There are many benefits that the
ANA could employ without a larger budget. They should be partnering with dealers to bring forth more educational programs. They "talk" about branching out to groups like the Boy Scouts, churches, and schools, but no active action has been taken that I know of.
There are other groups that are active. Aopa and the American Legion come to mind. Both are incredibly active within their membership and hold membership drives on a regular basis. The
ANA has a captive audience during their conventions, yet fail to capitalize on that audience.
There are also members that have issues with how the
ANA operates. My biggest problem is their desire to "sell" their endorsement. I fully understand the need to raise the money to operate, but there has to be a better way. They claim that they would not sell their name to a lousy third party grading company, but who knows when the dollars are offered. Once you begin to sell your name, you will do anything. It is a shame that some will sell their dreams for small desires.
They actively involve themselves in the politics of the coin business and in doing so, they are forced to "please" the contributors. Take a look at their involvement with
ebay. The
ANA posts their "rules" and yet has NO AUTHORITY to enforce them. So what is the point? Have they gained that many new members that it is worth being associated with them? As each counterfeit coin is sold on
ebay, the
ANA looses more and more credibility. Even within their own membership ranks, what is the punishment for breaking the rules? They kick you out. OH MY! There is a noteable dealer in Maryland that runs 2 and 4 page ads each week in
CoinWorld that was kicked out of the
ANA in 2003 for "breaking" the rules. Did they care? Did they loose any money?
Coin publications accept ads from anyone willing to pay for them. Many of these companies are less than desirable to say the least. There are ads for lousy
TPG companies and bad dealers, but does anyone care? With each ad, the publication indirectly supports and condones the activity by these companies. Even the publications that spell out the rules for advertising allow these rules to be broken with no consequence. How many times have you read the rules that grading standards must adhere to BU meaning Brilliant Uncirculated only to find many coins listed as BU=Borderline Uncirculated?
Each time these groups and publications lower their standards to meet the person paying, they in turn lower their own standing. Why should collectors believe anything said by the group? As an example, their are several publications that print "prices" or "values" of coins. Well we all know all too well that for the most part these numbers are fantasy. It creates a basis for new collectors to be fooled, and that is BAD for the hobby.
It seems that each day we have new companies doing everything that they can to take advantage of the new collector. They peddle "junk" and "trash" and the publications embrace their dollars irregardless of whom it hurts.
I see collectors walking the bourse floor with various price guides in hand, and think to myself, they may as well tape a sign to their forhead that says "Take my money please". Why are these publications not focusing on grading standards instead of worthless prices? If education is truly the goal, why do they need to charge us so much? The
TPG's offer clubs for our money. Why can't the
ANA offer simular services? How about offering a grading course to all members? Certify some dealers around the country to offer these courses. They tout their program in Colorado, but how many participants do they really get?
Promises are made of getting the Smithsonian to create a museum for coins. Well we all know what happened to the last one. They want the Mint to open a museum. Well until the Mint figures out how to make a dollar on that idea, we will not see one. Face it, the U.S. Mint is the largest coin dealer in the world.
Until there are hard and fast rules, this hobby will continue to spiral downhill. We loose more "real" collectors than we gain. Everyone praises the
State Quarters and the nickel series as the greatest thing in the hobby. Well folks, I think that it is by far the worst. We allowed these series to create a permanent nickel design, and we are telling 100 million collectors of the
State Quarters program that in 2008 they may as well spend their money elsewhere. There will be limited new designs and then they will be permanent with a handful of dead presidents. So why are we praising this?
Most will say "They brought so many to the hobby". While this is true, where will these collectors be once the designs are permanent? Everyone is concerned with today. Well folks, let me clue you in on something. It is our RESPONSIBILITY to think about tomorrow. Who are we to tell the collectors of tomorrow what should be on their coins?
We have many responsibilities, and the one that is most important is to teach. Unfortunately, if it doesn't make them money, many will not offer their time or knowledge. It is hard not to lose faith in the hobby as it grows worse each and every day, but there is a glimmer of hope out there. Small groups are popping up in the community making attempts at improving things. They aren't always easy to find, but if you search them out, you should offer your help. They don't always need money. Some simply need help getting the word out, or volunteers to help teach. We all need to do our part.
Stop the committees and do the work!
Posted 06/06/2005 5:23 pm
) At least most of the 
I even paid for two years!!!!1
