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<p>[QUOTE="Shortgapbob, post: 257520, member: 6088"]This update was a little slow to get out, as things have been really busy the past few weeks, especially with Summer Seminar. Again, its a long, detailed journal, but I still thought I would attempt to share my experiences with everybody who is interested in reading them. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><b>Monday, June 18: </b>Monday was a bit of a hectic day, as the rush to prepare for Summer Seminar began to set in. The morning was spent pricing material for the book sale held every year during Seminar. The books consist entirely of member donations, and some nice items were included. I found an Overton Half Dollar book, several Noyes Large Cent Books, and some out of print foreign material that is rather expensive. Also among the materials, were a number of older numismatic pamphlets, including some Walter Breen and Wayte Raymond material. And, above all, are boxes and boxes and boxes of old auction catalogs. More auction catalogs than anyone would ever know what to possibly do with! </p><p>After lunch, it was off to do some paperwork for the Seminar courses. This consisted of a great deal of organizing and collating course materials. On the bright side, I was allowed to keep copies of some of the useful reference material. After doing all of this type of work, Monday’s work day was quickly over. The evening had no major highlights, other than a jog, and the fact that I bid on $1,500 worth of eBay material and could not win one item. I was trying to add some Bust quarters and halves to my collection, but to no avail at any reasonable prices.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Tuesday, June 19:</b> Today began the preparation of the actual Book Sale room. But before the Conference Room was ready for setup, the entire library needed dusted. The dusting was not numismatic at all, but entirely necessary, as there was some dust buildup. After dusting, we began hauling large boxes to the Conference Room to set up the book sale. Boxes and boxes and boxes of old auction catalogs were moved, opened up, and sorted by company and primary numismatic area (US, Foreign, Ancient). In addition, were boxes of old numismatic periodicals, some very interesting and some not. Some highlights were auction catalogs from the Eliasberg, Beebe, King Farouk, and Pierpont Morgan collections. I also found a small pamphlet that was actually an auction catalog from 1879. As the item descriptions were a bit terse, I could not help but wonder what kind of grading/description problems existed in that time. Among the disappointing items found was a modern TV Guide, which was promptly thrown away. Following the setup of the auction catalogs and periodicals, I returned to price some more books before the day ended. </p><p> </p><p>The evening was uneventful, other than the 1834 low grade Bust Dime I won on eBay for $11.00. It looks G-4 and ok for the grade, so I think I made a sound purchase.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Wednesday, June 20: </b> Wednesday began with some work to finish up preparing for the Book Sale. It consisted of nothing more than stacking tons of auction catalogs and pricing a few final books. Lunch was interesting again, as I rode with Ed Rochette to meet the same group from the previous week at Red Top Burgers. There was much interesting conversation, including Rochette talking about a gold mine he owns (and how to use that as a pick-up line) and Ken Bressett passing along some of his wealth of numismatic knowledge. He has more numismatic knowledge in his pinky than most people have combined. The burgers there were the largest I have ever seen, so large that you could actually order half a burger.</p><p> </p><p>Wednesday afternoon consisted of pricing a newly found group of books and integrating them into the book sale. The evening was fairly low key, with a run followed by some reading.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Thursday, June 21:</b> Thursday morning began with moving some auction catalogs in the basement of the library. Then, I was needed in the museum to sort some of the items that instructors were checking out for their courses. I went through an excellent group of US Paper Money, including an uncirculated group of 1896 $1, $2, and $5 Educational Notes, as well as beautiful uncirculated Bison, Woodchopper, and Jackass notes. The afternoon was spent putting instructor and student packets together for the Summer Seminar. This was one of the worst things I had done at the ANA. Three hours of walking around a table and collating packets, not to mention that there were not enough off all the materials for all of the packets! The evening was yet again uneventful, with nothing more than a workout and sitting around the dorm room on my computer.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 22-24:</b> Friday was spent helping Gerry, one of the building maintenance workers, to prepare the classrooms for Summer Seminar. We put lamps, cases, water, and other supplies in all of the room. It was quite a bit of manual labor, but it was nice to get out of the building for a change. The ANA also hired a lady named Diane from a work agency to assist for the day. She was an interesting character, as she was a 15 year RN who went through a drug period and was trying to recover. Later in the afternoon, I helped JP Martin from ICG price some of the more expensive books for the book sale. He was a great help! I made a mall trip on Friday evening, aided by a ride from Tiffanie, the Museum Director. I ate some Chick-Fila and picked up some supplies from Wal-Mart.