The American Numismatic Association issued a Press Release today concerning the termination of Christopher Cipoletti as Executive Directory and legal Council of the ANA.

The Press Release did not shed any new light on what has already been reported here on CoinLink and elsewhere.

However included in the press release was a link to an online audio which recorded the whole October 16th Board of Governors open session.

This provides an interesting insight into the actual proceedings of the Board and we will let those who listen to it draw their own conclusions. The Audio File can be accessed here

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Dallas, TX. Heritage Auction Galleries will be presenting a late-year Signature Auction in Dallas, November 6-7, 2007. Descriptions and images of all lots are currently posted at HA.com, and are available for bidding. When the Signature and Final Session catalogs are combined, nearly 5,500 lots covering a broad range of coinage will be auctioned.

“The November Dallas catalog is anchored by the Sterling Collection of silver and gold commemoratives,” noted Heritage President Greg Rohan, “and the Arroyo Grande Collection from America’s gold rush heritage, including nineteen Liberty double eagles dated from 1855 to 1865, an 1852 Reeded Edge Humbert $50 (certified AU58 by NGC), and an important group of gold ingots; pedigrees include the S.S. Central America; the S.S. Republic , and the S.S. Brother Jonathan. The November catalog also contains many Registry-level coins from all series.”

According to Rohan, “Our year-end events have proven to be extremely successful, with consignors seeking the last major auctions before the calendar rolls into another new year, and bidders always anxious to add important coins. In 2007, Heritage is adding a new twist instead of two events here in Dallas, our final Signature Auction will take place at the Houston Coin Expo. This is a very exciting time for the coin market!” (more…)

By Scott Purvis for CoinLink

Christopher Cipoletti was fired yesterday as executive director and legal counsel of the American Numismatic Association, the nation’s largest coin collector organization based in Colorado Springs, Co.

In a closed executive session Monday evening, the ANA’s nine-member board of governors voted to “terminate with cause” Cipoletti’s employment and then announced that decision Tuesday, during a public meeting to the organization’s 35 staff members.

“Because it’s an employment issue, we don’t give specifics, but we felt there’s adequate cause to fire him,” Barry Stuppler, president of the board, said.

It was reported that Cipoletti, 46, did not return a call to his Colorado Springs home for comment. Cipoletti has been the ANA executive director since January 2003 and also served as the ANA’s legal counsel. His annual compensation has been reported to be $250,000.

The move by the board, comes after several years of turmoil within the organization. Questions about finances, claims of secrecy and staff turnover culminated during the last ANA general election, where most of the “old” board of governors was replaced by the ANA membership or more than 32,000. (more…)

By Mark Ferguson for COIN VALUES

Reader surveys conducted regularly by Coin World show that State quarter dollars and Morgan dollars are the most actively collected series of U.S. coins. However, without a doubt, “better-date” (of higher quality and rarer than type coins but less rare than key and semi-key dates) gold coins are the most talked about coins when people approach me at major coin shows and auctions, by telephone and via e-mail.

It’s no surprise that the majority of collectors cannot afford to collect gold coins by date, but dealers are obviously doing a lot of business in the gold coin market as compared to other segments. Some of this activity is due to investment promotions by dealers, while other activity is due to some collectors making investments in their collections.

Inquiries about valuations for better-date gold coins far outnumber requests for values for smaller denomination coins.

Of course, when the price of gold bullion makes substantial moves up or down, prices for gold type coins must be adjusted accordingly. However, better-date gold coins - which are not necessarily affected by bullion moves because of their higher numismatic premiums - have been holding their own through these moves in gold bullion. Their rising trend has not let up for many years.