After a late arrival in New Orleans, I walked the block over to the convention center to enter the bourse floor. Hall G of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is a big convention center hall that does not feel “full.” Sure, the National Money Show is a smaller show than others including the World’s Fair of Money, but it does allow for a different group of people to come in and learn more about numismatics.
Since my trip to the show is largely to campaign for the Board of Governors elections, I started to meet and talk with members around the floor. I had taken the opportunity talk with a few people I know and introduce myself to others.
But that does not mean I did not do some looking around.
The biggest news I learned is that the U.S. Mint is planning on issuing a reverse proof American Gold Buffalo later this year in honor of the design’s 100th anniversary. A sample can be seen at the U.S. Mint booth at the show and, of course on Pinterest. The image was taken through the glass of the case it is being display within. On Friday, I will try to take a picture of the coin with the case open.
On seeing the reverse proof American Buffalo coin I was stunned as to how beautiful it is. It has an elegance that you cannot see in a picture. The coin will be released later this year. It will give us time to put some money aside to buy at least one version. If you buy no other gold coin this year, you should save to buy this one. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
Although the sales of the 2013 American Eagle West Point Two-Coin Silver Set went on sale today, the U.S. Mint only had a sample at the show. All sales are being made on line or via the telephone. You can see an image on Pinterest. I will try to take a better picture when I do one of the American Buffalo gold reverse proof since both are in the same display case.
Aside from buying a new loupe because I left mine at home, I just found a few New York-related tokens including a New York City subway token where the cutout “Y” is off-center.
One of the great things about coming to an ANA show is to see people, meet new people, and just have a great time. Some of us went to the French Quarter for dinner. After dinner, we walked a few blocks to the French Market for café au lait and beignets at Café du Monde. Thus, the tradition I started as a college student in 1980 continues—every trip I have ever made to New Orleans included a visit to Café du Monde.
Friday will be some Money Talks sessions and end with a reception for Congressman Steve Scalise (R-LA). Scalise is one of the sponsors for the newly introduced H.R. 1849, the bill to update the Hobby Protection Act. The same bill that did not get a hearing during the last session.
Keep a watch on Twitter and Pinterest for reports from the show.
Hello from New Orleans: The Crescent City; The Big Easy; NOLA; N’awlins; the self-proclaimed America’s Most Interesting City; and home of the 2013 National Money Show.
After an early start and a change in planes in Atlanta, I made to Louis Armstrong International Airport. How could you not want to go to a place where the airport is named after the great Louis Armstrong! Oh yea!
I just checked into my hotel, freshened up a bit, and giving the phone a chance to charge so I can take pictures in the convention center. While waiting, I created a board on Pinterest where I will be posting those pictures. You can also follow me on Twitter where I will tweet and even post some images.
Of course, I will write an evening wrap-up. So keep your browser pointed here for what happens in New Orleans.
Remember, Saturday is the candidates forum for those running for the American Numismatic Association Board of Governors. I will be there along with the 15 other candidates including the president and Vice President candidates that are running unapposed.
Finally, at some point I have to make it to Café du Monde in the French Market for a café au lait. Going is a personal tradition that dates back to my first trip to New Orleans in 1980.
May Day was an eventful day for the numismatic community. On May 1, the American Numismatic Association issued a press release announcing the appointment of Kim Kiick as the ANA’s new Executive Director.
I will support Kim Kiick as the ANA’s Executive Director as a member and if I should be privileged to be elected to the Board of Governors.
My issue is not with Kim but with the Board of Governors and the way this entire situation was handled.
Since my first comment regarding the firing of Jeff Shevlin, my Inbox has been flooded with reports and allegations of improprieties on all sides regarding this situation. Unfortunately, these are allegation without evidence. Unless someone can provide tangible evidence, any comments about this would be irresponsible. If anyone has evidence, they can contact me via email or hand it to me at the National Money Show in New Orleans next week.
