Summer Seminar experience

EagleEye

The Summer Seminar was very eventful this year. The Waldo fire was going full force during the 1st session and we feared that the smoke and the 100 degree heat would continue to the 2nd session. Thankfully, the fire and the heat was retreating when we arrived. We drove 1,000 miles from Tucson through the four corners region to Colorado Springs. The drive through Red Mountain pass is always amazing. This was the first time Bruce saw the area. Most of the time he was gripping the side hand rail of my car's cabin in terror of the steep valleys and lack of guard rails.

The Seminar was well attended but a few people cancelled due to the smoke. Because of this I had a set of rooms all to myself, unfortunately (or fortunately) it was right next to the Luna Lounge area where the party never ended. Ron Landis, Sonny Henry and Mark Hammang would play guitars and sing while we all emptied the cooler. Mark wrote a cool song to the tune of "Margaritaville".

The classes were all well received. I had 11 students in mine. It was great to see all the old friends and make some new ones. In my class we spent a lot of time on grading, identifying problem coins and counterfeits. We then got into some history and talked about die varieties. It was pretty easy to fill up a whole week talking about Flying Eagle and Indian Cents.

The Young Numismatists Auction in the 1st session ended up just shy of $30,000 so the balance was donated by the attendees. In the 2nd session, the auction again brought just under $30,000 and we wanted to beat the 1st session, so another donation was taken from the bidders at the end to get just over the 1st session totals. The money raised goes to YN student scholarships for next year.

Here are some images:

Four corners monument. Probably the most worthless stop you ever want to make. We had to use the bathroom.


The Durango Silverton railway on the way to Red Mountain pass:


The waldo fire when we arrived (from the Luna Lounge):


I made sure the 1870-S $3.00 was still there:


Here is "Tiny" Cross at the auction, auctioning off a pair of his overalls with two girls standing inside them:


Some of the people you get to sit with at lunch (Ken Hallenback, Ron Landis, Ken Bressett):


Bruce, Dan and Greg at the auction:


NJCoinCrank (Bill) was put up to eat some Vegemite at the auction. He raised over $1500 by squeezing a full load of the gunk into his mouth. Brian (my look-a-like), Sonny, Tony (the instigator from Australia) and Ricardo look on.


Caitlyn is a new attendee and was subjected to some good-hearted fun by being the recipient of the auction lot where she had to wear Tiny's overalls:


Here is Joe Bolling in his usual attire:


Here is "Budda" (long time attendee) and Gov. Mike Ellis:


It was a great time, but we all missed Charmy. Especially her reports (which is why I had to write one - next time, I'll leave it to her)

ThePennyLady

I certainly would have like to have been there and thank you so much for the pictures, especially of the attendees! Sounds like you all had a great time - I can't wait for next year!

dragon

Nice pics! I would've thought that 1870-S $3.00 gold would be in a much more upscale display/setting considering it's extreme rarity and multi-million dollar value.