ANA National Money Show
The bourse,
originally uploaded by scarlettina.
Yesterday I drove south to Portland for the ANA National Money Show. It's sort of the spring version of the show I attended in Baltimore last summer. I could only make it for one day, but I really crammed in all I could. As previously noted, I came home with some lovely treasures: some antique elongated coins, some tokens, and my prize of the day--a beautifully chopped trade dollar. I'll post pictures of some of the coins sometime tomorrow when I have time to photograph them properly along with explanations.
I love treasure-hunting on the bourse (that's the dealer's room you see in the picture). It's fun because everyone is looking for something different. It's like walking through a very specialized museum that allows you to occasionally take an exhibit home. I enjoy talking to dealers--most of them are friendly and interested in talking to someone who is passionate about what they do. Some of them are grim businessmen present just to earn their nut for the weekend plus whatever else they can get. I tend to think that they're the ones who raise the bar to entry when it comes to coin collecting. They're the stone-faced guys who never crack a smile, the ones who often project a sense that unless you're one of the boys, you're beneath their attention. They make it tougher for the newbies. And then there are the guys in between who will stone-face you while you shop and try to chat them up a little, then show their hand at the end of the transaction by cutting you a deal. I dealt with one of those guys this weekend. It was an interesting encounter. I'll probably do business with him again, but I'm going to work to make him smile next time, because I suspect he's got a nice smile if he'd just loosen the hell up.
I met some penny-smashing buddies for lunch. We left the show to go eat at Red Robin, to trade elongated coins, and share hobby gossip. Lovely to see Carolyn and Travis after several years' hiatus. Looks like we might try to set up another PNW penny-smasher's meet this spring.
If I have any regrets about the show, it's that I missed Friday's presentation on coins and currency of the Civil War and Saturday's meeting of Women in Numismatics. I just couldn't get there Friday for the former, and I wasn't crazy enough to attempt to get up early enough on Saturday to get to Portland by 8:30 to attend a 9 AM meeting for the latter. But there will be other occasions; I'm certain of it.
See more pictures at the Flickr set.
After the show, I headed over to jaylake's place. We went out for Greek food and then spent the evening catching up. I headed out this morning, making the obligatory stop at Powell's where I picked up a beautiful copy of Moby Dick for almost nuthin', a copy of Water for Elephants, which I've been wanting to read, and a silly, girly note pad to keep next to my laptop when I need to keep track of little things.
The only thing that put a damper on the fun was discovering a leak in one of my tires. I don't know if it's serious enough that it will require replacement. Will be looking into that this week. But this wasn't enough of a damper to ruin the afterglow. It was a terrific weekend.
And now, back to the rest of life.
PS: Watched the premiere of "Kings" tonight, the new alt-universe drama on NBC starring Ian McShane, and it's awfully good. If you didn't catch it tonight, catch it online. Really worth the watching.