Featured Charmy's BIG HUGE 2014 ANA Summer Seminar Report w/TONS of pics!!!

As I reported in my January FUN show report, as a result of winning the Best in Show award for my Penny Potpourri exhibit at FUN, I received an all-expense paid trip to the ANA Summer Seminar. This was my third time attending the Summer Seminar and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning about numismatics. It is a fantastic way to learn more about whatever subject you decide to take, and the best way to meet and get to know other like-minded numismatists. What a wonderful experience it is!











Day 1 (Friday):



I decided to arrive one day early so I would have time to attend the Colorado Springs Coin Show, so I left home on Thursday, giddy with excitement to begin my week at the Summer Seminar!







Bye-bye OC!











I had a 4-hour layover in Denver, which is kind of funny because it’s only a 20 minute flight from Denver to Colorado Springs, but it was either that or rent a car and drive. So I chose to wait it out at a cantina near my gate. This tequila sunrise was very tasty and refreshing!







Soon it was time to board my puddle jumper airplane for Colorado Springs. We boarded directly from the tarmac.







As soon as I was settled into my seat on the plane, it began to rain along with thunder and lightning. The captain said we would not be able to take off until the lighting ceased, so we sat on the tarmac for another 45 minutes before the lighting finally stopped.







I arrived in CS shortly, grabbed a taxi to the beautiful Colorado College campus, checked in, and found my apartment.











I was in a 4-bedroom apartment sharing with Rick Snow and his FBI friend Neil who was due in the next day. (If possible, they usually only place 3 people in each apartment.) Rick and Neil have been friends since they were little boys. Neil even brought a couple of their childhood photos to share with us!



Rick is on the left and the little blonde boy is Neil







Rick is at the top and FBI Neil is the one wearing the cute overalls!







Rick and his co-worker Bruce drove to CS from Tucson and had arrived the day before (Bruce was staying in the apartment across the hallway). Our apartment was in the Antero building on the corner right behind where Rick is standing in this photo.











Rick brought his much-appreciated cooler!







After settling in, we then went shopping at Coaltrain for a few supplies, including beer, wine, and ice! I have to say, this little store not far from the campus has an amazing supply of really good wine! I bought several bottles, one of which I ended up bringing home because it was a really good bottle and I was a little selfish in not wanting to share it – can you guess which one?

 

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This is Rick and Bruce







Me and Rick



















After wandering around and enjoying the street festivities, we had dinner at Famous Steakhouse – mmmmm!











I had the rib-eye, Oscar style (crabmeat and hollandaise) – it was wonderful!!







We had a bottle of tasty Ravenswood wine with dinner







Back out at the street fair







After we got back to the campus, we just relaxed for a while, then headed over with the cooler to the “Lunar Lounge” which was just around the corner from our apartment. It’s basically an open patio area between the buildings with tables and chairs and has a beautiful view of Pike’s Peak. By the time we got there, the party had already started!























In addition to the wine and beer we brought to the Lunar Lounge, I also brought a bottle of my favorite liqueur, Fireball Whisky, which was a big hit!

 

Friday was also the day that the people from either the first or second session could take the Diggers class with the cast of the Diggers show, Tim "The Ringmaster" Saylor (also a coin collector) and George "King George" Wyant. Bruce participated and said they had a really good time. They took a bus to the metal detecting field on a private piece of property up in the hills. Then the Diggers guys taught them the basics of metal-detecting and shared tips on how to find metal items in the ground such as coins, rings, etc. To make it more interesting, the ANA staff had “salted” the area with real coins, some of which were modern and some old. The Diggers guys, Tim and George, who are also friends with ANA Governor Mike Ellis, were kind enough to stop by Lunar Lounge for a short visit.







Bruce, George, me, Tim, and Mike







We had so much fun and ended up staying out until almost midnight! But when I finally turned in and my head hit the pillow, I was out cold!





Day 2 (Saturday – registration day):



Breakfast at 7:00am came waaaay too soon! But mealtime in the cafeterias was always an enjoyable event – due to the really good food of course, but even more so due to the great company and conversations with everyone during our mealtimes.



