ANA WORLD'S FAIR OF MONEY Philadelphia, PA — August 14-18, 2018

I came early to do the Ancients class, which I really enjoyed. This morning I'm walking to Independence Hall for a scheduled tour, then will hit the bourse and exhibits this afternoon and Wednesday. I could only justify so much time away from home, so I'm getting back on the train Thursday afternoon.

In case anyone sees me and wants to say hello, I'm middle aged, female, will have a blue purse (don't laugh, my purse color has been a good identifier in the past) and most likely to be seen looking at the displays, the books, or hanging in the world coins section. I do cruise through the other areas though too.

I'll keep an eye out for Luke Skywalker being helpful @V. Kurt Bellman . Wish I could have stayed to get a few glamour shots of whatever new things I get from @messydesk. Someday I'd like to take the photo course, but it went on DURING the show...and the Ancients were calling me.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I was at the pre-show on the 13th setting up 10 case exhibit (one of my to do item for 2018).

 

Not this year but maybe next.

 

Too bad we won't cross paths at the show. If there is stuff you want photographed, you could leave it with my booth benefactor on Wednesday or with me on Thursday morning and I could ship it back to you.

 

Man, I wish I was there. Hopefully next year.

 

Been there and now I'm back.

 

We spent a few hours there today. Picked up some neat Mint Errors from Jon Sullivan and Fred Weinberg.. Threads coming soon!

 

Well, there’s only ONE word to describe the crowds at Day One of the ANA show in Philly - WOW! With the possible exception of the first couple of days in 2014, with the gold Kennedy debacle, this is the biggest crowd at an ANA since the show was last in Philly in 2012. Better than an average Chicago, and beating the PANTS off of Anaheim and Denver. Wall to wall clients all day. Registration was swamped for hours, and over 700 ANA members had registered by mail, pre-show. The ignorant unions at the Convention Center are up to their usual tricks.

After ribbon cutting, I was off to judging meeting, and then real hardcore duty - stuffing CDN binders into the CDN bags. I’ll briefly be starting that again, then who knows?

I am judging Class 1 - U.S. Coins, and exhibiting in Class 10 - Local Interest, and Class 20 - U.S. Commemoratives. And as a bona fide member of the Chicago Coin Club, I will be joining them and our friends from the New York Numismatic Club for dinner tonight.

 

Crowds are INSANE! Much busier than yesterday. By the end of today, this will surpass Anaheim and Denver for FIVE days!

 

12:20 PM. Since well before the show opened at ten, there has been a long waiting queue at Registration. Finally, ANA members can walk up. The public line is still about 10 deep.

 

Don’t you DARE try to tell me big coin shows are dead or dying. You just have to come to the right cities!

 

You don’t look like Luke Skywalker.

 

Nothing at all like him
Left - Bellman ... Right - paddyman98

 

Judged Class 1- United States coins. Clear 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. I exhibited in Class 10 and 20. Exhibitors get judging sheets tomorrow at 8:30 AM.

 

I see you got a haircut for the show.

You guys have a blast!

 

Yeah, my barber also took some off the beard, too.

 

Which exhibits? Some volunteer dude handed me a people’s choice ballot so I felt compelled to REALLY look at each one. I had my favorites and it was hard to narrow down to just 3.

Currently sitting at the Amtrak station headed home. Had to get some dim sum one more time. My bag has leftovers and some tabouli from the market. I live in a gastronomic wasteland so if I have a seat mate they are just going to have to deal.

I did get some coins, but sold too. Between the sales and something that had a random ‘make offer’ from Heritage, I broke even.

Well, not counting the tuition, train ticket, hotel, and piles of yummy food I ate. But hey, it’s a vacation. My anniversary too but I have an understanding husband. Nothing says love like a solo vacation.

 

I was at my monthly coin show last night. Several of the better dealers were absent, and at the ANA show.
Jelly.

 

There is one dude from Chicago who has become Mr. People’s Choice. He has won like 5 of them. I bet he wins again. I have an exhibit in the running for Best in Show. It’s all done up with fancy Photoshop-style graphics, but it’s not Photoshop. It’s GIMP 2.8 running on Ubuntu 18. Both free software. Printed on a Canon 44-inch wide inkjet printer. Inventive pedestals using the 3rd dimension. My two exhibits are the Beginning of U.S. Nickel Coinage - A Local Story, and California Pacific International Exposition of 1935 & 1936.

 

As it turns out, my PRIMARY ANA job at this show is packing CDN monthlies and CDN binders into CDN bags for attendees. Seems they heard I do campaign work.