Could somone please give me some more information about the ANA summer seminar? I have seen the advertisement, and have an estimation of cost, but I'd like to get to some more specifics. I see that there are two sessions, each with different seinars lasting throughout the day. I am interested in seminars on the half bust, half quarter, draped half cent, peace dollar, detecting counterfeiting, and peace dollars. How far in advance do I have to request these seminars? I would love to hear any first hand experiences from previous ANA seminars, as well as what to expect. I've estimated that after entry, food, lodging, and transportation the dollar amount is around 3k? Thanks for sharing. ~Jason :smile
Normally the plan is to immerse you in one or two subjects for the entire week. You can normally only fit one or two subjects into the week. There are additional seminars (and the YN auction) scheduled in the evenings. The price is all inclusive including food, lodging, etc. You only need to get to Colorado Springs. I suggest you request lodging at the new dormitory which is where you can network in the evenings. YNs stay with chaperones at the old (main) dormitory.
I and other CT'ers have attended for several years running. The 2012 course descriptions will be published in Jan. In most cases you will attend 1 5-day course or 2 2-day courses per week with other 1-day night seminars available as well. The courses are somewhat broader than your specific areas of interest. For example: 5-day intro., intermed., or advanced grading; a 5-day counterfeit; a ,5-day adv. digital photo(taught by CT's own blucc); or a 5-day early Am. copper. The 2-day courses can be a little more specific. Some courses are geared to the collector and others target dealers or dealers to be. I personally think you can learn as much out of class as in. Think about it for a solid 1 week or 2 you are with coin/currency people from "can see to can't see" every day meals etc. included. Also, you will be talking to and listening to authors, professional graders, other numismatists whose names you have been hearing since the first day you began this journey. It is an incredible experience - never forgotten. The budget you mention is more than enough for 2 weeks unless you plan on spending money at the weekend coin show coinciding with Summer Seminar. Please contact me, Hobo, Charmy, Duke or Bart with specific questions. I know there are more CT's in attendance but I'm having a "senior" moment. Let me detail an aversage day: 7:00 Breakfast, 8:45 start class, 11:45 to 12:45 lunch, class until 4:30, 5:30 Dinner, 7 to 9 evening seminar. Last year alone I had classes tought by: Andy Kimmel(mega-dealer), Larry Shephard(ex-ANA Ex. Dir.), Jeff Garrett(mega-dealer and ANA Gov.) , Jerry Bobby(EAC and Conder Token expert) and Tom Hallenbach(ANA Pres.). I spent several hours with Ken Bresset(editor for umpteen years of our beloved Red Book)Bill Fivaz( author extraordinaire) David Lange(multi-book author), Ira Golberg(auctioneer), etc., etc.,etc. Quite literally it is an experience worth its weight in gold and available no where else.
To add to the excellent info given by RiverGuy, you must wait for the course catalog to be released in January. Then you will know which courses are being offered this year. The course schedule is not the same for both sessions nor is the course schedule the same from year to year. (Some courses are offered every year and others are only offered every few years because there simply is not enough demand to offer them every year.) Courses that are offered every year include Grading (Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced) and Counterfeit Detection. These are the most popular courses and they usually are the first to fill up. To help meet the demand ANA recently added a second Counterfeit Detection course so it is now offered both sessions instead of only one. (The instructors are not the same for the two sessions.) Last year ANA expanded the number of grading courses each session so you may see two Introduction to Grading courses in both sessions. You willl be in class from 9 AM until 4 PM every day with a 1 1/2-hour break for lunch. Five-day courses meet Sunday (afternoon only on Sunday) through Thursday. Two-day courses meet either Monday and Tuesday or Wednesday and Thursday. You can also sign up for mini-seminars that are offered every eveining. Some mini-seminars meet only once while others meet two nights. There is an additional fee for the mini-seminars. There are also numerous bull sessions where someone will share his or her knowledge with anyone who wishes to attend. Bull sessions are free and very informal. Mealtime is a great opportunity to meet and talk with other collectors from around the country and from around the world. I would recommend that you also attend the closing banquet on Thursday evening. The food will be outstanding, the entertainment will be good and you will get to put a lot of names and faces together when all the instructors for that session are recognized and given their certificates. A new tradition at the closing banquets is one person will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Numismatics award and it will usually be a complete surprise for everyone. Most collectors that attend Summer Seminar will tell you that it was well worth it. A large percentage of attendees (well upwards of 50%) return to Summer Seminar. I hope to see you there. I plan to attend both sessions.
WOW. So looking forward to this. I greatly appreciate the information, and first hand experience provided. I will certainly contact you all via PM with any questions. Looking forward to the Jan. release. ~Jason
I plan on attending as a (first year) YN this year and going to try to get a scholarship but will go even if I don't get it. I am really excited, thanks for clearing up some details. So one question can you take a 5 day course and 2 day course or do you just take 2 2-day courses instead of a 5 day course Oh one more I lied, How much do the evening seminars cost on average? Thanks hope I can go and see you guys there
Classes meet at the same time. Unless you can be two places at once you will have to either take one 5-day course or one or two 2-day courses. If you want to take more than one course you should consider attending both sessions. (You can take two 2-day courses in one session. Simply sign up for one that meets Monday and Tuesday and another that meets Wednesday and Thursday. Most people that take a 2-day course sign up for two 2-day courses to fill out their week.) $60
Last year was my first year attending Summer Seminar as a YN and I had an absolute blast and cannot wait to go again next year. I took an Intro to Grading class and thought that I was going to be bored because it was an introduction but it was an absolutely terriffic experience. We spent the whole class time, going through hundreds of coins series by series to study the wear patterns on each series. I loved the class because it took alot of emphasis off of grading books (the instructor's still urged that one should use them though as guides) and put way more emphasis on reading a coin for wear and making your own judgement, rather than match a picture to a coin. My instructor's were Brian Fanton, Rod Gillis and Rick Sear. They were absolutely amazing at teaching and also alot of fun before, after and even during class. Outside of the classroom, the learning was just as spectacular. You have access to many of the big names and scholars in the hobby such as John Danreuther, Ken Bresset, the Goldbergs and many other spectacular "walking encyclopedias" that will teach you anything you could ever want to know about numismatics just with a simple question. I personally did not do any of the night time seminars, but by no means were the nights boring. YN's now arrive a day early, so as to give them time to get to know each other and we also went and had pizza and went to an activity center as a team building experience. Other nights and free time were spent working on the YN auction. YNs have their own dorm, with a seperate common room. You are paired with a roommate and have a curfew of 11 PM on nights before class, and the last night before departure turns into an all nighter. As a YN, you are expected to contribute in some manner, whether it be collecting donations, cataloging the items, recording bids, or helping with with lot viewing. At times the work was hard, but the auction was a lot of fun, raising over $40,000 for YN scholarships. When we had free time, we spent it many ways. Hours were spent at the local coin shop (Hallenbeck's, which is a great shop), I feel like I went to the ANA Museum every day and just oggled at the Harry Bass gold and pattern collections, picking up some books at the ANA library, and some of my friends even went skating at the ice rink on campus (I had to sit out due to a broken knee). At night, we had an assortment of activites, from nightly meetings to roundtable discussions, where the YNs and other attendees all brought pieces from their collection and showed them off. I did not participate in any evening miniseminars, but I think they ran from 60 to 100 each, but I am not positive. I did go on the Pike's Peak trip, which I would highly recommend. I plan on doing Pike's Peak and the Gold Mine tour this year. If you are a YN, I highly recommend going to Seminar and also applying for a scholarship.
