World-Class Exhibits at ANA World’s Fair of Money
Eye-opening exhibits at the American Numismatic Association’s 2007 World’s Fair of Money® in Milwaukee will range from a multi-million dollar 1913 Liberty Head nickel to the world’s largest gold coin, weighing more than 220 pounds. The five-day convention in the Midwest Airlines Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave., will be free and open to the public, August 8-12.
“The convention’s theme is ‘Collecting Coins Captures Time – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,’ said Clifford Mishler, the event’s General Chairman. “The planned exhibits certainly will capture that theme, and provide a first-ever opportunity for the public to see so many historic, valuable items together for the first time.”
Marquee exhibits include:
- • The Bebee specimen 1913 Liberty Head nickel from the ANA’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum. The display is a 40th anniversary homecoming for the coin that was sold for $46,000 in 1967 by the widow of its long-time owner, Milwaukee collector, J.V. “Mac” McDermott. Its new owners, Aubrey and Adeline Bebee of Omaha, Neb., donated the famous coin to the ANA in 1989.
- • The finest-known 1663 Petition Crown, one of the most important and rare coins in British history, displayed courtesy of Geoffrey Cope. It was produced by former Royal Mint chief engraver Thomas Simon as a proposed design for King Charles II, with the coin’s edge lettering spelling out his petition for consideration of the design. The Petition Crown is part of the ANA museum’s current, acclaimed exhibit, “Coins, Crown & Conflict: An Exploration of Cromwell’s England.”
- • More than 1,500 Wisconsin bank notes from the collection of Chester L. Krause, comprising the most extensive collection of state paper money ever publicly exhibited at one time.
- • The Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s popular “Billion Dollar Display,” featuring examples of Series 1934 $100,000 denomination gold certificates, the highest denomination paper money ever produced by the United States. The BEP also will display the face plates used for printing 12-subject Series 1934A $10,000 and 1934C $5,000 notes for the Chicago Federal Reserve District.
- • The Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit, “The Renaissance of American Coinage,” displaying coins minted from 1907 to 1916. The exhibit features the only two existing 1907 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle pieforts. The two double-thick, high-relief coins were struck with $10-diameter planchets.
- • The U.S. Mint’s display of 22-karat gold proof Sacagawea dollars that soared into space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. The coins were included on the mission to commemorate the first space shuttle flight under the command of a woman, Col. Eileen Collins.
- • Odyssey Marine Exploration’s display of rare coins discovered on the shipwreck of the SS Republic. The steamship, which sank off the coast of Georgia in 1865 en route from New York to New Orleans, served in both the Confederate and Union navies during the Civil War.
- • One of the 100-kilogram (a little more than 220 pounds) .99999 fine gold coins recently made by the Royal Canadian Mint. The face value is (Canadian) $1 million, but it actually contains more than (US) $2.3 million of virtually pure gold. This is the first time one of these unprecedented and hefty coins will be publicly displayed in the Midwest. The coin will be displayed at the Royal Canadian Mint’s table in the Mint Promenade.
For more information about marquee exhibits at the Milwaukee World’s Fair of Money, call 719-482-9828 or e-mail museum@money.org.
The Milwaukee World’s Fair of Money will be held from Aug. 8-12 at the Midwest Airlines Center. Clifford Mishler is serving as the event’s General Chairman, Chester L. Krause is the Honorary Chairman and Joseph Boling is Chief Exhibit Judge. Heritage Auction Galleries is the official auction company.
The Milwaukee Numismatic Society, Numismatists of Wisconsin and the South Shore Coin Club are the event’s host clubs. Other organizations assisting are the Waukesha Coin Club; Ozaukee Coin Club; Midwest Chapter of the International Bank Note Society; Racine Numismatic Society; Kenosha Coin Club; and the Lake County (Illinois) Coin Club.
The World’s Fair of Money features the popular collector exhibit area, hundreds of dealers and many educational opportunities. Admission is free and the show is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. The collector exhibit area may be viewed Thursday through Sunday as early as 9 a.m.
Originally Release Date: July 13, 2007
ANA Contacts: Phone: 719-482-9814
Email: pr@money.org