Jun 12, 2009 | Baltimore, shows
Sorry for being silent for the past week. There has been a lot going on. But today, after completing some tasks for work, I will be leaving to go to the Whitman Baltimore Coin and Currency Show. For me, this show is significant because I will be exhibiting for the first time.
Also today is the First Inaugural Maryland State Numismatic Association Distinguished Lecture Series lecture featuring Q. David Bowers. Bowers, who needs little introduction, just completed a book on colonial coinage. His lecture will be on colonial coinage—a topic I admittedly know little about. It should be interesting!
While in Baltimore, I will be tweeting updates on Twitter. Just follow Coinsblog on Twitter or keep refreshing this page and follow my last five tweets on the left side. If the situation presents itself, I will upload pictures to the same Photobucket accout I used for the ANA show last year. If I upload pictures, I will tweet that information.
I will write more over the weekend.
Apr 1, 2009 | Baltimore, coins, shows, tokens
If it was Saturday at the end of March, it was time to drive to Baltimore for the Whitman Baltimore Coin and Currency Expo. This show is a three-times-a-year ritual for the numismatic community centrally located on the eastern seaboard. For the last few years, the show has expanded to three large halls in the Baltimore Convention Center and made into a real numismatic happening by the people at Whitman. Whitman has done a good with the show and I hope their new venture into Philadelphia is successful. If there is one complaint, I wish they would use chairs without arms. Those of us with wide bottoms would appreciate this.
After completing errands, I left home at 11:30 and drove to Baltimore. Depending on traffic, the trip from home to parking near the Baltimore Convention Center can take an hour. I park near the convention center in the parking lot at the Sheraton Inner Harbor. I overpaid for parking and walked to the Convention Center.
Registration booths are expertly tended to by members of the Baltimore Coin Club. Sine many of the members are also members of the Maryland State Numismatic Association, it was nice to see friendly faces.
Once inside I started with my regulars. I wanted to talk with them to see how the show was going. The responses were mixed, but in the extremes. Some dealers said that they would not make the money they paid in fees and expenses for the weekend. Others said that the weekend could not be better.
Gold and silver seemed to be very hot. It was difficult to find 2009 Silver Eagles. I was able to find one from a dealer with three singles and two rolls left. Good date Morgan dollars were also selling well. One dealer said that early 20th Century commemoratives were also selling well.
There was a lot of gold. Gold was everywhere. Some dealers were advertising that they would buy scrap gold. I watched as a dealer bought scrap gold at spot less 5-percent. I also saw a dealer with one ounce gold eagles fanned across his case when I entered the hall and the pile was half the size two hours later.
At the show I met Sharon, a dealer from New York who travels with her husband nearly every weekend to shows. She was a fun person who convinced me to buy something I originally was not going to buy. Sharon mostly sells currency and said that the show was a disaster for her. Although she had some very nice National Banknotes, there seemed to be little interest in currency at this show. Sharon and her husband will be at the Dulles Coin & Currency Expo at the end of April. This year is the third annual show at Dulles. I will have to drop by.
Other currency dealers also said it was slow. I do not collect currency because of the costs involved, but I will browse their tables to look at the artwork of these wonderful notes. Currency dealers also love to talk about their products and I have learned a lot about economic history from their discussion of the notes. Nearly every currency dealer said that their sales were slow. Only one dealer gave me a shrug and said that it was “OK.”
Although I did not buy much, I continued my tradition to try to find something I consider “neat.” This show’s neat find did not cost anything. I was walking down the aisle and walked by the table for Abbott’s Coins. I forgot to ask who the dealer at the table was, he was not John Abbott, but he was handing out these copper-looking tokens. Looking at the token, there were the big letters “TUIT” on the front. I looked at the dealer and said, “I can’t take this. It means that I would have to get things done!” But it was so compelling, I had to take one.
Now that I have a “Round TUIT” I cannot complain that I will get things done when I get a Round TUIT. I have one. I guess it’s time time to get things done!
The June show will be bigger and will have a Sunday session. There will be speakers, club meetings, and more activities. It will be a real happening along with the usually buying and selling. If you are in the area, you have to attend this show. When you are done, remember that the Inner Harbor is right next door with shops and plenty of restaurants. If you want to bring your family and they are not interested in coins, send them to the National Aquarium while you check out the coins.
Mar 21, 2009 | Baltimore, BEP, shows
This week I received a postcard in the mail announcing that the Whitman Baltimore Coin and Collectibles Expo will be held at the Baltimore Convention Center, March 26-28. The card announces that the official auction will be conducted by Bowers and Merena Auctions as well as on-site grading services by DGS, ICG, NCG, and PCGS.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing will be at the show with its Billion Dollar Exhibit and the antique Spider Press. BEP will be selling the second print in the Lincoln Bicentennial Intaglio Print Series. If the past is any indication, BEP will be selling special versions of the print that was printed at the show on the Spider Press. The limited edition will be noted on the print and sold by daily lottery. You will have to be present to win.
