He’s part of second Hanapepe celebration By DENNIS WILKEN TGI Staff Writer HANAPEPE—When attending the second annual Ua Mau Na Po`e O Hanapepe (The Steadfast People of Hanapepe) cultural celebration, bring along your spare change. Tomorrow, beginning with the rest
He’s part of second Hanapepe celebration
By DENNIS WILKEN
TGI Staff
Writer
HANAPEPE—When attending the second annual Ua Mau Na Po`e O Hanapepe
(The Steadfast People of Hanapepe) cultural celebration, bring along your spare
change.
Tomorrow, beginning with the rest of the event at 4 p.m. at
Hanapepe Town Park, Stan “the Coin Man” Yates will appraise peoples’ coins that
they think (or hope) may be worth more than face value.
Yates, 53, a state
health department employee who moved to Kaua`i in 1978, has been avidly
interested in coins since he was 12 years old.
The step-father of twin
daughters said his own collection, housed on the mainland now, really got
rolling because of a birthday present.
“In 1960, my parents bought me a
proof set of coins the U.S. Mint issues. A proof set are handmade, perfect
coins, and I was fascinated with them,” Yates remembered.
Yates said his
“pop” was an important reason coin-collecting became a big avocation throughout
his adult life.
“My father was significant in this. He was a paper boy in
Okanogan, Wash. in the 1930s. He used to save Indian head pennies (last minted
in 1908 and succeeded by Lincoln head pennies, still in use today, 92 years
later). He had 40 or 50 Indian head pennies he gave to me,” Yates
said.
Yates is a modest man. After talking passionately about coins, he
threw in a disclaimer.
“I never did collect with what I call a vengeance. I
never spent any money at all” on the collection, he said.
Instead, while
living in his parents’ Seattle home and attending the University of Washington,
he’d go through his father’s change every evening. And he paid close attention
to his own pockets, too, of course.
Sometimes this low-keyed approach bore
coined fruit. Once, going through his father’s change, he discovered a VDB
penny—so called because in 1909, to kick off the Lincoln head penny, designer
Victor D. Brenner was utilized.
There were four versions in 1909, and two
were initialed by Brenner, Yates said.
And although the VDB pennies are
worth quite a bit more than their face value (estimates vary), Yates said it
wasn’t the monetary profit that most excited him.
“To an amateur coin
collector, it’s like bumping into Madonna at the grocery store if you’re a big
Madonna fan,” he said.
Yates’ turn at the coin table during the Hanapepe
cultural celebration is a first.
“I’ve never done this before. I have
arranged to borrow a couple of reference books from the library that give
comparison prices for coins. And I’m trying to get a pair of white gloves, a
light and a magnifying glass, and I’ll be there,” he said.
“I’m no expert,”
he said. “But I can use the reference books to help people see what coins are
worth.”
Yates, a member of the Hanapepe Church of Christ, has volunteered
his time for the Hanapepe celebration.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be
reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and dwilken@pulitzer.net
`Steadfast’
tomorrow
n Ua Mau Na Po’e O Hanapepe (The Steadfast People of Hanapepe)
cultural celebration is set for tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Hanapepe Town
Park.
The event will feature a ukulele contest, with the winner receiving a
KoAloha Koa ukulele donated by Roy Sakuma. Other live music and a silent tent
auction also are planned.
Funds raised will go for the restoration of
Sparky’s Place, Children’s Media center and home of Russell the Rooster.
Donations and contributions are tax-deductible.
Additional information is
available at 335-0712.
Stan Yates will bring his special expertise to
the second annual Hanapepe cultural celebration tomorrow. Coin collectors are
invited to stop by to have Yates take a look at their coins and attempt to
determine how much they are worth.
(Photo by Dennis Fujimoto)
