The following is a Press Release from the Central States Numismatic Society (CSNS), announcing the State Showcase program. The program will honor all 13 states in the Society, with the first state being recognized being Iowa.
The State Showcase, a new program to honor all 13 states that comprise the Central States Numismatic Society (www.CSNS.org) region, will be launched at the 2024 CSNS annual convention, May 2-4 (www.CSNS.org/convention), in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois.
“Iowa will be the first state recognized. We’ll be giving away mint condition 2004 Iowa state commemorative quarter-dollars certified by ANACS (www.ANACS.com) to the first 3,000 CSNS convention visitors in May. The coins are donated by Christopher’s Rare Coins (www.ChristophersRareCoins.com) in Johnston, Iowa,” explained CSNS President Mitch Ernst.
The coins will be limited to one per person on a first-come, first-served basis. Each will be encapsulated by ANACS with a special insert label that proclaims “CSNS 85th Anniversary Convention, Celebrate Iowa.”
“Christopher’s Rare Coins is honored to participate in the State Showcase for Iowa at the 2024 CSNS convention. For 44 years, Christopher’s has been a large proponent of numismatics in Iowa and beyond. As a past president and current board member of the Iowa Numismatic Association, I can say everyone here is very excited that Iowa has been chosen for the first State Showcase,” stated Chris Seuntjens, president of Christopher’s Rare Coins.
“The INA board and others are working hard to make sure our booth (#109) at the convention is ‘over the top’ in highlighting all the INA is doing and has done to promote the great hobby of coin and currency collecting. We hope everyone stops by to see what the INA is all about,” urged Seuntjens.
The Newman Numismatic Portal (https://nnp.wustl.edu), based at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, will provide a platform for State Showcase educational programs. Speakers include representatives of the Iowa Numismatic Association (http://ina.anaclubs.org), George Cuhaj of the Higgins Museum of National Banknotes in Okoboji, Iowa (https://TheHigginsMuseum.org), and Notgeld expert Jesse Goplen of Elkader Auction House in Elkader, Iowa (https://ElkaderAuctionHouse.com).
“I’m super excited about the potential of this new State Showcase concept of grassroots hobby promotion that we are bringing to the collector community,” emphasized Ernst.
“This program was born out of my missing a presentation at the 2022 Nebraska Numismatic Association dinner. As I drove to Lincoln, Nebraska realizing I was late and missing a great talk – dinner –, I had an idea. There are probably great numismatic stories in each of our states,” Ernst recalled.
“So, starting this year, we’ll celebrate numismatics and the history of the hobby in each of our thirteen CSNS states beginning with Iowa,” he said.
Founded in 1939, these are the individual states in the CSNS region in alphabetical order: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
“After many years in the hobby, I know firsthand how local and state clubs often labor in the shadows of the hobby, but they all have interesting histories to tell. We want to give these clubs a chance to tell their stories on a national stage. We want to give our member states the opportunity to brag about their numismatic history,” stated Ernst.
Additional information about the CSNS 85th annual convention will be announced in the coming weeks and posted online at www.CSNS.org/convention. Information is also available by contacting Convention Manager Cindy Wibker by phone at 407-221-8737 or by email at convention@CSNS.org.