Conventions

…a marathon (about six hours) and had three separate sections. The first was the second half of Terry Denman’s world class collection of middle date large cents. These were large cents between 1830 and 1839, representing all of the [Newcomb] varieties known in that date range. Many were the finest known of their variety.

The second session of the EAC Sale featured the Dr. Bob Kebler collection of half cents. He had assembled the set over the last few decades and it had 89 of the 99 known [Cohen] varieties of half cents. Most of the coins were “EAC quality” in that they have nice color and surfaces and a noticeable absence of marks for the grade. Someone went ballistic at the opportunity to acquire quality half cents out of the Kebler collection and ended up winning fourteen lots from this session, pictured below.

The third section of the auction featured most dates of large cents starting with 1793 Chain, Wreath and Liberty Cap varieties. It continued with multiples of popular dates like 1794, 1798 and 1803. Nine of these interesting large coppers were won in section three of the auction! Several of them are pictured here. They include a 1797 stemless wreath Sheldon 131 cent with a large rim break; an 1807/6 overdate, and two Classic Head Large Cents, 1810 and 1813 that normally come in low grades and/or environmentally challenged:

The Auction hammer price total was just into seven figures (!) which is a new high water mark for the EAC Sale. Our capable Auctioneers have agreed to run the Sale for the next three years, thanks guys.

My wife Julie had never been to an EAC Convention. I told her well in advance that all she had to do was coordinate the Registration Table. This sounded somewhat terrifying to her but then she got to meet a lot of the club members and had an unexpectedly wonderful time. One newer member, Dan Rice a “YouTube Podcaster” was at his first EAC meeting and said he “met so many nice people”. It reminded me of a saying that a college professor of mine had. After we saw a distinguished guest speaker and I met him backstage, I commented on how nice he was. My professor said “the heavies always are”. Lots of specialists (“heavies”) in EAC and most if not all are willing to share their knowledge and expertise.

The banquet was scrumptious and staged, starting with appetizers, fruits, cheese, crackers, etc. We had a small glitch during the dinner as we did not have a microphone to address the audience. I gave a short address and thanked EAC for the opportunity and trust to run a show. One small quip I had was a couple endings to the phrase “You can’t take it with you….” As a coin collector “you can’t take it with you but you can play with it until you go”. The second had more meaning as, “you can’t take anything with you unless you leave it behind”. Bob Klosterboer then presented two awards, to Harry Salyards and Dan Rice. Following our short addresses they rolled out the tasty chicken and fish dishes, plus your choice of prime rib cut at the carving station.

Let me again give thanks to all who helped make the show come together. From the Boyz of ’94 to all the Happenings, Scouting, Grading, Presentations, Show Brochure & Graphics, Cases & Lamps and show Dealers & Exhibitors. The hotel staff was amazing and the food tasted like a fine restaurant not a hotel!

Tom Nist had written a great timeline with milestones for planning an EAC Convention shortly after he ran Pittsburgh 2025. His work was then fleshed out more with details such as contract elements, room geometries, Security notes and other areas to help prepare for a show. I issued the update Conference Planning document from Tom and me in May and it will be part of our archives going forward.

Although it was a bit of work to organize the EAC Convention over the last 2-3 years, execution of the event proceeded at a frantic pace but smoothly. This is something that I wanted to do for the club I love, and have been a member of since 1980, something I wanted to leave behind. I told the EAC Board that [Julie and] I’d be ready to Host another meeting as soon as they’d like! Next year EAC 2027 will be near Madison, WI. Julie and I, both being cheeseheads will be thrilled to get back to our old country.

Jerry Sajbel
EAC #1106