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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 4483994, member: 44316&quot;]I encourage serious collectors to join the ANS (American Numismatic Society) and support its good work with their dues. I have been asked, what are the benefits of membership? Until recently, I would say my dues have been largely in the category of a donation. I get their glossy magazine four times a years and my subscription includes the <i>American Journal of Numismatics</i> yearly issue.&nbsp; That is a very good academic journal with maybe a dozen articles per issue, but the chances of one of them being something you really want is not high. (But, I have the whole run back to 1948 and use them frequently.) Also, the journal can be often found on the secondary market for much less than the cost of the dues. </p><p><br /></p><p>So, why join?&nbsp; Well, primarily you should join to support serious scholarship and on-line resources that the ANS promotes. Go to their site and you will find marvelous high-tech sites on Seleucid coins, Ptolemaic coins, Greek coin hoards, etc. (So far, the Greek sites are more developed than the others.) Obviously, that costs money to create and they get their money from donors and membership dues.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>But now there is another good reason to join. They have begun to use Zoom to live stream talks and &quot;Long Table&quot; discussions, and they are open only to members. Last week Friday I attended a &quot;Long Table&quot; on slabs with interactive interviews of David Vagi, primary ancient-coin authenticator, and Mark Salzberg, head of NGC. The whole authentication and grading process was discussed.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today (Friday, May 8, 2020, 1:00 pm Eastern time) I attended a &quot;Long Table&quot; discussion of on-line resources at the ANS. It is amazing what those sites (like the Greek Coin Hoards site) can do. You can find hoards that include such-and-such a type. You can see of map of where they were found. You can pick a hoard and see a map of the cities represented in the hoard. You can click on the city and see hoards that have coins of that city. You can pick a city and denomination and type and chart the average weights compared to some other group described another way. The site can do many things you would not think of without either someone telling you or a great deal of playing around on it.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think formal talks are likely to be once a month. The two Long Tables have been described as something like meeting colleagues around a table and talking about recent projects. I don&#039;t know it they can keep it up every week, but they have been at 1:00 pm Eastern time Fridays the last two weeks.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, now I have a better answer to &quot;What are the benefits?&quot; If you are a member, you can remotely attend ANS talks on Zoom (which is easy to use). </p><p><br /></p><p>Their web site is here with a &quot;membership&quot; link</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://numismatics.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The cheapest membership level is $100 a year (with 40% off for students). </p><p><br /></p><p>I loved the talks I have attended, but I belong because I want to support such a fine organization which generates so much information about ancient coins. The talks were a super bonus. It&#039;s a lot cheaper than traveling to New York City![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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