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Saturday, December 21,2019
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Celebrating Texas the Beautiful
The 2020 Houston Money Show will celebrate Texas the Beautiful!
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Exhibits/Texiana
To help Celebrate Texas the Beautiful we added new category, Texas Numismatics, to our eight other categories of Educational and entertaining Exhibits. Some collectors think they're the best part of the show.
And U.S. Coins and Jewelry has generously agreed to the Houston Money Show's request to help us in this area. They will exhibit, on a non-competitive basis, outstanding displays of the Currency of Early Texas and an interesting collection of True Texiana. Acknowledged experts in both areas we thank them for providing such valuable material.
Wednesday, December 26,2018
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2019 Houston Money Show Special Guest
An original US Mint Master Designer, Artist Infusion Program, Thomas S Cleveland will be present to meet and chat with attendees on both Friday and Saturday. Cleveland who has design credits for fifteen different US Mint coins and medals, will display original sketches and drawings that were part of his design process. And he’ll talk with you about how his ideas turned into the final result.
His 2011 Vicksburg Mississippi, America the Beautiful Quarter Reverse has the greatest mintage of any of his works and may be in your pocket or purse. On admission to the Show all children will be given one of these quarters by the Greater Houston Coin Club for possible discussion with the designer, illustrator and fine artist. Other notable works for our Mint include the 2007 American Platinum Eagle, the 2010 and 2012 Sacagawea Dollars, 2011 United States Army Half Dollar and five First Spouse Gold Coins. Thomas will be available at Booth 109 from 10:00 to 12:00 and 2:00 to 4:00.
The multi-talented Cleveland has designed other numismatic items as well. Early in his career he designed a token for the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority with a distinctive, tactile, star cutout in the center. His first project after his stint at the Mint was radically different. His client, Provident Metals had him design eight coins for their very successful series “Zombucks: Currency of the Apocalypse.” Today he is working on some other numismatic projects as you’ll learn when you visit with him.
In the middle of his design work Thomas, who taught at the Houston School of Art and Design for seven years, planned to bring a similar program to the Cypress area. He opened The Artist Within Studio School in 2004. It offers drawing and other art classes for all ages, from children to adults.
The Houston Money Show is delighted to give you a chance to chat with this talented and accomplished designer.
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2019 Educational Exhibits
Educational Exhibits on a wide range of numismatic topics are always a highlight of the 2019 Houston Money Show. These display based presentations allow for viewing at your own pace. This year’s show includes confirmed entries in six competitive categories: U.S. Coins, U.S. Paper, World Coins before 1500, World Coins after 1500, World Paper, and Tokens & Medals. Because of the competitive nature the Money Show cannot announce all confirmed exhibit topics. To ensure a fair competition we cannot announce the specifics of any exhibit. However last year’s entries can provide an idea of the range of what you may see at this year’s event.
Last year the Best in Show Award went to “Evolution of Postage and Fractional Currency”. It also won the Bill Watson People’s Choice Award as voted by show attendees. The Barney Loebe Award for Best Exhibit by a GHCC Member went to “British Military Issues”. To visualize the range of topics consider that “Evolution of the U.S. Small Cent”, “Coins and Their Colors”, “Pandas”, “Most Secure Coin in the World”, “Real Faux Coins”, “Puffins of Lundy Island’, “Cathedral Medals”, “United Nations Coins”, “Greater Houston Coin Club Memorabilia”, “Mi Pesos” and perhaps the greatest United States medal, “The Libertas Americana Medal” were among the exhibits. This range means you are sure to see plenty that interests you. And your vote for your favorite will determine the People’s choice Award.
Tuesday, December 26,2017
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2018 MONEY SHOW SPEAKERS & EXHIBITS
The featured presentation at the Show is “When Stamps and ‘Folding Coins’ Were All The Rage.” Jerry Fochtman, whose exhibit on the topic won last year’s United States Paper Award, is the presenter.
There was a brief period in the Numismatic history of the United States when Congress authorized the use of stamps and ‘folding coins’ as a medium of exchange for goods and services. This talk will introduce you to what led up to this period in our history. It will reveal what private businesses and government did in response to the needs of the country. The presentation is ideal for collectors of United States Coins and Paper, collectors of Confederate Numismatics, and those interested in how civil upheaval affects money. It includes topics a student of history may find of interest and wish to pursue to learn more.