If the evidence points to any type impropriety, I will look for remedies on behalf of the ANA. Remedies can include bringing an ethics complaint to the Board or if employment laws were broken, I can recommend appropriate legal action.
One issue I have is the hiring of Unlimited Potential, a management consulting firm based on Colorado Springs. According to the ANA press release, Beth Papiano of Unlimited Potential will “work with the Executive Director, Board of Governors and staff to increase the effectiveness of each and to improve communications and leadership skills.” While this appears to be the right approach, the selection of Ms. Papiano is suspect.
Sources provided evidence that Ms. Papiano was involved with the 360-degree feedback review of Jeff Shevlin. According to Wikipedia, a 360-degree review “is feedback that comes from members of an employee’s immediate work circle. Most often, 360-degree feedback will include direct feedback from an employee’s subordinates, peers, and supervisor(s), as well as a self-evaluation. It can also include, in some cases, feedback from external sources, such as customers and suppliers or other interested stakeholders.” According to my sources, the report provided to the Board of Governors did not contain reviews from everyone in the primary circle because they were not interviewed. Further, the 360-degree feedback review did not include indirect feedback because as a member of the ANA Technology Committee and an interested stakeholder based on my participation with this committee, I was not interviewed.
In reviewing 360-degree feedback, a Forbes article discusses why these types of reviews fail. If my sources are true, three of the points may have lead to this situation: The 360 tool/questions are too vague; People offer comments that are personal in nature rather than constructive; and Forgetting the strengths and only focusing on weaknesses.
While the Board of Governors will not talk about their deliberations, they should be taken to task about the process. Was the proper questions used? Was the feedback filtered for personal feelings leaving only constructive comments? Why was not everyone interviewed as part of the process? Finally, what experience does Ms. Papiano have in performing these 360-degree reviews?
It appears that experience matters. In criticizing the article that appeared in Forbes, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman published a commentary on the blog for the Harvard Business Review that “Yes, we sigh, there are too many 360 implementations that are pathetic wastes of time, resources, and—worst of all—opportunity.” Was the review a pathetic waste of an opportunity to properly review the organization and why there have been three dismissed executive directors in the last ten years?
I am trying to find out more about Ms. Papiano since her work resulted in the firing of one executive director and involved in the coaching of the current executive director. Unfortunately, for someone who claims to be a “nationally known coach and social systems consultant,” I cannot find any reference of her work before 2011. I am still researching in what context she is “nationally known” because everything I find only goes back for three years.
The Colorado Secretary of State Office has a record for the trade name Unlimited Potential being registered on September 1, 2004. Ms. Papiano is a sole proprietor with no indication of employees even though her company website uses a lot of first-person plural statements.
Does this mean she is not qualified? I am not sure. While trying to find more information about Papiano and Unlimited Potential, I found the profile she entered at Naymz, a site for people to manage their “social reputation” online. According to this information, Papiano has owned Unlimited Potential since 2004. Prior, she was an employee for Quantum (a computer storage company), Sun Microsystem (since purchased by Oracle), and Hewlett-Packard. There is no indication that she has any experience with the management or executive consulting of non-profit organizations. In fact, her Naymz profile does not mention any experiences with non-profit companies. The first sentence of her profile says “20+ years as an organizational effectiveness manager and executive coach inside Fortune 100 companies….”
One thing that bothers me is the obvious mistake of beginning a sentence with a number. While I admit that my writing on this blog has been less than perfect, when I write something in the professional arena I make sure it is grammatically and structurally correct. Mistakes happen, but someone who is responsible for communicating results should demonstrate a better command of the language.
But does this really mean Papiano is not qualified? I continue to be not sure but the search for qualifications continue to raise questions. It is possible that with all the market bluster that she tried to generate for herself over the last few years, that she could be an effective managing consultant. Then I visited the testimonials section of her website to find unattributed quotes and “client results” also without attribution. Maybe I have been living and working in the Washington, D.C. area too long because not having a history that could be verified is not comforting. “Trust, but verify” was a phrase made famous by Ronald Reagan. I think it applies here.
