Phoenix 2021 National Money Show Officially Cancelled
Coronavirus also impacts planning for 2021 Summer Seminar
The American Numismatic Association (ANA) Board of Governors voted on Dec. 16 to officially cancel the Phoenix National Money Show®, scheduled for Mar. 11-13, 2021, due to heightened coronavirus concerns. The vote was 7-2, with the majority of the Board expressing concerns about the Association’s inability to assure the safety of its members, dealers, staff and visitors.
Because of Arizona’s current restrictions on indoor gatherings, the show would have been significantly smaller had the Board voted to move forward. The bourse would have been reduced in size, and educational programming and meetings would have moved online. The Phoenix Convention Center informed the ANA the day after its Board meeting that all events through February 28, 2021, would be cancelled, leaving events such as the Association’s National Money Show in mid-March in an uncertain situation.
“Although we share the disappointment of collectors and dealers in cancelling the Phoenix National Money Show, it is the right decision given the wide range of uncertainties we currently face,” says ANA Executive Director Kim Kiick. “We’re appreciative of Kagin’s Auctions, the official convention auctioneer, for their understanding and support of this decision.”
Kiick indicated the ANA will explore the feasibility of hosting a virtual conference in May.
Dealers who have reserved tables for the show will be contacted directly by the ANA convention team. “To mitigate the influx of calls and emails, dealers will be contacted by phone within the next week to discuss the option of a future credit towards an ANA show or a refund,” says Brianna Victor, ANA events director.
Hotel room reservations within the reserved block in the Hyatt Regency Phoenix (877-803-7534) and Hampton Inn & Suites (602-710-1240), along with reservations made with lodging properties outside the block, will need to be cancelled by collectors directly with the properties.
The Board will explore the possibility of revisiting Phoenix for a future National Money Show – possibly as early as March 2023 – to capitalize on the planning from the staff and local host committee that already was in place, and to avoid a cancellation penalty from the convention center.
2021 Summer Seminar Planning Complicated by Coronavirus
Also discussed at the Dec. 16 ANA Board meeting was the status of the 2021 Summer Seminar, scheduled for June 19-24 (Session 1) and June 26-July 1 (Session 2).
Colorado College – the site of the annual Summer Seminar for decades – informed the ANA recently that it will not be hosting events on its campus in 2021 due to the coronavirus, compelling the ANA to research alternative locations. (The Colorado College campus is adjacent to ANA headquarters.)
Two alternative locations were presented to the Board for consideration: The Antlers (a Wyndham Hotel) in Colorado Springs – located a mere 8 blocks from the ANA, and the University of Denver (DU) – a 35-minute drive from Denver International Airport. The Board recognized the advantage of having the Summer Seminar in close proximity to ANA headquarters to allow students access to its facilities. However, the $128,000 deficit the ANA would incur to host the event at The Antlers was deemed too big of a hit to the Association’s budget, which is already challenged due to the cancellation of the 2020 World’s Fair of Money® and the 2021 National Money Show. The Board voted 9-0 to eliminate The Antlers from consideration.
According to ANA Executive Director Kiick, in order to plan appropriately for the event, the Board will need to vote at its Jan. 19 meeting whether it prefers to move the event to DU or conduct the event online.
2020 PCGS Set Registry Awards Announced
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Professional Coin Grading Service bestows prestigious awards to hundreds of collectors while also inducting four collectors to PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame
(Santa Ana, CA – December 16, 2020) – Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) recently has announced the winners of the 2020 PCGS Set Registry Awards and new inductees to the PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame.
For nearly two decades, PCGS has recognized top collectors and their collections with awards and other special honors. When the PCGS Set Registry Awards launched in 2002, just 15 sets received honors; this year, more than 350 sets are recognized, exemplifying the outstanding growth of the PCGS Set Registry and the incredible popularity of this interactive platform for collectors to build sets and compete with their fellow hobbyists.
“When the PCGS Registry debuted in 2001, it was the first such online platform for collectors,” says PCGS Vice President of Product Development Jamie Kiskis. “It’s become the gold standard in numismatics for collectors who want to share their passion of the hobby with the world all while getting to engage in a little friendly competition with one another. When more than 20,000 collectors display their more than 125,000 prized sets on the online PCGS Set Registry, it not only inspires other collectors to up their games, but it also shows the beautiful diversity of coins that are out there for the world to enjoy and collect.”
