Hey ANA Members, it’s time to VOTE!
The countdown to the July 1 deadline to vote for the next American Numismatic Association Board of Governors approaches, it is time to look at the candidates and determine who can best lead the organization forward.
For the first time in many years, there are races for President, Vice President, and Board of Governors. This year this is a choice. Here are my choices:
President
For ANA president members have the choice of COL Steven K. Ellsworth, ret., or Donald H. Kagin, Ph.D.
Ellsworth is currently a member of the ANA Board of governors and the owner of Butternut Coin Company, which moved from Virginia to Tennessee. Ellsworth has been around but has many strong opinions that have irritated several of the ANA’s constituency. Recently, during the National Money Show, Ellsworth made statements that exhibitors and the exhibit committee interpreted as hostile to them. Unfortunately, when he had the opportunity to clarify his position, his tone turned combative while making accusations of there being a clique amongst the exhibitor community.
Kagin grew up in the numismatics business, the son of a very prominent member of the ANA. But Kagin is not without his issues. He was a member of the Board of Governors during the fiasco with Executive Director and Legal Counsel Christopher Cipoletti in 2007. Then there were the Larry Shepherd issues that led to more embarrassment. For the subsequent election, Kagin said that he and the Board made mistakes and he wanted another chance. Kagin lost the election during a “throw the bums out” feelings by the membership.
Over the last few years, it appears that Kagin has learned from his mistakes. Sometimes it takes falling on your behind to be able to learn from those mistakes. It also seems that his vision for the ANA has matured since his return to the Board.
The Coin Collectors Blog endorses Don Kagin for ANA President for his sober vision and less combative personality, which is necessary for the ANA.
Vice President
The race for ANA Vice President is between Dr. Ralph W. Ross and Thomas J. Uram.
Although I have briefly met both gentlemen, I cannot say that I have had an extensive conversation with either. The personality dynamics are very different. Although that should not be a determining factor, the differences make it a consideration.
Ross has been a member of the Board of Governors for some time. He is a teacher by trade, which can be beneficial to figure out how to spread the word about numismatics beyond the ANA. In reality, where has he been? In my interaction with the Board, Ross is its quietest member. We do not hear much from him or about him regarding his position on the Board. He is just there.
Uram has been an active participant for some time. He is an exhibitor, judge, and has acted as a coach to exhibitors. Having someone on the Board who understands the exhibitor community may be good for the ANA.
Uram is not a professional numismatist but has had a long career in the financial services industry. Given the ANA’s propensity for having consistent financial problems, having someone around who can make sure the ANA stays fiscally stable may be a good idea.
Finally, Uram is a member of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) as an appointee of the Secretary of the Treasury. Although I have been a critic of the CCAC and not a fan of the Secretary, having someone with that type of experience could have its advantages.
Therefore, the Coin Collectors Blog endorses Tom Uram to be the next Vice President of the ANA.
Board of Governors
There are ten candidates to fill seven seats. Three people will not be serving on the Board. I will not comment on every one of the candidates in this space. I will provide some thoughts on what has gone into my decision.
First, I do not endorse Mike Ellis and his return to the Board. Although I believe in second chances, some have to come with a significant amount of contrition and time. It has not been long enough after “he had made a mistake and chose to step down from the board.” Any person who had to step down from the Board of Governors because of “mistake” must be required to jump a higher hurdle to return. I am still waiting for the jump.
While I have nothing against Greg Lyon, this would be his sixth and final term on the Board. After ten years as a member of the Board of Governors, it is time to step aside and allow new people into leadership.
There are endorsement forthcoming for Muriel Eymery and Shanna Schmidt. Eymery, who is from London, would bring a very different perspective to the ANA that is very necessary. Her view on foreign collectors and the world of numismatics outside of the United States would be an asset to an organization that appears insular. This type of diversity would benefit the ANA.
Schmidt is a dealer with a specialty in ancient numismatics and has a background beyond numismatics. Aside from adding diversity to the Board of Governors, which is very necessary, the line in her biography that attracted me was that her “master’s thesis was on the cultural-property debate as it relates specifically to ancient coins.” It is a topic that I have commented on several times and wish the ANA would involve itself with on behalf of the numismatic community.
Based on the considerations, the Coin Collectors Blog endorses the following seven candidates for the ANA Board of Governors (in alphabetical order by last name): Rick Ewing, Muriel Eymery, John Highfill, Cliff Mishler, Paul Montgomery, Robert Oberth, and Shanna Schmidt.
If you are an ANA member, go vote!
If you are not an ANA member, you should consider becoming one!
A Thank You and a New Service Announcement
Over the last few months I have watched as the statistics for this blog has shown between 45-50 consistent readers. To all the regulars, new readers, and those who drop in for an occasional peek I would like to THANK YOU for reading and your feedback. I hope you are enjoying reading my posts as much as I enjoy writing them.
In my spare time, when I am not blogging, working with my collection, being with my wife, playing with our dog, or running errands, I earn my living in the computer business. It is a profession that I have be a part of for nearly 30 years. I started as a programmer but later moved to systems analysis and information security. Today, I have to keep up with the latest technologies, fads, and online looniness so I know how to help our clients keep their systems secure. Sometimes this makes me reluctant to using new technologies until I can study them and understand any potential risks.
Sometimes, the looniness can be fun and provide a great benefit. That is why I signed up for Twitter and added the posts to this blog (see the left column). Twitter is an online short message service (sometimes called text messaging) based on the web that allows people to send a short message (140 characters) to anyone logged into the service. Twitter can also be viewed on a cell phone or your instant messenger client (like AIM).
