Yet Another ANA Convention Is In The Books

      The home of America's first mint served as backdrop for this year's American Numismatic Association's "Worlds Fair of Money."  By all accounts it was a successful show with an incredible array of rarities on the floor and passing over the auction block.  The finest of 5 known 1913 Liberty nickels sold for $4,560,000.  I had the privilege of shepherding a seven-figure collection through grading, consigning and ultimately sold at the show.  A highlight was an 1811/0 Large Cent which last sold for just over $40,000.  At least two eager bidders drove the price to $102,000, surprising nearly everyone in the room and pleasing my consignor! 
      This show provided a fair amount of emotion for me as well.  The Charles O. Browne Memorial Scholarship continues to gather steam and the exhibit at my table attracted more generous donations which will send one young person each year to ANA's Summer Seminar for the next 13 years, representing the time Charlie taught the "Advanced Grading and Problem Coins" class.  I had the great joy and privilege of sharing that task with Charlie over the last 7 seven years.  All who knew him continue to miss his great smile and endless enthusiasm for the field of numismatics.  He was posthumously awarded the Abe Kosoff Founder's Award by the PNG which I accepted in his name and is pictured below, right.  

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     The Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force (ACTF), a subdivision of ICTA has made some fabulous inroads since its inception just last year.  The result of the passing of another very close old friend, Alan Kreuzer, ACTF began with a generous contribution from his daughter Chandra.   This year the Al Kreuzer Memorial award went to 3 persons, all of whom were participants in the breakup and arrests of a $48 million counterfeiting scheme involving coins and bullion items.  Rich Weaver of Delaware Valley Rare Coins deserves special praise for his efforts which began when a series of counterfeit silver dollars came into his store.  After months of investigation involving Homeland Security and other agencies, these crooks were stopped in their tracks.  Our industry faces critical challenges in the future and ACTF couldn't have come into existence at a more opportune time! 

        Above are the three award winners, from left to right:  Nicholas Tranchitella, Homeland Security Agent, Rich Weaver, proprietor Delaware Valley Rare Coins, and Doug Davis of Numismatic Crime Information Center (NCIC).