While the vast majority of the PCGS Registry Sets honored were picked on technical metrics, such as completeness and grade point averages, some were chosen based on the more subjective merits of overall eye appeal and scope of inclusion. That was the case with the PCGS Best Digital Album, an honor that was selected by PCGS Set Registry members and guests. The 2020 Best Digital Album nods go to an exquisite 1873 United States Proof Set by a collector known as “D. Lud.” Other top awards went to “D.L. Hansen,” “High Desert,” and “Alamo Collection” in the U.S. coin categories while “JBW,” “cannonball!,” and “skandakumera,” were just a few of the many collectors who won various world coin awards.
A complete list of the 2020 PCGS Set Registry winners can be found online at: www.pcgs.com/setregistry/awards/2020.
In addition to the hundreds of outstanding PCGS Set Registry collectors taking home awards for their collections, four numismatic luminaries past and present are being inducted into the prestigious PCGS Set Registry Hall of Fame. The 2020 Hall of Fame inductees are William Sumner Appleton, Del Bland, Bob Simpson, and Sun Keqin.
Appleton was a venerable Massachusetts collector who once owned an 1804 Draped Bust Dollar, a trophy known as the “King of American Coins” that was later graded by PCGS and went into other famous collections. Bland was a premier expert in United States Large Cents and became a renowned authority on these early United States copper coins. Simpson, the founder of XTO Energy and co-chairman of the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team, has long had many top-ranking PCGS Registry Sets consisting of United States coins. Keqin is a top authority on Chinese coins and fields a diverse array of Set Registry collections containing modern coins from China.
“The PCGS Set Registry has long proven to be a successful, exciting platform for collectors year after year, and we have consistently made innovative improvements that have allowed the community to thrive,” remarks PCGS President Brett Charville. “As we continue growing and evolving during our 35th anniversary year in 2021, PCGS will continue enhancing the experience for everyone.”
To become a PCGS Set Registry member for free, please visit https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry.
About Professional Coin Grading Service
Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is a third-party coin and banknote grading company that was launched in 1986. Over nearly 35 years, PCGS has examined and certified some 45 million U.S. and world coins, medals, and tokens with a combined value of more than $41.7 billion. For more information about PCGS products and services, including how to submit your coins for authentication and grading, please visit www.PCGS.com or call PCGS Customer Service at (800) 447-8848.
February Long Beach Expo is Cancelled
February 4-6, 2021 Long Beach Expo Is Cancelled, Hopes
Remain High For June 2021
As a national show, the safety of our visitors, dealers, and employees will always be our top priority. With that in mind, it is with much sadness that we, in coordination with the Long Beach Convention Center, are announcing the cancellation of the February 4-6, 2021 Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamp, and Sports Card Expo. Governor Gavin Newsom’s March 12 Executive Order to cancel all large gatherings due to the spread of COVID-19 must still be followed. It’s important to reiterate that there will be no business being conducted at the Long Beach Expo during the allotted show times in February.
If you are interested in participating in the February Long Beach Expo U.S. Coins Auction hosted by Heritage Auctions, the world’s largest numismatic auctioneer, they will be accepting online and phone bidding only. A link to the corresponding auction information and listings can be found here: U.S. Coins Auction
If you’re looking for that collectible show feel with an online experience, make sure you check out Collectors Corner. Many of the Long Beach Expo Dealers are selling their inventory on Collectors Corner today, so if you need that rare coin, currency, stamp, or sports card to complete your collection, make sure you give Collectors Corner a try. The marketplace is truly a one-stop shop for everything collectibles! A link to the Collectors Corner marketplace can be found here: Collectors Corner
With the spread of the coronavirus rapidly increasing throughout California, we want to wish everyone good health and safety. 2020 has truly been a difficult year for us all, but as long as we continue to stick together as an industry, 2021 will certainly be the light at the end of the tunnel.
For the Long Beach Expo, our focus will transition to doing everything in our power to make the June 17-19, 2021 Long Beach Expo a reality. When our show comes back, we will be ready to provide the BEST possible show to make up for all these cancellations. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back in our doors. We hope to see you then.
Stay tuned to all future Long Beach announcements: www.LongBeachExpo.com.
