2017-06-24 Sat

To celebrate ANA’s 50th anniversary, the ANA Museum Showcase at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver will feature Colorado Gold Rush era rarities and Lesher Referendum dollars. It will also feature historic and famous numismatic treasures from the association’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum.

The Denver World’s Fair of Money will be open to the public. The entry is free for all ANA members. But entry for non-ANA members costs $ 8 for adults, with children 12 and under allowed for free.

Included among the exhibit highlights are:

The McDermott/Bebee Collection 1913 Liberty Head 5-cent coin; the Idler/Bebee Class III 1804 Draped Bust dollar; and error notes from the Bebee Collection with upside down serial numbers and other printing mistakes.

1907 Saint-Gaudens, Roman Numerals, High Relief and 1907 Ultra High Relief gold $20 double Eagles from the Harry W. Bass Jr. Collection.

A set of 1860s Clark, Gruber & Co. Colorado pioneer gold pieces. Clark, Gruber & Co. were private forerunners of the Denver Mint.

A nearly complete set of Lesher Referendum silver dollars from the early 1900s.

A 1933 Indian Head gold $10 eagle, one of the greatest gold coin rarities of the 20th century with fewer than 40 known surviving examples from the last year that U.S. gold coins were struck for circulation.

The David Rittenhouse 1792 silver half disme along with the George Washington-signed document as president, appointing Rittenhouse as the first director of the United States Mint.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s $1 Billion Exhibit, featuring $100,000 gold certificates. Aubrey and Adelle Bebee donated the 1913 Liberty head nickel to ANA and it remains the favourite at the conventions. Today, it’s insured for $3 million and is one of only five known 1913 Liberty nickels.

The Colorado Gold Rush era coins in the Museum Showcase will include an 1860 Clark, Gruber $ 20 gold piece with a design that has the word Denver.

Lesher Referendum dollars are an interesting part of Colorado’s mining history.

Joseph Lesher made eight-sided dollars in 1900 and 1901 from silver mined in the Cripple Creek area to promote the use of silver. He gave up his plans for the coins but today, these octagonal, so called dollars are an example of Old West history.

President Washington authorised the Rittenhouse 1792 half dime during the early days of the U.S Mint. It is being displayed by the ANA, courtesy of Brian Hendelson, president of Classic Coin Company, Bridgewater, N.J.