Keep pace no matter what the season

Wisconsin’s summers are not exactly long, but my grandparents exaggerated after every Fourth of July by declaring that summer was over as soon as the last firework boomed over the lake.

As a kid, this statement was a bit of a puzzler. Now that I am hurtling toward the age of my grandparents I just think the statement is funny. It is something you can get away with when you have gray hair.

However, July 4 is a mile marker of sorts. Attention begins to shift in the coin hobby to the next important show. Usually, this relates to the American Numismatic Association convention, which this year will get under way Aug. 13.

However, for some, the Summer FUN convention sponsored by the Florida United Numismatists is the next item of important business.

It will be held July 11-13 in Orlando.

It is a top-notch show sponsored by a top-notch organization.

Results there will give us an indication of the state of the numismatic business in what is traditionally a slow time as collectors and dealers get a little time away to share with their families.

“Traditional” is the key word.

This part of the year might traditionally have been slow, but in a time with 24/7 news cycles and instantaneous online communication is that tradition now simply a quaint notion drawn from 50 years’ worth of memories in my mind? Nowadays, no matter where you are or who you are with, you can still be connected numismatically.

Certainly when bullion was active in recent years, that momentum set the pace for everything else.

The Summer FUN Show, now in its seventh year, filled in a gap that would not have needed filling if this time of year were meant to be slow traditionally or any other way.

Whatever you call this time of year in the numismatic calendar, there are still some numismatists who are doing what they do during the rest of the year.

For me, yesterday I spent time with family, watched a Fourth of July parade and ate all sorts of picnic-style foods. For those all-too brief hours, no collectible thoughts intruded.

Today, I am sitting at my desk as I would on any business day in October or January. The summer might not be over, as my grandparents declared, but the holiday certainly is.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."