Announcing the Coin Collectors Handbook and Guides
Today I am announcing the Coin Collector’s Handbook release and the Coin Collectors Handbook Series of Guides.
Since writing the first article on the Coin Collectors Blog in October 2005, I shared my collecting experiences and collected knowledge with his worldwide audience. After 15 years, it was time to give back to the hobby by creating a guide book based on my experience.
The Coin Collector’s Handbook is by a collector from the perspective of a collector. The book takes the most popular posts and pages from the blog and republished them in book form for the average collector regardless of what you collect. I want to see people enjoy collecting coins or anything else they like without being told that they must create a specific set.
The Coin Collector’s Handbook can be ordered online at the introductory price of $17.95 with free shipping. That is $2.00 off the list price! Just click here to order your copy.
Coin Collector’s Handbook Guides
During the recent quarantine, collectors have been using their available time to learn more about their collections. In the last several months, the most popular posts have been about the American Eagle Bullion Program.
Using my previous posts about the American Eagle Bullion Program, posts from the blog are now available in e-book form. The book opens with an essay about the American Eagle Program’s start, followed by chapters that expand on the original posts with coin specifications, design details, and mintage statistics. It includes a glossary of terms used in the book.
Coin Collectors Handbook: American Eagle Coins is available to download as a PDF 
from the blog’s new Buy Me A Coffee Shop for $9.00, just three cups of coffee!
Based on what the blog readers are clicking on, there will be more guides to come. Stay tuned!
An Open Letter to the ANA and its Members
This past weekend, the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) held an on-line symposium that was an extended Money Talks session via Zoom. Although using Zoom and the format took advantage of new technologies, it is something I have been trying to convince the American Numismatic Association to do for a long time.
On May 21, 2016, I wrote, “Now is the time for the ANA and any other organizations that provides educational sessions to consider adding online access to their shows.”
Since then, I have been trying to convince the Association that it could extend its reach beyond the Summer Seminar and the World’s Fair of Money by broadcasting the content on-line.
“There are technologies that can help support the bringing the lectures, courses, and other activities to an online community,” I wrote in 2016. “There are a number of web-based conferencing system that requires a minimal amount of technology to broadcast these activities to collectors everywhere.”
I wrote that before the creation of Zoom!
Unfortunately, the ANA President and Board of Governors ignored all previous work regarding online education, making the Association look like an also-ran. Although some of the Summer Seminar sessions appeared online, the NNP Symposium surpassed the reach of the Summer Seminar in both content and impact.
The NNP succeeded where the ANA has failed. The NNP took advantage of modern technology to deliver numismatic education while the ANA, whose mission is supposed to be education, has done very little.
Why?
Why has the ANA Board of Governors failed in its mission?
It is easy to lead when times are good. An extended period of good times allows organizations to sit on its laurels. They can point to incremental changes as progress.
Leadership means being able to lead during good times and know how to respond when a crisis occurs.
“What leaders have to realize is that when a crisis hits, you can’t just rest on your laurels and think that everything will move along normally,” says Ronald Riggio, Ph.D., a professor of leadership and organizational psychology at Claremont McKenna College in California. “You need to train, prepare and execute.”
The ANA did not plan. The ANA was not prepared. There was nothing for the ANA to execute. The ANA FAILED in its mission.
The Board was told that it needed to expand to online education. When I was asked, “Can’t the ANA use something like Zoom to create classes?” Not only did I say it was possible, but I also noted other services the ANA could have used.
When I learned that Robert Oberth was appointed the Chair of the Information Technology Committee, I had a conversation with him on Facebook as part of comments to a post on the ANA Facebook page. I used Facebook to keep the conversation open and allow any member interested in why the ANA has failed to meet its members’ obligations.
As part of the conversations, I provided the lines to my writing on the subject. Unfortunately, the conversation has little impact. The ANA is lagging behind everyone in providing online education.
Even though I am not on the IT Committee, it does have institutional knowledge. According to the committee membership list published on the ANA website, Governor Greg Lyon is also a committee member. In his sixth and final term as ANA Governor, Lyon has been involved with the committee since the beginning. Lyon was the original Board liaison to the committee.
Lyon has not said much about the committee and its work either to me or in public. Now, when the ANA could use guidance, where is he? There is an English proverb that says, “cometh the hour, cometh the man.” A term that is associated with Winston Churchill, who stepped up when his country needed him.
Hey Greg, the ANA needs leadership. Where are you?
It has been six months since the crisis began. Where is the Board of Governors? What are you getting accomplished in those “excruciating” Board meetings (your word, Steve)?
The ANA Board of Governors has failed the Association and its members. These are the people who need to resign TODAY and allow new leadership to be selected by ANA members:
- President Steve Ellsworth
- Vice President Ralph Ross
- Governors:
- Mike Ellis
- Muriel Eymery
- Mary Lynn Garrett
- Greg Lyon
- Cliff Mishler
- Rob Oberth
- Shanna Schmidt
Are there six people who will run for the Board of Governors? If there are, I will join you to make a slate of seven people whose only purpose is to lift the ANA from the morass created by the current Board.
