Convention Report
Report from Allan Schein, with additional contributions from Phil Flemming, Angel Smith and Cory Frampton and photographs from Oliver Simons, Elmer Powell and Mike Ontko
Jim and Peggy Elmen of World Wide Coins of California
The 4th annual convention took place at the Scottsdale Resort and Hotel, as it has for the last three years. As in past years, it was well attended by participant dealers, speakers and attendees who traveled from far and wide to be part of this commercial, educational and social event.
I arrived late in the Wednesday afternoon, having driven the 650 miles from Salt Lake City to ensure I would be among the first to preview coins on dealer set-up day. As in the past, I found some great material and had lots of fun visiting with other collectors and dealers.
The event started for me the evening of my arrival when I began to run into others who had arrived early. Cris Bierrenbach from Heritage was already there, as was David Lisot of CoinWeek TV. By the following morning as I sat outside enjoying the cooler morning air while eating the breakfast buffet, dealer after Jim and Peggy Elmen of World Wide Coins of California dealer and collector upon collector passed by in anticipation of the opening of the bourse. I say cooler air because on arrival at 4:30pm the temperature was recorded at 102 degrees, a record for the date. 75 degrees at 7am was a welcome relief from the heat.
Cory Frampton was first onto the floor making sure all was in order, coin cases were set in place on the tables draped in black cloth, and set-up was in process. By noon most dealers were at their tables setting out their material, and the people exhibiting were preparing their displays.
There was excellent attendance and brisk sales reported. By early evening the numerous items for the auction were displayed outside in the lounge area beside the bar, with ample bidding. A wonderful assortment of appetizers and food items were generously provided, thanks to Heritage Auctions and Cris Bierrenbach. Cory Frampton and Kent Ponterio presented awards to contributors and participants who had given freely of themselves to the association in numerous ways.
From what I saw, all the presentations were well attended, but without a doubt the most popular was the Counterfeit Detection seminar presented by Kent Ponterio, Mike Dunigan and Daniel Sedwick. Due to a conflicting opportunity of buying and selling several coins it turned out I may have been the only non-table holder that did not attend this popular and highly informative presentation. The bourse floor was completely empty of collectors and attendees, except for myself and many of the dealers themselves. I was sorry to miss the opportunity of attending, but happy to have acquired some new Caballito pesos and sell several others.
Matthew Wittmann and Ute Wartenberg Kagan of the American Numismatic Society
on the patio
David Lisot of CoinWeek
Carlos Amaya with his English version “Tricolor Compendium of Mexican Revolutionary Coinage“
a couple of the displays
I did have the opportunity to attend the presentation by Jay Turner of NGC. Jay discussed the grading process and went into detail explaining the many useful features available to collectors and dealers on the NGC website. These included population census, coin values, historical prices from auctions of U.S. coins, images of coins graded, verification of encapsulated coins, registry sets and considerably more. Many attendees had questions specific to their interests and about what can and cannot be graded. Jay was quite at home in front of the audience and a excellent speaker with a well prepared slide presentation. He was patient answering all questions, and complete in his answers as they related to NGC’s capabilities.
Kent Ponterio’s presentation on early Proclamas or Proclamation Medals was very informative. Beautiful slides of the very first and some of the rarest medals were shown, along with detailed explanations of their issuances and progressions in form. Kent, as many of you know, has an excellent speaking manner with a beautiful Basso Profundo tone to his voice. He is exceptionally knowledgeable of his subject matter and appears to thoroughly enjoy sharing it with others. This presentation was very well attended, and several of the scarcer medals pictured were displayed for people to sight see them in a display case on the bourse floor.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the auction, a major source of income for the association. The following lists the items donated and the sums they raised.