In addition to the coins and currency will be able to Meet Mr. Lincoln presented by Lincoln re-enactor, Dennis Boggs. Boggs presents “presents an enlightening, informative, and educational look at the life of the 16th President as it might have been told by Abraham Lincoln himself.” Souvenir photos with Mr. Lincoln will be taken.
I will be there on Saturday. I will enter my thoughts via Twitter and can be read on this page or through my Twitter timeline.
Aug 9, 2008 | ANA, awards, Baltimore, books, CCAC, shows
I heard many reports of a successful World’s Fair of Money, I wish I was able to attend other days. Unfortunately, with it being two-and-a-half weeks after knee surgery, I was not able to recover in order to make a return trip. So I took the week off to recover and allow my knee to heal. But I had a few thoughts I would like to share.
First, congratulations are in order for Roger W. Burdette. On Tuesday, July 29, the US Mint announced that Roger was appointed to the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee. Roger was appointed to a four-year term as the member with a special background in numismatics. Roger is a noted numismatic researcher and author. His three-volume series, Renaissance of American Coinage have been met with critical acclaim.
To add to the acclaim for Renaissance of American Coinage, the third published volume, second in the series, covering 1909-1915 has won the 2008 Book of the Year from the Numismatic Literary Guild. With this year’s recognition, all three volumes have won Book of the Year honors (1905-1908 volume in 2007 and 1916-1921 volume in 2006). I highly recommend all three books for anyone with an interest in numismatics!
I was able to spend a lot of time in the area where the international mints were located. I visited with the Royal Mint and was able to purchase the The Royal Shield of Arms and Emblems of Britain Brilliant Uncirculated Collection and a 2008 One Ounce Britannia Bullion £2 coin. What was more interesting was interesting was talking with the 20-something Royal Mint employees. Not only were the accents intriguing, but they were more excited about going shopping. They noticed the same thing that I did many years ago when traveling to the UK, the numbers of the prices were the same but in different currency. So they were excited to pay $45 instead of £45 for jeans. At the current exchange rate, clothes were half-price. I hope they returned to London with a suitcase full of nice clothes!
Sometimes, it is easy to ridicule the Royal Canadian Mint for the large number of non-circulating collectable legal tender (NCLT) coins they produce. When viewing their catalog or other online images, some of the coins have a comical look to them. However, when seeing them in person in their display case. I was not impressed with the coin that is a recreation of an old milk token and some of the full color coins, but those that use color as an access where very beautiful.
My only regret was not picking up a stuffed moose and beaver that was offered at the Royal Canadian Mint booth. They were very cute, albeit expensive, and were dressed in the traditional Royal Canadian Mounted Police dress uniform. My niece and nephew would have loved these fuzzy buddies as gifts.
At the table for the Austrian Mint after Austrian Railway commemoratives caught my eye, I had a conversation with a heavily accented mint employee about their coins. While they have not produced any colorize coins, that will change in the future. It is felt that using color accents on coins help promote interests with new collectors. Interestingly, this Australian Mint employee said that the US Mint may be the last mint to issue colorized coins. He felt that the US Mint takes a parochial view on coin design that make significant change reticent. Although he understood the political process behind US coinage, he cited the lack of bimetallic coinage as part of that inability to think beyond their comfort zone. It was an interesting conversation.
Finally, I was able to meet Bob Van Ryzin, editor of Bank Note Reporter and host of Coin Chat Radio. We talked a little about Coin Chat Radio and how they would handle broadcasts from the show. I also ran into Dave Harper, editor of Numismatic News and World Coin News. I promised him I would not tell everyone that I found him eating cake at the Industry Council For Tangible Assets (ICTA)—so don’t say anything! The few times I met Dave, he always seems to be happy. I guess it helps when you have a great job like his!
Next for the ANA is the National Money Show next March in Portland, Oregon. I have been to Portland once and enjoyed my time. It is a nice city with a small-town feel that is appealing. Besides, Oregon has no state sales tax, which makes shopping that much cheaper!
Jul 30, 2008 | ANA, Baltimore, shows
It was a very long day in Baltimore. After driving for over an hour, I finally made it to the Baltimore Convention Center and started to feed pictures and text to Twitter and Photobucket. I hope those who followed enjoyed the updates. I know there were some time gaps between Tweets, but I needed to take time to do my own searching! Also, connection issues prevented a few pictures from uploading. But it was fun.
