The October 22nd episode of Coin Chat Radio starts off with a short edition of "What’s In the News" with Bob Van Ryzin.
The topic discussed this week was the release ceremony for the US Virgin Islands Quarter that occurred on October 9th in St. Thomas. The event was hosted by Deputy US Mint Director Andrew D. Brunhart. The quarter was actually released into circulation on September 28.
American Numismatic Association Executive Director Larry Shepherd takes a few moments to talk with Numismatic News Editor Dave Harper about the future direction ANA will take towards its shows. Shepherd previously addressed the ANA board in regards to the reforms the organization should undertake.
"As I told the board last week, I think this is probably the most important decision that this board will be asked to make during the next two years, " ANA Executive Director Larry Shepherd states in explaining his position on the changes he is suggesting.
"As you know, there has been much criticism in the past about the ways that the ANA approaches the site selection process, and so this is one of the things I think that we have to fix. I was very up front with the board that I think in the past that we have often made these decisions without really listening to the needs of our members and our dealer members."
Shepherd continues to explain his desire to add a third show to the annual ANA schedule and also the possibility of locking some of those locations into a fixed rotation.
"One of the options I had mentioned was a fixed show rotation where we have a show in the spring, a show in the summer and a show in the fall. All in the same locations and all at the same time (each year)," continues Shepherd.
"If we go to some type of a more permanent location where we’re not redesigning a new location every year or twice a year that certainly will cut down on our effort ….Whereas if we are going to the same convention center once every three years or once every four years or once a year, whatever the case may be, we can certainly achieve a lot of economies of scale in terms of designing that floor and setting up how the floor would be arranged."
Next on Coin Chat Radio, Online Editor Lisa Bellavin interviews Market Analyst Tom Michael about two books soon to be released: The Standard Catalog of World Gold Coins (6th Edition) and The Standard Catalog of World Coins (1801-1900). (They will be available at ShopNumisMaster.com.)
Michael relays that in completing them, he found areas that had been relatively stagnant for quite some time, but are now seeing some huge increases. Early Polish coinage was cited as one example.
Closing out the program is Publisher Scott Tappa with "Freshly Minted." One new issue discussed is the 20 ounce pure gold Vienna Philharmonic coin from the Austrian Mint. The new coin has a diameter of 74 mm and a thickness of 8.3 mm and is housed in a prestigious wooden and red velvet case.
It is limited to 6,027 with only 2,009 available for sale in the United States. Why the odd number? The mint decided to offer 2009 coins (the date of the 20th anniversary) in its three major markets: in Europe, in America and in Japan.
To hear this week’s episode of Coin Chat Radio, you can visit their website at www.coinchatradio.com, or you can also find the free Coin Chat Radio player on sites like Coin Collecting News. Previous episodes may also be found at both locations.
