Charmy's ANA Summer Seminar Report with LOTS OF PICTURES!

Wednesday....

During class, we did a lot more large cent later date attribution which is much more difficult. We also saw a lot of counterfeit EAC coins some of which were very difficult to detect. Also, the ANA photographer came in and took our class pictures.




After class, we went to dinner at the Famous Steakhouse (that's its name) and were we in for a wonderful surprise. Their food was probably one of the very best we ever had. We each had their bone-in ribeye special which was amazing, but even the side dishes were extremely tasty, including their battered onion rings! We had a bottle of Argentina Malbec, and that too was a wonderful bottle of wine. Though pricey, I definitely recommend anyone coming to Colorado Springs to stop by Famous for dinnerr (reservations are suggested).




Following dinner, we went to the YN Auction. Boy, was I in for a surprise. I knew that the auction was not meant for people to try and get a good deal on items, but is more of a fundraiser for the ANA Young Numismatist program but this being my first year at the Summer Seminar and YN Auction, I did not know that there are no real "rules" for this particular auction, so I got to be the butt of some cute pranks by my "friends." At one point, I made the mistake of leaving my "bidder number" on my chair when I went to talk to someone and one of my good ol buddies decided to use my number to bid on some items, including this handmade straw hat with a flying fish sticking out of the top owned by the ANA's beloved Summer Seminar legend Daniel "Tny" Cross!

The auction catalog and my "bidder number"


My new hat!



Then my "good buddy" Todd decided to create a counterfeit of my bidder number and began bidding on items "for me." Here are my real bidder number and Todd's counterfeit!


At one point, I was even bidding against myself (Todd using a counterfeit of my bidder number) for the Weiner medal that I eventually won! Luckily, someone else chimed in, so Todd dropped out, but I really wanted the medal so I continued to bid against another guy. We both ended up just standing up and continually holding up our bidder number as the auctioneer called out prices. However, at one point when the price got a little too high, we coincidentally dropped back to our seats at the exact same time. So the auctioneer asked who wanted to pay the last bid, and I agreed and won this beautiful medal! Since Todd owed me, he was good enough to photograph it for me this morning!

Cathedral Medal depicting Church of St. Genevieve (Pantheon) by Jacques Weiner, 1858



Sonny, the auctioneer, and his assistant Brian surprised me and grabbed my hand as I was lead to the podium - they wanted me to auction off a couple pennies!


In addition to the Demetrios 1 tetradrachm that Rick won, the other highlight of the auction was this beautiful Hobo Morgan Dollar masterfully carved by Joe Paonessa of Tiny. It sold for $2,300!





They also auctioned off a chance at a money grab. Two of them were donated back to a YN to do the grabbing and the last one went to Tiny with an extended amount of time to grab all the bills he could.





This was a pile of play money for YN's to play with


More photos from the auction



Then of course, we ended up back at Lunar Lounge!

Rick and his alter ego Brian Fanton





Our last bottle of wine!

 

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Thursday...

In class we did some more variety attributions, and then we got to see quite a few neat large cent errors.







This was a fantastic class and Steve Carr and Doug Bird are excellent instructors. If you are at all interested in Early American Copper, I highly recommend taking their class. Chris/HalfHunter06 was in the class with me, and he was very good a figuring out the attributions much quicker than i did! He is a joy to be around, very kind, supportive and always positive - and he sure loves coins!

So Thursday after class was the wine and cheese reception and "graduation" banquet, followed by a "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" program (I arrived here last Thursday just in time for the first session's reception, banquet, and talent show).

Here are a few photos from the banquet.

Steve and Doug right after they received their instructor awards


Todd and his award



The "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" program was put on by Andy/Mr. Eureka and I was honored to be included in the panel. We were given 4 scenarios involving coin deals gone bad and yhe 4 panel members argued one side or the other. Then the audience was divided up into 7 jury groups consisting of 5-6 people, and they had to decide which side they thought was ethically right (not leally). Jerry Bobby was one of the panel members and he sure was a hoot! Unfortunately, since I was a panel member, I didn't get any photos, but I did get this photo of Chris/HalfHunter06 wearing my new auction purchase (he looked a lot better in it than I did)!


Then of course, we all ended up back at Lunar Lounge for our last night together. I didn't take any more photos since it was mostly the same crowd, but it was another fun night, yet a little more mellow since everyone seemed to be winding down.

 

Friday....
Several of us signed up for the Denver Mint tour and as we were boarding the bus, many others were packing up and waiting for their shuttles to the airport. It took only about 1 1/2 hours to get to Denver, which is a very pretty city (the "Mile High City").


Since we couldn't take our cell phones into the Mint, the only picture I got was this photo of the outside of the building.


Our tour was a ground tour meaning we got to walk all around where the actual machines were, and we were strictly told not to pick up any coins we may see lying on the ground - and we did see a few here and there and it was tempting to reach down and pick them up but we all resisted! It was very interesting to see how fast the machines work and how many coins they produce in seconds!

When we got back to the dorms, it was pretty deserted. My flight wasn't until Saturday and Rick too wasn't leaving until Saturday, so we took a walk around town. We stopped by The Leechpit which is a really neat vintage store.





I ended up buying an original Beatles "White" album on Apple Records from I believe 1967. It has an original embossed serial number and included the poster and 4 photos of the Beatles. The album is in great shape, looks barely played, though the cover shows some wear.









Here are some random photos I also took around town.




An old typewriter in the ANA library


Then we went over to Hallenback Coins for a few minutes, then back back to the very quiet dorms. I went out to dinner with some friends of mine who moved from Irvine to Colorado Springs - we went back to Famous Steakhouse because it was SO good. I was so exhausted by the end of the night that I couldn't even stay awake long enough to post this report!

So now it's time to go pack, head to the airport and back home. Thank you everyone for taking the time to follow with me along this adventure - my first Summer Seminar has been a truly wonderful experience, and I certainly hope to return next year!

 

FINAL UPDATE:

Here are a few more random photos:

One of Todd's photos of the Tiny Hobo Dollar


Me during the YN auction when they roped me into being the auctioneer on a couple Lincoln pennies


Some beautiful photos Todd took right after the hail storm



I got home yesterday and then had to set up at my local show this morning, so I am dog tired now! But I can't wait to do it all over again next year!

 

Nice!

 

1968 on the "White Album" Charmy.......

I've enjoyed your marvelous photo journey through your experiance at the ANA. So want to experiance what you have, but for the moment, I live vicariously.......