Nearly 80 percent of the dealers who left before the close of the American Numismatic Association’s (ANA) show in Jacksonville, Florida, agreed to pay the one-time early-departure fee.

Those cited for early departure from the ANA National Money ShowSM who declined to pay the fee forfeited their tables at the ANA’s next two shows. Those forfeitures provide an opportunity for five dealers to receive space on the sold-out bourse at this summer’s ANA convention in New York City. Only 275 tables were available for the ANA World’s Fair of MoneySM at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, and there were 30 dealers on the waiting list.

“We recognize this was a difficult decision for those involved, but the ANA is looking out for the best interest of the collecting community, providing all its conventions with wonderful educational and entertaining experiences,” says ANA Convention Services Manager Brenda Bishop. “We promote our shows not only to members of the numismatic hobby, but also to the communities where our conventions are located. We want every visitor’s experience, whether it be the first or last day of the show, to be a positive reflection on numismatics.”

At its meetings in Philadelphia in August 2000, the ANA Board of Governors agreed that the Association’s bourse rules should be enforced and approved a measure requiring dealers to remain at their tables until the show closed or lose the opportunity to have a bourse table at the next two ANA conventions. This rule was implemented for the first time in Jacksonville, where dealers agreed to the “General Bourse Rules,” which state: “It is expected that this year, as in the past, you will continue to operate your table in the bourse room until that hour [6 p.m. on Saturday, March 9] unless, by reason of an emergency situation, you have secured written approval from the ANA Convention Manager for earlier departure.”

In early April, the Board met to review the early-departure situation after receiving comments from some dealers who were notified that they had violated the bourse rules, according to ANA Executive Director Edward C. Rochette. Recognizing that tables for the next two ANA conventions were selected prior to the close of the Jacksonville bourse, the Board decided to offer a one-time opportunity for those Jacksonville dealers who left before the close of the show the option of paying a $1,000-per-table early-departure fee.

Of the 36 dealers originally cited by the ANA, four were granted emergency leave, five were sharing tables and nine were not signed up for tables in New York or Charlotte, North Carolina, site of next year’s ANA National Money Show. Of the remaining 18 dealers who vacated their tables before the close of the show in Jacksonville, 14 agreed to pay the early-departure fee by the April 30 deadline and four canceled their table spaces for the next two ANA conventions.

The ANA will continue to enforce its bourse rules at it future conv entions, which includes requiring that “any person who does not comply, in good faith with the bourse contract, not be permitted to have a bourse table at the next two ANA conventions,” according to theresolution approved by the Board of Governors in 2000. The ANA’s show in New York closesat 1 p.m. on Sunday, August 4. Those dealers departing early without prior written approvalof the convention services manager will not be permitted to have tables in Charlotte or the2004 World’s Fair of Money in Baltimore.