</p><p>Saturday was an interesting day. I spent most of the day covering some garage sales with Robin. There were a few neat finds, including a few old Red Books for cheap. I also purchased a group of 15 religious 19th Century reprints from 16th century Italian intaglios. I purchased them for $1 each, and they are absolutely beautiful. I also managed to pick up some cheap foreign silver. </p><p> </p><p>Saturday night was the instructor banquet for the first week of Summer Seminar. I had the privilege to meet some interesting people including current ANA Vice President and incoming President Barry Stuppler, current Board member and incoming Vice President Pattie Jagger-Finner, and Bill Fivaz. The reception was very nice, and everyone was very talkative and friendly. </p><p> </p><p>Sunday proved to be a long day. After a morning run, I had to work in the library at 1. The Session 1 orientation for students and instructors was at 4. I then had to rush back to the library to prepare to open the book sale. There was a large group of individuals waiting to enter the book sale right at 6:30. After closing up the ANA headquarters at 9:00 I went back to the dormitory to attend the YN meeting to discuss the events of the week. I was impressed to meet a number of young numismatists who were very sharp.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Monday, June 25:</b> Today was a workday in the library. I did not have to come to the ANA until 1, so I was able to run and take care of a few things in the morning. I did meet an interesting individual named Ken Hopple, who is the Chief Coiner of the Historic Coin Press No. 1 at the Carson City Mint. He shared such a great deal of knowledge about the history of the Carson City Mint. He also informed me that they had recently found an 1875 CC 20 cent hammer and anvil die pairing buried in the basement of the mint. I can only imagine what original twenty cent dies would fetch at a major auction today. Monday night after work, I just hung around with a group of individuals outside and listened to Jerry Bobbe play the cello while we all had a few beers.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Tuesday, June 26:</b> Today, I went into the Library at 1 and worked until 9. Bill Fivaz came into the library for awhile, and I was able to talk to him for a bit. Among other things, we talked about the next edition of the Cherrypicker’s Guide, likely coming out in late 2008 or early 2009. It will likely be three volumes. He said that JT Stanton and himself are consistently being contacted by more and more collectors about new varieties, as error and variety collecting are becoming more popular. He also talked about some of the controversy about the 1914/3 Buffalo Nickels from the branch mints. Bill is convinced after viewing overlays that the branch mint coins are legitimate overdates. Interestingly enough, and older gentleman brought a 1917 Buffalo Nickel that appeared to have evidence of being a 1917/6 overdate. Bill said that it was certainly possible, but that any judgment should be withheld until another example is found. After work, I hung out with some of the other Summer Seminar participants, and talked at length with an individual who works for APMEX. These evening get social gatherings have been very enjoyable, with some great stories being shared until late at night (or early in the morning). </p><p> </p><p><b>Wednesday, June 27: </b>Today was an enjoyable day. I only had to work a short day, from 8 until 3. I was able to talk to Mike Farrone from PCGS for considerable length at lunch about……well grading. After getting out of work at 3, I was able to get a run in, and then I was off to an afternoon presentation. An individual presented an argument about the possibility of a 6th 1913 V-Nickel existing. His prime argument was a plate from a 1940s sale that didn’t seem to match the other five nickels. He also noted that much of the early literature listed the existence of 6 V-Nickels. He had been unable to trace down the consigner or the winning bidder for the nickel at that auction. </p><p><br /></p><p>I spoke with another numismatist about the presentation after dinner. He informed me that he felt there were definitely only five V-Nickels. He said that the coin in the auction catalog did not look like others likely because a plaster cast was used in the photograph, something common for the time as coin photography was extremely difficult. He explained that the early tallies pointed to 6 coins because Col. Green’s multiholder for the five V-Nickels contained spaces for 6 coins. However, the sixth coin was a copper pattern piece of a Buffalo Nickel. </p><p> </p><p>The YN Auction Wednesday night was an interesting and unique event. Nowhere else will bottles of water fetch $25 and rolls of wheat cents fetch $100. Most coins, including some VAMs that I was interested in, sold for around double their normal retail prices. Bidders were paying great sums for coins, and making great donations to the YNs in the process. I made a few small purchases, including an 1864 2 cent piece with a repunched date.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Thursday, June 28:</b> I worked again in the library until 5. I talked with Ken Bressett at lunch, and asked him about the possible existence of a 1964-D Peace Dollar. He seems pretty sure that there is one in private hands, and I think he knows who owns it (although he wouldn’t get into details). I went to the reception and banquet, and had a good time. Wendell Wolka served as Master of Ceremonies, and did a great job, while promoting his candidacy for ANA Board of Governors. I sat at a table with Patti Jagger-Fenner and Barry Stuppler, both of whom were friendly and talkative. An ANA employee also offered to take me on a hike up Pikes Peak in the near future, something that I am extremely excited about. After the banquet, I went for my evening run, and upon return, saw Bill Fivaz selling coins in the dorm. After looking through his inventory, I purchased a nice 1882 O/S Morgan. I finished the night later after spending some time socializing with some of the Summer Seminar students outside.