Papiano may be good at what she does but she may not be the right person for the ANA to have as a management consultant at this time. I question whether Ms. Papiano may have been either careless in performing the 360-feedback review, unwittingly complicit in a targeted attempt at having Jeff Shevlin fired, or an opportunist thinking that she could manipulate the situation to get a follow-on contract with the ANA.
In letters sent to numismatic publications and a note posted on the PCGS forums, I called for a management consultant to review the ANA organization. In the letters I wrote “Rather than begin the search for an executive director, I call on the ANA Board of Governors to hire an executive consulting firm to evaluate the operations of the ANA. The firm should have no connection with anyone in the ANA and should be directed to present their findings to the new board at their first meeting during the World’s Fair of Money in August.” Unfortunately, the Board chose to move forward quickly without allowing the new board to review the situation and also chose to retain Papiano.
If elected to the Board of Governors, the first motion I will make will be to hire an executive management firm that has a verifiable background in helping non-profit organizations to review the entire ANA management structure. This management consulting firm will be asked to asses the ANA as follows:
Review the organizational structure of the ANA headquarters
Review the employment policies for those working at the ANA headquarters
Review the employee environment at the ANA headquarters and make recommendations for improvement
Review the Board of Governors’ current and past relationships with the employees at the ANA headquarters
Review the 360-degree feedback review of Jeff Shevlin and the process which caused his termination
Perform a similar review with regard to the termination of Larry Shepherd
Review the mentoring plan for Kim Kiick for effectiveness
Provide recommendations to the by-laws and/or ANA policy to provide membership with the assurance that the ANA is being properly run
As part of my motion, I will provide recommendations as to who the Board of Governors could hire. These recommendation will consist of management consulting firms that have had verifiable experience working with non-profit companies and no ties to the ANA in any manner.
Of course the Board can vote against my proposal or I could not be elected to the Board of Governors. In either case, I will continue to pursue this issue because the status quo is unacceptable.
I just received an email from the American Numismatic Association saying that the Board of Governors announced that they will not extend the contract of Executive Director Jeff Shevlin.
“After considering the Board’s mission and objectives, the Board of Governors concluded that Mr. Shevlin was not the right fit to lead the Association going forward,” Hallenbeck said. “The board felt that it was in the Association’s best interest to sever our relationship and seek new leadership for the Association.”
Unless Jeff did something wrong that the Board is not telling us, this is the wrong decision bordering on downright foolish!
I have had a working relationship with Jeff for more than a year participating with the ANA Technology Committee. I have found Jeff to be incredibly accommodating and wanting nothing but the best for the ANA. He had taken on the role with the ANA Technology Committee as a volunteer before being interviewed and hired as the organizations after being a college professor. In our conversations, he described being the ANA’s executive director as his dream job.
Jeff relocates to Colorado Springs to take over an organization whose last two executive directors were “dismissed” for various reasons. Both of his predecessors pursued legal action against the ANA. Christopher Chipoletti’s suit was settled a few years ago, Larry Shepherd filed his case last December.
What did Jeff do wrong to not be renewed?
Jeff initiated the work to start to bring the ANA into the 21st century by looking at its technology infrastructure. He is concerned that the aging population of the ANA cannot sustain the organization that is not attracting enough younger members. Jeff knows that the way to engage the younger members is to use technology to get them involved and keep them engaged.
Jeff is an enthusiastic ambassador for the hobby. Nicknamed the “So-Called Guy” for his interest and work on So-Called Dollars. So-called Dollars are medals approximately the size of a silver dollar that were struck to commemorate a U.S. historical event. Jeff and Bill Hyder co-wrote Discover the World of CHARBNEAU SO-CALLED DOLLARS. Jeff was a collector. Jeff was one of us.
