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Portland ANA Convention update

The following a press release by Don Pearlman of the ANA with the latest news on next months ANA Convention in Portland.

For immediate release
February 20, 2004

News media contacts:
Christopher Cipoletti
(719) 632-2646


Walton & Bebee Nickels, BEP's "Billion Dollar
Display" Highlight ANA National Money Show™




Two of the five known 1913 Liberty Head nickels -- the Bebee and recently located Walton specimens -- will be prominently displayed during the American Numismatic Association's (www.money.org) National Money Show™ in the Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon, March 26 – 28.

Representatives of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will attend the show with their colorful "Billion Dollar Exhibit" and a specially-produced Lewis & Clark themed souvenir card. This will be the first time in a decade the BEP has participated in the ANA's annual early spring convention.
Representatives of the United States Mint also will have a bourse floor booth.

Admission to the show is free, and open to the public.

"This will be the first time the Walton specimen has been displayed in the Pacific Northwest, and it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many collectors to see the two coins in person," said Christopher Cipoletti, ANA Executive Director.

The Bebee specimen is named after the late Aubrey and Adeline Bebee of Omaha, Nebraska who donated the coin to the ANA Money Museum in 1989. The Walton specimen is named after George O. Walton of Roanoke, Virginia who was killed in a 1962 car crash. His heirs kept the coin in a closet for 41 years after being mistakenly told it not genuine.

The Walton coin was authenticated at the ANA World's Fair of Money® convention in Baltimore last summer, solving a decades-old mystery over its whereabouts, and his heirs have loaned the coin to the Money Museum.

"We are grateful to the Walton Family for graciously allowing the ANA to exhibit this historic coin and to share their numismatic treasure with the public," said Gary Lewis, ANA President.

Five 1913 Liberty Head nickels were produced 91 years ago under mysterious circumstances when the United States Mint was changing from the Liberty Head to the Native American Indian/Buffalo design. First shown at the 1920 ANA convention in Chicago, the five coins remained together as a set until the 1940s, when they were separated and sold.


Two are now permanently part of museum collections; one (Bebee specimen) at the ANA with the Walton's loaned coin, the other (Norweb specimen) is part of the Smithsonian Institution's collection. The other two rare nickels (Eliasberg/Manley and Legend specimens) remain in private hands, both changing ownership several times in the last 10 years, and one of them (Eliasberg/Manley) selling just before the ANA Baltimore convention for about $3 million.

The United States Mint booth will feature the "HIP Pocket Change" interactive computer program for young numismatists, and the Mint is expected to display the new Lewis & Clark commemorative nickels that are scheduled to enter circulation less than two weeks prior to the opening of the convention.

In addition to its popular display of high-denomination bank notes, including Series 1934 $100,000 Gold Certificates, the BEP will sell a Lewis & Clark souvenir card specially produced for the ANA show.

The show is hosted by the Willamette Coin Club. The official ANA auction will be conducted by Heritage Numismatic Auctions of Dallas, Texas (www.HeritageCoins.com).

With their generous financial contributions to support all aspects of the three-day event, Numismatic Guaranty Corporation and National Gold Exchange are the title sponsors of the show.

There will be 11 Numismatic Theatre educational programs and several club meetings, as well as dozens of exhibits of coins, paper money, tokens and medals, and a young numismatists "treasure hunt." The sold-out bourse area will have nearly 230 dealers’ tables and booths for buying and selling numismatic merchandise, according to the ANA.

The Numismatic Theatre program at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 27, features Douglas Mudd, Manager of The Smithsonian's National Numismatic Collection discussing money and sovereignty. The 3 p.m. program that day presents ANA Executive Director Cipoletti looking at the future of the ANA.

The ANA Board of Governors will conduct two open session board meetings, 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 24, and 8:00 a.m., Thursday, March 25, in room C-124 of the Convention Center.
Public bourse hours will be Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The show will be held in Hall C of the Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Portland.
Additional information about the ANA National Money Show, including the complete schedule of events, can be found online at the ANA web site, www.money.org, or by calling the ANA at (719) 632-2646.


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