Lectures & Workshops at FUN 2026
GoldFinger1969
Posts: 3,377 ✭✭✭✭✭
With all the focus on the actual show and threads highlighting that (including Charmy's usual thorough thread from soup-to-nuts 
)....I thought a thread discussing the lectures and workshops or any other activities away from the bourse would be useful.
I personally attended 2 lectures: BillJones' $5 Half Eagle talk and a discussion on Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles by an actual dealer. I enjoyed them both and am grateful that both men spent time preparing these talks for the benefit of the attendees. I've done it myself on other topics, so I know the preparation and work involved.
I thought the $5 Half Eagle talk was outstanding. I don't collect this series and am not too familiar with the ins-and-outs but the talk was not over my head as a novice and I learned a few things. As a pre-1933 gold piece, it's useful to know a bit about this series as there is some overlap with demand, pricing, and hoard trends (i.e., Fairmont) on other coins like Saints (which are of strong interest to me). You could tell the speaker knew the topic inside-and-out and probably had purchased some higher-end coins with his specialized grading knowledge.
I liked the Saint-Gaudens talk even thought I probably didn't learn much. I guess that's the downside of spending countless hours trying to be an "expert" on one particular series. 
I thought the talk was geared more to the novice/beginner as there wasn't much talk about specific issues like hoards, recent pricing and premiums, what drives pricing (i.e., CAC, OGH, grade) on certain issues, etc. With RWB's book released right before Covid and with a 2nd Edition of the Whitman Red Bood on Double Eagles by Bowers coming out next month, I would have liked to have seen more rapid-fire bullet points...but maybe that's just me. Still a good talk from a dealer's perspective and I thought he spoke very nicely in emphasizing his points.
Comments
The Liberty Seated Collector's Club meeting was informative with a presentation on New Orleans coinage. The ANA Summer Seminar will repeat this year on this topic since it was so well received.
"She comes out of the sun in a silk dress,
running like a water color in the rain...."
It is not good that most are scheduled during prime bourse time.
I'm here to brag on Winston Zack (author of the Bad Metal series of books on counterfeits). He presented at the John Reich Collectors Society meeting at FUN on the use of XRay Fluorescence to analyze the metal/alloy content of capped bust half dollars. Great presentation, great participation from interested members of the audience. Winston's PDF of the presentation is here if you're interested: DNA of Counterfeit CBHs.
Full disclosure: I'm the Education Director for the JRCS and in that role I beg/bribe people to present at our meetings. This one was another goodie in a string of goodies and I couldn't be more grateful!
My hobby website Groovycoins.com, new and improved!
I agree, but when should they be offered? 7 am? 6 pm?
With this serious point in mind, I attended the great informative talk offered by John Frost for the Barber Coin Collectors Society at 3:00 pm on Friday. That day and time is about the best one can ask for with this point in mind about prime Bourse time. (I forgot to ask him if like some people named John he uses “Jack” as a nickname - Jack Frost, lol).
Steve
My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set:
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
Have they ever considered having the talks either BEFORE or AFTER the show hours ?
If you held them at off hours, before the bourse opens or after, even fewer people would or could attend. There are also issues with keeps the doors open at those earlier or later times. Like it or not, the current system is the only reasonable one.
I would have liked to have attended Bill Jones’ presentation on half eagles. I am not that familiar with the series and would have learned a lot. The one on saints would have also been interesting.
A bit later is better....I think 3 PM would still allow people to get back to the bourse with plenty of time to view.
If you are close to a purchase from a dealer and they were thinking of closing up shop early, I would think if you tell them you'll be around by 4:30 at the latest, they'll wait.
Maybe they can send you their PP slides or they can post them on websites or forums like this.
2 am tis mornings meeting 😴
@BillJones presentation was awesome. Never knew one of the reasons the mintage of early gold coins was so small was the mint had a difficult time finding employees. Average salary was $1250 a year and mint employees had to be bonded for $12000. It was also very nice to meet Bill afterwards.
Scott Travers, David Hall, and Maurice Rosen (on Zoom) gave an excellent presentation about portable wealth, silver and gold prices, and the demand for high value coins. John Butler had a few things to say.
I unfortunately missed the Liberty Seated Collectors Club meeting. Coming from the left coast it was too early for me with the time difference.
David Harper's annual talk was fun. He predicts silver at $300/oz this year. Yikes! Sorry to see Randy Campbell's talk was cancelled. That's always informative about the dollar market, even if I can't afford what he recommends.
What about starting the talks at 3 PM.
Have them in the evening AFTER the show is over ? Or maybe even have some of them in rooms in the various hotels ?
I missed it, what would lead him to think that silver can triple again (though it did happen in both 1979 and 1980 for a while) ?
Why was it cancelled? Yes, I saw him in 2020 and even though the topic wasn't a hot one that I was dying to hear, he had a great presentation, had good information, and was a good talker.
http://www.funtopics.com/1FUNSeminar/2026/2026 Seminars.html
End Systemic Elitism - It Takes All of Us
ANA LM, LSCC, EAC, FUN
Randy has some serious family health issues and has resigned from all of his FUN activities. That’s what the speakers were told.
I will give a talk about the $20 gold pieces at FUN. The emphasis will be on type coins and some interesting stories about the Double Eagles.
>
I very much enjoyed your talk on half eagles and can’t wait to see your presentation on double eagles. Any Brit presentations coming up?
Well, how do I say this?
The lecture topics usually have to gravitate toward topics that appeal in investors . Randy Campbell’s talks about the silver dollar market drew out the door audiences. Years ago I talked the 1795 year set from copper to gold. The attendance was viewed as disappointing, and it took me a few years to get back on the program.
I name a few topics, they pick one that might attract an audience. I’m not a coin investment expert.
That’s a shame, I enjoyed the 1795 presentation along with the recent one on half eagles. But then I like history and am not caught up in the latest and greatest presentations.
I like history too. One nonstarter was presidential inaugural medals on the year a president would sworn in. It was viewed as something that would not draw well. Less you think that those medals are cheap, a 1921 Warren G. Harding, which I don’t have, sells for over $30,000 in nice condition. Augustus St. Gaudens designed one for Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. It was executed by Adolph Weinman who designed the Mercury Dime and Walking Liberty Half Dollar. Only 125 were cast by Tiffany’s, and it sells for $25,000 or so. The Eagle on the reverse is very similar to the one on the $10 Indian.
Summer FUN coming up or FUN JAN 2027 ?
Any talks on half dollars?
Barber Half-Dollars as part of a talk on the Barber series.
Did anybody attend the David Hall, Scott Travers, Maurice Rosen panel discussion on "Portable Wealth" ?
Yes.
Scott was very entertaining, Maurice was available remotely, and David was enlightening.
I don’t remember specifics but I enjoyed it.
Have always wanted go there give a lecture on Accounting for a Rare Coin Business or investment Portfolio.