February 15, 2018 – The 79th Anniversary Convention of the Central States Numismatic Society will be held April 24-28, 2018 at the Schaumburg Convention Center and Renaissance Hotel, located at 1551 North Thoreau Drive in the Chicago suburb located roughly 10 miles Northwest of O’Hare Airport. In addition to the Heritage auctions for rare coins and currency, to be held April 25-27 and the four days 300 booth bourse area, underway April 25-28, the event will also feature a range of educational programs, presented as the Heritage Auctions Educational Forum.
Bourse Chairman Patricia Foley said, “The Industry Council for Tangible Assets will lead off the Heritage Auctions Educational Forum at 8:30AM on Friday, April 27 with a panel discussion, State and National Regulatory Update; Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force Update. The panel members will be Kathy McFadden, Executive Director of ICTA, David Crenshaw, the organization’s Chief Operating Officer, firmer Congressman Jimmy Hayes, who serves as ICTA’s Congressional Consultant and former Coin World Editor Beth Deisher, Director of the Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force. ICTA plays a vital role in defending the interests of our trade. Their annual presentation at our event is an especially time efficient way to keep up with current developments affecting all of us.”
Foley continued, “The ICTA panel will be followed at 10AM with Dale Lukanich on Operation Bernard Counterfeit Notes. Operation Bernard was an aspect of economic warfare undertaken by Germany during World War II to destabilize the British economy by flooding their markets with highly deceptive five pound notes. Whether your interests are in military history, economics or numismatics, this is a program that you won’t want to miss. At 12noon on Friday Dr. Larry Lee will hold forth on Indian Peace Medals in the Crane Collection. Indian Peace Medals are highly collectable artifacts related to the history of our relationships with the Native American tribes who populated what would later become the United States long before our own ancestors immigrated here. The final speaker on Friday will be Peter Huntoon, whose topic 1:30PM will be George Casilear: Patented Lettering on Large Size United States Currency. Dr. Huntoon has spoken before at our educational forums and other similar events. He is one exciting speaker. If you know nothing about his subject, he is sure to arouse your intellectual curiosity. If you know a lot about it, you’ll realize that you didn’t really know as much as you thought. He simply has a way of bringing whatever he talks about to life.”
Foley also said, “Our lead off speaker at 10AM on Saturday will be Colonel Joe Boling, well known in the field of world paper money study and collecting. His topic will be, World War I Generated Many New Paper Money Issues and the Counterfeiters Followed Right Along. Colonel Boling needs no introduction. He is very simply one of the “names” in the world paper money specialty. He’ll be followed at 11:30AM by Scott Douglas. His topic will be St. Eligius: The Patron Saint of Numismatics. CSNS Governor Andy Kimmel will appear at 1PM, speaking on Ten Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Coins. I’ve heard this presentation myself and guaranty that you’ll find it both entertaining and informative.”
Convention Chairman Kevin Foley, celebrating his 21st year at the helm of the Anniversary Convention, joined the Bourse Chairman to say, “Anyone who has been even semi-conscious over the last six months is increasingly aware of the problem of sexual harassment in our society. Almost every day the media carry yet another report of prominent figures – almost always men – in the fields of politics, entertainment, education or wider fields of endeavor, who are resigning in shame from positions of leadership and respect that they had previously risen to. Multi-million dollar settlements are being paid out to their victims – almost always women – to compensate them for the impact such depredations have inflicted on their lives and careers.
Sometimes these settlements are paid by insurance companies, sometimes by employers and sometimes by the perpetrators themselves. Enablers on governing boards, who knew or should have known, but failed to prevent the harassing behavior, are increasingly themselves resigning under a cloud and being named as defendants in actions for damages, often putting their own personal resources at risk. The world of numismatics is not immune to and has not been inoculated against sexual harassment.
We are fortunate to have been able to enlist the services of Chicago attorney Tamara Holder to give what I expect will be an eye opening presentation on the subject. Her program, beginning at 2:30PM on Saturday, will be Sexual Harassment Liability Issues for Numismatic Employers, Event Sponsors and Organizations. Ms. Holder is no doubt already known to many of our members for her presence on the Fox News Network, where she enjoyed a long run on the Sports Court program and then as a political commentator. Now in private practice in Chicago, she enjoys a growing reputation for her work in the fields of civil rights, criminal defense and expungement, as well as sexual harassment litigation.”
Foley added, “If anyone thinks that just because they haven’t personally engaged in this behavior they don’t have a problem, they are potentially in for a very rude awakening. Enablers on governing boards who’ve looked the other way and neglected their duties to protect employees against harassment are increasingly finding themselves named as respondents in EEOC complaints or as defendants in tort actions where their own personal resources are at risk – with such actions being brought not only by victims, but by shareholders seeking to recover organizational resources that were paid out as damages to victims. Ms. Holder is at the top of her game and has become a prominent voice in this field. Her presentation is the last of the day to allow for questions from the audience without the pressure of a following presentation.”
Central States Convention Hotel Almost Sold Out
The Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel, host lodging facility for the 79th Anniversary Convention of the Central States Numismatic Society, is on the verge of being sold out over two of the event nights, according to Patricia Foley, CSNS Secretary and Bourse Chairman for the 300+ booth event.
Booth holder move in, the Early Bird period and opening of public hours will be on Wednesday, April 25. Public hours will continue Thursday through Saturday, concluding on April 28. Heritage Signature Sales for both rare coins and currency will take place Wednesday through Friday.
Foley said of lodging availability, “The Renaissance Schaumburg is a very popular venue for corporate meetings and we will not be the only event in the hotel and convention center over our dates. Thursday and Friday already have just a handful of rooms still available and Wednesday is not far behind. Especially because we offer our booth holders a $175 rebate for stays of three or more nights under our room block at our $159 rate, I want to make certain that everyone is aware of the tight lodging situation we’ll be facing this year. I hope that everyone will call the hotel ASAP if they haven’t already. Once the hotel is sold out, it will be sold out and there will be little we can do to help.”
Foley also added, “Please only reserve what you really need as far as a room is concerned. Overbooking only to cancel later denies space to people who really do want to come and is unfair to everyone.”
To reserve a sleeping room, call the Schaumburg Renaissance at (847) 303-4100 and mention “Central States Numismatic 2019” for the discounted $159 event rate.
More information on the CSNS Website.
Mitch Ernst, the incoming president of the CSNS has expressed his view on how we all should deal with the issue of sexual harassment in our culture and what is the position of the CSNS on the subject.