ANA Summer Seminar, Day 2
Sun, Jul. 3rd, 2005 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scarlettina(Note: This entry was written as I sat in the main lounge of the dorm. In the near corner, a bunch of YNs—Young Numismatists—at an average of 14-17 years old sit showing off, playing mah jong (boys and girls both) and generally being noisy. They all seem scary-smart, many are Jewish, and many of them talk like some of the crustier old collectors here when they talk about coin collecting; they revert to type in every other circumstance. I am baffled by them; I'm clearly not exposed to teenagers enough in my daily life. I feel a little like an alien in their presence. ) (Oh, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jaylake? Disconcertingly, one of the kids shares your name—your first and last name both.)
Roomie, Houston Teacher and I were all up early (as my previous entry showed), met for breakfast at 7:45 AM and then headed off to the coin show. This gave us the opportunity to walk and see a little bit of Colorado Springs. Earlier today I described the view out my dorm window as a row of neat houses with swaths of green punctuated by trees. This description applied to the entire 10 blocks we walked from the campus to the Antlers Hotel where the coin show was held. Many of the houses looked Victorian and were painted in bright and pastel pinks, greens and blues. It was a bright day, crisp, blue sky, about 75 degrees all morning.
Coin Show at the Antlers Hilton: I Come Away with Booty!
The coin show was a very nice size. It felt thorough and businesslike and, for the third day of a show, was very crowded. I came away with a couple of inexpensive elongated coins, a couple of Israeli sterling rounds, another Israeli coin from that country's Chanukah series (my second; I hope to collect the entire set. They feature Chanukiahs from many countries.) I also picked up a 1965 World's Fair Israeli Pavillion token, one I'd never seen before, as well as another token of indeterminate origin, about which I hope to learn more in tomorrow's class.
Other Smashie Collectors!
When we returned to campus for lunch, we shared a table with a couple who turned out to be avid elongated coin collectors (squee!). They also collect hobo nickels (which are extremely cool and have a terrific history behind them!). And the woman turned out to be thesecretary for an organization called Women in Numismatics (which appears not to have a Web site; I'll keep looking). She gifted me with a copy of the most recent issue of their newsletter: good production values and lots of interesting information. She encouraged me to join (gee, everyone here does that!); I made no promises but admit to wanting to learn more.
U.S. Token Class, Day One
After lunch, I attended the first session of my main class for the week, U.S. Tokens. What a surprise it was to find out that my Lincoln cent instructor will be a fellow student for the week! It helped even the playing field for me a little bit, but also showed me how egalitarian this week will be between seminar attendees.
The instructor wrote the book on Virginia tokens, was very knowledgeable and approachable. I was delighted to discover that transportation tokens (my key token specialty) will be covered in some depth. The syllabus for today covered the introduction of the token to the U.S. in the colonial era and took us up through about 1860. The instructor passed around a number of samples for us to look at—beautiful examples of Hard Times tokens and merchant tokens as well as some blistering political satire and protest. It looks as though things have always been as partisan as they are today, or at least they were in the early 1800s. Fascinating stuff. The time just flew this afternoon.
Colonial Money at the Museum
After class, I headed straight back to the ANA Museum to peruse the exhibit on the main floor, "Barter, Bits & Dollars: The Money of Colonial America." I learned a great deal, including the fact that the colonies actually created a legal exchange rate for the use of wampum so that not only did colonists trade with Native Americans using wampum as a mode of exchange, but they used it between each other as well. The exhibits also covered piracy, the exchange rate for among other things beaver and bear pelts (in season only), and coinage up and through the Revolutionary War.
The Last of the Lincoln Cents
The evening brought the second half of the Lincoln cent seminar. Tonight the instructor stuck much closer to his syllabus. We covered rarities and mint varieties (which could make me think twice about ever smashing a pre-1982 cent ever again!). We talked about coin grading and preservation. And we covered a lot of historical trivia that I really enjoyed. (How many pennies in 1 pound? What's the only year from 1909 to 1990 in which the "0" in the date is oval rather than perfectly round? And so on.) In short, the mini-seminar ended on a much more positive note than it began. Tomorrow night, I start my second mini-seminar, Introduction to Greek Coins.
