Sunday, May 22, 2011

JR Newsletter: 22 May 2011 (37)

Nathan Markowitz wrote:

Whew! This year's Portland convention is history.  I actually had fun; even though as convention chair my time for numismatics was limited.  The 2011 show was held at the Doubletree Hotel in Portland, Oregon, a venue used for the annual northwest regional coin show.  Preliminary estimates are 330 attendees of which 155 registered on site.  There was a strong showing of local and first time EAC show attendees. Many copper and nice early silver coins changed hands at this event.  Reportedly record numbers of spouses attended especially given the vineyard tour on Thursday and the Columbia River Gorge waterfall tour on Saturday. 

Exhibits included 2 silver and 5 copper topics plus one best described as crossover.  The Portland Cent (flipped to determine the city's name) on loan from the historical society was attributed by Bob Grellman at the show. The educational seminar included about half copper topics and half silver or general interest topics.  All were recorded and can be previewed at http://www.coinweek.com  Keynote speaker John Wright entertained us with fifty years of early copper history and a magician was a delightful addition to the "educational program" Friday night (http://www.parlorofwonders.com/Portland_Magic/Portland_Magix.html)

An EAC convention can succeed only by a collaborative effort.  I am grateful to the many volunteers who made this event a success.  In particular I am indebted to Bim Gander, our bourse chair, whose prior experience running the San Diego EAC convention (yes, he was crazy enough to do it again) was invaluable.  Rob Norvich organized and executed the extracurricular events including the magician.  Jerry Bobbe created a restaurant guide and led a "leisurely" nine mile waterfall hike the day before the show.  Larry Gaye and fellow Willamette coin club members helped with arranging cases and lights and set up and tear down.  Cindy Murray, Jim Gallegos, and Randolf Farrar gave generously of their time to man the registration table when we needed help.  Jim Roecker organized lot viewing.  All in all, the best of volunteerism showed itself last week...my regrets for anyone I may have missed.

Finally, I am especially extremely pleased at the number of first time speakers and exhibitors.  It is critical to have these first timers share their expertise and passion with the group and they were well received.  I want to encourage anyone to exhibit or give a presentation in future years...you can contact myself or Steve Carr (exhibits).   You are the core of what drives this organization's educational efforts.  I turn the reins to the team for Buffalo, NY May 2-6, 2012 at the Adam's Mark Hotel