Amazingly, it’s time for yet another Summer ANA Convention. This year’s edition is going to be held on August 5th through August 9th at the Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles and if past shows are any indication, this will be one of the best coins shows of the year.

If you’ve never been to a major coin show before, attending your first ANA can be pretty intimidating. The display area is enormous and there are hundreds of dealers from all over the world. What things should you absolutely not miss at the ANA?

The first thing I’d make sure to do at this year’s show is to view the exhibits. The competitive exhibits are always fun but it’s the Smithsonian’s display that has me very interested. This year’s star coin is the unique 1849 Double Eagle; a coin that, if it were to come to market, would set a record for the most valuable United States issue. There will be other amazing rarities on display as well but the chance to see the 1849 double eagle is just about enough to make any serious gold collector get on the plane and go to L.A.

The next thing I’d do is hit the Whitman Publishing display, buy copies of all their wonderful books and try to get as many as possible autographed by the author(s). Whitman is planning on having many of the authors attend the show and they will be signing their books throughout the show.
I certainly wouldn’t miss any of the specialty club meetings in the area(s) that were of interest to me. As an example, the Liberty Seated Collectors Club will be holding a major meeting during the show and if I were a collector of Seated coins this would be an event I absolutely wouldn’t want to miss.

And, of course, I’d be going to look for coins. Even if you don’t plan on making any purchases, you’ll be amazed at what you see at an ANA show. Some dealers will have incredible rarities that they will be happy to let you hold and examine. Other dealers will have deep inventories of coins that you collect. If there was ever a place to find the proverbial “needle in the haystack” it’s at an ANA show. (more…)

Kenneth Bressett began teaching at Summer Seminar in 1974, and is well-known as the longtime editor of A Guide Book of United States Coins (The Red Book). Bressett has served the ANA as Director of Coin Authentication, and on its Board as Governor, Vice President and President. Bressett was appointed to the U.S. Assay Commission by President Lyndon Johnson. He has received many ANA awards, including election to the Numismatic Hall of Fame, the Medal of Merit, and the Farran Zerbe Award. Bressett received his degree July 9.

Mary Sauvain has been teaching authentication and grading at Summer Seminar since 1985. She was presented the Glenn Smedley Award in 2000 and the ANA Presidential Award in 2003. Sauvain authored monthly counterfeit detection articles for The Numismatist while employed by the ANA’s Certification Service, and monthly articles for Coin World in the early 1990s called “The Coin Detective.” She received her degree July 2.

The ANA’s Doctor of Numismatics degree is reserved for longtime excellence in instruction during Summer Seminar, and has been received by six individuals. In 1989, seminar co-founders Edward C. Rochette and the late Adna G. Wilde received the first two doctorates. During the 40th annual event in 2008, longtime instructors Bill Fivaz and J.P. Martin were honored.

The American Numismatic Association is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to encouraging people to study and collect money and related items. The ANA helps its 32,000 members and the public discover and explore the world of money through its vast array of education and outreach programs, as well as its museum, library, publications, conventions and seminars. For more information, call 719-632-2646 or visit

www.money.org.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) argued that truth is a value judgement and questioned the premise that truth is always preferable to (or more valuable than) untruth. He also suggested that we should learn from the ancient Sphinx how to ask questions. Should a question always seek the truth as a response? One would normally think so, but what of the case where an untruth is valued more highly by someone than the truth? Is insinuation of an untruth in the form of a question a reflection of values and therefore acceptable? Nevermind, that’s a rhetorical question that has no truth or untruth in the answer.

In a news article headlined “Why are Ancient Coins From Cyprus Featured in a Suit Against the US Department of State?” archaeologist David Gill asks a misleading question. Of course, they are NOT featured in any such lawsuit (at least not yet). This question was posed by Gill in a press release filed through a commercial news service. It ran, as these releases always do, in scores of media outlets that reach a very wide spectrum of society.

Being a news medium, with certain standards of veracity, the reader might expect to find an answer based on truth. Unless, of course, the question is framed with a Nietzschean mindset. In that case, an untruth may be viewed by the author as a perfectly acceptable answer, irrespective of societal norms. The typical reader of a press release is not going to know much about Nietszche or about ancient coins, maybe not even about Cyprus. They definitely will not know much about the U.S. State Department, which is by design one of the most secretive agencies in the U.S. government.

For Gill’s answer to the headline question, the reader is referred to his most current blog posting. But, as a final teaser at the end of his press release Gill asks one more question: “Are these aggressive legal tactics really for the benefit of collectors, or are there other factors at work?” Once again, the reader expects a question to be followed by a truth. Instead, what they are fed is a potpourri of inaccuracies, untruths and insinuations. What poses as an innocent question is really the sort of catty insinuation that one comes to expect in blogs these days, not in the media.