| Five free coin submissions | NGC | 120 |
| Five free coin submissions | PCGS | 100 |
| Five free coin submissions | PCGS | 100 |
| Five free coin submissions | PCGS | 75 |
| Five free coin submissions | PCGS | 60 |
| 1733 Mo MF 8 Reales | Mike Dunigan | 602 |
| 1796 Mo FM 8 Escudos | Cris Bierrenbach | 1,125 |
| 1813 Ca RP 8 Reales (KM 123) |
Cris Bierrenbach | 325 |
| 1919 10 centavos | Jose Serrano | 35 |
| 1919 50 centavos and 1 peso | Kent Ponterio | 65 |
| 1823 Las Tesorerías de la Nación 10 pesos (M17b) |
World Numismatics LLC | 450 |
| Banco de Londres y México Centennial Gold Bar (Grove B-65) |
John C. Hughes | 1.850 |
| 1915 Republica Mexicana $100 notes (3 piece lot) | Jeff Jennings | 200 |
| 1915 Republica Mexicana $100 notes (3 piece lot) | Jeff Jennings | 170 |
| Five Mexican mining company bonds | Elmer Powell | 75 |
| Historia Numismática de Mexico by Alberto Pradeau (3 vol. set) | Don Canaparo | 275 |
| The Practical Book of Cobs by Daniel and Frank Sedwick |
Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC |
45 |
| The Tumbaga Saga by Agustin Garcia-Barneche |
Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC |
25 |
| Mexican Beauty/Belleza Mexicana by Allan Schein | Allan Schein | 70 |
| Mexican Beauty/Belleza Mexicana by Allan Schein | Allan Schein | 25 |
| La Casa de Moneda de Chihuahua y sus Laboraciones de Plata, La Casa Moneda de Durango, and La Ceca Republicana de Oaxaca, all by Antonio Deana Salmerón | Don Canaparo | 130 |
| The Mexican Revolutionary Coinage 1913-1916 by Howland Wood; Historical Notes on Coins of the Mexican Revolution 1913-1917 by J. Sánchez Garza and La Moneda Revolucionaria de México 1913-1917 by Wood and Garza | Don Canaparo | 105 |
| La Revolución Mexicana y sus Monedas by Carlos Gaytán | Don Canaparo | 15 |
| Tricolor Compendium of Mexican Revolutionary Coinage, vols I, II and III, by Carlos Abel Amaya Guerra | Carlos Amaya | 200 |
| Medals of Mexico by Frank W. Grove | Don Canaparo | 50 |
| 1911 La Batalla de Ciudad Juárez en imágenes by Miguel Angel Berumen | Elmer Powell | 40 |
| México: Fotografía y Revolución by Miguel Angel Berumen and Claudia Canales | Elmer Powell | 40 |
| The 1914 Durango 5 centavos by David Hughes with Joe Flores | David Hughes | 25 |
| 2014 Convention Presentations (4 DVDs) | USMexNA | 20 |
| Grand Total | $6,417 | |
Scott Doll receives his award
Allan Schein starts his presentation
Joe Flores with Benjamin Bell of Civitas Galleries
Ali Frampton learning the ropes
Phil Flemming spoke for an hour on the Mexican gold coinage of 1715. In the last 20 minutes he took advantage of the presence of Max Keech and Dan Sedwick to have a discussion of the special production gold coinage of 1715. Galanos (vulgarly called “royals”) have been known for 50 years, with another recovered just in July of this year (as reported in the September journal). However, there is something new in special production as a few Archivo General de Indias documents have recently come to light suggesting that Mexico City may also have struck at least 1,000 eight escudos of the “new cordoncillo fabrica”. Cordoncillo is the name applied to the round, milled-edged coins Mexico began to strike in 1732. No one has thought Mexico capable of striking edged coins before 1732, but here now are manifests from the 1715 Fleet saying they loaded a 1,000 of these coins to send to the Queen’s Treasury, and later recovered these same coins from wrecks of the Fleet. Phil briefly outlined three theories to explain the “cordoncillos” of 1715, one now championed by Jorge Proctor, another by Mike Dunigan (who could not attend the talk).
The first presentation on Saturday by Angel Smith dealt with the famous Muera Huerta coins. The major types were discussed and new information was shared on the series. In addition attendees were brought up to date on the most recent fakes aimed at collectors that have showed up on the market. This session ended with various questions from the floor.
