Coins We Love: OKC ANA WFOM - The Rest of the Story
We’ll pick up where we left off - Thursday evening. It was literally the only evening that I didn’t have a business dinner, so we ended up grabbing food at a place I had my eye on all week, Mickey Mantle’s Steakhouse. It was across the street from the Dodgers' Minor League affiliate's stadium, and the meal was quite nice. Alas, they were out of polo shirts, so there’s no proof of the visit, but that evening was relaxing and enjoyable before the downward slope of the show.
Friday morning was full of ANA Board business and the open meeting, of which a few interesting things were said, but the overall mood was that this show location was, indeed, a winner. There is a strong draw to move the show out to the West Coast at some point as well, so I hope that we can make that happen in the coming years. The afternoon saw a bit of a slowdown at the table and on the bourse floor in general. The first five days of the show had been wildly active from attendees and other dealers, but the attendance on Friday was a bit off, and things got quiet. Wes and I had to depart a few minutes early to get ready for the ANA Banquet & Awards Ceremony. That event is the culmination of the major awards given out by the organization, followed by the swearing in of the officers for the next term. I was honored to be introduced and led by the acting director of the US Mint, who seemed to be really on top of her game at the event. It was a lovely evening, topped by some decent rubber chicken and a handful of party favors that we brought home! I’m not much of an evening coffee drinker, but by the end of this event, the week had caught up with me, and it took a few extra cups to make it through the night…followed by a joyous evening of packing bags for the return home.
Saturday morning, I ventured out with my friends from the ANA Board, Seth Chandler and Kenny Sammut, and we grabbed breakfast at Cattleman’s Steakhouse. The breakfast was quite amazing and perfect for a cowboy to start the day! We followed that filling meal to the first meeting of the new ANA Board, and while it was more of an introductory event, it was fruitful and hopefully puts us on the right path to do some great things for the organization.
Once we made it back to the bourse floor, it was a continuation of Friday, and things were awfully slow — in fact, we didn’t buy or sell a single coin on Saturday. I will say, though, that the Kids Corner got incredibly active in the late morning, and that was enjoyable to watch as there was much excitement and noise! Unfortunately, there just wasn’t a lot of trading activity or locals checking out the show. But we admit that we kind of expected that result. After a few hours, we packed up the coins and sent them on their way before we headed to the Will Rogers Airport!
This airport experience was really quite fun. There weren’t a lot of options to eat, so we ended up grabbing a burger in line with about 30 other coin dealers on their way home as well. Wes, Jack, and I found a group of the younger folks and munched away before departing to our gate…where another 40 coin dealers awaited our Delta flight! It was quite the experience, but I have to admit I really enjoyed the complimentary First Class upgrade on the way home, as I never felt the plane leave the gate. It took us 7 or so hours to get home after our connection, but we made it safely without any issues. There’s no tired quite like “ANA Show tired” as I told my wife. I wasn’t good for much of anything on Sunday, but somehow we all made it back to the office on Monday to see what we missed. Overall, the show was incredibly smooth and really enjoyable. I have to admit that I really enjoyed Oklahoma City and the show location. I wish that the public had shown up more the last few days, but we’ll take the activity that we did see! I have a feeling we’ll be returning one of these days…
Numismatically Yours,
John Brush
Click here to continue reading!