ANA World's Fair of Money in Oklahoma City.

August 19-23. Just a month away.
I thought there was already a thread on this but I can't find it.

Are you planning to be there?
Dealers, please share your table number.

I believe this is the first time for it to be held in OKC.

 

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I'll be there Thursday through Saturday. Not sure which table.

 

Thinking about Wed or Thursday.

 

Long running threads at PCGS...

Show tables: https://money.expocad.com/Events/2025okl/index.html

 

This is my first time to be able to drive to a large show. It's going to be nice not having to fly. Only my second ANA show.

I think many were having a hard time finding flights that worked for them. It looks like there are only about 30 tables still open.

I have the feeling that many collectors will be there.

 

If anyone is still on the fence...

The convention hotel is sold out of the convention block and VERY expensive to book otherwise, but there are other nearby hotels.

If you are driving up from DFW, remember they generally do drive the speed limit in Oklahoma (although a lot of Texas plates on I35 think of that as a minimum). Especially north of Ardmore (the four or five times I've driven it, the stretch from WinStar to the south suburbs can be a bit wild west).

 

I'll be there 20th and 21st. Often go to summer ANA meeting. Have never stayed at a hotel with their "special" rates, which are still high. Have always found a hotel nearby that was nice but cheaper.

Cal

 

I have been told that many national dealers are not pleased with the more remote location. Chicago as a major hub with for many don’t need to connect flights is far more preferable.

 

B*tch & Moan - some people would complain if you hung them with a new rope.

People complain that "it's always Rosemont" and "Why doesn't the show travel to where the collectors live?"

The reality is the ANA is not a prized convention. We have to go to sites that want us and those are mostly 2nd tier.

The convention can't be in a site with sales tax on numismatic items nor PMs.

The convention has to avoid convention centers that are expensive to operate in. For example at the Javits Center in New York you can't plug in your own power strip and you can't put down your own carpet.

The geographic center of the US is South Dakota (albeit distorted by Alaska). The population average is in Missouri. And the median is on the Illinois/Indiana line - which tends to favor Midwest or East Coast locations.

Note that the last big West Coast show has recently shut down, and the attempted new show locations in the last decade are Tampa, Nashville, and St Louis...

 

As someone who has been to the Rosemont one a couple times, it doesn't bother me that it's hosted in OKC this time. I thought about making the 11 hr or so journey because the venue looks nice and it's one of the best shows in the country.

I wouldn't mind visiting OKC but it's never been at the top of my list as a destination place. That being said, some years you just have more going on at home than other years and this is one of those years. I hope everyone has a safe trip and enjoys the show.
I did talk to someone who recently drove through Oklahoma to Texas and it sounds like the tolls are climbing in Oklahoma now. $30+ to get through the state, north/south round trip I believe he said.

 

There are no tolls on I35 which is the straight(ish) shot from Laredo TX to Duluth MN, 1516 miles. So I don't know what road is being referenced...

(That's how you get from DFW airport to the OKC Convention Center... 3 hours, 196 miles... most of it on I35)

 

There are a few toll roads around the city but there is no reason to use them.

 

If your trip through Oklahoma runs from the NE part of the state to Wichita Falls, TX you'll travel most of the way on toll roads. If you avoid the tolls you can add a lot of time to your trip.

 

Several decent dealers are bagging this show because of location and air travel.

 

whaaa whaaaa whaaaa

Isn't the usual complaint that "The dealers run the ANA show, ignoring the collectors?"

 

Many collectors like me have decided not to go because their favorite dealers won’t be there.

 

I don’t understand why Oklahoma City was chosen. There certainly isn’t a large local population compared to many other cities. It’s the smallest city by far that the summer show has been in since the 1950’s. There are 41 metro areas in the US that are larger.

Some possible reasons: 1. cheaper rent for convention center, 2. favorable sales tax, 3. one (long) day drive from ANA HQ in Colo. Springs, 4. near geographical center of contiguous states, 5. location of some influential dealers, like APMEX.

Personally, I have nothing against it being there with regard to my interests other than maybe fewer dealers being there. But my wife goes with me. She loves museums, and pickings are slim in Oklahoma City. We have good air connections via Denver. And I’ve never met an Oklahoman I didn’t like.

Cal

 

You and everybody else keep missing the key point. NOBODY in the 1st tier WANTS the ANA Convention.

It's not the convention center rental that pays for the room, it's the package... rental + room nights + catering... and, well, a bunch of coin dealers sleeping 3-to-a-room at the Motel 6 up the road? Or a bunch of Doctors doing CPE who are renting $600 a night suites and who buy (or are gifted) $100-a-plate meals?????

Everybody whined about Rosemont, and the ANA board had to find an alternative on relatively short notice.

It had to be a site that made an offer, met certain ANA conditions (an international airport, no sales tax, and affordable space).

TNA (Texas Numismatic Association) went through the same thing. Arlington sold off the convention center,r and that torpedoed the TNA show. For many years, inertia had kept the rental rates affordable. The new ACC has rate in common with other sites in the area, 2 or 3x what TNA was paying.

They ended up in a nice, but 3rd-tier site in Conroe, TX, for two years. 3 hours south.

Don't get me wrong, the room in Conroe is nice, but there aren't the other facilities and attached hotels that would upgrade it to tier 2.

Next year, TNA is back in DFW, but at the Will Rogers Center, which rents barns... alright, that's not fair, the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Exhibits Hall has 95,000->160,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space.

And once-upon-a-time, the TNA show rotated around Texas.

 

However, there are a bunch of nice museums in OKC

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g51560-Activities-c49-Oklahoma_City_Oklahoma.html

 

Our basis for comparison of museums is cities like Chicago, Washington, Amsterdam, New York, London, and Rome.

Cal