Central States Numismatic Society

The Sept. 25th issue of Coin World published a Letter to the Editor from Ronald F. Hedglin, [Streator, Ill.] questioning the newly adopted system for credentialing personnel for a Central States Numismatic Society convention booth.

CSNS has reduced all bourse fees across the board by $50 and now charges $50 each for all badges beyond the first, including those issued to spouses or other household members of the booth holder. Under this system the booth holder operating alone will experience a net reduction, while the booth holder with one assistant, whether the assistant is a relative or an unrelated person, will pay the same fee as before. The booth holder with two or more assistants will experience an increase.

It should be noted for the record that prior to the adoption of this policy change by the CSNS Board, an analysis of its financial impact on the entire population of booth holders indicated that on an overall basis the change is virtually revenue neutral; i.e., that it will produce almost exactly the same total bourse income for the convention as a whole.

Mr. Hedglin asserts that this reform is detrimental to family-operated businesses by requiring spouses and children to pay for badges and further infers that the change has been adopted to emulate similar policies of the American Numismatic Association.

The CSNS Board of Governors has adopted this new policy in an effort to produce a level playing field for all the participants in the commercial activities taking place in its bourse area. In the past, some dealers - in fact, a continually growing number - have obtained complimentary assistants' badges for other dealers. These other dealers then compete on the bourse floor for purchases and sales with booth holders and those who have actually paid for Professional Preview badges without themselves having paid in any way to be on the bourse floor during restricted access periods designed to be open only to actual booth holders or to those who have paid a special privilege fee for a Professional Preview badge. Our board sees this as a rather simple issue of fundamental fairness; i.e., that there be a level playing field for all the commercial participants in our bourse.

With respect to Mr. Hedglin's concern that family operated businesses are disadvantaged by the change, it should be noted that the booth holder with two badges, regardless of the booth holder's personal relationship with the assistant, will pay exactly the same fee as before implementation of the change. Moreover, the CSNS Board feels that it would be inappropriate to distinguish between booth personnel on the basis of their gender, matrimonial status or familial relationships.

The bourse area is a competitive commercial activity for its participants. Our Board is of the collective opinion that all those participating should be treated on the same basis for badge issuance purposes, regardless of whether they are husband and wife, close friends, employer-employee, actual business partners, mother and daughter, significant others, etc.

Bourse Chairman Jerry Lebo and I are of the further opinion that it would be an undue intrusion into the private relationship structures of our booth holders to conduct any inquiry attempting to determine the nature and extent of their personal relationships with holders of assistants' badges on their booths. It is, however, quite correct to observe that there is one category of bourse participant that will be disproportionately impacted by implementation of the change; i.e., those who have previously obtained complimentary assistant's badges in order to then compete commercially against others who have paid to be in the bourse area. This is an express intent of the policy. One reason for its adoption is, quite candidly, to more equitably distribute overall convention expenses among all those who are deriving a commercial benefit from their participation in the bourse area, something that will actually result in a net benefit to the smaller dealer with less staff.

With respect to the observation that CSNS is adopting a policy that parallels that of the ANA, I believe the actual facts simply will not confirm this concern. The ANA - whose bourse fees are substantially higher than ours - allows four complimentary badges and charges $100 per badge beyond that. I believe that if one carefully considers the changed CSNS badge policy, one will reach the conclusion that it is a perfectly logical system that does nothing more than treat all participants competing against each other in the commercial activity of the bourse area on an equal basis. Booth holders and paid "early birds" will have the assurance that all are in the bourse room on a comparable basis. Everyone will have the assurance that the CSNS Board as a matter of policy respects their fundamental right to have the nature of their personal relationships with their assistants not be subject to intrusive scrutiny as a condition of participating in our convention or determining what specific bourse fee they will pay and that our organization's convention management policies do not discriminate against anyone nor do they confer any special privileges or benefits on the basis of gender, marital status or familial relationships.