The presentation is at 1:00 pm on Saturday.
On Friday at 2:00 pm we’ll have the always interesting “Numis-Profs” question and answer session. A panel of acknowledged experts in different areas of collecting will answer your inquiries, whether broad or specific. The answers are sometimes very different than expected. The experts often take the opportunity to provide extra insight, sometimes in an amusingly informative way. While this years’ panel is still being finalized, last year the panel was comprised of the president and vice president of the prestigious American Numismatic Association, and the top expert on coin grading from the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation.
Educational exhibits will be on display throughout the Show. These display case based presentations, allow for viewing at your pace. This year’s show includes confirmed entries in six competitive categories: U.S. Coins, U.S. Paper, World Coins before 1500, World Coins after 1500, World Paper, and Tokens & Medals. We may add others as the deadline for submissions approaches. To ensure a fair competition we cannot announce the specifics of any exhibit. However last year’s entries can provide an idea of the range of what you may see at this year’s event.
Last year the Best in Show Award went to “Operation Bernhard-Nazi Counterfeit of British Notes”. The People’s Choice Award, as voted by our attendees, went to “Lady Liberty” a display based on the centennial of the Mercury Dime, Standing Liberty Quarter and Liberty Walking Half Dollar. To understand the range of topics consider that “Grading Roman Republic Coins”, “Mexican Horse Pesos”, “Coinage in Medieval Italy”, “Twenty Cent Pieces”, “Houston Transportation Tokens”, “Seated Liberty Dollars”, “O.P.A.- WWII Rationing” and “Heads or Tails” were just some of the exhibits. This range means you are sure to see plenty that interests you. And your vote will help determine the People’s Choice Award winner.
Finally we’ll have a very different kind of display in a different part of the Convention Center. Through the cooperation of the National Museum of Funeral History, located in Houston, we will display “The Money Casket “. This acrylic final resting place was used in the marketing of acrylic encapsulated items during the 1970’s. In displaying over $600 in embedded, uncirculated coins it challenges the maxim, “You Can’t Take It With You”.
The dealers offerings may be at the heart of our Show. But there’s a lot more to see at The Houston Money Show.
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The Experience of Exhibiting
It has been almost a decade since former GHCC president Richard Laster wrote of the spirit which still drives our experience with the Club and our experience with exhibiting at the Money Show:
“This current interest means that we who are involved in the sharing of the numismatic world need to be focused on helping those who come to us not only learn but also come to an appreciate of the uniqueness of the numismatic creation. A great time to do this is just ahead. On September 20th we’ll meet once again. Yes, to me it does seem like a very long time since we have last been together. As we gather we’ll do what we usually do; we’ll greet like-minded friends, we’ll exchange stories of recent conquests, we’ll listen intently to the material shared at show and tell and at program time, and we’ll do something for the future, we’ll encourage each other and we’ll be particularly open to those who come seeking a place to learn.”
Your current exhibits chairman (JB) has been in place for the past six years (save for one year when he was unable to perform and an alternate chairman was in place). The experience has been uplifting. There have been countless times when folks of all kinds of numismatic backgrounds and levels of experience have said “Thanks for doing this and thanks for motivating me to share with others by showcasing my own specialty”. That is the heart of exhibiting: Learning more about your items and their background while building the exhibit and then sharing what you have learned in an interesting way with others who may be seeing this material for the first time. The formal judging (ANA-style) has little to do with it. That aspect appeals more to those with a competitive streak and need to be recognized thorough a ranking. The Best of Show prize is nice public recognition, but the true reward belongs to EACH exhibitor, and is the experience of building and placing the exhibit. This is truly a situation in which all participants are winners.
We welcome first-time exhibitors as well as seasoned ones. Consultation and guidance is available. At the Houston Money Show in 2015 and again in 2016 we had a splendid turnout of about 15 exhibitors and used 60 display cases. Exhibits compete in eight classes determined by the subject of the exhibit. An innovation at the 2018 Money Show is that several classes have named sponsors whose pledge helps support the Club’s cost of running the exhibits program.