Convention Educational Exhibits
Mike Marotta
exhibiting at a convention.
I do not exhibit often. We all have our limitations and I am happy to
write well enough to publish. In my hands, scissors and glue are just
accidents waiting to happen. But I do exhibit. And I do judge. I
was asked to do that several times at MSNS shows and once at a CSNS
conclave. At the ANA Convention in Pittsburgh 2004, I qualified to
judge Literature (but missed the mark for U.S. Paper Money). At the
MSNS 50th Anniversary in 2006, I placed seven entries. This year, I
set up four. I typically accept minimal thanks for "Honorable
Mention." I am not an artist.
Those who are, do well.
Conventions vary. The MSNS has only 9 categories while the ANA has
over 20. MSNS separates Tokens from Medals, but not Ancients from
Moderns. Some clubs have open voting for Best of Show. For MSNS (and
as I recall CSNS), Best of Show is a selection by judges from among
the First Place awards.
At the ANA conventions, awards often go to people who happen to be
members of the Red Rose Coin Club of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They
have made a special effort at this for over a generation. They set up
these exhibits at their regular club meetings and they criticize each
other's work according to the published judging standards. It is a
learning experience that pays off, literally.
Clubs differ. At MSNS we grant a silver Eagle to Honorable Mentions,
a current year Proof set for 3rd Place, a 1/10 Gold Eagle for Second
Place and a 1/4 Gold Eagle for First Place. (Not all Honorable
Mentions get special awards. Not all categories have three winners.)
Judging standards are published. But the decisions of the judges can
seem arbitrary. Good managers (chief judges), see to it that the
process is transparent. I learned to start down the tally sheet by
giving each aspect an 80% rank: 12/15... 4/5... 8/10.... From that,
you add or subtract points based on the standards. If you rate a
metric less than 70%, you are supposed to make some kind of comment.
Not all judges do; too many do not. It is hard to improve when you
don't know what needs fixing.
At the ANA, judges are strongly encouraged to work together. We score
individually, but we get together to make sure that we are in the same
ranges. When one judge is far from the others (two 90-somethings and
70-something), then obviously there is a problem with the scoring.
From the exhibitor's point of view, knowing how the judges see the
display is critical to success. At the ANA, judges are approved based
on their expertise. At other shows this is not so. Special knowledge
can be lacking. The judges must maintain a "binocular vision" seeing
the exhibit as an uninformed member of the general public, but also as
a numismatic expert. Therefore, if you want to exhibit to win, you
should attend judging seminars and work as a judge yourself.
Offhand, it takes me about as much work for each display case as for a
1000-word article -- about 16 hours of research and production. The
winners are the people who start early and work on this over time.
One of our regular winners fell short in the judges' opinions -- not
mine; I was blown away by the concept and the presentation. I said to
him, "Anyone can put some coins on a sheet of felt." There it is.
Exhibiting is work; and like all labors, when done well, it is
rewarding to perform -- and is often rewarded by others.