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 29-July 1:</b> On Friday, I spent most of the day working to set up the Book Sale for the second Summer Seminar week. Friday was fairly quiet for the most part, as most of the students from week 1 were gone, and the week 2 students had not yet arrived. Friday evening was the Instructor Reception for week 2. It was held outdoors at a bed and breakfast, and was very pleasant and low key. I had a very interesting conversation about West Virginia coal tokens with the instructor of the course on US Tokens. He had dealt in WV coal tokens in considerable quantities. After the reception, I took care of getting all of my laundry finished and was up until about 1 in the morning. </p><p> </p><p>On Saturday, I was able to take a shuttle and head to the Colorado Springs Coin Show for a few hours in the morning. The show had very little in the way of fresh material, but I was able to purchase a nice group of large cents, including a nice, brown 1803 S-257 from Doug Bird, who will be one of my instructors next week. Upon returning to the ANA, I had to work in the library for a few hours. Then I was off to the orientation for Summer Seminar week 2, and then basically relaxed for most of the evening. I had to attend the week 2 YN meeting at 9, and the rest of the evening was free. Disappointingly, I found out that I would not be able to attend the trip to the Denver Mint this coming Friday, as I had to work on the cleanup efforts following the second week of Seminar. </p><p> </p><p>I had to arrive at ANA headquarters at 8 am Sunday morning to help prepare for the Book Sale that began at 9. The Book Sale was a madhouse, as people crowded a tiny room looking for some obscure book that we had underpriced. My last task before heading off to my first class was to copy off a whole group of course materials for the Counterfeit Detection course taught by JP Martin from ICG and former ANA President H. Robert Campbell. After finishing their work, and breaking an industrial stapler in the process of trying to staple all the packets, I ran off to my first class.</p><p>The EAC course ended up only having three students, including myself. This ended up being somewhat nice, as we all had a basic knowledge of copper coinage and we were able to work through the introductory material rather quickly. We spent most of the day discussion copper history, literature, and looking at the major Red Book varieties like the 1807/6 and the 1839/6 Cents. After class, I took off to catch the bus and head out on the Air Force Academy tour. The tour was fun, but rather quick, as it was a Sunday and many of the sites at the Academy were closed. The colonel who gave the tour was an interesting individual, as he had worked with the Join Chiefs of Staff in the past and was going to retire as a General. I was amazed at how large the Air Force grounds were, and how many different things, like two full golf courses, rested on the property.</p><p> </p><p>I actually arrived back at ANA early enough that I was able to sit in on a talk about preserving coppers that was given by Jerry Bobbe. Bobble conserves coppers for dealers, and will not look at a coin for less than $150, with many conservation jobs running over $1,000. Apparently, he is one of the best in the business, if not the best. The talk was a bit controversial at times, as there seems to sometimes be a blurry line between coin conservation and coin doctoring, and there was some interesting banter, especially with a statement that involved pushing the metal back into an area where there was a scratch and making it so that the scratch is undetectable. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Monday, July 2 –</b> I was up early on Monday for my coppers’ class. Today, we started looking through coins, first to practice attribution. We went through great numbers of coins, as we could do it quickly with only 3 students. I did very well on the attribution exercises, and felt pretty confident in what I was doing. It was a pleasure getting to use Doug and Steve’s inventory and collections for the class, as they have some truly stunning large cent examples. In the afternoon, we started learning about the EAC grading techniques, and how to net grade. It is very interesting to see coins graded by EAC standards compared to the market standards. All of the sudden, coins in MS-64 TPG holders were being net graded AU-50 by EAC standards! We did a few grading exercises, and I felt that my grading was fairly consistent and accurate. I was generally a little too forgiving with net grading higher grade coins, and a little too tough in net grading lower end pieces. </p><p> </p><p>After class, I caught the bus for the Pikes Peak tour. We took the Cog Railway up the mountain on an hour ride to the summit. All I can say is wow! The view was spectacular. It was interesting to rise above the tree line and see snow on the peak in July. I took literally over a 100 pictures at the summit. It was just an amazing sight. After arriving back in Colorado Springs, I spent the rest of the night hanging out with the YNs. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Tuesday, July 3 –</b> Today in class, we were thrown some twists. As we were grading and attributing coins, some counterfeits and altered dates started showing up. These included 1799s that were altered, 1804s with altered dates, some contemporary counterfeits, and some of the well-known Bay Area Counterfeits. I did pretty well with the counterfeits, as I was able to correctly identify the majority of them. Basically, the entire day was just spent evaluating coins, so it was enjoyable.