For all information regarding COVID-19: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov
-Long Beach Expo
PCGS Adds Three Leading Experts, Promotes Another
Professional Coin Grading Service Continues Its Year of Expansion by Adding More Key Professionals to its Team
(Santa Ana, California) – December 14, 2020 – As Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) closes a year of rapid growth, the world’s leading third-party coin and banknote grading service is making further expansions to its team of experts. Joining are Jamie Kiskis as PCGS parent company Collectors Universe Vice President of Product Development, Mark Ferguson as PCGS Senior Price Guide Consultant, and Peter Anthony as PCGS Modern Chinese Coins Consultant.
“These key professionals will help drive where PCGS goes during its 35th anniversary year in 2021 and beyond,” remarks PCGS President Brett Charville. “We’ve always had a transformative role in the coin and banknote marketplace, and we look forward to unveiling many exciting things to come in the upcoming year.”
Jamie Kiskis
“We have done a great job building the Set Registry, and there is still room to grow and make it be all that it can be and will be in the future,” says Kiskis. Additionally, he will be enhancing the PCGS customer experience by creating the products and features they want most.
“I view everything we do at PCGS as a product or service that can and should be strategically planned to maximize collector interest,” he remarks.
Kiskis boasts an outstanding collector background, joining the Upper Deck sports collectibles and memorabilia company in 1993 and creating their first Product Development Team. The Los Angeles native grew up near PCGS’ Corporate Headquarters in Santa Ana and prizes a pair of collectible Adidas shoes signed by late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
“I’ve been a collector throughout my life,” he adds.
Mark Ferguson
“I first graded coins for PCGS in the 1986-1987 period and then again in 1990 full-time,” recounts Ferguson, who comes aboard as PCGS Senior Price Guide Consultant.
As part of the PCGS pricing team, Ferguson will capitalize on his experience working for other coin pricing publications over the decades to provide the most accurate and comprehensive prices across various PCGS information platforms.
Ferguson offers unique perspective on PCGS-graded coins, having been directly involved with the company during its infancy.
“It’s amazing to see where PCGS is today, compared to the first year,” he remarks. “PCGS revolutionized the coin collecting hobby, and it’s been very interesting to have experienced the innovations as a dealer, PCGS coin grader, and in my roles working with three major price guides.”
Peter Anthony
“I am very happy to join PCGS,” he says. “It is a company that is completely devoted to expanding the collector market for Chinese coins along with promoting international cooperation and friendship. PCGS has a roster of experts at the highest level of Chinese numismatics and it is an honor for me to become part of this group.”
Anthony has been a coin collector since his childhood and for the last two decades his main numismatic interest has been to research, write about, and publish books and articles about Pandas and other modern Chinese coins. Anthony’s exemplary writing and research has garnered him two Numismatic Literary Guild awards. Anthony received a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1975.
Josh McMorrow-Hernandez
“I’m thrilled to take the helm of Rare Coin Market Report,” says McMorrow-Hernandez. “I look forward to building on the publication’s tradition of excellent numismatic journalism while also listening to our readers and ensuring they get even more of the content they want to see in the magazine.”
Becoming a coin collector in 1992 at the age of 11, McMorrow-Hernandez has been a numismatic writer and editor for more than a decade and has won three Numismatic Literary Guild awards. He has also authored several books, including one profiling the history of the United States Mint in Philadelphia.
Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is a third-party coin and banknote grading company that was launched in 1986. Over nearly 35 years, PCGS has examined and certified more than 45 million U.S. and world coins, medals, and tokens with a combined value of over $41.7 billion. For more information about PCGS products and services, including how to submit your coins for authentication and grading, please visit www.PCGS.com or call PCGS Customer Service at (800) 447-8848.
PCGS Quest Winners Split $2,000 Cash Prize for 2020-W Kansas Quarter
Three Collectors Splitting $2,000 Bounty for Submitting First 2020-W Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quarters for Grading by Professional Coin Grading Service
Santa Ana, CA) – December 10, 2020 – Professional Coin Grading Service (www.PCGS.com) Quarter Quest 2020 continues with three winners tying as the first to submit the first examples of the 2020-W Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Kansas Quarter for grading. The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Kansas Quarter was released by the United States Mint on November 16, 2020 as the fifth new quarter design for the year and 55th overall of the America The Beautiful Quarter series that launched in 2010.
The three most recent winners of Quarter Quest 2020 include Karl P. of Maryland, Emery S. of Texas, and Larry B. of Texas. They will split a $2,000 prize three ways, with each receiving $667.
