NumismaTalks: ANA eLearning Academy Webinars

A Great Tale of Discovery: Money from the Woman’s Internment Camp at Rushen on the Isle of Man
July 10, 2025, 12pm MT

When war broke out between Germany and the United Kingdom on September 3, 1939, England grew uncertain about what to do with thousands of “enemy aliens,” many of them Jews who had escaped Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe. There was great fear about these immigrants, exacerbated by claims about spies in the British tabloids. In a clumsy attempt to assuage these fears, the British government began rounding up and interning their immigrants. Many of them were sent to ten internment camps on the Isle of Man (IOM) in the Irish sea.

Many of the ten WWII camps are known to have issued money. Both metallic and paper internment camp money from these camps is well known and avidly collected. These coins and paper issues, until now, have all been from the various men's camps including Onchan Camp, Metropole Camp, Palace Camp, Sefton Camp, and Peveril Camp. However, the details of the women and children's camp at Rushen at the southern end of the IOM make for an especially interesting story. Up until now, some of the details of this story had been shared, but no examples of the unique money had been seen. In this presentation we will describe the interesting story of the use of this money, including information about the women who originated it and, at long last, will share examples of the actual tokens printed on cereal box cardboard. We will also share some original train tickets for trips that the inmates took across the island.

Ray Feller is Associate Dean and Director of Student Support Services at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her interest in numismatics began because she wanted an excuse to go on adventures with her father, Steve. As a child, she began the quarterly column “Rachel Notes” in the International Bank Note Society Journal. The column ran from when she was in elementary school until she was in graduate school. Ray wrote her undergraduate thesis on camp money and her doctoral dissertation on how collecting can help people process traumatic experiences. She very much enjoys research and is especially focused on money used during World War II. She and her father wrote a book on civilian camp money, Silent Witnesses: Civilian Camp Money of World War II, published by BNR Press in 2007. They have also co-written articles, given dozens of presentations, and they run the educational portion of the annual MPC Fest (an annual meeting for collectors of military currency and related objects). Alongside camp money, Ray collects short snorters and other notes with stories.

Steve Feller has been a physics professor at Coe College (Cedar Rapids, IA USA) for over 46 years. He is an active numismatist and has a research interest in civilian camp money of the Second World War. The book he co-wrote with his daughter was awarded with Book of the Year recognition by the Numismatic Literary Guild. Steve has written over 170 articles on numismatic topics (many with Ray) including World War II, the Mafeking siege, the American Civil War, and other topics. He served as editor of the International Bank Note Society Journal for 17 years. He works with Ray on the annual MPC Fest's educational program.

Ray and Steve recently received two Newman Portal Awards to research money used in American internment camps.

John Adams – Medals, Money, and Diplomacy
July 24, 2025, 12pm MT

This presentation will explore John Adams’ challenging diplomatic efforts prior to his attaining the Vice-Presidency, Continental currency’s foreign-relations impact, and the foreign medals issued honoring both America’s hard-won freedom, and Adams’ unwavering persistence.

Jeff Pritchard is a lifelong numismatist and retired financial planner. He has authored numerous articles and books on both personal finance and numismatics. Jeff has done prior presentations for NumismaTalks as well as for the American Numismatic Society, and Newman Numismatic Symposiums. He is a member of the ANA, the American Numismatic Society, Liberty Seated Collectors Club, Pacific Coast Numismatic Society, and the Seattle Coin Club.

The Heads & Tails of Birth-Year Collecting
August 14, 2025, 2025, 12pm MT

This presentation will highlight the challenges and rewards of birth-year collecting. It is based on Peter's experience researching and building a collection of 1963 world coins and commemorative medals. It highlights events of the time, including the JFK assassination, the space race, the Civil War centennial, the death of Pope John XXIII, and the Civil Rights Movement. It also features an interesting commemorative series of the time from Mexico, Venezuela, Germany, and the USA. It will discuss how to determine what coins and medals were issued by or minted in a specific country in a given year. It will also identify various sources of the coins and medals, how you might display them, photograph and catalog them, and put parameters on your collection.

Peter Lawrence spent 35 years managing technology products for companies including Planar, Canon, and Autodesk. Today, he is a small business consultant living in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was born in Portland, Oregon, where his family was in the saddle and holster manufacturing business from 1857 to 1985. He studied business at Oregon State University and then received a master’s degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona. Peter is a musician, world traveler, and coin collector. His current focus is a 1963 birth-year collection of world coins and commemorative medals. Peter is a veteran public speaker and has delivered hundreds of continuing education presentations to architects, engineers, and technology consultants throughout his career. His sessions are always filled with entertaining stories, colorful anecdotes, and humor.

Collecting Confederate Paper Money
August 28, 2025, 12pm MT

This presentation will discuss what Confederate money was, how it came about, and the various types across the 7 issues. It will include many pictures of notes, people, and books, explanations of various types, and what varieties are. Military issuers and contemporary counterfeits will be discussed. Modern fakes will also be covered, and how easy they are to tell from the genuine article.

Pierre Fricke is a well-known collector, dealer, and author of Civil War paper money and early American coppers. He has been a dealer for over 20 years and a collector for over 50 years. Pierre is the author of the standard catalog for Confederate paper money - Collecting Confederate Paper Money, and several other books. He was a past president of the Society of Paper Money Collectors. Member of the ANA, Early American Coppers (EAC), Professional Numismatist Guild (PNG), Professional Currency Dealers Assoc (PCDA), and many more.

Medieval European Coinage; The Fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Rise of the Carolingian Empire
September 25, 2025, 2025, 12pm MT

This talk is about the first half of the Middle Ages from the traditional date of the fall of Rome in 476 AD to the beginning of the Carolingian Empire during the 9th century AD.

Douglas Mudd is the Curator / Director of the American Numismatic Association’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is responsible for developing, planning, and content of the museum’s exhibition program and the organization and care of the ANA collections. He has created dozens of numismatic exhibits for the museum and for the ANA’s semi-annual conventions. His recent work has expanded the museum's exhibits into the virtual world of the internet including Trenches to Treaties: World War I in Remembrance and Money of Empire: Elizabeth to Elizabeth.