Anti-counterfeiting group reorganizes

The Industry Council for Tangible Assets’ Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force has reorganized one of its original work groups and added three new groups since its early August meeting prior to the World’s Fair of Money in Denver, Colo. Additionally, new members have joined the Steering Committee and work groups.

Scott Schechter, vice president and finalizer at Numismatic Guaranty Corp., has joined ACTF’s Steering Committee and will also be a member of the Packaging and Security Work Group. Schechter replaces John Schuch II on the Steering Committee. Schuch will continue to work with ACTF as a member of two work groups, Education and Research.

The Research Work Group, one of ACTF’s original eight work groups, now has a new team comprised of Scott Schwartz, Richard Weaver and Schuch. Weaver, president of Delaware Valley Rare Coins, is new to the task force. The Research Work Group will focus its efforts initially on identifying, testing and evaluating anti-counterfeiting technology.

The three new work groups have been established to work in areas that have risen in importance as the ACTF works with law enforcement at various levels. The three areas are ancient coins, paper money and products of private mints.

Steering Committee member Dr. Ute Wartenberg-Kagan will lead the Ancients Work Group and will be joined by Mary Lannin, formerly a member of the Research Work Group, and David Hendin, a specialist in ancient Hebrew coins.

Paper money specialist Joseph Boling, formerly a member of the Research Work Group, will join Laura Kessler and Chad Hawk in the newly established Paper Money Work Group. Kessler is vice president of PCGS Currency and Hawk is a grader with Paper Money Guaranty. The Paper Money Work Group’s charge will include assisting law enforcement by identifying methods of entry and distribution networks of counterfeit paper money in the United States.

The newly established Private Mints Work Group is comprised of leaders within the private mint sector in the United States. Members include Tom Power, president and CEO of Sunshine Mint; Eric Highsmith, vice president of asset strategies at the Scottsdale Mint; Bill Atalla, president of Northwest Territorial Mint/Medallic Art Company; and David Hendrickson, SilverTowne Mint. Power will join the ACTF Steering Committee and lead the work group, which will concentrate its efforts on providing product information on coins and bullion products manufactured by private mints in the United States to enable law enforcement to identify counterfeits of such products. It will also seek to educate private mint leaders about the importance of recordation in the Customs and Border Protection database and will liaison with Transport and Security Work Group to develop best practices standards to prevent infiltration of counterfeits of private mint produced coin and bullion products into commercial transport and storage facilities.