FUN 2016 draws collectors to Tampa
- Published: Jan 26, 2016, 11 AM
Nearly 10,700 people attended the Florida United Numismatists Convention Jan. 7 to 10 in Tampa. The show's traditional location was in Orlando.
FUN's 62nd annual convention, next year's, is set for Jan. 5 to 8 at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center before returning to the Tampa Convention Center Jan. 4 to 7, 2018, for the 63rd edition.
FUN Convention Coordinator Cindy Wibker said the 2016 attendance total includes 2,000 dealers, whose attendance was only counted once.
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Heritage Auctions reported prices realized for the U.S. coins sessions at more than $34 million and for the paper money sessions, more than $7.6 million.
Topping the U.S. coin lots was an 1894-S Barber dime graded Proof 66 by Professional Coin Grading Service and stickered by Certified Acceptance Corp. that sold for $1,997,500, which includes the 17.5 percent buyer's fee.
The top paper money lot was a newly discovered and unique signed and issued 1847 Washington, D.C., $500 Treasury note that realized $199,750. The note is graded Paper Money Guaranty Very Fine 25.
PCGS and Numismatic Guaranty Corp. each distributed collectible sample slabs for those attending the grading services' luncheons, held Jan. 8 and 9 respectively.
At its booth on the bourse, PCGS presented a display of PCGS sample slabs assembled by collector Dr. Tim Larson. PCGS also distributed up to 1,250 sample slabs encasing 2015 Lincoln cents, all in special packaging celebrating PCGS's 30th anniversary year.
In competitive exhibits, collector Dany Rothfeld was awarded Best in Show recognition for his exhibit "Portraits of the Twelve Caesars on Sestertii." The People Choice Award was awarded to Greg Gilbert for "U.S. Transitional Coinage 1793-1938."
FUN Exhibit Chairman Robert Y. Russell said 29 exhibitors presented 37 exhibits. The exhibitors represented eight states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Of the total 195 cases, 151 were associated with competitive exhibits and 44 were noncompetitive.
No Young Numismatist exhibits were presented, but four exhibits were from FUN member clubs: International Association of Silver Art Collectors, the Ocala Coin Club, the Gold Coast Coin Club, and the Fort Lauderdale Coin Club.
Remaining exhibit award winners and their exhibits are:
U.S. Coins
1st place, Tom Uram, "Two Cent Piece with Major Varieties 1864-1873."
2nd place, Bill Jones, "A Type Set and Brief History of the Dahlonega Gold Coins."
3rd place, Brett Irick, "United States Gold Coins 1795-1933."
Paper Money
1st place, Dennis Schafluetzel, "Wills Valley and Chattanooga & Alabama Railroad Scrip."
2nd place, Lavonda Proveaux, "The Pigeon Roost Mining Company."
3rd place, Dany Rothfeld, "Selected One of a Kind Michigan National Banknotes."
Medals, Orders, Decorations & Tokens
1st place, Darrell Beeson, "Cotton States & International Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 1895."
2nd place, William Myers, "Effects of World War II in United States Sales Tax Tokens."
3rd place, Richard Jozefiak, "25th Anniversary of the Official State of Alaska One Ounce, Silver Proof Medallions."
Foreign coins
1st place, Dany Rothfeld, "Portraits of the Twelve Caesars on Sestertii."
2nd place, James Zylstra, "Coins of the Cities of the Seven Churches of Asia."
3rd place, Brett Irick, "Canadian Coins of 1947-1948."
Error coins
1st place, John Kosakowski, "Canadian Silver and Nickel Dollar Errors."
2nd place, Dany Rothfeld, "Errors Galore."
3rd place, John Miller, "Wrong Design Dies on 20th Century Business Strike Coins."
Miscellaneous
1st place, Richard Bousquet, "Thomas Jefferson."
2nd place, Richard Jozefiak, "The Start of a New Collectible: The Innovation of the First Elongated Souvenir Coins at the 1893 Columbian Expositon in Chicago."
3rd place, John H. Miller Jr., "Buy the Book Before the Coin."
Clubs
1st place, International Association of Silver Art Collectors.
2nd place, Ocala Coin Club.
3rd place, Fort Lauderdale Coin Club.
Ohio dealer Larry Briggs was recognized by the Society of Silver Dollar Collectors with its VAM Master Award.
The VAM Master Award is a lifetime achievement award given to Morgan and Peace dollar variety specialists, and is considered to be the highest honor given by the SSDC.
Briggs' decades of involvement in and commitment to VAM collecting, research, and dealing, as well as attribution through Sovereign Entities Grading Service, now known simply as SEGS, made him an obvious choice to be this year’s recipient, according to the SSDC.
Briggs joins other recipients of the VAM Master Award, including Leroy Van Allen, Jeff Oxman, Michael Fey, Bill Fivaz and Pete Bishal, in the “Hall of Fame” of Morgan and Peace dollar variety collectors.
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