Since it was a long day, here are a few items that left an impression.
US Mint
US Mint Director Edmund Moy was the star of the show after the opening when he unveiled the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin. The exhibit included a case with six 400 ounce gold bars, followed by replica large casts of the new coins, another case with trial dies and various trial strikes, and ending with multiple pattern coins.
Although my pictures did not capture these coins properly, those who are skeptical about edge lettering should not worry about these coins. The edge lettering on the sample coins were very well struck, deep, and really stood out on the coins. The look is phenomenal and I look forward to buying one.
In the cases with the current products, the Mint was showing the First Spouse Medals. In fact, they had all current medals for sale. But I would not buy any of them. All of the inch-and-a-half medals are struck in low relief on planchets that look like the dollar planchets. When I think of medals, I envision high relief, majestic looking artwork and, most of the time, bronze. The designs are nice, especially the Jefferson’s Liberty medal, the execution leaves much to be desired.
NGC’s New Holder
During PNG Day, Numismatic Guarantee Corporation announced a design for a new holder. According to their data sheet, the basic shape of the holder will not change, there will be five new features:
- New label with microprinting, UV-light sensitive watermark, and a holographic layer.
- All coins smaller than 40mm are encased using NGC’s EdgeView Design.
- Materials upgraded to a preservation level for the coins that were encased by NGC for the Smithsonian.
- Better seal for the slab NGC is calling direct pressure welding.
- A new hologram that is virtually impossible to reproduce that will be fused to the slab, making it difficult to peal off.
The person I spoke with at the NGC table did not have a sample slab nor knew when these slabs will be in production.
Images
If you did not follow the images or want to know what I was looking at when taking the pictures, I put together a photo album and created a slide show of these images. The slide show is below.
I should return on Friday. But rather than use the camera to take pictures, I will take my Canon camera to take better pictures of the US Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing. I will continue to Twitter from the show, but I may reduce the number of pictures posted.
Until then, enjoy the slide show.
Jul 29, 2008 | administrative, ANA, Baltimore, shows
In addition to following CoinsBlog on Twitter to see my 160-character or less reports from the World’s Fair of Money, you may also follow the pictures I hope to post on a new Photobucket account I set up today. Since my iPhone includes a 2 megapixel camera, why not take advantage of it and bring you images from Baltimore.
There are a few test pictures posted to Photobucket sent from my iPhone for testing. Those pictures will be deleted this evening.
To follow me during the day, just tune into the user coinsblog on both Twitter and Photobucket. I hope all of this works!
Jul 29, 2008 | administrative, ANA, Baltimore, shows
There does not seem to be much going on as the numismatic world concentrates in Baltimore. As I continue to recover from surgery I am considering my plan of attack for this week. For now, I will be in Charm City for the opening of the World’s Fair of Money—after all, I am the president of one of the sponsoring clubs. Sure, it will be a shlep, but it is a job I am looking forward to doing!
For this show, I’m going to try something different. I will try to file reports from the bourse floor. Using my newly purchased iPhone 3G and software called Twitterific, I will post messages (called Tweets) to the blog’s Twitter account. You can read my announcement about the use of Twitter in this post.
You can either follow the user coinsblog on Twitter or visit the blog often and refresh the page to see the last five posts on the left side of this page.
My ability to post messages to Twitter will depend on my ability to find a wireless connection to the Internet from the bourse floor. If I cannot find a signal, I will try to post updates when I am in wireless range. I hope this works because I think it will be fun!
Stay tuned!
Image courtesy of the ANA.
Mar 3, 2008 | Baltimore, coins, shows, supplies
After having a procedure done on my arthritic knee, I made sure that my doctor said it was all right to travel to attend the Whitman Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention. I could not miss the show. It is the largest regular show in the area—although the ANA Worlds Fair of Money will be held in Charm City this summer. When my doctor said that there should not be a concern, I made plans to attend on Saturday.
The procedure left me a little sore which made sleeping an issue. After waking up late, I made it to the Baltimore Convention Center by 3 o’clock. One of the problems with arriving later on Saturday is that at least one-third of the dealers closed and left the convention center. I tried to understand the situation from the dealer’s perspective, but when I am walking the bourse floor with a pocket full of money and a half-dozen nice slabbed coins to sell, I feel cheated. Within an hour, at least half of the tables were empty.
With the buying option lessened, I first concentrated on finding a few special items. For bullion coins, I was not able to find 2008 uncirculated American Silver Eagles, Silver Maple Leafs, and British Britannias. I was looking for some 20th century Morgan Dollars in at least almost uncirculated or better, not in slabs, and priced fairly—at least Greysheet prices. If nothing else, I wanted to find improvements to my 1976 registry sets.
