Everybody into the ANA pool

It is time for me to jump into the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money. As soon as this is posted, I get into the car and head south.

There is no better place to get a sense of what is going on in numismatics than an ANA convention.

Dealers from all over the nation set up their tables on the bourse and the results they achieve sets the commercial tone for the hobby for the next few weeks. Auctions results also must be monitored.

Collectors from all walks of life join in to make the event not just a commercial one, but a microcosm of all aspects of numismatics.

Fortunately, precious metals are behaving. They are neither too strong nor too weak. Either outcome tends to overwhelm the natural collector impulse at this show. That being the case, if prices will just remain steady, we can see what collectors are really interested in buying.

Tomorrow, of course, is the big day when proof gold Kennedy half dollars go on sale at the Mint booth. There will be 500 lucky individuals who will have their desire to own one satisfied.

How many disappointed would-be buyers will there be? That is a key question.

Another important question is whether those individuals who are disappointed on the first day of gold Kennedy sales will have an opportunity to fulfill their desire to own one in the following four days.

Ordinarily, 2,500 coins should be able to satisfy the crowd, but this offer is not ordinary.

The existence of grading company special labels for this event ensure that the 2,500 coins will be treated as set apart from the overall mintage.

The Mint has roughly 40,000 pieces ready to sell through all of its channels.

Internet buyers will be equally enthusiastic at the beginning of sales tomorrow at 11 a.m. Central Daylight Time and we will see how many orders the Mint takes.

All in all, it will be an exciting week at the ANA. I look forward to it and to the happy exhaustion that I will feel at its conclusion on Saturday night.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2013 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."