ANA board not eager to spend

If anyone wanted a dramatic headline to come out of the meeting of the American Numismatic Association board of governors Friday afternoon at the Florida United Numismatists convention in Orlando, they were disappointed.

Proceedings were dull.

However, any member who is worried about the financial future of the organization should be reassured by what happened.

Board member frugality was on full display.

A suggestion that new members of the ANA Hall of Fame should be honored at the annual Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs, Colo., rather than at the World’s Fair of Money summer convention in Philadelphia was stymied by an additional cost of $5,000.

In the great scheme of things, this is not a large sum of money relative to the $6 million or so ANA budget, but the financial symbolism is unmistakable.

A second item involving the organization’s top award, the Farran Zerbe Award, also showed how closely the expenditure of funds is being examined.

The award is embodied in a gold medal. The ANA usually buys them in batches of five or 10. With the supply gone and another batch of 10 medals priced at over $30,000, the board balked.

It was suggested that perhaps the medal be made of silver and then gold plated instead of being of 10 karat gold, or perhaps donations could be solicited from numismatic firms to sponsor the medal.

The board decided to explore the sponsorship route.

The question on everyone’s mind, the appointment of a new executive director, will likely not be answered as soon as had previously been thought. The board might postpone its decision to give applicants more time to submit their resumes.

Now the submission deadline is Jan. 31, and the open position has not been as fully advertised as the board wishes.

Though the board did not act on the postponement suggestion on Friday, it likely will soon.