It's sort of a non-statement to say that money is much on our minds right now. We'd like to hear of a time in history when this wasn't the case, when people weren't concerned with covering the basics and trading for goods and buying a bit of frippery and fun now and then.
So, we're all interested, and we've always been interested. And there are many people so fascinated they're called by a special name -- numismatists -- in honor of their special passion -- collecting and enjoying money in all its various forms. Looking for grandpa's coin collection in the attic isn't merely a sometimes stale chestnut told when we're needing more liquidity; it is an acknowledgment that money, in its many permutations, has intrigued people for a long, long time.
Which leads us to the World's Fair of Money, which opens on August 5th and runs through August 9th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Serious collectors, sometimes fans and once-in-awhile lookie-loos will be strolling the aisles ogling, and often purchasing, rare silvers and golds and other valuable pieces. We can look and we can dream.
It is billed as the "largest" money show in all the world (well, "World's Fair" is in the title). Count on multitudes of passionate people leaning close into cases full of treasures; we may enter the convention hall with just a few nickels jangling in our pockets, but that doesn't mean we can't pine for coin.
