January 2022 Show Attendance a Pleasure
Having survived the widespread ravages that the COVID-19 pandemic exacted upon the hobby community in 2020-2021, for me I found it a distinct pleasure to start 2022 off with attendances at a pair of bellwether hobby community events over January’s opening weekends. First up was the annual Florida United Numismatists (FUN) convention in Orlando, one of two annual markers of the U.S. coin collecting marketplace, the other being the American Numismatic Association’s (ANA) annual World’s Fair of Money in August. The following weekend it was off to the New York International Numismatic Convention (NYINC), the annual bellwether in the realm of world collecting disciplines.
My travels to FUN got under way mid-morning on Wednesday, Jan. 5, with a 43-mile drive to the Appleton airport to catch a scheduled 11:25 a.m. Delta Connection flight to Detroit, which did not actually push back until 12:15 p.m. Even with deicing, the resulting 2:45 p.m. arrival, instead of 1:49 p.m. as scheduled, still left adequate time to catch a panini sandwich for lunch at the Andiamo restaurant, prior to boarding my scheduled 4:15 p.m. Delta departure to Orlando.
Arriving in Orlando at 7:30 p.m., about a half-hour late, the flight being delayed by deicing in Detroit, it was 8:05 p.m. when I arrived by taxi at the Rosen Center hotel’s registration area. There I enjoyed encountering and chatting with David Lange and an NGC associate as we waited for the two agents on duty to work through to us – only two of 16 available registration stands were attended – it being 8:25 p.m. before I was released to my room, whereupon I called it a day.
On Thursday morning it was about 5 a.m. when I headed out for my morning constitutional, walking up