Maybe that was his problem. Jeff was a collector and not a dealer. While dealers are an important part of the ANA, the dealers do not have buyers without a strong collecting community. Dealers need the collectors as much as the collectors need the dealers. However, the dealer population is limited compared with the potential number of collectors, researchers, and other interested people that could be members of the ANA.
From my perspective, Jeff was doing everything right to help the ANA recover some of its past problems. The ANA has to be an all inclusive organization and think about the collectors and not just the business. The ANA needs to be more open and be able to reach out. The only way to do that in today’s environment is to use technology. Jeff understood that and understood that the ANA has to look at the organization as a whole and find balance.
This move represents everything that has been wrong with the Board of Governors over the last 10 years and have shown that this board has done little to work on the issues that I referenced in my platform.
Rather than set clear policies and goals (one of planks of my platform), the current Board seemingly used Jeff to figure out what to do next. This is NOT how to run a national organization. There are no clear goals, policies, or objectives. If they were the Board would not be in this situation.
Unless the ANA Board of Governors has something more tangible than saying that Jeff “was not the right fit,” it appears that the Board of Governors has once again failed the ANA membership making it time to replace the entire Board of Governors.
Welcome to National Coin Week. This year, from April 21 through April 27, the National Coin Week theme is “Black Diamond Strikes Again” to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the introduction of James Earle Fraser’s Buffalo nickel.
According to legend, Black Diamond was Fraser’s model for the reverse of the Buffalo nickel. Black Diamond was a North American bison that was living in the Central Park Zoo. He was donated to the zoo by Barnum and Bailey and lived his life there until he was auctioned in 1915 to a game and poultry dealer who was later sold as steaks for $2 a pound.
James Earle Fraser, ca. 1920
When asked about the model for the coin, Fraser said it was Black Diamond and found him in the Bronx Zoo. At one time Fraser was not sure of the name of the animal but insisted his influence was at the Bronx Zoo. Black Diamond was never at the Bronx Zoo.
But like the story of who was the model for the Indian on the obverse, why should facts spoil a good story!
The American Numismatic Association has posted the list of candidates for the 2013 Board of Governor elections. Although the nomination process officially concludes on March 31, all of the qualified nominated candidates have accepted their nomination. The 2013 candidates are as follows:
President
Walter Ostromecki (unopposed)
Vice President
Jeff Garrett (unopposed)
Governors (7 seats)
Gary Adkins
Scott Barman
Steve D’Ippolito
Mike Ellis
William D. Hyder
Richard Jozefiak
Greg Lyon
Tom Mulvaney
Oded Paz
Ralph Ross
Scott Rottinghaus
Laura Sperber
Jeff Swindling
Jeff Wuller
After the official close of the nomination period, the ANA will post the candidates biographies and statement on the website. They will also be printed in The Numismatist.
A candidates forum will be held on May 11, noon through 2:00 PM at the National Money Show in New Orleans. ANA members attending the show should make time to attend and make sure the candidates hear your concerns about the organization. If you are not sure whether you want to go to the National Money Show, I would recommend that you go. Aside from going to an ANA show, which is a great experience in and of itself, it is in New Orleans. New Orleans is a fun town with great sites and excellent food! I am still looking forward to a nice café au lait at Café Du Monde in the French Market!
Elections will be held during the month of June with ballots due by July 1. If you would like to vote electronically, you can go here to register for online voting.
NOTE: As I type this the ANA website is not able to process logins because of a software issue as a result of bad decisions made many years ago that does not involve the current ANA staff. I want to work to ensure that the ANA staff has better tools to support the ANA’s mission.
ALSO NOTE: Electronic balloting will be conducted by a vetted third-party with experience as an independent election auditor who has also performed online elections for other organizations. Issues and concerns with regard to the ANA website are not a factor with the online election process.
The ANA will announce election results at least 10 days prior to the World’s Fair of Money that will be held in Chicago, August 13-17, 2013. The new Board of Governors will be installed on August 16, 2013 at the show.
