Thought I would share this and see who remembers this Photo Cert. I have been collecting 40 plus years and it was only 5 years ago I learned of their existence. And I have been looking for one to buy since then. This was well with in my price range although I don't know much about the coin as it was the cert/coin I wanted so I very well could have over paid but I was not going to let it go just because I want to save 20 bucks or 100 bucks. Don't know if I would ever see one again for sale. The ANAAB happen right after the ANACS Photo certs division was sold to Amos Press. This part of the ANA lasted until 2002, so about 1989/90 to 2002. I really don't know much more about them, so If any one would like to add a bit more info or correct what I have please do so.
Congratulations on a rare find. Those ANAAB certificates are extremely tough to find. Do you have a picture of the back? There are four varieties of ANAAB certificates that I know of, yours is ANAAB 2. As far as I can tell this variety was only used in early 1996. (based on the dates on the few examples I have seen. ANAAB did not start up right away after the sale of ANACS to Amos Press. There was a non competition clause in the sale contract. They had to wait one or two years after the sale before they could start another service, so ANAAB dates from late 1991 or early 1992 and they closed down in Sept 2002.
This is the only ANAAB that I have ever seen. It's been on ebay for a while, probably due to the fact that the coin is worth more than the cert. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alexander-t...316673?hash=item1eb2e42b81:g:gjcAAOSwPe1UJHO3 Photos courtesy of the seller linked above:
Here is a link on the opening/closing of the ANAAB by Lawrence J. Lee, ANA Museum curator, Originally Release Date: October 16, 2002 https://www.money.org/blog/ANA-officially-discontinues-authentication-service Short quote from the article: "The ANA first offered coin authentication in 1972. Coin grading was added six years later, and both services were offered until July 31, 1990, when the Association sold its grading service to Amos Press Inc., publisher of Coin World. The following October, ANAAB began operations" looks like maybe Oct 1990 to Sept 2002
I was very fortunate to find this. The seller on eBay had it listed as ANACS Photo Cert and his top picture was of the coin and not the cert so I would think that many people that did not collect this type just pass it over without looking at all the pictures that the seller had listed. This cert fits in very nicely with all of my other ANACS photo certs as I think it put a very nice ending to the set of 12 ANACS photo certs and now I know there are 4 different ANAAB photo certs More Pictures for you all!
Thanks for posting both sides, it helps in determining the order they used the different varieties. It does bring up one problem though. Yours is what I called ANAAB 2, but the registration date is before the date on my ANAAB 1. But the date on the ANAAB 2 in the book is LATER than my ANAAB 1. So either they used the ANAAB on two separate occasions, or they may have used them interchangeably for awhile. (Like NCI did) I really need to see more of these.
