ANA Update

Veep · August 16, 2019 5:50PM

This ANA show was a hit with me. After conducting a bunch of business on Wednesday, I went back today.

As a member, I took advantage of the 9:30 open which is a half hour earlier than the general public can enter. The first stop was at the PCGS table to drop off a submission that had been prepared ahead of time. It was only four raw coins: a VF 3-Leg Buffalo, heavily worn ‘93-S Morgan (really just for authentication) an original looking ‘26-D Peace Dollar with claims to MS63 and a borderline XF45/AU50 1847-C $2.5 Liberty.

The next stop was to Chicago Coin to sell a batch of U.S. and foreign bullion. The U.S. stuff was a touch over spot; the foreign was 99%. That worked for me as it was stuff that had been thrown in the back of the safe over the last four years and I wanted to take advantage of the current run-up.

At this point, the public started coming in as I headed over to look at the displays. The first was a fascinating display about the Manila Mint. I thought I knew all that happened there during its inception thru WW2 but holy cow was I wrong! Among the other interesting displays was one on patents and inventions related to coin and currency authentication gadgets that earned its presenter a blue ribbon.

Next, I headed over to Steve Ellsworth’s table to meet the new ANA President who was talking with outgoing Pres., Gary adkins. We enjoyed some chit chat and I ogled at one of Steve’s cases which was filled with 60 lbs. of loose, circulated large cents. Take your pick for $16 each.

After a quick lunch with Gary, I took in two presentations. One was on counterfeit avoidance by Mike Fuljenz (spelling?) and the second by Jeff Garrett and Greg Allen on the anatomy of a coin show. The latter discussion gave interesting insights into the different types of dealers who attend a show and why, what goes on informally before the show opens, why you see empty cases or empty booths at different times, the value of viewing auction lots and so on.

From there I headed over the the U.S. Mint/BEP and ANA area to look at the 1804 Bebee Dollar and a 1913 Liberty Nickel. Also, there was a nice display of error notes, nationals and $5,000-$10,000 and $100,000 notes. I’ve seen all of those before but it never gets old.

At that point, I’d had about all my back could take so I headed out to beat the heaviest of traffic. The show will come back to Chicago in 2021 and I’ll be ready.