NNP Symposium 2020 Was A Success
This past weekend, the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP) sponsored the NNP Symposium. For three days, NNP used Zoom to facilitate 38 sessions about different aspects of numismatics. The topics covered everything from U.S. and foreign numismatics to discussions about the industry. The Numismatic Bibliomania Society held its Annual Meeting via Zoom, and Matt Dinger & Mike Nottelmann did a live version of The Coin Show. After listening to them for a while, I now see what they look like — I do not know if that is a good or bad thing.
I was able to attend several of the sessions and deliver one of my own. Every session I attended was interesting and informative. The only complaint I had was that I could not attend every session. However, the NNP recorded each session and will be making them available online.
If you wanted to attend the symposium, you had to register to receive the Zoom credentials. There was no cost to register and no restrictions on the device you used. I attended the session before mine, presented by Doug Mudd, using my iPad. Since he went a little long, I was able to log into my session on my computer while watching the end of Doug’s on my iPad.
The entire numismatic community must commend the NNP and Lianna Spurrier, who coordinated the online event. Spurrier did the call for speakers, training sessions with the speakers, and probably a lot more behind the scenes we did not see.
As a member of the Numismatic Literary Guild, if there is an award for excellence in facilitating education, please allow me to nominate Spurrier for the award.
The NNP Symposium came due to an unusual set of circumstances that has seen the ANA’s Summer Seminar and every major coin show canceled. The NNP hit a homerun with its effort. The symposium was such a success that I hope the NNP makes this an annual event.
Weekly World Numismatic News for August 30, 2020
Hoard of 9th Century Gold Dinars found during an excavation in Israel (Credit: Robert Kool/Israel Antiquities Authority via CNN)
The jar of coins found consists of 425 24-karat gold coins weighing 845 grams (1.86 pounds). Most of the coins are cut to that were once used as change.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) says that the area was under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate. Their rule spread from modern-day Algeria in the east to Afghanistan in the west from 750–953 when Shia opponents overthrow the caliphate. There were many successors to the Abbasid Caliphate. They joined together in 1157 to create a cooperative empire that was eventually overthrown by 1258 by Mongol forces.
Finding a hoard of gold coins and the surrounding artifacts will help archeologists learn more about the region’s commerce. Once again, numismatics helps scientists better understand our history.
The following video from the IAA talks about the project and finding the coins.
The other news is the conclusion of what was a successful Newman Numismatic Portal Symposium 2020. The symposium, held online using Zoom, had several interesting speakers and presentations. Although NNP has yet to publish its final statistics, the sessions I attended were well done and seemed to be well attended.
My session, “How to Identify a Potential Scammer BEFORE Buying Coins Online,” was attended by more than 60 people and generated about a dozen questions. It was a great experience.
I will have more to say about the NNP Symposium in the next few days.
And now the news…
August 24, 2020
→ Read more at edition.cnn.com
August 26, 2020 → Read more at gainesvillecoins.com
August 28, 2020 → Read more at atlasobscura.com
August 28, 2020 → Read more at unian.info
August 28, 2020 → Read more at usatoday.com
Weekly World Numismatic News for August 23, 2020
On August 28-30, 2020, the Newman Numismatic Portal is hosting the virtual NNP Symposium 2020. The symposium will be presentations by numismatists from around the world delivered online and for free.
Think of it as a weekend of Money Talks seminars delivered online so that you can participate anywhere. All you need is an Internet connection and Zoom. To attend a session, download the appropriate Zoom client for your computer or mobile device, register online, receive the access information (which is why you have to register), and attend.
Registration is for the entire conference, not an individual session. You can attend any session at any time without registering again.
Each session is one hour. The presenter will deliver their talk in 30-45 minutes, leaving time for questions.
If you miss a session or cannot attend, the people at NNP will record the sessions and make them available online. The only difference is that you will not be able to ask a question in real-time.
Finally, suppose you want to know what I look at to determine whether a website is potentially going to sell you counterfeit coins. You can attend “How to Identify a Potential Scammer BEFORE Buying Coins Online.” Check your registration listing for the time and access information.
And now the news…
August 18, 2020 → Read more at cbc.ca
August 18, 2020 → Read more at eveningtelegraph.co.uk
August 21, 2020 → Read more at kitco.com
2020 NLG BEST BLOG!
I have been writing the Coin Collectors Blog for almost 15 years. My first post was on October 29, 2005. I think the only person who read that first post was my (now late) mother. It was the only comment she made on the blog. Unfortunately, comments from before I moved from Google’s Blogger platform cannot be displayed, but I have the comments. I think she would be happy.
And so am I!
I thank everyone who has commented.
I thank everyone who has written to me in private.
THANK YOU TO THE NUMISMATIC LITERARY GUILD FOR THE RECOGNITION!
Stay tuned. There’s more to come!
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