It's nearly 11 PM and I don't want to sleep. My roomie is fast asleep in the room. As someone else in the lounge just observed to me, there's nowhere around here to sit, have a drink and just hang out for a bit. Sitting here in the lounge—no refreshments at all—seems to be the only option. Taking a walk in the dark seems ill-advised. I'm restless. Hm. At least I'm well-hydrated. No headache tonight.
jaylake? Disconcertingly, one of the kids shares your name—your first and last name both.)Roomie, Houston Teacher and I were all up early (as my previous entry showed), met for breakfast at 7:45 AM and then headed off to the coin show. This gave us the opportunity to walk and see a little bit of Colorado Springs. Earlier today I described the view out my dorm window as a row of neat houses with swaths of green punctuated by trees. This description applied to the entire 10 blocks we walked from the campus to the Antlers Hotel where the coin show was held. Many of the houses looked Victorian and were painted in bright and pastel pinks, greens and blues. It was a bright day, crisp, blue sky, about 75 degrees all morning.
Coin Show at the Antlers Hilton: I Come Away with Booty!
The coin show was a very nice size. It felt thorough and businesslike and, for the third day of a show, was very crowded. I came away with a couple of inexpensive elongated coins, a couple of Israeli sterling rounds, another Israeli coin from that country's Chanukah series (my second; I hope to collect the entire set. They feature Chanukiahs from many countries.) I also picked up a 1965 World's Fair Israeli Pavillion token, one I'd never seen before, as well as another token of indeterminate origin, about which I hope to learn more in tomorrow's class.
Other Smashie Collectors!
When we returned to campus for lunch, we shared a table with a couple who turned out to be avid elongated coin collectors (squee!). They also collect hobo nickels (which are extremely cool and have a terrific history behind them!). And the woman turned out to be thesecretary for an organization called Women in Numismatics (which appears not to have a Web site; I'll keep looking). She gifted me with a copy of the most recent issue of their newsletter: good production values and lots of interesting information. She encouraged me to join (gee, everyone here does that!); I made no promises but admit to wanting to learn more.
U.S. Token Class, Day One
After lunch, I attended the first session of my main class for the week, U.S. Tokens. What a surprise it was to find out that my Lincoln cent instructor will be a fellow student for the week! It helped even the playing field for me a little bit, but also showed me how egalitarian this week will be between seminar attendees.
The instructor wrote the book on Virginia tokens, was very knowledgeable and approachable. I was delighted to discover that transportation tokens (my key token specialty) will be covered in some depth. The syllabus for today covered the introduction of the token to the U.S. in the colonial era and took us up through about 1860. The instructor passed around a number of samples for us to look at—beautiful examples of Hard Times tokens and merchant tokens as well as some blistering political satire and protest. It looks as though things have always been as partisan as they are today, or at least they were in the early 1800s. Fascinating stuff. The time just flew this afternoon.
Colonial Money at the Museum
After class, I headed straight back to the ANA Museum to peruse the exhibit on the main floor, "Barter, Bits & Dollars: The Money of Colonial America." I learned a great deal, including the fact that the colonies actually created a legal exchange rate for the use of wampum so that not only did colonists trade with Native Americans using wampum as a mode of exchange, but they used it between each other as well. The exhibits also covered piracy, the exchange rate for among other things beaver and bear pelts (in season only), and coinage up and through the Revolutionary War.
The Last of the Lincoln Cents
The evening brought the second half of the Lincoln cent seminar. Tonight the instructor stuck much closer to his syllabus. We covered rarities and mint varieties (which could make me think twice about ever smashing a pre-1982 cent ever again!). We talked about coin grading and preservation. And we covered a lot of historical trivia that I really enjoyed. (How many pennies in 1 pound? What's the only year from 1909 to 1990 in which the "0" in the date is oval rather than perfectly round? And so on.) In short, the mini-seminar ended on a much more positive note than it began. Tomorrow night, I start my second mini-seminar, Introduction to Greek Coins.
It's nearly 11 PM and I don't want to sleep. My roomie is fast asleep in the room. As someone else in the lounge just observed to me, there's nowhere around here to sit, have a drink and just hang out for a bit. Sitting here in the lounge—no refreshments at all—seems to be the only option. Taking a walk in the dark seems ill-advised. I'm restless. Hm. At least I'm well-hydrated. No headache tonight.
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no subject
Date: Sun, Jul. 3rd, 2005 11:03 pm (UTC)Weird.
Sounds like you're having a great time, babe.
no subject
Date: Mon, Jul. 4th, 2005 05:36 am (UTC)Having a great time. Yep!
Jay Lake
Date: Mon, Jul. 11th, 2005 06:13 pm (UTC)Sadly, I know your Jay Lake can't be he...he's no longer among us.