</p><p> </p><p>I decided to skip the baseball trip to a Rockies because I wanted to attend the evening talk about becoming a coin dealer. The talk was sort of a panel discussion given by three individuals including H. Robert Campbell and Don Bonser. They provided some excellent insight about some of the intricacies involved in dealing. They discussed the easy parts as well as the difficult parts of entering the profession. Their general message was that, if one is interested in dealing, that they should go for it and give it a shot part-time as a vest pocket dealer. I was pretty tired after a long few days, so I went to bed a bit early. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Wednesday, July 4</b> – During Wednesday’s class, we began looking at some problem coins, including coins that had been recolored and reengraved. I completely missed one of the reengraving jobs, as it was very impressive coin doctoring and was sitting in a TPG graded as an AU!! The recolored coppers seem to vary considerably, as some are easy to spot, and others are relatively difficult to detect. Lunch was interesting, as I sat with PCGS cofounder John Dannreuther, David McCarthy from Kagin’s, and Don Kagin. There were some very interesting conversations about the coin market, and an interesting discussion based on some of Dannreuther’s research about early $1 gold types. During the afternoon, we discussed cleaning, conservation, and storage of coppers at great length. Steve demonstrated brushing coppers with a goat hair brush, as well as using Blue Ribbon on coppers. It was a great demonstration that I learned much from.</p><p>For the 4th of July, we were all set to have an outdoor Barbeque. However, about ten minutes before dinner, a massive thunderstorm rolled in with nearly an hour of torrential rain and marble-sized hail. All of the outside tables sat empty as we crowded indoors with our plates to remain dry.</p><p> </p><p>Wednesday night was the YN Auction for Week 2 of Summer Seminar. It was another great event, even though I didn’t buy anything. People were bidding tremendous amounts on any donated item in order to give money to the YNs. Many of the winning bidders then either gave their item to a YN, or donated it back to the auction to be sold again. People were very generous! I bid unsuccessfully on a few VAM Morgans, but one of the ANA staff members was generous enough to give me an Ancient Roman coin that they won for a sizable amount. It was a very kind gesture. After the auction, I hung out with the YNs and watched a few movies until fairly late at night.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Thursday, July 5</b> – On Thursday morning, we went through another set of coppers, including some high quality counterfeits. There was an altered date 1799 cent that was the best fake that anyone had seen. The date had been tooled expertly from a 1798 with pick up points on the obverse that greatly resembled the 1799. A 1798 was even chosen with a reverse that mirrored the 1799 S-189 reversed. We spent the afternoon discussing some better varieties that one can cherrypick with relative ease. We were also given to large cent books to keep, a Wright text, and a Noyes text. They were very kind donations, and I will get great use out of both of them. After class, Doug pulled out his inventory and allowed us to go shopping (no cherrypicking here though). I purchased a beautiful 1802 S-225 piece in F-12 with original surfaces. It matched the coin I had purchased from him at the coin show perfectly. The evening consisted of a reception and banquet to wrap up the Summer Seminar. They were rather uneventful for the most part, except that Don Bonser did a great job as Master of Ceremonies. After the festivities, I had a few drinks with some of the students and instructors out on the patio. I have to admit, it is going to be pretty boring once everyone packs up and leaves tomorrow. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, July 6-8</b> – All of the Summer Seminar instructors and students were heading out throughout the morning. I ate a quick breakfast with Doug Bird and Steve Carr, and then I was off to ANA Headquarters to begin the cleanup of Summer Seminar. I spent all day working with one of the maintenance personnel and going building to building to clean out the classrooms. The lamps, display cases, extension cords, as well as many other things had to be placed back into storage. The tables from the Book Sale had to be put back into storage as well. We had to pack up and haul a large intaglio printing press back to the ANA. This lengthy process took virtually all day. However, I did get a package from home that included a new Bust Dime purchase, as well as my ANA election ballot. So, now I can take advantage of the democratic process and vote for the Board of Governors members. The evening was a rather lazy occasion, as I used my first free time in two weeks to eat Chinese food and watch TV. However another NASCAR race was rained out….that makes about a half dozen this summer. Well, at least I have two races to watch tomorrow. </p><p> </p><p>On Saturday, I laid around watching TV most of the day. I made a trip down to Hollenbeck’s and purchased some cheap US Philippines silver pieces. This was certainly out of my normal collecting habit, but I wanted to try something different. I spent the evening laying around watching NASCAR and playing around on the internet.