Knowledge worth more than gold

Errors took the top trophy at the Florida United Numismatists exhibit awards.

I congratulate the winner, Patrick Glassford, on his exhibit, “Canadian Wrong Planchet Strikes.”

He won the Best of Show Award.

The last 12 months have been a year of interest in cent errors.

My emails are still filling with questions about them.

Yesterday, it was four emails.

Today, it is two, although one is from someone I had told had coins of no value; he decided that better photographs would help me reach a different conclusion.

Exhibits at a show provide a very important function.

That is education.

The more collectors can learn about errors, the better collectors they would be.

It would also keep the email this morning with images of corroded cents out of my inbox.

Naturally, numismatic knowledge covers a wide area.

There were other trophies given at FUN.

The People’s Choice Award is given after a vote of the public who view the exhibits.

The 2018 winner is James Zylstra for his exhibit, “Primitive Money From the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

Congratulations.

While I did not see it, I assume there were things in it like a Katanga cross, which is fun to own and you don't have to worry about handling it or slabbing it.

I do miss the opportunity to look at exhibits. This year’s FUN show had many.

I will add the list of all FUN winners to the end of this blog.

Exhibiting takes a level of commitment most collectors, quite frankly, do not have. And I include myself in that criticism.

However, FUN’s Best of Show Award comes with a wonderful benefit. It earns the Heritage Auctions Award for Excellence in Numismatic Exhibiting.

This award is given to the exhibit that is determined to be Best of Show by a panel of judges.

Only the first-place winners in the adult-judged classes are eligible for the award.

The winner gets a scholarship to the American Numismatic Association Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs, Colo.

It is a scholarship covering airfare, tuition, lodging and meals for one week (up to $1.500).

The other FUN exhibit winners are:

U.S. COINS

1st – Bill Jones "An Early American Gold Type Set, The Young Nations Elite Coin”

2nd – Mack Martin “James Barton Longacre 4th Engraver of the US Mint"

3rd – Richard Bousquet “Original Design and 1938 Jefferson Nickels"

PAPER MONEY

1ST – Dany Rothfeld “Each One Unique”

2nd – Mack Martin “A Unique Collection of Georgia Certificates”

3rd – Dennis Schafluetzel “Bank of Chattanooga Civil War Types Notes"

MEDALS, ORDERS, DECORATIONS, TOKENS

1ST – Brett Irick “Fremont Ohio Civil War Store Cards"

2nd – Thomas J. Uram "The Society of Medallist"

3rd – Simcha Kuritzky “A Type Set of Dutch-Israel Gold Fantasy Coins"

FOREIGN COINS

1ST – Simcha Kuritzky “Israel’s Coin and Banknote Designs and the Second Commandment”

2nd – Matt Campbell “A Middle East Tribute to Apollo – Fujairah and Yeman’s Coins Honoring Americas Space Program"

3rd – John H Miller Jr. “The Kings and Queens on Canadian Coins”

ERRORS

1st – Patrick Glassford “Canadian Wrong Planchet Strikes”

2nd – Dany Rothfeld “Selected U.S. Kennedy Error Coins"

3rd – John H. Miller Jr. “Wrong Design Dies on 20th Century Business Strick Coins”

MISCELLANEOUS

1st – James Zylstra “Primitive Money From the Democratic Republic of the Congo”

2nd – Simcha Kuritzky “Henrietta Szold and her Legacy: Hadassah and Youth Allyah”

3rd – William Myers “Elongated Cents From Davis-Monthan Air Force Base”

JUNIOR YOUNG NUMISMATIST

1st – Devon Webber “United States Space Program Medallions & Commemoratives”

2nd – Abigail Zechman “Creating a Hobo Nickel”

3rd – Marley Molchan “Abraham Lincoln on Coins and Currency”

CLUBS

1st – South Brevard Coin Club “Three Two One ... Blast Off!”

2nd – "The Ocala Coin Club: Past, Present, and Future”

3rd – "TEC – The Elongated Collectors”

If you have made it this far, you are a rare collector. You are in a class with Q. David Bowers.

I watched him methodically reviewing exhibits years ago. He dictated notes into a recording device.

If you wonder where he gets the information for his many books, this was just one little glimpse into his approach.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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