My usual breakfast posse included many familiar friends, including these guys (from left to right): Rick Snow, Bruce Benoit, David Lange, can’t recall the name of the guy next to David, Sonny, Hobo Nickel carver Joe Paonnesa, and me!







After breakfast, a group of us headed over to the Colorado Springs Coin Show.















In the corner of the room near the snack bar I saw this tv with actual antennas so I just had to take a photo!







Speaking of antennas, Rick is giving antennas to his twin brother from another mother, Brian Fanton!







Soon we headed back to the college so we could officially register and get our program material and photo badges. So while Emily was taking my photo, I took her photo!











Afterwards, we went down the street to the ANA office/Museum to take a look at their new exhibits.







Their new “Treasures of the Deep” exhibit was beautiful, with great artwork and decorations, as well as mood music and lighting. I loved it!!











I’m imagining myself relaxing beneath these lush palm trees on this gorgeous beach!

 

Linda and Larry Sekulich

 

The first Steam Press







































After touring the museum, we headed back over to Gaylord Hall at the Worner building for orientation.











There was a lot of construction in front of the Worner building so we had to detour around it to get to the entrance.











Rick and Neil







After orientation, we went back to the ANA office for the used book sale. The started handing out numbers that morning so you would know who got to go in first to make their book picks, but they only handed out 25 numbers. They let people in in increments of 30 seconds. I was number 20, but there were many who didn’t get any numbers so they had to wait for the first 25 people to choose books before they even got a chance to look. There was quite a crowd gathered for this popular sale!







This young man was lucky enough to get number 1!

 

When I got in, there were still plenty of coin books left for me and I took full advantage of the opportunity to find some very cool old copper-related books and bought all of these for my library:



Rick even signed this old Attribution Guide from 1998











































This book wasn’t in the book sale, but it looked interesting so I bought it too.







Then after this busy day, it was time to do some relaxing at and more socializing at Lunar Lounge!







Me and David Lange (with Rick’s photo-bombing arm!)







Mike Ellis, me and David Lange







Joe Paonessa, Bruce Benoit, and Dan “Dan the Lawyer Man” Aidif







Tiny calls this his “upside down smile”

 

Day 3 (Sunday):



Breakfast again at the cafeteria











Some of the YNs











Some of the YNs playing pool











I had never seen a skateboard rack before, but it certainly made sense!







Then it is off to classes. My class was at Armstrong Hall











I was finally able to sign up for Rick’s Indian Cent class. See, I wanted to take his class the first time I attended the Summer Seminar several years ago but because we are competitors, Rick teasingly said he didn’t want me to learn his “secrets.” But this time, I countered with, “Don’t you think I know all your secrets by now!” I guess that must have convinced him since he finally agreed to let me take his class this year!



Each student in Rick’s class received all of these goodies!







We started out by guessing the grade of certified Indian cents and then discussing our opinions on the actual grade. It was very enlightening listening to everyone’s opinions as to why they agreed or disagreed with the stated grade.











That evening we stopped by Bob Campbell’s mini class on Conservation of Coins. It was very interesting and educational. He was demonstrating how to remove pvc and corrosion from silver coins with various chemicals. Some of the coins came out beautifully and some were too far gone to help.

 

Later that evening I gave a pictorial presentation on my “Penny Exonumia.” I had also displayed many of my pieces in a couple cases at the back of the room where I let people carefully examine them up close. I think the program went very well as people seemed fascinated with my penny exonumia.























Then, once again it was off to our usual place of end-of-the-day relaxation – Lunar Lounge!

 

Day 4 (Monday):



My Monday morning breakfast companions – Rick, Larry Sekulich (teaches the Exhibiting class) and his wife Linda, Rick’s friend Neil, and me







Neil and I







Rick took this photo of some deer that were crossing the street right by the campus







Then back to Rick’s class. We talked about die design changes, varieties, patterns, etc.















