One of the great things about going to a show like the World’s Fair of Money is seeing a lot of people. If you like to meet people, talk numismatics, and see lots of interesting items, you should attend one of these shows.

The convention center is across the street from several hotels connected by a walkway where you do not even have to walk outside. Inside the convention center, the hall and the meeting rooms are on the same level almost side-by-side. Inside the entrance to the bourse floor is the World Mint Pavilion and you come right to the booth for the Israel Coins and Medals Corporation, who now calls themselves the Holy Land Mint.

Unless you have no interest in foreign coins, you are immediately drawn to that area. Amongst the mints represented includes the China Gold Coins Company, the group that produces the popular Panda coins; the private Pobjoy Mint that serves smaller countries in the Commonwealth Realm; the Austrian Mint and the Australian Mint that are next to each other and makes for an interesting tongue-twister. The Royal Canadian Mint is here, too.

Straight to the back is the Bureau of Engraving and Printing where they have a number of their products for sale, a display of currency, and the spider press. When I walked up to the spider press, Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios was talking with the gentleman who runs the spider press. Rios, an Obama appointee, is very personable and loves to talk with the public. She even allowed me to take a picture while she was looking at an intaglio print while listening to an explanation of the process.

Next to the BEP is the U.S. Mint. Even though the U.S. Mint takes a lot of floor space, they really do not show much. We have heard reports that they do have a quite a collection of numismatic items but they rarely take it out for the public to see. It would be nice for the U.S. Mint to do more than they do. I saw reports that Deputy Director Richard Peterson who is also filling in as the acting director is here. If I see him I will ask about bringing out some of their archival materials.

After that, the floor is big with a lot of dealers. Since I came without a real plan I started to wander based on what catches my eye. First, I started with the row of book sellers in the back of the room. While I am a proponent of electronic books, there are physical books that are not available electronically. I found a few books that I purchases.

Although I will discuss my purchases when I return home, I will say that I spent more on books than other numismatic items.

While looking though the booth of contemporary supplies and books, I found a really nice book about coin collecting for kids. It looks like an excellent book for kids to learn about coin collecting. I thought it was so cool that I will buy a copy for my niece who has shown interest in coin collecting.

I did attend the American Israel Numismatic Association meeting for the first time since becoming a member. I have been a member for a number of years but never was able to attend an AINA meeting. It was great to meet the people of that organization and hear an interesting lecture about ancient Judean coins and about what is coming at the Holy Land Mint.

Being able to meet and talk with different people is both a lot of fun and a small curse. It is fun because coin collectors are fun people. It is a small curse in that I missed a number of talks that I wanted to attend. But I cannot complain because meeting the people are a lot of fun. I figure out how to get the information from the missed lectures another time!

After the bourse closed, it seems that a lot of people “ran” to the Stacks-Bowers auction for the free food. The food was okay but I was there for the auction. While it was Rarities Night, I was interested in the currency auction which was going on concurrently in an adjoining room. But I didn’t realize the two auctions were separate and missed bidding on Maryland colonial currency I was interested in.

I did leave absentee bids for some Maryland colonials in the John J. Ford collection. I did not receive an email saying that I won, so I will have to check with Stacks-Bowers to see if I did. Some how, I doubt I won.

My time at the convention center end after attending the Board of Governors closed session with the Technology Committee. It was a productive meeting and worth talking with the Board of Governors about the issues. Members interested in what the future has in store for the ANA and technology should attend the open board meeting on Friday.

That’s it for now, Watch for more on Twitter and Pinterest on Friday!

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