Exhibits Abound At ANA

A wide range of exhibits will be on display at the American Numismatic Association's 2007 World's Fair of Money Aug. 8-12 in Milwaukee, Wis.

"The convention's theme is 'Collecting Coins Captures Time - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,' said Clifford Mishler, the event's general chairman. "The planned exhibits certainly will capture that theme."

One of the Marquee exhibits is the Bebee specimen 1913 Liberty Head nickel. The display is a 40th anniversary homecoming for the coin that was sold for $46,000 in 1967 by the widow of its long-time owner, Milwaukee collector, J.V. "Mac" McDermott. Buyers at that sale, Aubrey and Adeline Bebee of Omaha, Neb., later donated the famous coin to the ANA museum in 1989.

The finest-known 1663 Petition Crown will be on exhibited. It is one of the most important and rare coins in British history, and it will be displayed courtesy of Geoffrey Cope. It was produced by former Royal Mint chief engraver Thomas Simon as a proposed design for King Charles II. The coin's edge lettering spells out his petition for consideration of the design.
The Petition Crown is part of the ANA museum's current exhibit, "Coins, Crown & Conflict: An Exploration of Cromwell's England."

More than 1,500 Wisconsin bank notes from the collection of Chester L. Krause will be available for viewing. It comprises the most extensive collection of state paper money ever publicly exhibited at one time.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing's "Billion Dollar Display," will be exhibited. It features examples of Series 1934 $100,000 denomination gold certificates, the highest denomination paper money ever produced by the United States. The BEP will also display the face plates used for printing 12-subject Series 1934A $10,000 and 1934C $5,000 notes for the Chicago Federal Reserve District.

Visitors can view The Smithsonian Institution's exhibit, "The Renaissance of American Coinage," displaying coins minted from 1907 to 1916. The exhibit features the only two existing 1907 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle pieforts. The two double-thick, high-relief coins were struck with $10-diameter planchets.

The U.S. Mint will display 22-karat gold proof Sacagawea dollars that soared into space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. The coins were included on the mission to commemorate the first space shuttle flight under the command of a woman, Col. Eileen Collins.

Odyssey Marine Exploration will display rare coins discovered on the shipwreck of the SS Republic. The steamship, which sank off the coast of Georgia in 1865 en route from New York to New Orleans, served in both the Confederate and Union navies during the Civil War.

One of the 100-kilogram, .99999 fine gold coins made by the Royal Canadian Mint will be on display. The face value is $1 million (Canadian), but it actually contains more than $2.3 million (U.S.) of virtually pure gold. This is the first time one of these coins will be publicly displayed in the Midwest. The exhibit will be at the Royal Canadian Mint's table in the Mint Promenade.

The five-day convention will take place at the Midwest Airlines Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave. It will be free and open to the public.
For more information about marquee exhibits at the Milwaukee World's Fair of Money, call (719) 482-9828 or e-mail museum@money.org.


'Money talks' at ANA convention lectures

There will be a series of lectures given during the Maynard Sundman/Littleton Coin Company Lecture Series on Aug. 9 during the American Numismatic Association World's Fair of Money in Milwaukee, Wis.

The symposium will explore the ways money serves as a means of communication now and throughout history. Some of today's leading numismatic scholars will present their most recent work at the symposium, named after Littleton Coin Company founder Maynard Sundman.
The keynote address will be presented at 1 p.m. by Robert D. Evans. His topic is, "The SS Central America Treasure Speaks: Lessons from the Past, 1857-2007."

James Benjamin, Ph.D., and Barbaranne Benjamin, Ph.D., will discuss, "To Inform, to Move and to Charm: How Money Communicates" at 10 a.m.

Heinz Tschachler, Ph.D., will lecture about, "From the 'Wildman' to the 'True Native American': Images of American Indians on Paper Money" at 11 a.m.

At noon, "African-American Miners and the Forgotten Silver Ingot of 1869," will be discussed by Fred N. Holabird Douglas A. Mudd's lecture will be about "The Politics of Early European Coinage." It will take place at 2 p.m.

"The Role of Ancient Coins in Mass Communication" will be presented by Joaquin Montero, Ph.D., and LuigI manca, Ph.D. It will take place at 3 p.m.
At 4 p.m. a lecture titled, "Confederate National Bank Notes" will be given by Peter Huntoon, Ph.D.

Proceedings will be published in ANA Journal: Advanced Studies in Numismatics following the symposium.

Admission to the Sundman Lecture Series is free to all ANA World's Fair of Money attendees.