47TH ANNUAL BRNA SHOW COMMENTS

Blenda Brush

First of all let me thank Bob Hurst (Bourse Chairman), officers of the Blue Ridge Numismatic Association and the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center for a great 47th Convention. A show of this magnitude is not a one day job, it requires almost a year to bring everything together and both Bob and the convention center deserve great honors.

This year’s show consisted of over 150 dealers and over 250 tables. Several changes were made in the dealer sign-in day which was beneficial with a dealer express lane for dealers that had already paid. This express lane was worked by David Cieniewicz and Grant Campbell both members of the BRNA board. Also great thanks go to Grant Campbell for an outstanding job on the barbeque dinner for the Dealer setup night. No one went away hungry – as a matter of fact it was great to hear the dealers say that was great and "I can’t eat anymore." That is very unusual.

Another change that was made with the 47th Convention was free admission to the public. The attendance for the weekend was approximately 1000 visitors. It was a little low from the past year, but the date this year was moved to July due to a conflict with the ANA’s annual show. Unfortunately it was also the weekend following the Alabama state show and the month following the GNA show. Next year the show will return to the last weekend of August, the 23rd-26th.

As always there were several items of interest that I found among the dealers and their wives on the bourse floor while collecting money or venturing to the snack stand. As in the past my main job is to work the registration table so there wasn’t much time to look for bargains at the show. One interesting thing was that one of the dealer wives found a great place to purchase handbags with scripture somewhere in Murphy, NC at the Field of the Woods. Another dealer’s wife that I met had a few things in common with me; she is a twin and teaches piano lesson where I only play the piano.

As noted before, my search for coins was limited, however several times I ventured out to see dealer cases that were emptying so coins were obviously moving. One of the dealers had a money counting machine and it was running. Several people that attended the show asked for appraisals for currency and coins – we are always glad to reference a dealer for this purpose. There were definitely a number of new people attending the show as well this year.

Among the dealers were Kelly Chang with her jewelry items and Alco Supply with their coin supplies. Alco does a wonderful job of supplying and setting up the cases and lamps requested by the dealers that have requested them and there is always a great supply of items needed. There were a few new dealers such as the University Coins out of Gainesville, FL where all the dealers wore the same color shirts except for one day. Sailboat Coins, Nanson Numismatics, and others that I did not get to meet also come to mind. Also there were several dealers walking the floor, unable to setup such as Frank and Jo Duvall (Frank visited the floor) and S & S Sourcing.

The YN Program managed by board member, Gayle Pike, had approximately 15 attendees with a speaker, a Science Teacher, Louis Lavene who had an interesting talk on collecting. Each YN was given a gift bag with goodies that were given by the dealers and other generous persons.

Another numismatic program was a presentation by Austin Sheheen at the Society of Paper Money meeting. Austin has been a Life Member of the BRNA for quite a few years and deals only with currency. I was unable to attend the program but I know from the past that he is a wonderful speaker. Barry Ciociola was in charge of the numismatic programs and scheduling. If you are interested in presenting a numismatic program or a meeting at the future show, please contact either myself at JBrush2@gmail.com or Barry Ciociola at notgeld@aol.com

I’d also like to comment on the Blue Ridge Numismatic Association Board of Directors. This is a great group of working people. Along with the above mentioned members we had Glenda Weaver (who with her husband are dealers) and Jeff Clarke assist with the registration table. Just for fun ask Jeff why he did not accept the driver’s license with the lady’s picture. The registration table is a great place to be – you never forget some of the faces and it is a joy to help people.

There was as television series once called the A-Team where Hannibal Smith, the leader, always said "I love it when a plan comes together." That is the feeling I get when I think of the BRNA and all of the workers and helpers. Without your help, it would not be possible to put on such a great show.

Again Thanks everyone for a great 47th Convention. Next year don’t forget the date change to August 23-26th at the same place with some new ideas.

We hope you enjoyed the show if you were able to attend. And we are always looking for any comments or suggestions for the next show. These may be sent to the President, Gary Overton or to me. I look forward to seeing you again next year!

Blendell Brush, Secretary