My lunch companions Glenn Holsonbake and fellow classmate Dave







Then back at class











After class, we relaxed in our room and listened to music for a little while. Then we saw this fire truck drive up outside our window. Apparently, a fire alarm went off across the yard but it turned out to be false







That evening, we could see clouds rolling in and thought it might rain, which it did.







This is the view of the mountains from Lunar Lounge







Then we played some money-less poker. We had a large group, and since there wasn’t actual money involved, everyone kept “poaching” each other’s chips when they ran out!

 

Day 5 (Tuesday):



After breakfast I decided to ship all the books I bought back home so I wouldn’t have to worry about weight allowance in my suitcase. The ANA museum does a lot of shipping and has their own “shipping department” including any packing supplies you might need. So I packed up my books in one flat rate box and sent them off. After that, I still had some time before class stated, so I visited the museum again. It really is a fascinating display, and this time I took the time to watch the video of the actual retrieval of coins and material from the second exploration of the Central American shipwreck by the Odyssey Marine.







































The 1866 No Motto Dollar display











After class on Tuesday, we watched the end of the U.S. vs Belgium World Cup soccer game. In spite of our loss, it was a tense and exciting match!















Tuesday night dinner companions – the usual suspects, along with a photo-bomb by Joe Paonessa!

 

Then it was off to the YN auction!











Here are the registration YNs







My bidder “paddle”







It was a packed room!







Tiny and his “yeuuuup” cane!







Another interesting auction assistant!







The auction lots on display







The YN auction helpers







Rick Sear/ColonelJessup is a generous auction spender, and is even a good sport when he gets a little extra attention as you will see later on!







Another interesting piece of auction attire







For those of you who have been to the Summer Seminar YN auction, you know that the only rule for the auction is that there are no rules, so anything goes! From using unattended bidder numbers to raise bids, to “accidentally” bidding if you even scratch your nose! It’s all in good fun and of course for a very good cause. To give you an example, the first year I was there, I didn’t know about the “no rules” clause and accidentally left my bidder card on my chair. Pretty soon, I was the proud owner of one of Tiny’s straw hats for $25! Then shortly after that, I was bidding on a Jacques Wiener medal I had my eye on, and before I know it, Todd Pollock is bidding against me. But as I found out a little too late, he had “counterfeited” my bidder card and was bidding against me with my own bidder number!!! Such shenanigans are common in the YN auction, so newbies beware!



Anyway, I am a Game of Thrones lover so I had my eye on the GoT tokens made by Joe Paonessa.







I mentioned this lot to Rick. He said they might go for $300 and that he was interested in them too but wouldn’t bid on them since he knew I wanted them. I said $300 was about my limit on them. So when my lot came up (No. 40), I held up my number and bid $100. Then to my complete surprise and shock, Rick bids $200! I turn to him and shouted “Traitor!” and see him snickering. No one else was bidding so I bid $300. Rick then bids $400! I smacked him in the arm. He then turned to me and said “how about if we split the lot and each pay $200. I agreed and we stood up and told the auctioneer we would split the $400 bid. I thought that was the end of it, when my buddy to me left suddenly bids $500!! I knew he didn’t want the tokens and was just bidding them up because he knew I wanted them. Boy, what are friends for?! So I slug him in the arm. Then Rick turns to me and says “how about if we bid $600 an split it?” I reluctantly agreed but said “that had better be it from both of you!” They both agreed and we won the lot for $600. Luckily, there was two of each token in the lot so it was easy to split.











Rick and Tom Hallenback went head to head on the biggest auction item of the night, the ancient gold coin that is on the cover of the auction catalog. They went back and forth several times, but Tom ended up the big winner and paid over $13,000 for the coin!











Usually every YN auction has a weird piece of clothing item that is auctioned so that the winner can “assign” it to someone of his/her choosing to wear to the banquet. Then the recipient chosen can pay the same amount NOT to wear it. If he does so, then it goes up for auction again, etc. This is usually the time when many people leave the auction since they don’t want to be the recipient who is chosen to wear the costume! This time, Sam Ernst was the “model” and demonstrated this year’s costume







Even though Rick Sear tried hard and bid a lot of money NOT to wear this costume, others kept bidding on it again and continued to declare that Rick had to wear it to the banquet. So he finally relented and was a good sport about wearing it, as you’ll see later.

