Comments on: The Best and the Worst of 2008 http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/the-best-and-the-worst-of-2008/ Rare Coins & Currency News for Numismatic Collectors - Updated Daily Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:20:18 +0000 hourly 1 By: CoinLink http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/the-best-and-the-worst-of-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-47724 CoinLink Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:10:03 +0000 http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/the-best-and-the-worst-of-2008/#comment-47724 CoinLink stands corrected, at least with respect to the ANS. Mr van Alfen (who is the Margaret Thompson Associate Curator of Greek Coins at the ANS) correctly points out that George Miles published a number of articles based on his work with the collection along with three monographs (according to the ANS Library Catalog), all during the early 1950's. Unfortunately, as is often the case, this material is not available on-line, so unless you happen to be in NYC on a weekday, or are willing and able to pay the "Reference Fees" necessary to obtain photocopies, this material is all but inaccessible to the general collecting community. Likewise the ANS on-line ANS database, where the Huntington Collection used to be available was of limited value, not because the basic information was not there, but rather due to the small size of the thumbnail images presented with no ability to enlarge to photos to really see any detail on the coins. You can, of course, order photos for a fee, but it seems the link to order photos is not currently working. The point is not to be critical of the ANS, they are a great organization. But with a small membership base, limited resources, a large volume of accumulated material and overworked staff, it is virtually impossible for them to make all of this material freely available. They suffer from the same issues that plague the National Collection, The ANA and many other museums and organizations that have been entrusted with artifacts from our past and the associated research that was done many years ago, but remains inaccessible today. But that is a topic for another day. The "Under Achiever Award" given to the HSA, in our opinion, is still well deserved, and perhaps we were over zealous in mentioning the ANS in the same sentence. The two organizations are nothing alike, and it is our sincere hope that the ANS continues to be a leading organization in the numismatic community. CoinLink stands corrected, at least with respect to the ANS.

Mr van Alfen (who is the Margaret Thompson Associate Curator of Greek Coins at the ANS) correctly points out that George Miles published a number of articles based on his work with the collection along with three monographs (according to the ANS Library Catalog), all during the early 1950’s.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, this material is not available on-line, so unless you happen to be in NYC on a weekday, or are willing and able to pay the “Reference Fees” necessary to obtain photocopies, this material is all but inaccessible to the general collecting community.

Likewise the ANS on-line ANS database, where the Huntington Collection used to be available was of limited value, not because the basic information was not there, but rather due to the small size of the thumbnail images presented with no ability to enlarge to photos to really see any detail on the coins. You can, of course, order photos for a fee, but it seems the link to order photos is not currently working.

The point is not to be critical of the ANS, they are a great organization. But with a small membership base, limited resources, a large volume of accumulated material and overworked staff, it is virtually impossible for them to make all of this material freely available.

They suffer from the same issues that plague the National Collection, The ANA and many other museums and organizations that have been entrusted with artifacts from our past and the associated research that was done many years ago, but remains inaccessible today. But that is a topic for another day.

The “Under Achiever Award” given to the HSA, in our opinion, is still well deserved, and perhaps we were over zealous in mentioning the ANS in the same sentence. The two organizations are nothing alike, and it is our sincere hope that the ANS continues to be a leading organization in the numismatic community.

]]> By: Peter van Alfen http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/the-best-and-the-worst-of-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-47709 Peter van Alfen Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:14:18 +0000 http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/the-best-and-the-worst-of-2008/#comment-47709 I'm afraid that your author is rather under-informed concerning the under-achiever award, at least in respect to the ANS. The ANS received the Huntington collection with no catalog, and in no particular order. George Miles was subsequently hired to begin the enormous task of sorting and cataloging the 38,000 coins. In the process of doing so he published four books in the ANS' Hispanic Numismatic Series and dozens of articles based on his work on Huntington's collection. The cataloging task was finished under Miles and was digitized in the late 1980s. When the ANS went online in the early 1990s, the complete catalog of the coins went into the ANS' online database where it could be studied by anyone with a computer for the better part of 15 years (these were the 1001.1.XXXX accessions, which now, of course, have been removed). Sotheby's is merely using this catalog to check off the coins as they receive them. Also, for most of the time that the ANS had the coins, we were not allowed, per HSA directives, to either exhibit or provide photos of them, although visitors and students had access to them. These directives changed with the ANS' move to Fulton street, when, for a brief two years, we were finally allowed to exhibit the coins, several of which were featured in the Natural History Museum's "Gold" exhibit, and in other exhibits. Under-achieving? Hardly. Do your homework! I’m afraid that your author is rather under-informed concerning the under-achiever award, at least in respect to the ANS. The ANS received the Huntington collection with no catalog, and in no particular order. George Miles was subsequently hired to begin the enormous task of sorting and cataloging the 38,000 coins. In the process of doing so he published four books in the ANS’ Hispanic Numismatic Series and dozens of articles based on his work on Huntington’s collection. The cataloging task was finished under Miles and was digitized in the late 1980s. When the ANS went online in the early 1990s, the complete catalog of the coins went into the ANS’ online database where it could be studied by anyone with a computer for the better part of 15 years (these were the 1001.1.XXXX accessions, which now, of course, have been removed). Sotheby’s is merely using this catalog to check off the coins as they receive them. Also, for most of the time that the ANS had the coins, we were not allowed, per HSA directives, to either exhibit or provide photos of them, although visitors and students had access to them. These directives changed with the ANS’ move to Fulton street, when, for a brief two years, we were finally allowed to exhibit the coins, several of which were featured in the Natural History Museum’s “Gold” exhibit, and in other exhibits.

Under-achieving? Hardly. Do your homework!

]]> By: investing in gold coins http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/the-best-and-the-worst-of-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-28305 investing in gold coins Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:40:11 +0000 http://www.coinlink.com/News/commentary-and-opinion/the-best-and-the-worst-of-2008/#comment-28305 Glad to see the St. Gaudens coming back! Should be pretty exciting for the gold coin market. Glad to see the St. Gaudens coming back! Should be pretty exciting for the gold coin market.

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