Your support for me and the ANA are greatly appreciated!
Drawing of Peace Dollar Liberty by Peter Max (1983)
Those of us that are a certain age remember growing up to with the artwork of Peter Max. His paintings and neo-expressionism posters are iconic representations of the pop culture of the 1960s. His vibrant colors made complex designs look simple as they some seemed to pop off the page. While times have changed and Max has worked on contemporary scenes, his style remains unique with an appeal that still brings a smile to my face.
Did you know that the American Numismatic Association owns a Peter Max original? While I was in Colorado Springs the week of February 19, I met briefly with Executive Director Jeff Shevlin in his office. Hanging on the wall across from his desk is a drawing of Liberty based on the design from Anthony de Francisci’s Peace dollar.
The picture looks like it was done in charcoal on paper. It is hand signed by Max and dated 1983. The picture is mounted on a fame that would have been contemporary to 1983 and has a plaque under the glass that reads:
Presented to American Numismatic Association by PETER MAX VINCENT VAN ROTTKAMP August 20th, 1983
As a fan of the Peace Dollar and Peter Max, this is a fantastic picture.
1928 Peace Dollar is a classic and under-appreciated design
Someone in the ANA offices said that this picture was the inspiration for the Peace dollar logo that used to be the official ANA logo. Remember, it was Farran Zerbe who helped push the idea of Peace dollar with his paper at the 1920 ANA convention in Chicago entitled “Commemorate the Peace with a Coin for Circulation.” In the paper, Zerbe wrote:
I do not want to be misunderstood as favoring the silver dollar for the Peace Coin, but if coinage of silver dollars is to be resumed in the immediate future, a new design is probable and desirable, bullion for the purpose is being provided, law for the coinage exists and limitation of the quantity is fixed—all factors that help pave the way for Peace Coin advocates. And then—we gave our silver dollars to help win the war, we restore them in commemoration of victory and peace.
Does anyone know why Max did this drawing? Who Vincent Van Rottkamp was and what was his association with this picture?
Maybe, we can convince Jeff to display the picture at an upcoming show for all members to enjoy.
I am in Colorado Springs attending meetings at the American Numismatic Association Headquarters about updating the technology that is being used to support the education mission of the ANA. I will talk about my time in Colorado Springs over the weekend, but let me talk about being at the ANA Headquarters.
After walking into the reception area, to the right of the reception desk is the museum store that leads to the Rochette Money Museum. Even with the current exhibition about the history of the Civil War in numismatics, the first floor also has the first steam press used by the U.S. Mint, the McDermott/Bebee specimen 1913 Liberty Head nickel, and an 1804 silver dollar. There is also a balance from the Denver Mint.
On the other side of the main level is the Harry W. Bass, Jr. collection of gold coins and rare patterns. Bass put together the finest and most complete set of gold coins ever assembled. After Bass died, his foundation donated a portion of the collection to the ANA. I posted some of the pictures to Twitter and Pintrest and will post more when I return home, but pictures do this collection justice. You have to come here to see it for yourself.
If you are an ANA member, you should make a trip to Colorado Springs to see the Money Museum. Aside from being a benefit of your membership, the ANA has an impressive collection that is nicely displayed and worth spending the time seeing. Numismatically, there is not a display like this in the United States, especially since the Smithsonian’s National Numismatic Collection was taken off of exhibit. The ANA Money Museum is the only place you can see a real half-union pattern, typesets of every gold coin ever struck by the U.S. Mint, and even the oldest known surviving currency note.
Do you like Hobo Nickels? It’s here. Assortment of Confederate currency? They’re here, too. Examples of world currency? That’s in the lower level gallery. It is near examples of colonial currency including two Maryland notes I have in my collection.
