The executive director of the American Numismatic Association, Chris Cipoletti, was put on paid administrative leave by unanimous vote of the new board of governors in its first meeting Aug. 12.

The action was announced following an executive session to a packed public session of hobbyists including members and ANA employees.

Replacing Cipoletti on an interim basis is former ANA president Ken Hallenbeck, who will serve as acting executive director for an indefinite period. He will be assisted by Kim Kiick.

Also appointed was Ron Sirna, a Flint, Mich., attorney, as counselor to the president. Though the title doesn’t say it, he is also counselor to the board.

The 1-cent denomination will be withdrawn from circulation soon if a Canadian Member of Parliament is successful with his bill now before the House of Commons.

Citing figures that appeared in a four-year-old study suggesting the cost of producing the coin is approaching five cents each, Winnipeg Centre Member of Parliament Pat Martin says it is time that Canada adopts a system of rounding purchase costs to the nearest 5-cent mark. He points out that a similar system has been in use in Australia since that country withdrew its 1- and 2- cent coins in 1992. But the Royal Canadian Mint disputes the manufacturing and distribution costs Martin used in his July 5 interview with the Winnipeg Free Press.

Images of Native Americans on paper money and Confederate National Bank Notes are topics of recent research work by Peter Huntoon and Heinz Tschachler.

Both will deliver lectures as part of the Maynard Sundman/Littleton Coin Company Lecture Series, taking place Aug. 9 at the American Numismatic Association convention in Milwaukee, Wis.

Huntoon will discuss issuance of National Bank Notes in Confederate states occupied by Union military forces. By war’s end, this incluced eight national banks established within the boundaries of the Confederacy.

The Royal Canadian Mint’s newest collector catalogue, issued July 3, runs the gamut from simple designs to complex coins using the latest technology. Among the issues is the first coin produced using a new plasma technique. The catalogue presents 11 new products, due to go on sale July 18. The obverse of all these coins feature Canadian artist Susanna Blunt’s design of the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.