For this blog, I will use Twitter when I want to add a little information but do not have time to write a complete blog entry. If you sign up for Twitter, you can “follow” my postings and reply. Replies will appear on Twitter but not on this page. Twitter also has RSS capabilities—look at the bottom left corner of the page;
To find the blog on Twitter, just search for the user CoinsBlog (or click the link). I set it up so that there is an open subscription so anyone can read my posts, request to be a Follower, and reply. Please remember that Twitter is a public system, so be careful what you post.
Thank you and now back to collecting!
Want to Design Money?
While looking for something else, I came across a link to a job offering for a Designer (Banknote) Apprentice at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The job is a true apprenticeship calling for a seven year commitment to work with BEP in various aspects of the money printing process. On the job training and formal classroom training will be paid by the BEP during the apprenticeship.
The job is located at the BEP facilities in Washington, DC. You must be a US citizen and be able to pass a security clearance. It is a government position with all of the perquisite of being a government employee. If you have any questions as to the benefits government employees receive, which are excellent, see the information from the Office of Personnel Management.
If anyone has any artistic ability and is looking for a way to have their work impact billions of people around the world each day, you should apply for this job. Any reader who applies for this job is welcome to be interviewed after acceptance. Good luck!
More Turnover at ICG
Cameron Kiefer, the last man standing at ICG following the raid on ICG by ANACS posted a note on the Collectors Universe forums saying the he resigned his position as a grader at ICG and will become a dealer of “high end moderns, type coins, errors and world coins graded by all four companies.” Kiefer has already set up an account on eBay to sell coins.
This appears to be the first high profile departure from either company since the upheaval. Although I have been privately assured that both companies are functioning properly, there continues to be an outward uncertainty. There is little continuity with ICG that would make me comfortable submitting coins, especially using the CONECA attribution service With ICG grading.
As for ANACS, it appears that their website has not been updated in more than a month, including their Coin of the Month article with broken image tags. This may sound small, but a company looking to maintain its image should consider using their website as a customer service tool and a way to communicate to customers. With the uncertainty as to how they are doing, I may send Morgan Dollars I want certified and identified by their VAM designations to a different service.
Good luck Cameron. Maybe we can do business in the future.
Image of Cameron Kiefer from the ICG Website
A New York Collectible from BEP
As time passes, I have found it is difficult to stick with buying only New York-related items for my New York collection. This time, I was helped by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. After receiving an email alert, I was notified about the 2008 $2 Single Note folder.
As a celebration of 2008, this offer was for an uncirculated Series 2003A $2 Federal Reserve Note with a serial number beginning with “2008xxxxD.” There is a total of 10,000 notes for this series. The BEP’s second offering in this series was for notes printed for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I thought this was a great addition to a New York collection, so I ordered three!
The three notes, consecutively numbered, came this week. I was surprised how simple, yet nice, the packaging was. The folder is made of a soft cardboard, 9½ inches wide by 5 inches high (10 inches when open) that is nicely printed and folded over. The notes are in archival sleeves with open tops. I am very happy with the purchase and the performance of the BEP with this transaction. The BEP’s customer service helped me resolve a minor issue (I ordered the wrong item) with no problems and then shipped the order promptly. Maybe the US Mint should hire the BEP as their customer service representatives.
Pictures are of one of the folders received. The Notes have been marked as “copies” to prevent counterfeiting.
Did You Hear Coin Chat Radio?
Friday, March 14 marked the first online broadcast of Coin Chat Radio. Broadcasting from the Iola, Wisconsin, home of Krause Publications, Coin Chat Radio is a one hour weekly report on the numismatic industry. Shows are hosted by Bob Van Ryzin, editor of Coins magazine, and rebroadcast every hour from the site.
According to the article at Numismaster.com, another Krause property, the one hour show “plans to offer a wide variety of programming to appeal to a divergent collecting community.” The first show featured an interview with Larry Shepherd, the newly appointed Executive Director of the ANA. It would be something that I would be interested in hearing—which is a problem since I have not heard the broadcast.
As this is written, there is no way of listening to the show except online when it is repeated on the Internet every hour. While this presents a lot of opportunities to listen, you have to be able to be at the computer at the top of the hour and have the time to sit with the computer. Although there are buttons at the bottom of the page to subscribe to an RSS feed and subscribe via iTunes, neither link provides any information and the iTunes link creates an error in the iTunes player.
One of the beauties of the Internet is the ability to time shift information. This way, a listener can download the content and listen when convenient. If it was available as a podcast, I could download the show to my iPod and listen while out and about or driving with the iPod connected to a car adapter. I have come to depend on podcast packages of information for keeping up with information.
As an information security professional, I am very reluctant to allow my browser to freely access the Internet. So another concern is that the Coin Chat Radio site uses a embedded player from a website in Germany. When I first visited www.coinchatradio.com, the Firefox plugin called NoScript prevented the site from being properly displayed. NoSript blocks the use of Javascript on a webpage, allowing me to investigate before allowing the script to run. After allowing the site to use Javascript, the player would not load. After a little investigation, I found that the player is being downloaded from sodah.de.
Although it does not appear that the code for the player does not contain malicious software, known as malware, it is a bit disconcerting when using a player from an off-shore source given the current state of Internet security where most of the attacks come from outside of the United States. While a site based United States could be a source of malware, if something where to happen, the violating site could be punished under US law whereas a foreign site is out of law enforcement’s jurisdiciton. I would feel more comfortable if the software used was from a source that was reviewed by a third-party, such as an industry publication, regardless of where it is from.
Coin Chat Radio has the potential to being a good resource should Krause Publications resolve these issues.
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