 

Day 6 (Wednesday):



Back in class, one of the students, Dave, who is also an EAC collector, had several of these aluminum foil pressings of large cents. They are made by placing foil around the coin, then using a seal like a notary seal (with rubber inserts) to tightly press the foil against the coin. Then the coin is slipped out and the foil placed in a plastic 2 x 2 to preserve the image. They are so well done that you can even identify the variety of the coin just by the foil pressing. I thought they were fascinating, so Dave gave me one of his.











In class, Rick showed us some of the more interesting Indian cent varieties. The first one he happened to show was one I discovered a few years ago – the 1862 S-9 with a reverse die gauge (for obvious reasons, it’s affectionately called the “pe_is” coin).







Afterwards, we did some more guess the grade. This purple magenta toned 1877 was one of the more beautiful coins he passed around for us to grade. We all drooled over it and felt it was accurately graded.







Due to all the hockey camp athletes, the lunch line on Wednesday was so long, it went out the back door of the building!







Sonny and Brian hamming it up in line!







The long line inside the cafeteria







Today’s lunch companions – Dan and smiling Tiny!







Back in class, Rick gave out our “graduation” certificates







I passed ;-)







Our class photo







The ANA held a wine and cheese reception prior to the awards banquet.















They had these hobo tokens carved by the hobo nickel class on display at the reception







Oded was one of the students and carved the hobo nickel in the bottom left corner







Me and David Lange







Joe Boling and his money hat – along with Joe’s usual photo-bomb!

 

The awards banquet was held at this building across the street from the ANA office







These ribs were being cooked in front of the entrance and smelled so yummy as we walked by them







Remember I mentioned that Rick Sear “won” the privilege of wearing this year’s costume – well, here he is!







Script and tokens at each place setting







Various banquet participants























My regular dining companions – Neil, me, Rick, Dan, and Bruce















Rick Sear and Jerry Bobby sharing an intimate moment when they received their instructor certificates











Rick getting his instructor certificate







Me getting my certificate for giving the Penny Exonumia presentation











After the banquet, there was a really great short-form comedy improv group performing at Gaylord Hall so many of us went there to watch. Here are some people waiting outside before the program began.

 

The comedy group was called Stick Horses in Pants, and they were hilarious!











The program was really well-attended







After the program, we headed to Lunar Lounge for the last time. I only stayed an hour or so because I was exhausted and had to get up at 6am to catch the bus to the airport.

 

Day 7 (Thursday):



As I suspected, 6am came waaaaay to soon! But I was up, showered, packed, checked out, and waiting for my bus by 6:30am! However, as I/we were outside waiting for the bus, some distasteful guy walking by looked upon us and inappropriately commented that we looked like we were “ridden hard and put away wet.” Some people are just plain rude!



And judging from this photo taken on the bus shortly thereafter, I thought we were quite perky for 7am!







Our little flight from CS to Denver was completely full, many of whom were Summer Seminar folks!







In Denver waiting for my final leg home







Me so happy to be headed home!







Bye-bye CO







Hello OC!















And finally, outside waiting for my hubby to pick me up!







So that’s it! I hope you enjoyed this pictorial view of my week at the 2014 ANA Summer Seminar. It’s truly a great experience, one that I highly recommend to any and all numismatists, no matter what level of knowledge you have. It is so much fun, very educational, a great place to meet and talk with many varied numismatists, and especially the best place to make new numismatic friends!

 

Looks like alot of fun, great writeup and pics as usual!

 

Great report Charmy.

 

I know, right!

Actually, I'm very grateful that I get to do the things I do thanks to this business. I love being able to see all the different parts of the country, and especially meet such great and interesting people!

 

Great report as usual, I'm glad to see that the second session as fun as the first!