My Class at 2007 ANA Summer Seminar
Alex Troxell
Recipient of the BRNA YN Scholarship to the 2007 ANA Summer Seminar
I learned so much at the Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs this past June. My cousin Tommy and I took the same class, Collecting World Coins: 1500-Present. Our instructors were Emmett McDonald and George Cuhaj. They were great teachers who obviously knew a lot about the subject.
Throughout the week, we covered numerous topics, but before we delved into all the various aspects of foreign collecting, we went over the basics to make sure everyone was on the same page. I learned a lot just in the hours of class we spent on the ‘simple stuff’.
Pricing became an issue as we talked about the market economy, even going so far as to compare the home and world markets. There was a debate about slabbing that showed that while you have to pay a pretty price for it, it can pay off by validating and guaranteeing the authenticity of the coin. Metals and alloys were discussed, along with geography and how it changes, the usefulness (not necessity) of knowing foreign language, and what catalogues were available. We also learned some key terms to know when dealing with world coins like restrike, counter stamp, cast, cob, chop mark, and many more.
On Monday afternoon we covered some of the great empires of Europe. The German, the Austro-Hungarian, the Swiss, the Russian, the French, the Ottoman, and the British were all packed into one afternoon. To finish the day off, we watched a Power Point Presentation on seventeenth century European coinage with several pictures of gorgeous coins.
Class reconvened on Tuesday morning with a discussion of numismatic politics. As it turns out, coins can actually be extremely political in nature. Government, which controls land, holds power, and usually has a big ego, mints coins and decides what is portrayed on them. For instance, in a monarch nation, the king (or queen) could decide to put their portrait on every coin.
The topic of religion was also discussed. Some coins and medals depicting Martin Luther or commemorating the Reformation were shown and discussed. Plus, we also saw coins from Vatican City, where the pope is almost always the feature along with a number of other religious symbols.
Before we headed out to lunch, we talked about inflation, ‘hobo nickels’, fantasy coins, and coin publications. These few minor topics provided some valuable information. One thing I learned, and intend to use, is that publications from foreign countries can be very helpful resources in foreign coin collecting. Coin clubs, especially, come out with some good newsletters and other information.
After a delicious lunch in the Worner Center Cafeteria, class stared back up with a presentation on some of the different shapes of modern coinage. Along with the more well known ‘hol(e)y coins’ there were dimples and scallops, coins that fit together to form circles and a number of other shapes. There were coins in the shapes of squares, diamonds, rectangles, triangles, hexagons, heptagons, octagons, nonagons, decagons, and even dodecagons.
Following that interesting and informational presentation, we moved on to some of the more modern coinage of Europe (1920-present). We discussed pre-decimal English coinage and the transition to the Euro in the United Kingdom and all of Europe. We also got a chance to see and handle coins from dozens of other European Nations, some of which don’t even exist any more! After that full afternoon, class dismissed until the next day.
Wednesday morning we picked right up where we left with as fast a pace as ever. We explored colonial issues in many countries most of the morning. The Spanish and Portuguese dividing line was brought up, and in turn, we spoke about escudos and pieces of eight. French, German, Dutch, Italian, Belgian, Danish, and even American colonies were all put on the table for discussion. It was interesting to see how each mother country influenced her colonies and how her colonies then influenced the rest of the world. This took up our entire morning, so we were about ready for a break when lunchtime rolled around.
Upon our return to the classroom that afternoon, we were greeted with a talk on European influences. It gradually became a discussion of mints and mintmarks that included a handy guide to the many mints of Mexico. To bring an end to our already full day, we watched a PowerPoint presentation on ‘Modern Techniques’. Along with bimetallic and colorized coins, we got to see coins with printed, jewel, photo, metallic, and holographic appliqués, coins with color epoxy and laser cut holes, and coins that changed when you tilted them. There was even a coin with a count down to new years clock!
We began our last day of class on Thursday with student presentations. Buddha went first with a 1916 20 Piastres coin with ‘worm’ writing in Arabic; his tip was that Krause is a very useful tool. Charlie was second with a 1965 East Caribbean quarter with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II; in his research, he found out she was queen of 29 million people in 16 countries. Kaye, my only female friend in the class, went third with a coin depicting the Irish Harp and a salmon.
Frank, a fellow YN, was next and shared a nickel-steel Florin from Aruba; he found symbolism in the countries coat of arms. Michael then shared a coin of Napoleon III illustrated with an eagle; he also shared his knowledge of who Napoleon III was and his relation to Napoleon I (nephew). I shared a French coin I had gotten out of a junk box and the new book I had gotten from the ANA Annual Book Sale; while the book was very useful in attributing French coins, it took a little more to decipher because it was actually written in French. James went next and showed the class an Early British Copper of Queen Elizabeth II. Ed ended the presentations with details and photos of his trip to the Aruba Museum.
The next part of the morning included a favorite line of many history teachers, “The sun never sets on the British Empire!” British coinage is fun and fairly easy to collect and many of the few foreign collectors that exist in America collect it, or at the very least began their foreign collection with it.
Our last subject of the morning was banknotes, one of my personal favorite things to collect and apparently also a favorite of George’s. He showed us some amazing uncirculated and specimen notes from all over the world. He also shared some of the ‘notes’ he found at a convention he attended where bank note printers and engravers show off what they can do.
There were some amazing techniques and features on the notes that catch the eye and help catch the counterfeits. The security features on these notes were phenomenal, and it seemed almost impossible for anyone to come up with a fake that would even come close to the exquisite detail of the real bills.
After our last lunch break, we returned to class to study our last topic of the week, Asian and Islamic Coins. From Bangladesh to Israel and Japan to Zanzibar, we covered a lot of ground in our last afternoon discussion. We even talked about Cyrillic in Russia and Greece and saw examples of it used on coins.
The whole week, from the first class Monday morning to the last class Thursday afternoon, was informational at the very least. I learned so many things that I will be able to put to use in my present and future collecting, and I made many new friends and gained many new resources along the way.
I cannot thank the Blue Ridge Numismatic Association enough for the opportunity they gave me with their scholarship. I appreciate it more than anyone could ever know, and I can only hope that this article sharing my experiences begins to show my immense gratitude for this great gift. I hope that BRNA can continue to provide other young numismatists with this same opportunity in the future.