ORDERS & MEDALS SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL CONVENTION IN IRVINE, CA AUGUST 14-17, 2014

The annual convention of the Orders & Medals Society of America is coming to Irvine, California in about four weeks. Commonly known as OMSA, members of the numismatic specialty group collect, research and preserve USA and worldwide award medals of all kinds, military and civilian, including Orders of Knighthood, decorations for bravery and medals for various types of service, the vast majority being award medals of the portable variety, that is, medals meant to be worn by the recipient. Accounts of the circumstances surrounding their award related books on Orders, Decorations & Medals (ODMs) are also an important part of the hobby and are well represented at the convention.

OMSA's annual meeting moves around the country and is sponsored by local medal collectors. This year the sponsoring organization is the Southern California Orders & Medals Society, one of the oldest, at well over half a century, regularly meeting medal collector groups in the world, conducting well attended monthly meetings in the Los Angeles area.

The OMSA convention may be unique among specialist collector conclaves insofar as it is a collector financed affair, the costs of the convention being paid by registered attendees, rather than primarily bourse table holders, the latter method most common in the numismatic community. OMSA attendees pay a registration fee, this year $165. For that amount, they have access to the convention floor for the four day bourse and exhibits, two days of seminars on faleristic topics, a donation auction, several meals and cocktail parties, including a lavish annual banquet. As members subsidize the event, inexpensive bourse tables are available to any OMSA member registrant at only $60 (compare that to the cost of an ANA or commercial show table!), enabling members of all means to participate as a seller.

The convention will be held at the Hotel Irvine Jamboree Center, 17900 Jamboree Road, Irvine, CA 92614, (949) 225-6750, from August 14 through 17, 2014 for OMSA member registrants. The convention bourse floor and always fascinating exhibits will also be open to non-registered OMSA members and the general public one day only, Saturday, August 16, 2014 from 9am to 5pm, for a $6 admission fee. Those presently, or potentially, interested in learning about medal collecting are enthusiastically invited.

For more information about OMSA, see www.omsa.org. Those wanting more information about attending meetings of the So. Calif. Orders & Medals Society, should email fdraskovic@hotmail.com.