American Numismatic Association Certification Service

ANACS’ rich and noble history began in 1972. It was created by the American Numismatic Association (ANA) with a mission to correct an urgent problem facing the coin hobby. The ANA is a century-old, not-for-profit educational association for collectors of coins, tokens, medals and paper money. The ANA, like the U.S. Olympic Association and the American Red Cross, is chartered by the U.S. Congress.

In the early 1970s, the ANA board of governors recognized that something significant needed to be done about the counterfeit and altered coins that were plaguing the coin community. Their solution was ANACS, the American Numismatic Association Certification Service. ANACS began with a staff of two experts with Washington D.C. as its home. Washington was chosen in order to utilize the Smithsonian’s Numismatic Collection and to be near the Treasury Department, specifically the Secret Service.