</p><p> </p><p>Sunday has been a lazy day so far, as I slept in, ate brunch, and have been watching TV ever since. Some younger kids staying in the dorms as part of a math camp have started to become annoying, especially when I’m in the recreation room attempting to watch TV. I decided to straighten up my room and do some bills, as I had not gotten much of this type of work accomplished during the two weeks of Summer Seminar. After some work and a nice, long evening run, I settled in and listened to some music while reading Penny Whimsy for the rest of the evening. </p><p><br /></p><p>There will be more to come![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Shortgapbob, post: 257520, member: 6088"]This update was a little slow to get out, as things have been really busy the past few weeks, especially with Summer Seminar. Again, its a long, detailed journal, but I still thought I would attempt to share my experiences with everybody who is interested in reading them. [B]Monday, June 18: [/B]Monday was a bit of a hectic day, as the rush to prepare for Summer Seminar began to set in. The morning was spent pricing material for the book sale held every year during Seminar. The books consist entirely of member donations, and some nice items were included. I found an Overton Half Dollar book, several Noyes Large Cent Books, and some out of print foreign material that is rather expensive. Also among the materials, were a number of older numismatic pamphlets, including some Walter Breen and Wayte Raymond material. And, above all, are boxes and boxes and boxes of old auction catalogs. More auction catalogs than anyone would ever know what to possibly do with! After lunch, it was off to do some paperwork for the Seminar courses. This consisted of a great deal of organizing and collating course materials. On the bright side, I was allowed to keep copies of some of the useful reference material. After doing all of this type of work, Monday’s work day was quickly over. The evening had no major highlights, other than a jog, and the fact that I bid on $1,500 worth of eBay material and could not win one item. I was trying to add some Bust quarters and halves to my collection, but to no avail at any reasonable prices. [B]Tuesday, June 19:[/B] Today began the preparation of the actual Book Sale room. But before the Conference Room was ready for setup, the entire library needed dusted. The dusting was not numismatic at all, but entirely necessary, as there was some dust buildup. After dusting, we began hauling large boxes to the Conference Room to set up the book sale. Boxes and boxes and boxes of old auction catalogs were moved, opened up, and sorted by company and primary numismatic area (US, Foreign, Ancient). In addition, were boxes of old numismatic periodicals, some very interesting and some not. Some highlights were auction catalogs from the Eliasberg, Beebe, King Farouk, and Pierpont Morgan collections. I also found a small pamphlet that was actually an auction catalog from 1879. As the item descriptions were a bit terse, I could not help but wonder what kind of grading/description problems existed in that time. Among the disappointing items found was a modern TV Guide, which was promptly thrown away. Following the setup of the auction catalogs and periodicals, I returned to price some more books before the day ended. The evening was uneventful, other than the 1834 low grade Bust Dime I won on eBay for $11.00. It looks G-4 and ok for the grade, so I think I made a sound purchase. [B]Wednesday, June 20: [/B] Wednesday began with some work to finish up preparing for the Book Sale. It consisted of nothing more than stacking tons of auction catalogs and pricing a few final books. Lunch was interesting again, as I rode with Ed Rochette to meet the same group from the previous week at Red Top Burgers. There was much interesting conversation, including Rochette talking about a gold mine he owns (and how to use that as a pick-up line) and Ken Bressett passing along some of his wealth of numismatic knowledge. He has more numismatic knowledge in his pinky than most people have combined. The burgers there were the largest I have ever seen, so large that you could actually order half a burger. Wednesday afternoon consisted of pricing a newly found group of books and integrating them into the book sale. The evening was fairly low key, with a run followed by some reading. [B]Thursday, June 21:[/B] Thursday morning began with moving some auction catalogs in the basement of the library. Then, I was needed in the museum to sort some of the items that instructors were checking out for their courses. I went through an excellent group of US Paper Money, including an uncirculated group of 1896 $1, $2, and $5 Educational Notes, as well as beautiful uncirculated Bison, Woodchopper, and Jackass notes. The afternoon was spent putting instructor and student packets together for the Summer Seminar. This was one of the worst things I had done at the ANA. Three hours of walking around a table and collating packets, not to mention that there were not enough off all the materials for all of the packets! The evening was yet again uneventful, with nothing more than a workout and sitting around the dorm room on my computer. [B]Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 22-24:[/B] Friday was spent helping Gerry, one of the building maintenance workers, to prepare the classrooms for Summer Seminar. We put lamps, cases, water, and other supplies in all of the room. It was quite a bit of manual labor, but it was nice to get out of the building for a change. The ANA also hired a lady named Diane from a work agency to assist for the day. She was an interesting character, as she was a 15 year RN who went through a drug period and was trying to recover. Later in the afternoon, I helped JP Martin from ICG price some of the more expensive books for the book sale. He was a great help! I made a mall trip on Friday evening, aided by a ride from Tiffanie, the Museum Director. I ate some Chick-Fila and picked