Report: Colorado Springs Show and ANA Summer Seminar, Session II, first days...
airplanenut
Posts: 22,149 ✭✭✭✭✭
Greetings from sunny Colorado Springs, the home of the ANA! 
I arrived Saturday afternoon and got to the CO Springs Show as quickly as I could. There was quite a lot of floor traffic, and stuff from all spectrums; high and low grade; modern and classic; junky and nice (one seller had a case of lots of great coins AT'd... what a shame
)
I spent a lot of time with Jared Burbank (poptopsrus) making it known that my toners are nicer than his (clearly, that's true
). Suddenly, though, I heard that the last bus was leaving within 20 minutes, and I had only seen half the show. I did a quick sprint, and found a green, yellow, and purple 1902 IHC slabbed by NGC--really pretty coin... so I bought it 
. I'll do a guess the grade when I get back with pictures.
Saturday evening was just loafing around the CO College campus and talking with some people, such as Cameron Kiefer and many non-board members. I also bought a raw toned Washington and merc--both very nice.
On Sunday, I woke up to get back to the show to do some more buying. First things first, I sold some stuff to Jared, so I had some extra cash. I then quickly found a very inexpensive proof IHC toned blue, purple, and green on the reverse. The holder is really scuffy, so a picture will be hard--I'll get it, though . I then found a nicely toned buffalo, and while something in my mind said it didn't look totally right, I bought it... that was dumb. I showed it to ANACS (Mike Farone was there) and he was "ehhhhh'ing" the coin--if it would grade, definitely way below what I thought it was. Bob Campbell also came over and gave a great trick even Mike didn't know of to find AT coins--place the coin behind a light that is facing down and tilt the coin toward you about 30 degrees. If it shows any rings/haziness, it's almost guaranteed AT. Anyway, I was able to get my money back and pick up an XF 1836 bust half from the dealer--it'll go in my type set.
Then, I found a fantastic pilgrim commem--all the look of a 63+ with fantastic lustre, but a little rub. I got it for $52 and am very happy--another commem for the album. I picked up some raw toners, as well, and headed back to the ANA for lunch and the first session of class ("Grading US Coins"), taught by Don Bonser and Mary Sauvain. We started with lots of slides to familiarize us with aspects of coins and types of damage. It's laid back, so it's a fun way to learn.
After class, I headed over to Cameron's and Lane Brunner's (astrorat) bull session on sample slabs and slabs that aren't so common--very cool. Then, I headed to a minor league ball game with (25, I think) attendees of the seminar. I ended up sitting next to Rick Snow at the game, so I got to learn quite a lot about Indian Head Cents, and talk about the ones I just bought. Definitely a fun guy to be around, and the whole atmosphere at the game was relaxing and enjoyable. Doug Mudd (former Smithsonian curator, now ANA curator) was also there, and so there were some discussions on the Smithsonian collection, the 1804 dollars, and lots of other great stuff. It's a fun change when lots of people around you all want to talk coins At the end of the game were July 4th fireworks, and back to the dorms for sleep.
This morning we continued our class with more slides and discussions of grades based on the slides, and techniques for grading. It's lunch time now, but when we go back, I think we're rapping up slides, and getting hands on! Yeah!
That's all for now... I'm having a great time (and think everyone else is, too!)
Jeremy
PS- For fairness, I also talked to Mark Woods for a little bit, but I haven't seen him much... I've been torturing Cameron and Lane with cool slabs that they don't have
I arrived Saturday afternoon and got to the CO Springs Show as quickly as I could. There was quite a lot of floor traffic, and stuff from all spectrums; high and low grade; modern and classic; junky and nice (one seller had a case of lots of great coins AT'd... what a shame
)I spent a lot of time with Jared Burbank (poptopsrus) making it known that my toners are nicer than his (clearly, that's true
). Suddenly, though, I heard that the last bus was leaving within 20 minutes, and I had only seen half the show. I did a quick sprint, and found a green, yellow, and purple 1902 IHC slabbed by NGC--really pretty coin... so I bought it . I'll do a guess the grade when I get back with pictures.Saturday evening was just loafing around the CO College campus and talking with some people, such as Cameron Kiefer and many non-board members. I also bought a raw toned Washington and merc--both very nice.
On Sunday, I woke up to get back to the show to do some more buying. First things first, I sold some stuff to Jared, so I had some extra cash
. I then quickly found a very inexpensive proof IHC toned blue, purple, and green on the reverse. The holder is really scuffy, so a picture will be hard--I'll get it, though . I then found a nicely toned buffalo, and while something in my mind said it didn't look totally right, I bought it... that was dumb. I showed it to ANACS (Mike Farone was there) and he was "ehhhhh'ing" the coin--if it would grade, definitely way below what I thought it was. Bob Campbell also came over and gave a great trick even Mike didn't know of to find AT coins--place the coin behind a light that is facing down and tilt the coin toward you about 30 degrees. If it shows any rings/haziness, it's almost guaranteed AT. Anyway, I was able to get my money back and pick up an XF 1836 bust half from the dealer--it'll go in my type set.Then, I found a fantastic pilgrim commem--all the look of a 63+ with fantastic lustre, but a little rub. I got it for $52 and am very happy--another commem for the album
. I picked up some raw toners, as well, and headed back to the ANA for lunch and the first session of class ("Grading US Coins"), taught by Don Bonser and Mary Sauvain. We started with lots of slides to familiarize us with aspects of coins and types of damage. It's laid back, so it's a fun way to learn.After class, I headed over to Cameron's and Lane Brunner's (astrorat) bull session on sample slabs and slabs that aren't so common--very cool. Then, I headed to a minor league ball game with (25, I think) attendees of the seminar. I ended up sitting next to Rick Snow at the game, so I got to learn quite a lot about Indian Head Cents, and talk about the ones I just bought. Definitely a fun guy to be around, and the whole atmosphere at the game was relaxing and enjoyable. Doug Mudd (former Smithsonian curator, now ANA curator) was also there, and so there were some discussions on the Smithsonian collection, the 1804 dollars, and lots of other great stuff. It's a fun change when lots of people around you all want to talk coins
At the end of the game were July 4th fireworks, and back to the dorms for sleep.This morning we continued our class with more slides and discussions of grades based on the slides, and techniques for grading. It's lunch time now, but when we go back, I think we're rapping up slides, and getting hands on! Yeah!
That's all for now... I'm having a great time (and think everyone else is, too!
)Jeremy
PS- For fairness, I also talked to Mark Woods for a little bit, but I haven't seen him much... I've been torturing Cameron and Lane with cool slabs that they don't have
JK Coin Photography - eBay Consignments | High Quality Photos | LOW Prices | 20% of Consignment Proceeds Go to Pancreatic Cancer Research
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Comments
Specializing in 1854 and 1855 large FE patterns
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<< <i>I've been torturing Cameron and Lane with cool slabs that they don't have >>
True. Sell them and stop the torture!
Cameron Kiefer
<< <i>Sounds awesome, Jeremy. I wish I could've made it, but I had a lot of loose ends to deal with here.
I know... I thought I was gonna get to photograph more of your patterns
Hi jeremy. If it’s the Mary that I’m thinking about, it might be Mary Sauvain who has taught at ANA many times. She is a fantastic person and superb numismatist.
Cameron Kiefer
<< <i>It is Mary Sauvain.
Cameron Kiefer >>
Hey Cameron. Mary Sauvain is a super person.