2022 ANA CONVENTION DIARY

The annual ANA convention is a highlight of the annual numismatic calendar, and the combination of people, coins, and get-togethers is hard to beat. Preparation always starts early for me, and I build a detailed spreadsheet to keep track of everything.

Literature Dealers
Charles Davis was set up with his usual array of significant numismatic literature. Kolbe & Fanning were at the show but could not commit to setting up as it was unclear, until the last minute, when they would have to take their son (who is starting the University of Cincinnati) to school. As it turns out they were able to come to the ANA but did not bring inventory. From Charlie I purchased a copy of the 1992 M. N. Daycius circular that promoted a bogus sale of numismatic literature, in addition to a nicely bound copy of the Breen/Gillio work on fractional gold pieces.

Rittenhouse Medal
By Wednesday the Liberty Seated Collectors Club table was a beehive of activity. John Frost had brought for exhibit a group of medals from the Charles Barber estate. My favorite was the MT-1, featuring a bust of David Rittenhouse, engraved by William Barber. The American Philosophical Society has an 1871 letter of transmittal from Barber, presenting them an MT-1 Rittenhouse medal that was patterned after a Rittenhouse bust in their collection. Later in the week John Lundsten exhibited his nearly complete set of Seated dollars at the LSCC table. Among the visitors to the LSCC table was Tom Bender, who was presented with the 1870-S half dime table skirt printed for the 2019 Seated Fest II exhibit in Baltimore.

Club Meetings and Speaker Presentations
On Wednesday I attended the JRCS meeting, which featured a great presentation by Barry Sunshine and Chuck Link. Chuck Link's collection of the proof coins in the Bust series was fascinating. John Dannreuther's forthcoming volume on proof silver coinage will no doubt bring clarity to this tricky area of collecting, and I suspect the Link collection as a whole will enable further insights.

Club meetings and speaker presentations dominate Thursday and Friday at the ANA convention. The LSCC met promptly at 9am on Thursday and featured a talk by Bob Evans on silver coins recovered from the SS Central America. The ever-energetic Brad Karoleff extracted over $3,000 in an auction fundraiser, which featured a selection of coin glass and back issues of the Gobrecht Journal. We also auctioned a two-volume set illustrating Seated quarters from the Gene Gardner collection. Gardner issued these books in small numbers and privately distributed them at the time of printing. A big thank you to all the winning bidders, and also to those who donated material for auction.

NBS Symposium and the Smithsonian
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS) Symposium on Thursday featured Chuck Heck speaking about the making of his current publication on 1794 large cent die states. Two of Chuck's grandchildren got to see their grandfather walk the audience through the process of self-publishing. Chuck had books for sale at the show, and I was happy to bring a copy home. Another EACer, Harry Salyards, was pre-selling his forthcoming book on early dollars, and had a draft available for viewing. I promptly ordered a copy, and it will be a pleasant surprise when it shows up in the mailbox this fall. Regarding other books, David Alexander is working on a volume on Napoleonic medals and brought a draft to the show.

On Thursday I also attended an event for the Smithsonian, where they presented their latest exhibit, Really Big Money, at the National Museum of American History. The foot traffic they get in the museum is extraordinary, with literally thousands of people walking through the numismatic exhibits every day. There really is no other single entity, except perhaps the U.S. Mint, that generates this level of public exposure to numismatics. It's a worthy cause, and, if you wish to donate, it would be money well spent.

NBS General Meeting
The NBS meeting was held on Friday and featured a video presentation of the Joel Orosz library. I had visited Joel on July 14, with Lianna Spurrier, who produced the video. This video covered various aspects of the library including antebellum references related to numismatics, numismatic association items, the NBS archives, and of course recent purchases. Joel recently acquired the McAllister memorandum (one of three copies known, of which this is the only example currently traced), which recorded John McAllister's recollections after speaking with (former Chief Coiner) Adam Eckfeldt at the U.S. Mint in 1844.

 
2022 NBS auctioneers David Fanning and Tom Harrison

The NBS had a most successful fundraising auction, held as usual at the beginning of the meeting, courtesy of many donors and bidders. David Fanning produced the sale catalog and called the sale, which raised $10,890 on behalf of the club. This is an unaudited figure based on my (usually faulty) arithmetic. Our capable Treasurer Chuck Heck has received all the related paperwork and will be challenged to bring order to the chaos!

Building a Numismatic Library
On Friday afternoon I delivered a Money Talks presentation, Building a Numismatic Library for Pleasure and Profit. I'm more driven by collecting books for research purposes, but part of the collector mentality always likes to make a buck, and I shared a few ideas in that regard. A number of bibliophiles were in attendance and the ANA will be releasing the video in due course.

Newman Numismatic Portal
Throughout the week a number of people approached me about potential contributions to the Newman Numismatic Portal, in addition to directly loaning material at the show. Among the contributors were Eric Schena, Paul Hybert, and Bill Shamhart. Paul has been supplying us with congressional reports related to the U.S. Mint for a long time and still manages to find things we do not yet have. This week he loaned an 1830s document related to Continental Currency that I am looking forward to digesting. I also met Michael Bourne for the first time, who had earlier forwarded important material on auction appearances of U.S. pattern coins from the pre-Internet era.

Rittenhouse Society
The ANA convention always wraps up for me with the Rittenhouse Society breakfast on Saturday morning. This is capably hosted by Whitman Publishing every year and their sponsorship is most welcome. This group brings together authors and researchers and represents a great networking opportunity to see how we can all help each other to push forward numismatic science. I was especially pleased to see founding member Ken Bressett in attendance. He is well into his 90s but seems to have just as much energy as when I first met him many years ago. All in all, it was a great week, and I can't imagine a better way to wrap it up than by spending a few minutes with Mr. Red Book himself.

Hundred Year Numismatist
At the ANA 131 st Anniversary Banquet on Friday, August 19, 2022, it was announced that Kay Edgerton Lenker would receive the Elvira Clain Stefanelli Memorial Award for Achievement in Numismatics. Lenker was not present to receive the award.

The printed program stated that she was age 22 in 1944. The announcer stated that she was 100 years old. This would add her to the list of hundred-year-old numismatists.

My records indicate that she was born in Philadelphia on November 29, 1922. If that is correct, she is still a few months short of achieving that distinction.

Mint Director at ANA

 

I was pleased to get her left-handed autograph on a card she provided.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web