Presenting in Columbus

Last year, after I spoke at the Chicago Coin Club, I got an email from Gerry Tebben, from the Central Ohio Numismatic Association asking me to speak at their club as well. It was the middle of winter, and traveling to Columbus is not the easiest thing from here, so we agreed that I’ll try my best to either take a trip when the weather gets warmer, or when work takes me there. Unexpectedly, I got a work assignment in Columbus, so I called Gerry if they were available that week. This is how I got to present at the CONA Coin Club. When I got the original invitation, I had no idea that one of the best clubs was asking me to speak at their meeting.

Gerry Tebben, who invited me, is a columnist at Coin World. So, I was excited when he offered to pick me up from my hotel, so we had some time to talk on the way. I also received an invitation to join some of the club members at their traditional before meeting dinner. I particularly enjoyed that people have such a wide variety of knowledge about different types of coins. The club is 110 years old, amongst other things they have educational presentations. A couple of the members are also writing at Coin World.

My presentation was about enjoying coins by touch, a modified version of what I presented in Chicago. In general, I don’t like to present the same thing, especially when I have a chance to meet the participants of my presentation, because based on the conversation I can get a better sense of what it is they would be interested in.

I don’t want to get into the details of my presentation, people who read this blog have a general idea of what I have to say about collecting by touch, however, I did bring a few coins to show, including the 2017 Hungarian Irinyi commemorative, as well as a 1510 .

I got to touch two very interesting things at the show and tell. One was a small gold nougat, and a fake Morgan Dollar. I have touched interesting gold pieces, but never an original nougat. The fake coin was interesting too, it wasn’t even silver, and the plating was coming off of it. Fortunately there was a real Morgan floating around, so it was interesting to hold them side by side. Dropping both on the table it was obvious which was the fake one, but just by holding them not necessarily. One felt newer and more beaten as well, which was the fake.

After the meeting, we had another nice chat with Gerry on the way home. Before I left Columbus, I got an invitation to get more work done, so hopefully I’ll have a chance to visit the club again, and hear one of the presentations.

On the way home, I couldn’t miss stopping by the German village and have a few sausages. That part of town felt really old; bumpy and narrow roads, as I got out of the Uber, I could hear German music and people waiting at the door to get a table in lunch time. It was definitely worth the 20 minutes wait.