Let me just outline a few specific inaccuracies in the Gill press release and blog. Speaking about the ACCG/IAPN/PNG Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, he writes: “The alliance objected to the US Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) restricting the import of ancient coins minted in Cyprus as part of a wider memorandum of understanding (MOU).” (more…)

The ANA is a Congressionally-chartered, 32,000-member nonprofit association, and is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating and encouraging people to study and collect money and related items.

CFC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc., which conducts Spectrum Group International’s trading operations, provides loans to dealers, collectors and traders in the rare coin and bullion market. These loans, which are offered on monthly, six-month or one-year terms with an origination fee, are secured by the coin and bullion assets of the borrower, whether part of the investor’s collection or in the dealer’s inventory. CFC also provides loans against coins that are in the process of being independently certified for authenticity and grade by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) or Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS). CFC offers final loan amounts – ranging from $25,000 to over $5 million – of up to 70 percent of the collateral value of coin assets, and 90 percent of the collateral value of bullion assets, based on its in-house expert valuations of the collateral.

Greg Roberts, President and CEO of Spectrum Group International, Inc., commented, “The price volatility of precious metals continues to fuel greater interest in rare-coin collecting and bullion trading. With our experience in collateral lending, we formed CFC to meet the growing demand for capital to fund the investment in rare coins and bullion.”

Mr. Roberts continued, “Currently, CFC offers competitive lending rates to dealers and traders, and we have expanded these lending services to individual collectors through our dealer relationships and our renewed relationship with the ANA.” (more…)

The money represented full refunds in 16 recent disputes, according to the New Jersey-based not-for-profit group, the Numismatic Consumer Alliance, Inc. (NCA).

The consumers had purchased the coins – mostly overpriced bullion coins and other modern issues – on the basis of telemarketers’ sales pitches, NCA said. It said the Alliance was able to obtain full refunds totaling $884,769 for coins which were worth a fraction of their purchase price.

“Many of these buyers,” NCA said, “were senior citizens with no knowledge of coins who also lacked the Internet savvy to check out what they were buying and who they were buying it from.”

The Alliance has now recovered a total of more than $4 million for such consumers since becoming operational in 2005. NCA intervenes on these buyers’ behalf, engaging legal and other professional assistance if necessary, in an effort to ensure that coin consumers are getting their money’s worth.

The Alliance is reviewing other disputes involving coins for which consumers paid more than $10 million.

NCA seeks no compensation when it enters a dispute on behalf of an aggrieved consumer – even though it frequently incurs substantial legal bills and other expenses in the process. Funds to cover such costs are contributed by coin dealers and collectors who share its concerns. On several occasions, consumers who were aided by NCA subsequently donated funds to help it continue its work on behalf of others. (more…)

Leaders of five major numismatic hobby and professional organizations met in Long Beach, California on May 27, 2009 to discuss possible consumer education and law enforcement actions to curtail imports and sales of counterfeit coins. From left to right: Scott Schechter, CCG/NGC; Armen Vartian, PNG; Don Willis, PCGS; Jeff Garrett, PNG; Diane Piret, ICTA; Raymond Gregson, Jr., retired I.R.S. criminal investigation special agent; Fred Weinberg, ICTA; Barry Stuppler, ANA; Robert Brueggeman, PNG; and Gary Adkins, PNG. Not pictured: meeting moderator Donn Pearlman. (Photo credit: Donn Pearlman.)

Representatives of the five groups participated in a preliminary teleconference call on May 7, 2009, and then met in Long Beach, California on May 27 to discuss a coordinated plan of action. The groups recognize that counterfeiting can’t be completely stopped, but that efforts can be made to reduce the easy availability of fakes and to educate coin buyers about common sense ways to avoid unwittingly purchasing them.

They agreed to pursue a three-part strategy as a group and/or as individual organizations: initiate consumer education and protection programs including online resources to reach the casual coin-buying public who are not part of the mainstream numismatic community; aggressively attempt to compel online auction sites to be more responsive to complaints about fraudulent listings of fake certification services’ holders and replica coins that are in violation of The Hobby Protection Act; and utilize ICTA’s extensive experience in Washington, DC to explore possible criminal actions by federal law enforcement agencies against importers and sellers of illegal numismatic items. (more…)

Two candidates are running for President; one for Vice President and 14 for seven Governor seats. Each Board member serves a two-year term, and all are elected by the ANA membership on an at-large basis. Nominations closed on March 31 and candidates had until today to accept or decline their nominations.

