100 years of Scouting

Earlier this year, the Boy Scouts of America kicked off a multi-year 100th Anniversary celebration.  Over the next two years, BSA will reintroduce to America the contributions Scouting makes in communities across the country and the positive impact Scouting has on millions of young lives. The 100th Anniversary celebration will include major national events, activities, and initiatives to engage nearly 3 million youth and 1.2 million volunteers; an estimated 50 million Scouting alumni; and the general public.

H.R. 5872 legislation states that the commemorative coin must be “emblematic of the 100 years of the largest youth organization in the United States, the Boy Scouts of America.”  The act also outlines other design mandates of the silver dollar including that it must show its designated value, the year 2010 and have inscriptions of the words “Liberty”, “In God We Trust”, and “E Pluribus Unum”.  The coin will weigh 26.73 grams, have a diameter of 1.5 inches and contain 90 percent silver and 10 percent copper.  The design will be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury after consultation with Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazucca and the Commission of Fine Arts.  The selected coin design will also be reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.

You can get in on the excitment and enjoyment of coin collecting too, if it is not already a passion find out about it with this new merit badge:

Coin Collecting

 

Coin Collecting BSA Supply No. 35874

Coin collecting is one of the oldest of all hobbies. Hoards of ancient coins found in excavations indicate that coins were one of the first collectibles. From earliest times, people valued coins not only as a means of trading and storing wealth, but also as miniature works of art.

Requirements

1. Understand how coins are made and where the active U.S. Mint facilities are located.
2. Explain these collecting terms:
   1. Obverse
   2. Reverse
   3. Reeding
   4. Clad
   5. Type set
   6. Date set
3. Explain the terms Uncirculated, Extremely Fine, Very Fine, Very Good, Good, Poor. Show five different grade examples of the same coin type. Explain the term proof and why it is not a grade. Tell what encapsulated coins are.
4. Know three different ways to store a collection, and describe the benefits, drawbacks, and expense of each method. Pick one to use when completing requirements.
5. Do the following:
   1. Demonstrate to your counselor that you know how to use two U.S. or world coin reference catalogs.
   2. Read a numismatic magazine or newspaper and tell your counselor about what you learned.
6. Describe the 1999-2008 50 State Quarters® Program. Collect and show your counselor five different state quarters you have acquired from circulation.
7. Collect from circulation a set of current U.S. coins. Include one coin of each denomination (cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, dollar). For each coin, locate the mint marks, if any, and the designer's initials, if any.
8. Do the following:
   1. Identify the people depicted on the following denominations of current U.S. paper money: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.
   2. Explain "legal tender."
   3. Describe the role the Federal Reserve System plays in the �distribution of currency.
9. Do ONE of the following:
   1. Collect and identify 50 foreign coins from at least 10 different countries.
   2. Collect and identify 20 bank notes from at least five different countries.
   3. Collect and identify 15 different tokens or medals.
   4. For each year since the year of your birth, collect a date set of a single type of coin.
10. Do ONE of the following:
    1. Tour a U.S. Mint facility, a Bureau of Engraving and Printing facility, a Federal Reserve bank, or a numismatic museum or exhibit, and describe what you learned to your counselor.
    2. With your parent's permission, attend a coin show or coin club meeting, or view the Web site of the U.S. Mint or a coin dealer, and report what you learned.
    3. Give a talk about coin collecting to a group such as your troop, a Cub Scout pack, or your class at school.
    4. Do drawings of five Colonial-era U.S. coins.

It is a begining

Well, here we are February 2009 four years from the founding of Troop 440 and I am just now starting to blog for the unit.  I have a personal blog in Windows Live spaces and a Face Book. Of coarse the followed the trend at the time created and have a Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BSATroop440/ but never a blog.  I do enjoy writting but rarely find time to put my thoughts in words on a page.  Perhaps I will get to it a bit more often if it is "for" scouting.