. They included the King Collection (as best they could), Maurice Storck Collection, WW Gator, Waken and a few others. Their effort was also limited by current technology. They published their book in 2015 and it is an excellent source of relative Chapter rarity.
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In 2014, volunteers started the major effort of adding Masonic Pennies to tokencatalog.com. The 14,000 + pennies in the WW Gator Collection were scanned and about 20 volunteers added them. Tokencatalog.com now has 18,500 listings and we expect there will be 20-22,00 different pennies and shekels.” — Credited Source: Tom/Chattchoo
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(Maurice A. Storck Collection):
“In 1960, Storck opened a stamp and coin store in Portland that was soon the largest in the state. He contributed to the 1960 Red Book and later to the 1964 Blue Book. Ken Bressett hired Storck to become a distributor for Whitman Publishing Company's (now Western Publishing Co.) coin supplies.
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In 1970, Maurice sold his coin business and "retired." He and Nancy traveled all throughout the United States in their motorhome for several years. They settled in Tucson, Arizona and spent summers in Maine until Nancy passed away in 1990. Maurice became a year-round resident of Arizona, donating his time and money at the Veteran's Administration, where he logged over 54,000 volunteer hours. He served as president of the Veterans Stamp and Coin Outreach Program, a volunteer organization that distributed philatelic and numismatic material to veterans and shut-ins throughout the country.
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Maurice A. Storck passed away peacefully on November 29, 2019 at the Arizona State Veterans Home in Tucson. He was a life member of the Portland Club as well as the ANA. He was a 32nd degree Mason, a member of the 25th Infantry Association, and a life member of the Tucson Coin and Stamp Clubs. He collected Masonic Chapter pennies, reportedly amassing a collection of 15,000 of them. He was a decorated veteran who received several medals, including a Purple Heart. Maurice Storck was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC with full military honors.” — Credited Source: coinbooks.org