ANA worth joining?

I once asked a life-long member what he thought about the ANA.
This was his response:

"I find the ANA to be less than responsive to anyone who is not a youth, or who is not part of a clique which is known to the those in charge. The ANA is mostly a vehicle for coin and currency dealers and major auction houses to further their private financial interests in this hobby."

It was shocking to hear this from him. In any case, it's just one person's opinion.

I was in this conversation with him since I had recently asked the ANA to write a sort of "letter of support" for me (as I am also a member) to help me open the doors when I travel to Korea to (hopefully) conduct research at the Bank of Korea, and/or the South Korean Mint. The ANA refused to even write a letter on my behalf (even though I have published print coin articles) acknowledging just this simple fact, or that I am even a member(!), but they told me that I *could* give a Bank of Korea representative my ANA member number so that the Bank staff could search it at the money.org (ANA) website. As a member of the ANA, you could say that I was a little disappointed!

I think this is all about liability, honestly. And I think that things cost money, and that the ANA can only do so much for its members, and like @tibor said, we don't have big numbers showing up to events, etc.

 

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No. I prefer PCGS (as does most of the market), I have my own numismatic library and would rather have personal copies, and I don't really care that much about the Numismatist. I join only because I can get access to NACA (North American Collectibles Association) and get insurance through them. If your collection is worth less than $10,000 as is probably likely for many here, there may be better solutions outside of Hugh Wood or NACA if you need insurance at all.

 

Still don't see benefits....

That's fine and dandy but I don't need nor want any of those books.... If I have a question about a Morgan or any coin in general I have, why should I pay a membership for something I can Google for free????

 

Well, thank you all for the myriad of input and I appreciate all of it. I don't know anything at all about the ANA so it's all valuable information to me. I didn't realize it came with and NGC membership. I missed that when I glanced at their website. I do like the Numismatist magazine and the fact that it comes with the NGC membership makes its seem worthwhile to me for the outside looking in. I may give it a whirl depending on how much of a discount the club affords me. Didn't realize the controversy this would stir up. I normally don't mind stirring things up a bit just to see what rises but I didn't think this particular subject was of any controversy. I may have to join just to see what it's like for a year and go from there. Appreciate it all once more.

 

With their interesting monthly magazine and the route to affordable coin insurance, I find the ANA’s annual dues to be an overall good deal.

 

I would like to give it a whirl one day. I remember my first year at my coin club they had a discount on the ANA membership but I haven't heard anything else since then.

 

I'll take that $28 and buy a large pizza and a 6 pack of Bud.

 

I got napkins and pizza cutter Chief

 

I joined just because of the Hugh Wood insurance.

 

I am a member of the ANA and the ANS. Of the two, I prefer the ANS even though it is significantly more expensive for one simple reason: Their publication (simply called ANS) is always interesting whereas The Numismatist is, more often than not, disappointing. Yes, The Numismatist is monthly whereas the ANS is quarterly but the quality of the ANS more than makes for the lack of frequency.

 

Oddly most of the members of my local coin club are not ANA members. There is one person trying to cultivate participation and hence my inquiry here. Again I find it strange that the members are not already in the ANA and it made me question the viability of being a member. I still question its viability, especially given the responses here. Probably I ought to just try it out for a year and see what I think. Thanks again for the responses. All are appreciated.

 

$28 seems a pretty nominal fee to risk though.

 

I'll try it out some day! I agree that $28 seems reasonable.

 

I am a member. I believe it is important to support groups that support our hobby. And for each local coin club member who joins, the club gets a discount off the local club membership.

 

It has been interesting reading the responses regarding the ANA and benefits of membership. I'm actually running for the ANA Board of Governors this upcoming election and I'm learning more about what makes the organization special. The only comment I'd like to make is that there is no hobby without dealers AND collectors. The ANA is a huge organization and with it comes difficulties with pleasing all. That said, it is what you make it and becoming involved in any way makes the organization even better. Much of the ANA work is done by donating ones time and energy. There is a small group of actual staff. The rest is done through donating. The ANA is not a political organization. It is there for education and for the trade shows to bring together trade and public. Someone mentioned that the shows are only in big cities. Of course they are......how could they possibly be in a smaller city where very few would come. Let's be fair to dealers too. We travel to these shows, often paying exorbitant fees for hotels, flights, security and what not. Many times we don't make enough money to pay our costs. Not everyone is huge like CNG, Heritage and Stacks/Bowers. There are lots and lots of smaller dealers. So why do we do it? Contact with our customers is extremely important. Please join the ANA. This organization is more important than you think. It isn't perfect but without it the wonderful trade shows will not exist anymore. Also, I'm happy to chat with anyone that has ideas for hopefully a new board member in 2019! My email is shanna@shannaschmidt.com

 

See above: 10 million people say that they collect coins. 100,000 subscribe to Coin World. How many of your club members do that?

We can get into personalities because like all market decisions it is a personal choice. Coin collectors collect coins. How many of your local club members have not bought a coin in the last year?

But how many go to shows? Local shows? Statewide? Regional? National? The ANA was in Dallas twice (2016 and 2018) and of our club of 50, eight of us made the 3-hour drive. And I confess that I did not when they were in Dallas in 2012. (I was working that weekend and did not want to take the time off.) In my local club the same eight people are the ones who make the two-hour drive to the state show. (But I do not.) So, it is all about choices. And I could make a strong case for shows over any other shopping because you have form 20 to 200+ dealers competing for your money. And you have presentations and exhibits.

The ANA conventions are the top of the show pyramid: more dealers, more presentations, more and better exhibits, and other auctions at the same time nearby. And, I assure you, if you shop the dealers tables with an ANA member badge, you get a different price (buy or sell) than a member of the public who walked in on free day.

"What do you get out of it?" is a valid question. And we have some good answers here.

 

That’s not true. Some dealers give the same prices to every one others it depends on your negotiating and others will make a judgement of how much you know that will impact the price.

 

On the first point, you have four or five ANA members here saying how great it is and you focus on the one guy who said otherwise. In a different discussion board, a retired USAF Lt. Col. said that he would not recommend the military to his grandchildren because it is filled with people who put their own careers ahead of leadership or public service -- then then a retired Navy chief piped in with the same complaint about his branch. So, is it true? Is military service suddenly no longer honorable or important? Or is it just two old guys grousing?

On the second, I would not think to ask the ANA for a letter of introduction, but I might ask individuals who know me for such a letter. It is clearly a liability issue.

 

Obviously, it is not a law of the universe like gravity. But it is a plain and unarguable fact of sociology that statistically speaking, in economic transactions, anonymous buyers and sellers do not have the same outcomes has high context partners. On any given day, any given person may or may not do any chosen action. That is free will. But it remains that if you go an ANA convention to buy or sell, it is better to be an ANA member. And that applies to your state show and state membership or local show and local membership.

 

It makes absolutely no difference. You aren’t buying from your state club or the ANA you’re buying from dealers who overwhelmingly aren’t giving you discounts for being a member of a club.