Sales of bourse tables for the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Rosemont, Ill., in August are well ahead of schedule while those for the inaugural fall National Money Show in October in Pittsburgh are beyond expectations, the ANA Board of Governors were advised during a May 10 telephone conference.

ANA Executive Director Larry Shepherd informed board members that advance teams of ANA convention staff have been selling tables at other major shows over the past several months as well as visiting upcoming show sites to ensure trouble-free conventions.

Shepherd said he was a member of an eight-person team recently deployed to Pittsburgh for two weeks. Among the business transacted during the visit was redrawing the floor plan for the bourse at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center to make more efficient use of the floor space and improve traffic flow.

More space has been made available should the ANA need it at the Pittsburgh convention, he said.

Shepherd said exhibit space will be near the front entrance to the Pittsburgh bourse, with room for expansion.

The ANA has received extensive positive feedback from dealers looking forward to the inaugural fall show, Shepherd said.

ANA officials also attended the May 6 to 8 Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists Convention in the Pittsburgh suburb of Monroeville at which the ANA displayed a 1913 Liberty Head 5-cent coin and an 1804 Draped Bust dollar, Shepherd said. There, they also met with Kerry Wetterstrom, who is serving as chairman of the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Philadelphia in 2012.

Shepherd said the pre-planning trips have led to fewer surprises and problems once a convention starts.

ANA sales teams sold bourse tables for upcoming ANA conventions during the recent show in Rosemont, Ill., by the Central States Numismatic Society, and during the last Whitman Baltimore Coin and Collectibles Expo. Shepherd said sales teams will also be attending the International Paper Money Show June 10 to 12 in Memphis, Tenn., and the June 16 to 19 Whitman Baltimore Coin and Collectibles Expo to sell bourse tables for ANA shows.

A 250-page June commemorative edition of the ANA journal, The Numismatist, will tout the World’s Fair of Money Aug. 16 to 19 in Rosemont, with up to 50,000 additional copies to be sent to persons on the mailing list of Stack’s Bowers Galleries, the official auctioneer for the convention, Shepherd said.

Collectors Universe has prepared a video (more than 11 minutes in length) promoting the Rosemont show for the ANA, and more advertising is being published in the general and numismatic press than for previous shows, Shepherd said.

Summer Seminar

The ANA is also reporting more and earlier registrations for both ANA Summer Seminar sessions, set for June 25 to July 1 and July 2 to 8. Shepherd said Susan McMillan indicated the response will likely result in fewer courses having to be canceled because of lack of sufficient registration.

Shepherd said a special recognition event to honor ANA Hall of Fame inductees will be conducted between the two Summer Seminar sessions. He said Coin World Editor Beth Deisher will lead the ceremonies, and will interview those recipients attending, with the ANA videotaping the interviews to retain as part of ANA’s history. Fourteen members of the ANA Hall of Fame are currently living.

ANA elections

ANA Board members voted to have the independent auditing firm of BiggsKofford P.C. count only one vote for the ANA presidency and one vote for each of the seven at-large board seats, since those offices are uncontested in this year’s election. Only the position of vice president is contested, and BiggsKofford will count each ballot, but only record the total votes for the two vice presidential candidates — Walter Ostromecki, a current at-large board member, and Arthur Fitts, a former ANA governor.

ANA President Clifford Mishler said only counting one vote for each of the uncontested candidates will save the ANA roughly $2,500 from the overall $10,000 contract.

ANA Executive Director Larry Shepherd said the cost of an election, held every two years, is $35,000, which also includes the cost of producing and mailing ballots to the ANA members in good standing.

ANA Governor J.P. Martin suggested the possibility of not holding a board election at all should none of the open positions in an election be contested, saving the ANA the total election costs. Governor Joe Boling opposed Martin’s recommendation. Mishler said he would refer Martin’s suggestion to the ANA Bylaws and Ethics Committee for review and recommendation.

The ANA’s current vice president, Tom Hallenbeck, is running unopposed for ANA president. For the at-large governor seats, running unopposed are incumbents Jeff C. Garrett, Scott Rottinghaus, Wendell A. Wolka, and Mishler, and newcomers Gary Adkins, Michael L. Ellis and Greg Lyon.

Martin qualified to run for re-election, but declined to accept the nomination. ANA Governors Alan Herbert and Joe Boling chose not to run. ¦