The United States Mint is striking only 2 million quarters of each design bearing the “W” mint mark of the West Point Mint facility in New York. Unlike most other issues from the America The Beautiful Quarter program, the United States Mint is not distributing examples of these “W” Quarters in any Proof Sets, Uncirculated Sets, or other United States Mint products. These coins can only be found in circulation, thus making it extraordinarily challenging for collectors to find these scarce coins.
In addition to the special mint mark, the 2020 W Quarters also carry a special one-year-only “V75” privy mark commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II in 1945. The privy mark, seen on all 10 million 2020-W Quarters, is found on the obverse of the coin, just to the left of President George Washington’s portrait.
“Collectors are really excited about finding and collecting the 2020-W Quarters,” says PCGS President Brett Charville. “These modern circulating rarities are sparking new interest in coin collecting. We want to help inspire more people to look for these coins and enjoy the hobby, and that’s why we launched PCGS Quarter Quest. Since 2019, we have awarded nearly $25,000 in prizes to coin collectors around the United States,” he remarks. “We’ve also unveiled several limited-edition special labels and pedigrees for the 2020-W Quarters.”
In addition to splitting the cash prize of $2,000 for the submitter(s) of the first 2020-W Quarter for each design, the winners will receive a unique PCGS First Discovery Label in the holder of their encapsulated special find. Two other limited-edition pedigrees are offered to all collectors who submit the new coins within the first weeks following the grading of the First Discovery specimens.
Qualifying 2020-W Quarters submitted within the first seven days of the PCGS First Discovery receive the PCGS First Week of Discovery pedigree. After that initial week, submissions made during the 45 days of the First Discovery Label receive an Early Find Label. With the discovery of the 2020-W Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quarters, the clock is already ticking for those who wish to pair specimens of their 2020-W Kansas Quarters with the other two limited-edition labels.
Karl P. of Maryland obtained his 2020-W Tallgrass Prairie Quarter by way of a private seller. “With COVID-19, it’s been difficult getting boxes of new coins from the bank these days,” he says. The multi-time Quarter Quest winner reports becoming a collector in 2019 because of Quarter Quest. “When I heard the United States Mint was releasing the W Quarters, I looked them up online and found out about PCGS Quarter Quest.” Karl began searching far and wide for W Quarters, submitting them with hopes of winning PCGS Quarter Quest prizes. “I attended a PCGS Luncheon at the 2020 Florida United Numismatists Show and had a great time there. PCGS is top-notch.”
Larry. B, a longtime collector from Texas who is enjoying the hobby during his retirement, bought his winning 2020-W Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quarter from an online auction company. “I kept checking every day for the 2020-W Quarter when I heard it had been released. I bought two with the hopes they would qualify for the PCGS First Week of Discovery pedigree,” he says. “Thankfully, the coins got to me quickly and I already had a PCGS submission form ready to go when they did.” He was privy to the 2020-W Quarter Quest announcements because he is a member of the PCGS Collectors Club. “I’ve been a club member for a few years now,” he adds. “I did pretty good on [getting his coins in on time for] Early Find labels.”
Emery S., also of Texas, similarly found his 2020-W Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve Quarter by way of an internet auction firm. “I bought it right away,” he says, “but I really wasn’t expecting for it to become a First Discovery coin.” A collector since he was a kid, Emery says he is “tickled” that his piece was one of the three First Discovery coins. When he isn’t looking for 2020-W Quarters, he concentrates on collecting gold coins. “I bought some gold coins from the Saddle Ridge Hoard,” he adds. He’s also a fan of PCGS. “I’ve been a PCGS Collectors Club member for a while now and like using PCGS CoinFacts – there’s so much information there.”
For more information about PCGS 2020 Quarter Quest, including the latest information on bounties and to find out which pedigrees and prizes are available, or to find out how much time remains for PCGS First Week of Discovery and PCGS Early Find pedigrees, please visit www.pcgs.com/2020quarterquest. This page also provides information on terms and conditions for PCGS 2020 Quarter Quests, including rules and qualifications.
About Professional Coin Grading Service
Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) is the premier third-party coin and banknote grading company that was launched in 1986. Over nearly 35 years, PCGS has examined and certified over 45 million U.S. and world coins, banknotes, medals, and tokens with a combined value of more than $41.7 billion. For more information about PCGS products and services, including how to submit your coins for authentication and grading, please visit www.PCGS.com or call PCGS Customer Service at (800) 447-8848.
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