Knowing How Low We Should Go
A PUBLICIST RATES HIS WORK
In the February/March 2021 issue of COINage, I urged anyone writing numismatic stories or news releases aimed at the general public to avoid incomprehensible hobby jargon, unless it’s an absolutely crucial element of the story. I stated: “An announcement perfect for numismatic publications can flop when pitched to mainstream media.”
Perhaps I should do a better job of following that advice.
I recently learned about the Gunning Fog Index, a readability test developed decades ago by publishing company executive Robert Gunning and his employees. It estimates the years of formal education, from sixth grade to college graduate, that a person needs to understand written text on the first reading.
So I decided to test the opening paragraphs of several numismatic press releases I wrote and distributed to mainstream news media in recent years. How did I score?
For announcing the record-setting sale of a historic Double Eagle: A rare U.S. gold coin struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1857 and recovered five years ago from a world-famous California Gold Rush shipwreck set a record price for any 1857 San Francisco Mint $20 denomination gold coin. It was sold for $282,000 in a public auction in New Orleans, Louisiana conducted by Legend Rare Coin Auctions of Lincroft, New Jersey (www. LegendAuctions.com) on May 16, 2019.
Score: 9.24, the average level of a high school freshman.
For publicizing an ANA (American Numismatic Association) convention: The public can see more than $1 billion of historic rare coins and colorful currency, including a Lincoln cent that sold for $1 million, a famous $3 million nickel and a U.S. Treasury Department display that includes $100,000 bills, at the Chicago World’s Fair of Money® (www. WorldsFairofMoney.com) in the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, August 13-17, 2019. Visitors also can find out what their old coins and currency may be worth.
Score: 10.20, high school sophomore. For promoting the sale of a rare ancient gold coin: A previously unrecorded example of a valuable ancient “Ides of March” gold coin commemorating the assassination of Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 44 B.C. sold for £3,240,000 ($4,188,393, €3,588,602) on October 29, 2020. Authenticators in the United States and United Kingdom who verified its authenticity correctly predicted it would sell for millions more than a London auction house’s conservative £500,000 pre-sale estimate.
Score: 15.28, a junior in college.
Texts for a wide audience generally need an index number less than 12. The first paragraph of this column has a Gunning Fog Index score of 15.43. I’m confident every reader of this magazine understood it. Whether they agreed with it, though, is another matter.
It’s questionable whether we really need to “dumb down” our approach to the general public. I have faith we can attract attention to and generate interest in numismatics without going for the lowest common denominator. Let’s just stick with intrahobby arguments among ourselves about whether we can only call a certain U.S. coin denomination a “cent” and not a “penny.”
You can test your own writing at www. gunning-fog-index.com. And then you’ll better know how low we should go.
In his “previous life,” public relations consultant Donn Pearlman was an awardwinning broadcaster and journalist.
An extraordinary 1907 Ultra High Relief (UHR) Saint-Gaudens double eagle graded Proof-68 by the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) www.pcgs.com has traded hands for $4,112,500 to become one of the most valuable gold coins ever sold.
The coin was purchased by a collector in a private sale through Legend Numismatics via John Albanese. Formerly owned by storied numismatist Sam Bloomfield, it is accompanied by a Certified Acceptance Corporation (CAC) sticker and now resides in a top-ranking PCGS Registry Set of 20th century gold coins.
“In its grade of PCGS Proof-68, it is easily one of the finest of its kind,” said PCGS President Brett Charville. “It’s no wonder that it sold for more than $4 million. The 1907 Ultra High Relief is the archetypal Saint-Gaudens double eagle, struck with the richness and detail that celebrated sculptor Augustus SaintGaudens had originally intended.”
“We consider this piece to be a sculpture in gold more so than a coin,” notes Legend Numismatics Founder Laura Sperber. “Roosevelt got it right by wanting all gold Double Eagle coins to look like this!”
Sperber relates the stellar specimen she handled to the initiative that President Theodore Roosevelt pushed forth around 1905, when he handpicked SaintGaudens to redesign the double eagle; he also designed the Indian eagle that, like the Saint-Gaudens double eagle, was in production from 1907 through 1933.
CHICAGO WORLD’S FAIR OF MONEY® PLANS FOR 300 OR MORE TABLES
Although safety protocols may limit the size of the show, the American Numismatic Association (ANA) www. money.org is making plans for its annual World’s Fair of Money slated for mid-August in Rosemount, Illinois.
The Donald E. Stephens Convention Center announced that it will resume hosting trade shows and events beginning in July, which is great news for the Aug. 10-14 event. The convention center, one of the largest such facilities in the U.S., has not yet indicated whether limits will be placed on the number of people allowed in the event facility at one time. However, attendees will most likely be adhering to social distancing, wearing masks, and following established disinfecting routines.
To comply with possible safety protocols, the ANA is currently limiting the number of dealer tables to 300 to allow for appropriate distancing between booths. Once the bourse has sold out, dealers will be placed on a wait list. In the event that COVID conditions improve and protocols are relaxed, the ANA may increase the number of dealer tables to 500.
The annual World’s Fair of Money is considered one of the biggest weeks of the year for collectors of coins, paper money, tokens, and medals. The event traditionally features educational forums, exhibits from private collectors and the ANA’s Money Museum, and major auctions by Heritage Auctions and Stack’s Bowers Galleries.
A first-ever “Dealer Day” will be held immediately prior to the show on Aug. 9. For further information, visit https:// www.money.org/worldsfairofmoney.
Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez has won multiple Numismatic Literary Guild awards for his work as a journalist, editor, and author and enjoys writing about a variety of topics spanning the hobby he has loved since 1992. Joshua has been writing for COINage since 2014 and became a contributing editor in 2015.