Coins We Love: Summer Seminar Recap

DLRC -

Happy Independence Day! While we are always thankful for our Independence, today we truly remember and enjoy the freedom we have as our own sovereign nation. However you choose to spend the day, we hope it’s a great one! If you are reading this, you are off to a good start… maybe. 😊

Over the past two weeks, two of us at DLRC had the opportunity to attend the ANA’s Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs, CO. John Fatigate and myself, Andy Jeffrey, both attended and took the introductory grading class. Below, we will both give a brief overview of the trip with some highlights. If you want the really short version: We both had an amazing time and learned a lot about grading (Also, we were both at the top of our class)!

Andy:

I have been working for DLRC for a little over three years, but have been collecting forever. While I know coins fairly well, I have never taken a class to advance my knowledge. The ANA Summer Seminar was a great opportunity to do that and has certainly helped me as I continue to grow into a Numismatist role at DLRC. Kyle Knapp and Owen Seymour were the instructors for my course and they were fantastic! They were a wealth of knowledge and made the course fun and exciting. While I was there, I had the opportunity to make several new friends. I met some customers who were appreciative of the services we offer at DLRC, YNs who are eager to learn and grow, and dealers that I am excited to continue a relationship with. The whole week was busy, fun, and great! I am so thankful for the opportunity as this was a week that I will not soon forget.

Andy’s Highlights:

  • Going on early morning runs with an incredible view
  • Furthering my numismatic knowledge - Truly priceless
  • Meeting new friends and making connections
  • The ANA Money Museum – A phenomenal display and worth seeing!

John F:

My involvement with Coins We Love has always been behind the scenes — because I can usually be found reading a book at my desk during lunch break, Jason Smith thought I was an English major (I'm not) and assigned editing duties to me. Despite the appointment by conjecture, I really do enjoy the work; the writing has strong bones and is engaging. In this regard, it's not dissimilar from my interest in coins themselves. I joined DLRC three years ago with a dyed-in-the-wool layman's knowledge of coins (dime=10c), but through my Imaging and now Inventory Control positions, the coins themselves stirred a desire. My interest was further galvanized by a luck-assisted cherry-picking of two 1900-O/CC Morgan Dollars from a bulk deal I was sorting. After that, John Brush offered to register me in Coin Grading 1 at the ANA Summer Seminar. My week in Colorado Springs made every transient thought about backing out to avoid getting on an airplane (my fear of flying is public record) seem as silly as it was. The course, taught by a Murderer's Row lineup of Don Bonser, Jim Stoutjesdyk, Wade Spencer, and Kyle Eppley, disseminated information about coin grading thoroughly and with the necessary context. I now see the request for this write-up as a generous conclusion to a generous opportunity from DLRC.

Some highlights from the Seminar:

  • *Honorable Mention* — Not the flight itself (it really was ok; I would fly again), but the two books I read on the flight to avoid thinking about being on an airplane: William Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive and Hiroko Oyamada's The Factory.
  • Learning the demarcations for lower circulated grades, which I previously had a nebulous grasp of.
  • The differences between Technical and Market Grading — an entirely new concept to me and made the credo of 'grading is an art not a science' lock into place.
  • Don Bonser and Jim Stoutjesdyk's speaking voices. I could listen to them talk forever.
  • Sharing a classroom where both the ages and years of experience spanned decades (maybe even further but I wasn't going to be rude and ask), offering singular perspectives and springboards for lengthy discussions.
  • The ANA Money Museum — I used to live two blocks from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and one of my most strongly held convictions is that museums are gifts to be cherished and utilized. The Americana Exhibit alone was worth the visit.

If you made it to the end, congrats! We hope you enjoyed our recap from Summer Seminar. As always, we have a great selection of coins and currency for you today and hope you find something that piques your interest.

Numismatically Yours,

Andy Jeffrey and John Fatigate