up some supplies from Wal-Mart. Saturday was an interesting day. I spent most of the day covering some garage sales with Robin. There were a few neat finds, including a few old Red Books for cheap. I also purchased a group of 15 religious 19th Century reprints from 16th century Italian intaglios. I purchased them for $1 each, and they are absolutely beautiful. I also managed to pick up some cheap foreign silver. Saturday night was the instructor banquet for the first week of Summer Seminar. I had the privilege to meet some interesting people including current ANA Vice President and incoming President Barry Stuppler, current Board member and incoming Vice President Pattie Jagger-Finner, and Bill Fivaz. The reception was very nice, and everyone was very talkative and friendly. Sunday proved to be a long day. After a morning run, I had to work in the library at 1. The Session 1 orientation for students and instructors was at 4. I then had to rush back to the library to prepare to open the book sale. There was a large group of individuals waiting to enter the book sale right at 6:30. After closing up the ANA headquarters at 9:00 I went back to the dormitory to attend the YN meeting to discuss the events of the week. I was impressed to meet a number of young numismatists who were very sharp. [B]Monday, June 25:[/B] Today was a workday in the library. I did not have to come to the ANA until 1, so I was able to run and take care of a few things in the morning. I did meet an interesting individual named Ken Hopple, who is the Chief Coiner of the Historic Coin Press No. 1 at the Carson City Mint. He shared such a great deal of knowledge about the history of the Carson City Mint. He also informed me that they had recently found an 1875 CC 20 cent hammer and anvil die pairing buried in the basement of the mint. I can only imagine what original twenty cent dies would fetch at a major auction today. Monday night after work, I just hung around with a group of individuals outside and listened to Jerry Bobbe play the cello while we all had a few beers. [B]Tuesday, June 26:[/B] Today, I went into the Library at 1 and worked until 9. Bill Fivaz came into the library for awhile, and I was able to talk to him for a bit. Among other things, we talked about the next edition of the Cherrypicker’s Guide, likely coming out in late 2008 or early 2009. It will likely be three volumes. He said that JT Stanton and himself are consistently being contacted by more and more collectors about new varieties, as error and variety collecting are becoming more popular. He also talked about some of the controversy about the 1914/3 Buffalo Nickels from the branch mints. Bill is convinced after viewing overlays that the branch mint coins are legitimate overdates. Interestingly enough, and older gentleman brought a 1917 Buffalo Nickel that appeared to have evidence of being a 1917/6 overdate. Bill said that it was certainly possible, but that any judgment should be withheld until another example is found. After work, I hung out with some of the other Summer Seminar participants, and talked at length with an individual who works for APMEX. These evening get social gatherings have been very enjoyable, with some great stories being shared until late at night (or early in the morning). [B]Wednesday, June 27: [/B]Today was an enjoyable day. I only had to work a short day, from 8 until 3. I was able to talk to Mike Farrone from PCGS for considerable length at lunch about……well grading. After getting out of work at 3, I was able to get a run in, and then I was off to an afternoon presentation. An individual presented an argument about the possibility of a 6th 1913 V-Nickel existing. His prime argument was a plate from a 1940s sale that didn’t seem to match the other five nickels. He also noted that much of the early literature listed the existence of 6 V-Nickels. He had been unable to trace down the consigner or the winning bidder for the nickel at that auction. I spoke with another numismatist about the presentation after dinner. He informed me that he felt there were definitely only five V-Nickels. He said that the coin in the auction catalog did not look like others likely because a plaster cast was used in the photograph, something common for the time as coin photography was extremely difficult. He explained that the early tallies pointed to 6 coins because Col. Green’s multiholder for the five V-Nickels contained spaces for 6 coins. However, the sixth coin was a copper pattern piece of a Buffalo Nickel. The YN Auction Wednesday night was an interesting and unique event. Nowhere else will bottles of water fetch $25 and rolls of wheat cents fetch $100. Most coins, including some VAMs that I was interested in, sold for around double their normal retail prices. Bidders were paying great sums for coins, and making great donations to the YNs in the process. I made a few small purchases, including an 1864 2 cent piece with a repunched date. [B]Thursday, June 28:[/B] I worked again in the library until 5. I talked with Ken Bressett at lunch, and asked him about the possible existence of a 1964-D Peace Dollar. He seems pretty sure that there is one in private hands, and I think he knows who owns it (although he wouldn’t get into details). I went to the reception and banquet, and had a good time. Wendell Wolka served as Master of Ceremonies, and did a great job, while promoting his candidacy for ANA Board of Governors. I sat at a table with Patti Jagger-Fenner and Barry Stuppler, both of whom were friendly and talkative. An ANA employee also offered to take me on a hike up Pikes Peak in the near future, something that I am extremely excited about. After the banquet, I went for my evening run, and upon return, saw Bill Fivaz selling coins in the dorm. After looking through his