Howdy everyone, I have applied for the ANA Summer Seminar Scholarship this month. I won't know If I get the full scholarship or partial scholarship until March/April-ish. Okay, today I received a deadline for choosing my classes, the deadline is next month. I want to attend the seminar on the 2nd week, my friend is running the YN auction that week. I have narrowed what I want to take down too two classes: Early American Copper Coinage and Ancient Greek Coinage... I'm leaning towards taking the ancient class, because I'm really interested in the Greek coinage. But on the other hand, I like half cents and large cents. Here's the link for the course catalog, if ya' want to read the details on the classes on page 15: https://www.money.org/uploads/pdfs/2015SummerSeminarCatalog.pdf I would like for y'all to post your opinions on the matter. Thank you, Aidan
My favorite u.s. coins are coppers. Heck I would love to own a few colonials but I dont need another expensive outlet in coins. If you have any interest in ancient history itself, you'd probably enjoy the Ancient Greek Coinage. There is a ton to learn. Ive barely scraped the surface on my own.
Without knowing your level of knowledge it's difficult to make a suggestion. For myself it would be easy. I've collected, studied and read-up on all things early American copper for years. While there's always room to grow and learn in the field, there aren't many surprises left. Therefore I'd choose Ancient Greek class because I know nothing about the subject as far as coinage is concerned, and for me that would be fascinating.
Two years ago I went for both weeks. Took Grading 1 and 2. Interesting. I found that my grading style was technical. But most of the coins we looked at were market graded. Not surprisingly I kept calling them lower than the slab. I got better as time went by.
I'm an EAC guy as well. While I would not actively collect anything else, I also find ancients interesting. So to piggyback on what coleguy said, I'd take the ancients course. That is not because I like Greek coinage better, but because I believe there would be much more to learn.
Tough call I love early us copper what I startedxwith but really starting to appreciate the ancients mostly the Greeks as I love the designs
I believe that if you are a newer or more inexperienced collector, the American coppers will be your better choice. The mintages, varieties, etc are all well documented and relatively easy to research. Ancients, as I am learning myself, is uncharted territory. There are some major avenues of accepted information, however, I feel the field in general is far more vast and would take much longer to fully digest and discover; if ever. Personally, before I was a coin guy, when I was a wee lad, I was obsessed with Greek mythology. I think seeing some of these childhood interests manifest on coins has sent me to the darkside (ancients) for good and would jump at that opportunity.
Thanks all, with the eac class, they cover: grading, die varieties, cheery picking, buy & sell, etc. All the good stuff that I want to learn. But, with the ancients, they'll go over the history and important issues. Every time that I'm on my computer, I find myself looking at ancients more and more everyday.
If it does make sure you notify the ANA that you can't attend so they can award the partial scholarship to someone who can attend.
Update: I am going to the Seminar! Yay! Thanks to my club, and the partial scholarship that covers more than just tuition, I'm covered for the 2nd session of the seminar. ... hard part... getting there...