Board Vice President Patricia Jagger-Finner and Governor Clifford Mishler, both of Iola, WI are running for President. Tom Hallenbeck of Colorado Springs is running unopposed for Vice President.

Candidates for governor are (listed alphabetically):

* Joseph E. Boling of Indianapolis, IN
* Michael L. Ellis of Virginia Beach, VA
* Brian E. Fanton of Hiawatha, IA
* Jeff C. Garrett of Lexington, KY
* Alan Herbert of Belle Fourche, SD
* Paul Hollis of Mandeville, LA
* Chester L. Krause of Iola, WI
* J.P. Martin of Englewood, CO
* Walter A. Ostromecki, Jr. of Panorama City, CA
* Thomas A. Palmer, Jr. of New Smyrna Beach, FL
* Scott Rottinghaus of New London, CT
* Jeffrey Swindling of Jacksonville, FL
* Michael S. Turrini of Vallejo, CA
* Wendell A. Wolka of Greenwood, IN

Election ballots, as well as candidate photographs and biographies/platforms, will be sent by the independent auditing firm of BiggsKofford, P.C., to eligible voting ANA members. The envelope, with a BiggsKofford return address, will indicate that a ballot is enclosed. Ballots will be mailed by May 31 and must be returned to the auditing firm by June 26. Election results will be announced on July 3 with the new Board of Governors sworn in at the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money convention banquet in Los Angeles on August 8. (more…)

The American Numismatic Association Board of Governors has approved a balanced operating budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year, signaling a momentous financial turnaround for the ANA, which performed under a projected $1.4 million operating deficit in fiscal year 2008-09.

The approved budget, announced during the Board’s March 13 open session at the Portland National Money Show™, proposes $4,426,380 in expenses while projecting revenues of $4,562,445 – a surplus of $136,065. Projected legal fees of $211,000 are not factored into the budget, but ANA leadership is optimistic this number could be lower.

In addition, Executive Director Larry Shepherd reported significant improvement in the balance sheet, with an increase in the value of the Ben E. Keith Company stock and an infusion of cash into ANA investments.

“A year ago, I challenged Executive Director Larry Shepherd and the ANA leadership to balance the budget in one year,” said President Barry Stuppler. “In truth, I felt it may take two or three years to reach this goal, but great leadership and great organizations accept challenges and meet seemingly impossible goals. The fact that a balanced budget was submitted this year reflects exemplary leadership on the part of the Executive Director and the extraordinary work of ANA staff.”

Overall, projected 09-10 expenses were reduced by $1,799,442, or 28.9 percent, while projected revenue declined by $331,366, or 7 percent. (more…)

Funds for the award were raised by 23 prominent numismatists in honor of Harry J. Forman, a Philadelphia coin dealer, author and ANA Life Member who died in March 2008. Together with partner Ruth Bauer, he ran the firm of Forman and Bauer, Inc., a respected mail-order coin business. Forman was active in increasing ANA membership and encouraging donations to the Money Museum, and became the Association’s first “grand patron” in 1982. He received the ANA’s Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 1998, the Numismatist of the Year Award in 2000 and the Association’s highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Memorial Award, in 2001.

The following are the criteria for Harry J. Forman Dealer of the Year Award nominees:

* An ANA member in good standing
* A full-time dealer for a minimum of 20 years
* A firm commitment to the betterment of the numismatic hobby and ANA, including educational presentations, support for ANA initiatives, articles, etc.
* A commitment to assist in future selection of all Harry J. Forman Dealer of the Year Award honorees for 5 years
(more…)

The coin has has been graded Proof-64 by both PCGS and NGC. It has the distinction of being the only 1913 Liberty Head nickel ever handled by B. Max Mehl, who made it a centerpiece of his lifelong advertising campaign. It was also briefly owned by Egyptian King Farouk. When the set of five 1913 nickels was broken up in the 1940s, the Olsen specimen was sold first to James Kelly and then to Fred Olsen, whose name it has kept ever since.

The Olsen specimen was featured on “The $100,000 Nickel” episode of Hawaii Five-O soon after it broke the record for the most expensive coin ever sold in 1972. During the episode, the “star” coin is stolen by a thief and spends much of the episode passing from hand to hand as the human stars of the program look for it. The coin’s price doubled to $200,000 when it was purchased by Superior Galleries in 1978. It has been resold on several occasions since then, most recently fetching $3 million in June of 2004.

The coin is being exhibited courtesy of its anonymous owner, in cooperation with Integrity Assets Management, LLC. At the conclusion of the Portland show, the coin will return to ANA Headquarters, and will be on displayed on loan at the Edward C. Rochette Money Museum.