inventory, I purchased a nice 1882 O/S Morgan. I finished the night later after spending some time socializing with some of the Summer Seminar students outside. [B]Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 29-July 1:[/B] On Friday, I spent most of the day working to set up the Book Sale for the second Summer Seminar week. Friday was fairly quiet for the most part, as most of the students from week 1 were gone, and the week 2 students had not yet arrived. Friday evening was the Instructor Reception for week 2. It was held outdoors at a bed and breakfast, and was very pleasant and low key. I had a very interesting conversation about West Virginia coal tokens with the instructor of the course on US Tokens. He had dealt in WV coal tokens in considerable quantities. After the reception, I took care of getting all of my laundry finished and was up until about 1 in the morning. On Saturday, I was able to take a shuttle and head to the Colorado Springs Coin Show for a few hours in the morning. The show had very little in the way of fresh material, but I was able to purchase a nice group of large cents, including a nice, brown 1803 S-257 from Doug Bird, who will be one of my instructors next week. Upon returning to the ANA, I had to work in the library for a few hours. Then I was off to the orientation for Summer Seminar week 2, and then basically relaxed for most of the evening. I had to attend the week 2 YN meeting at 9, and the rest of the evening was free. Disappointingly, I found out that I would not be able to attend the trip to the Denver Mint this coming Friday, as I had to work on the cleanup efforts following the second week of Seminar. I had to arrive at ANA headquarters at 8 am Sunday morning to help prepare for the Book Sale that began at 9. The Book Sale was a madhouse, as people crowded a tiny room looking for some obscure book that we had underpriced. My last task before heading off to my first class was to copy off a whole group of course materials for the Counterfeit Detection course taught by JP Martin from ICG and former ANA President H. Robert Campbell. After finishing their work, and breaking an industrial stapler in the process of trying to staple all the packets, I ran off to my first class. The EAC course ended up only having three students, including myself. This ended up being somewhat nice, as we all had a basic knowledge of copper coinage and we were able to work through the introductory material rather quickly. We spent most of the day discussion copper history, literature, and looking at the major Red Book varieties like the 1807/6 and the 1839/6 Cents. After class, I took off to catch the bus and head out on the Air Force Academy tour. The tour was fun, but rather quick, as it was a Sunday and many of the sites at the Academy were closed. The colonel who gave the tour was an interesting individual, as he had worked with the Join Chiefs of Staff in the past and was going to retire as a General. I was amazed at how large the Air Force grounds were, and how many different things, like two full golf courses, rested on the property. I actually arrived back at ANA early enough that I was able to sit in on a talk about preserving coppers that was given by Jerry Bobbe. Bobble conserves coppers for dealers, and will not look at a coin for less than $150, with many conservation jobs running over $1,000. Apparently, he is one of the best in the business, if not the best. The talk was a bit controversial at times, as there seems to sometimes be a blurry line between coin conservation and coin doctoring, and there was some interesting banter, especially with a statement that involved pushing the metal back into an area where there was a scratch and making it so that the scratch is undetectable. [B]Monday, July 2 –[/B] I was up early on Monday for my coppers’ class. Today, we started looking through coins, first to practice attribution. We went through great numbers of coins, as we could do it quickly with only 3 students. I did very well on the attribution exercises, and felt pretty confident in what I was doing. It was a pleasure getting to use Doug and Steve’s inventory and collections for the class, as they have some truly stunning large cent examples. In the afternoon, we started learning about the EAC grading techniques, and how to net grade. It is very interesting to see coins graded by EAC standards compared to the market standards. All of the sudden, coins in MS-64 TPG holders were being net graded AU-50 by EAC standards! We did a few grading exercises, and I felt that my grading was fairly consistent and accurate. I was generally a little too forgiving with net grading higher grade coins, and a little too tough in net grading lower end pieces. After class, I caught the bus for the Pikes Peak tour. We took the Cog Railway up the mountain on an hour ride to the summit. All I can say is wow! The view was spectacular. It was interesting to rise above the tree line and see snow on the peak in July. I took literally over a 100 pictures at the summit. It was just an amazing sight. After arriving back in Colorado Springs, I spent the rest of the night hanging out with the YNs. [B]Tuesday, July 3 –[/B] Today in class, we were thrown some twists. As we were grading and attributing coins, some counterfeits and altered dates started showing up. These included 1799s that were altered, 1804s with altered dates, some contemporary counterfeits, and some of the well-known Bay Area Counterfeits. I did pretty well with the counterfeits, as I was able to correctly identify the majority of them. Basically, the entire day was just spent evaluating coins, so it was enjoyable. I decided to skip the baseball trip to a Rockies because I wanted to attend the evening talk about becoming a coin dealer. The talk was sort