But wait, there’s more. Do you want to learn more about what you’re looking at? On the other side of the lobby is the Dwight Manley Library. In the Manley Library you can find nearly every book ever printed on numismatics including government reports, price guides, specialty books, and books on nearly every topic of numismatics.
The library also has the oldest known illustrated coin book, dating back to the 16th century. It uses images of ancient coins to talk about the various rulers of the time. This book and the oldest book about numismatics, which does not have images, written in Latin.
Before you leave the library, stop at the old card catalog case and see the printing press that ANA founder, Dr. George F. Heath, used to print the first six editions of The Numismatist.
Yes, you can check out books from the library and have them mailed to you. Yes, you can see the traveling exhibits at various shows around the nations. But to get the full impact of what the ANA has to offer, you have to come to Colorado Springs and see for yourself.
Aside from figuring out when I can schedule a return trip, I want to know why I received three, new 2013 White Mountain quarters struck in Philadelphia when I am 70 miles away from the Denver mint.
By the time this is posted, I should be on a plane headed to the American Numismatic Association headquarters in Colorado Springs. This will be my first time visiting the ANA Headquarters and Colorado Springs. I hope it is not my last!
The reason for my visit is part of my role with the ad hoc Technology Committee to speak with a potential vendor who can offer services to the ANA to improve their technology infrastructure. With my background in building complex systems and information security, I hope to help the ANA create an environment that will use technology to better serve the members and the clubs. I admit there are some that will not embrace technology, but it will give the ANA an entree into a untapped population of collectors.
Technology is not the solution but the tool to use to bring the fun of coin collecting to more people than the 28,000 members of the ANA and hopefully make them members.
For this week’s poll, let’s imagine that the ANA has the technology to handle just about anything. What services would you like to see delivered by the ANA to help you or your club? The poll has nine suggestions plus an “other.” Pick your top three ideas. If you pick “other” then leave a comment here and let me know. In fact, I realize that the poll seems collector centric, so let me hear from dealers. I do not want to leave you out, especially since the collectors need you to help feed our collecting habits!
Comments are moderated only to prevent comment spam. All comments not deemed to be spam are approved regardless of your views—I especially like comments that disagree with me. If you do not want to give your name, then enter a handle or “anonymous.” Although the comment form asks for an email address, it will not be posted but will allow me to contact you if I have questions.
Let me hear from you and let’s work together to bring more the ANA to build a collector community.
What top 3 online services would you like to see the ANA offer?
Online courses including Summer Seminar (19%, 7 Votes)
Money Talks seminars from ANA conventions (14%, 5 Votes)
Weekly podcast with live call-in (14%, 5 Votes)
Videos from the ANA library (11%, 4 Votes)
Weekly news from around the ANA (11%, 4 Votes)
Broadcast of Board of Governors meetings (8%, 3 Votes)
Online reports from ANA shows (8%, 3 Votes)
Special museum video tours (8%, 3 Votes)
Virtual bourse from the ANA conventions (5%, 2 Votes)
Something else (3%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 14
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Image of an IBM System/370 Model 158 complements of Otto Rohrer on Flickr. I chose the the image of the IBM 370/158 because it was the first computer I “mastered” in college. We have come a long way since then!
This week’s poll is going to help me support you, the collecting community and the dealers who serve them should I be privileged to be elected to the American Numismatic Association Board of Governors. I have not made it a secret that I am against the show being fixed in Chicago. So one of my platform items is rotate the World’s Fair of Money to different areas of the country and different cities within those regions.
Thinking about this, I was curious about where would you, my readers, like to see the World’s Fair of Money. While looking at a map, I thought about several places across the country where it might be interesting to hold the show. Read the list and think about your top three preferences. Mark your choice in the poll and let me know. If you have another suggestion, let me know in the comments, below.
By the way: you will notice there is one entry that I am interested in… not that it should influence your choice!
Where would you like to see the ANA World's Fair of Money held? (select 3)
May Day was an eventful day for the numismatic community. On May 1, the 
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