Here is a recap of the 2023 (First Week) ANA's Summer Seminar

ksammut

Here is a recap of the first week of the ANA’s Summer Seminar.

This was the ninth time I attended the ANA’s summer seminar and once again it was a great time. I had the chance to spend time with many of the attendees who come just about every year along with a lot of the newcomers. In all the years I have been coming, there were more first-time attendees than I can remember, which was great to see.

In addition to many experienced collectors, there were approximately 27 YNs in attendance which was all nice to see.
For those who have not attended a summer seminar, the attendees include some of the more notable numismatists in the country. Once again, it was great to spend time with Mr. Ken Bressett and others.

This year, I attended the Advanced Study of World Coinage course taught by two of my bosses from NGC – Rick Montgomery and Ben Wengel. All those taking the class were extremely excited about the information shared.
If you are curious about the many numismatic topics you can choose from, google the ANA Summer Seminar or visit money.org. Over the two weeks, there are a couple dozen of classes to choose.

Kim Kiick, the Executive Director, of the ANA opened led the opening ceremony which always takes place on a Saturday evening with the library book sale taking place right after. The library receives thousands of donated books every year. Many of the books are already in the library so each week’s sale generates thousands of dollars it can use for future purchases. All ANA members have access to the library and can check out books for up to two months (I believe) with an opportunity to renew.
Most attendees are housed in the dorms located on the Colorado College campus (the ANA’s headquarters is also located on the campus). You also have the option to stay at one of the nearby hotels.

Sunday begins the first of four days of classes. On Tuesday evening of each week, the YN auction is held. The YNs in attendance run all phases of the auction which include receiving the donations to be listed, cataloging, lot viewing, and all of the duties during the auction. A professional auctioneer, Ailie Byers, auctions off each lot. The first week, there were approximately 120 lots and $20,100 was generated. This amount, along with the second’s week auction total, will be used for future YN scholarships to the Summer Seminar.

On Wednesday evening, a pre-banquet get-together is held, with the closing ceremony banquet directly after. This year, two major awards were announced during the closing ceremony. Joe Boling was inducted into the ANA’s Hall of Fame and Jim Robinson was awarded an honorary doctorate. Both awards were well-deserved and Jim was very emotional when the master of ceremonies, Sam Gelberd, began sharing some of Jim’s many achievements. By the time he was invited to say a few words, it was difficult for him to speak. Everyone in the audience was very happy for him, as well as for Joe.

Some attendees bring their spouse as there is a number of things to do in Colorado Springs at night and some extend the amount of time and make a vacation out of their visit.

I had hoped to take more pictures to include with this post however, I got so busy doing other things that I failed to make that happen. I am a member of the ANA’s Dr. George Heath Society and participate in a special behind the scenes tour of the money museum given to those society members in attendance. I did remember to take pictures during the tour which I am attaching to the post along with a few other pictures.

The money museum is in the process of creating a new exhibit in their The American Gallery to replace the Harry W. Bass collection. They hope to have it completed by the end of this year. The exhibit will focus on the history of American Numismatics. The museum curator, Doug Mudd, is sending me detailed information on the new exhibit. Once I have it, I will do another post focusing on the exhibit.

As I have said on many occasions, all numismatists should plan on coming out to Summer Seminar. Many of the first timers who attended this year, mentioned they would definitely be coming back. You can decide to come for one or both weeks. Early next year, the ANA will announce which classes will be available along with who will be teaching the classes.

I hope to see you next year.

Davidk7

Hey that's me in the red shirt (8 photos from the bottom)

Awesome writeup! I'll probably make a post as well.

DelawareDoons

Nice writeup Kenny. Glad you enjoyed yourself. Gonna be back in the Philly area any time soon?

ksammut

@DelawareDoons said:
Nice writeup Kenny. Glad you enjoyed yourself. Gonna be back in the Philly area any time soon?

Thank you. I will be back, when my NGC internship finishes up, in early August.

MedalCollector

This is just a sidebar observation, but almost half of the medals in this display case were not struck by the US Mint.

Also, most of the medals in these cases are modern “restrikes”, likely from the 1960’s and 1970’s. Most folks consider these restrikes much less eye-appealing than original or early strikes.

mtn_scout

I was in the same class as Kenny and it was awesome. Lots of people were asking how it was today at week 2 registration and quite a few people said they would have taken it but had conflicts.

Onastone

Love the Cumulus cloud shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ksammut

@Onastone said:
Love the Cumulus cloud shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Within in an hour of that picture, we had a huge thunderstorm with many lightning strikes.

Project Numismatics

You caught me too! Grey polo talking to @Davidk7. I look somewhat upset that you’re taking my picture .

What a great week!

ksammut

@Project Numismatics said:
You caught me too! Grey polo talking to @Davidk7. I look somewhat upset that you’re taking my picture .

What a great week!

You just made me laugh so hard. I was simply taking random pictures at the pre-banquet get together as I had just realized I forgot to take a lot of pictures during the week. What a coincidence that both of you are in the picture.

It really was a great week. Wish I could have stayed for week 2.

golden

Glad that you had a good time.