of a panel discussion given by three individuals including H. Robert Campbell and Don Bonser. They provided some excellent insight about some of the intricacies involved in dealing. They discussed the easy parts as well as the difficult parts of entering the profession. Their general message was that, if one is interested in dealing, that they should go for it and give it a shot part-time as a vest pocket dealer. I was pretty tired after a long few days, so I went to bed a bit early. [B]Wednesday, July 4[/B] – During Wednesday’s class, we began looking at some problem coins, including coins that had been recolored and reengraved. I completely missed one of the reengraving jobs, as it was very impressive coin doctoring and was sitting in a TPG graded as an AU!! The recolored coppers seem to vary considerably, as some are easy to spot, and others are relatively difficult to detect. Lunch was interesting, as I sat with PCGS cofounder John Dannreuther, David McCarthy from Kagin’s, and Don Kagin. There were some very interesting conversations about the coin market, and an interesting discussion based on some of Dannreuther’s research about early $1 gold types. During the afternoon, we discussed cleaning, conservation, and storage of coppers at great length. Steve demonstrated brushing coppers with a goat hair brush, as well as using Blue Ribbon on coppers. It was a great demonstration that I learned much from. For the 4th of July, we were all set to have an outdoor Barbeque. However, about ten minutes before dinner, a massive thunderstorm rolled in with nearly an hour of torrential rain and marble-sized hail. All of the outside tables sat empty as we crowded indoors with our plates to remain dry. Wednesday night was the YN Auction for Week 2 of Summer Seminar. It was another great event, even though I didn’t buy anything. People were bidding tremendous amounts on any donated item in order to give money to the YNs. Many of the winning bidders then either gave their item to a YN, or donated it back to the auction to be sold again. People were very generous! I bid unsuccessfully on a few VAM Morgans, but one of the ANA staff members was generous enough to give me an Ancient Roman coin that they won for a sizable amount. It was a very kind gesture. After the auction, I hung out with the YNs and watched a few movies until fairly late at night. [B]Thursday, July 5[/B] – On Thursday morning, we went through another set of coppers, including some high quality counterfeits. There was an altered date 1799 cent that was the best fake that anyone had seen. The date had been tooled expertly from a 1798 with pick up points on the obverse that greatly resembled the 1799. A 1798 was even chosen with a reverse that mirrored the 1799 S-189 reversed. We spent the afternoon discussing some better varieties that one can cherrypick with relative ease. We were also given to large cent books to keep, a Wright text, and a Noyes text. They were very kind donations, and I will get great use out of both of them. After class, Doug pulled out his inventory and allowed us to go shopping (no cherrypicking here though). I purchased a beautiful 1802 S-225 piece in F-12 with original surfaces. It matched the coin I had purchased from him at the coin show perfectly. The evening consisted of a reception and banquet to wrap up the Summer Seminar. They were rather uneventful for the most part, except that Don Bonser did a great job as Master of Ceremonies. After the festivities, I had a few drinks with some of the students and instructors out on the patio. I have to admit, it is going to be pretty boring once everyone packs up and leaves tomorrow. [B]Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, July 6-8[/B] – All of the Summer Seminar instructors and students were heading out throughout the morning. I ate a quick breakfast with Doug Bird and Steve Carr, and then I was off to ANA Headquarters to begin the cleanup of Summer Seminar. I spent all day working with one of the maintenance personnel and going building to building to clean out the classrooms. The lamps, display cases, extension cords, as well as many other things had to be placed back into storage. The tables from the Book Sale had to be put back into storage as well. We had to pack up and haul a large intaglio printing press back to the ANA. This lengthy process took virtually all day. However, I did get a package from home that included a new Bust Dime purchase, as well as my ANA election ballot. So, now I can take advantage of the democratic process and vote for the Board of Governors members. The evening was a rather lazy occasion, as I used my first free time in two weeks to eat Chinese food and watch TV. However another NASCAR race was rained out….that makes about a half dozen this summer. Well, at least I have two races to watch tomorrow. On Saturday, I laid around watching TV most of the day. I made a trip down to Hollenbeck’s and purchased some cheap US Philippines silver pieces. This was certainly out of my normal collecting habit, but I wanted to try something different. I spent the evening laying around watching NASCAR and playing around on the internet. Sunday has been a lazy day so far, as I slept in, ate brunch, and have been watching TV ever since. Some younger kids staying in the dorms as part of a math camp have started to become annoying, especially when I’m in the recreation room attempting to watch TV. I decided to straighten up my room and do some bills, as I had not gotten much of this type of work accomplished during the two weeks of Summer Seminar. After some work and a nice, long evening run, I settled in and listened to some music while reading Penny Whimsy for the rest of the evening. There will be more to come![/QUOTE]
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