Dave Harper: Did I look like this in high school?

I must be old. A reader stopped by the Krause Publications booth at the American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money while I was there and accused me of using my high school photo in the column heading. He didn’t seem to be joking.

What an introduction to a conversation that was.

With all the running around that conventions entail and days beginning with programmed breakfasts and ending with programmed dinners, I could sure use the energy I had when I was in high school.

But my photo?

I pulled a copy of the paper from our table and turned to Page 6 and showed him the photo that appears here.

What did I say?

Getting started in coin collecting is as easy as 1, 2, 3 when you get your advice straight from the Answer Man!

Well, what would you say in circumstances like that?

My response to the reader was to admit that the photo that appears here is not absolutely new, but it is a far cry from being a high school photo.

I directed that he look at the glasses I am wearing.

“See, I am still wearing the same glasses,” I said. I have had my current glasses for the last four years or so. To be safe, I told the reader the photo was no more than five years old.

That hardly puts me in high school. I wish.

So after that exchange, what did the reader have on his mind?

Nothing else.

Gold was setting records.

The bourse floor buzz was loud and continuous from Tuesday morning until Saturday afternoon. Business was clearly running hot and heavy.

It was an all-around great show.

I enjoyed it. Most others I came into contact with did, too.

But none of this was on the reader’s mind. He just went on his way. Point made.

Why do I feel like I just came from a family reunion?

“Puttin’ on a little weight, aren’t you?”

Pat the belly.

“Hair is getting a little thin on the top, isn’t it?”

Talk about my bald spot here.

“Been out in the sun golfing this summer? You look tanned.”

“Nice suit. Where’d you get it?”

In a way, the ANA convention is almost a family reunion with all the familiarity and inquisitiveness of those gatherings.

In this case, it is the large numismatic family that gathers in whole or in part virtually every weekend of the year.

This is one of the appealing aspects of numismatics. You don’t have to do it alone. You can share. Many of us in attendance have known each other for many years. The commercial elements aside, there are happy moments and loss, including moments of silence for those who have died since we last met.

So I guess I had better get to work on placing a new photograph in this column.

But the phone’s ringing. News is happening. Looks like I have to postpone changing the photo. Darn.