My presentation on Mexico’s Caballito Peso, Symbolism and Relief Changes was well attended. The crux of my talk went into the exceptionally well thought out design of Charles Pillet that appears deceptively simple and straight forward. This included the resemblance of the horse’s posture comparable to that of the bronze statue of Manuel Tolsa of Carlos IV astride a war horse while wearing Roman trappings. Liberty by comparison rode the horse without saddle, bridle or reins representing Mexican’s living freely without restraint or domination. In comparison to Carlos’ “Emperor” like clothing, Liberty is simply wrapped in a length of fabric, not a dress or formal garment, representing “The Fabric of Society”. All reference to Spanish colonialism is intentionally absent. The rising sun refers both to enlightenment and the dawn of a new era. But it also references the Aztecs who saw themselves as “The People of the Sun”.
| Awards | |
| As well as honorary plaques for all of the 2014 lecturers (Mike Dunigan, Dan Sedwick, Kent Ponterio, Bob Gurney, Mike Crowder, Carlos Jara and J. R. Rollo) the following awards were made: | |
| Best overall article | Max Keech: Validation Stamps of the War for Independence (parts I and II) |
| Best article – Spanish Colonial | Jorge Proctor: Who were Mexico City Mint assayers L and J (1677-1723)? |
| Best article –War of Independence & Imperial | Ricardo de Leon: The power of words: a tale of two decrees |
| Best article – Republican | Mike Dunigan: On the authenticity of the 1899 Mexican one Centavo |
| Best article – Revolution | Kim Rud: The 1915 Coinage of the Sierra Norte de Puebla and its protagonists |
| Best article – 20th century-Modern | Scott Doll: Study of Mexico’s pre-libertad silver onzas |
| Best article – Paper Money general | Simon Prendergast: Henry Middleton, The Banco de Jalisco forger |
| Best article – Revolutionary Paper Money | William Lovett: Revolutionary Paper Money of the West Coast (parts I through IV) |
| Jed Crump Award | Diane Powell |
| Richard Doty Award | John Hughes |
Going beyond the coins symbolism, my talk progressed to the changes in relief from 1910 and the 1911 “short ray” to the enhanced design for better visual appeal and striking capabilities of the 1911 “long ray”. The design was the same, but details enhanced for better eye appeal, a truer appearance as intended by Pillet and overall refinement and corrections of both high and low points, and clearer visual presentation.
There were a few questions, which I did attempt to answer, as did Cristobal Diaz, the representative of the Banco de México, but numerous compliments about both the content and my speaking ability, all most welcome.
David Lisot of CoinWeek TV filmed all presentations, with the exception of the counterfeit detection seminar. This was intentionally done to keep critical and specific information from being easily obtainable by incorrigible counterfeiters. David is most diligent in filming seminars and interviewing knowledgeable dealers and collectors to create an archive of information that is an invaluable tool and resource for our entire numismatic community. In many ways, he is the Mathew Brady of the coin community, the first to film and record people whose knowledge can benefit others for present learning, and for posterity.
As well as upcoming auction lots from Stack’s-Bowers and Ponterio and Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC there were various displays including “Treasure from the Sierra Madre: Selected coins from the Guadalupe y Calvo mint in Mexico” from Mike Ontko and “Cannons, Eagle and Dragons: A brief sketch of 18th to 20th century Trade Dollar types in East Asia” from Brad Yonaka. Angel Smith Herrera showcased some of his finds whilst Elmer Powell produced a display of mining company bonds and six cases of revolutionary paper issues, illustrating the notes of General Obregon’s Ejército del Noroeste, La Compañía de Real del Monte y Pachuca, the state of Colima, and the Comisión Reguladora del Mercado del Henequén.
Mike Barry of Stephen Album Rare Coins
The USMexNA convention is one of, if not the most social of all coin events I have attended. This year alone I have traveled to and been part of more than 20 major and regional coin shows. I find every show to be very social in dealing with dealers and meeting new people, but this event stands out because it brings the term “social” to a higher level. It is common for the attendees and dealers to sit together outside on the abundant couches in the cool Arizona evenings sipping beer and drinks (and my 15 year old Strawberry Mead) or smoking until the poolside bar closes at about midnight. Nobody wants to be the first to leave and many do not want the gatherings to end at all, but reality necessitated we get some sleep and begin again with an early breakfast.
With visitors from Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Florida, California, New Jersey, Texas and many states in between, we once again had an excellent event thanks to the hard work of our organizations’ board and officers, dealers, collectors, exhibitors, presenters, supporters and in general all who contributed in so many different ways.
Allan Schein
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2016 CONVENTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next year’s convention will be held at the same venue on 6 – 8 October 2016. Please note the dates in your diary.