Rather than finding anything real interesting, I purchased some uncirculated 50 State Quarters to fill holes in my album. I also found a number of circulated early Lincoln Cents for a set of folders I am putting together. But the most interesting coin find was the 2008 Australia Silver Koala. Struck by The Perth Mint, this is the second year of issue for this 99.9-percent silver coin. Taking the lead from the Chinese Panda, the reverse features artistic depiction of the marsupial native to the eastern and southeastern regions of Australia. The obverse features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
An interesting aspect of the reverse design is what the Perth Mint calls the “shimmer background.” The reverse background is textured background with full luster that helps the koala image stand out from the “shimmer” created by angling the coin under the light. It is an interesting concept that makes the coin a unique collectable.
One change Whitman made from previous shows was that the sales of Whitman Publishing products were in the lobby outside of the halls inside a plexiglass booth that can be locked at night. Although there are supply vendors on the bourse floor, only one general supplies dealer is there to offer discounts but they sell very few Whitman supplies. For this show, that dealer was moved to the opposite end of the hall from their previous location and had a smaller table area. Whitman owns the show and probably feels they should protect any profits they could realize.
Capitalism aside, I do prefer Whitman albums and folders over other brands. In addition to buying additional pages for my Sacagawea Dollars album, I found the Whitman Tribute Coin Boards for the Lincoln Cents and Buffalo Nickels. Whitman calls these board “a commemorative reissue in the classic style of coin boards made by Whitman Publishing starting in the 1930s.”
From what I can tell, these 11×14 inch boards are close to the original issues using modern materials and modern printing techniques. One addition to these boards are the mintage totals featured under the dates for each coin. The Lincoln Cent boards covers the wheat-back issues from 1909 through 1959, with no varieties, using two boards. The second board has 39 blank spaces following 1959 with no markings. Of course I will fill those in with Memorial back issues until I run out of holes.
The Buffalo Nickel board collection requires a single board to cover the issues from 1913 through 1938 with no varieties—except for the 1913 issues where there are holes for the “Raised Ground” coins along side the ones just marked with the year. The nine holes at the bottom do not have date markings except for “NEW TYPE JEFFERSON NICKELS” above the boarder; Obviously, I will have to fill those holes with the appropriate nickels.
Although I have not removed the shrink wrap from the boards, I noticed the back of the Buffalo nickel board has a box that has the number for other boards. I wonder if this is a reproduction of the original board or an indication that Whitman will produce those coin boards in the future. It would be interesting if they produced other tribute boards in the future. I would certainly buy them.
Of course you cannot go through a bourse floor without talking with a few people. Some I saw in passing and did not get to speak with them. I saw Patti Finner, Vice President of the ANA, working at the Kids Table—something the native Baltimorean has done for many years. I spoke with her during the last Baltimore Show but did not have an opportunity this time. Walking from the parking garage and through a nearby hotel, I saw NGC’s Dave Lange dashing away from the Convention Center. That was too bad because I wanted Dave to autograph the coin boards! Considering his interest and books about vintage coin boards, I thought that would be great for these tribute boards. Oh well… maybe next time.
I spoke with many dealers who are really wonderful people. One of my favorites is Wayne Herndon. Amongst our conversations, we spoke about the recent eBay issues and how our future on the site will be effected. We agreed that eBay is not as cost effective as it has been and may not be worth using in the future since it hurts the small seller and sellers who are trying to work on slim margins to give collectors value. I have bought from Wayne in the past and will continue to buy from him. Even before we started to talk, I always thought his prices were fair.
When it came time to leave, I discovered that Whitman set the policy to only have the main doors to Halls A and B as the entrance-only and forced attendees to exit through the doors in Hall C. While Halls A and B create one large area, Hall C turns the space in the el-shape that people may be bypassing. Moving the exit to the doors leading out of Hall C may be one solution but it caused a problem for me and my hurt knee. Although my doctor said a four hour walk on the bourse floor should not be a problem, my knee was in a lot of pain. I was limping, even grabbing onto chairs, tables, and anything nearby to prevent from falling. I tried to exit the nearby main doors, but was turned away by the security guard. So I had to schlep around to the Hall C doors while staying close to the tables to maintain my balance. In the future, I hope Whitman would allow those leaving within the last hour of the day to exit the nearest doors.
If I had to rank this show with the others, it would rank below other Whitman sponsored shows and on par with those by the previous organizers. While I can have fun at a coin show with 20 dealers, one expects a show that spans three halls of the Baltimore Convention Center to be better. Hopefully my experience was an anomaly and the show on June 5-7 (with no Sunday hours) will reach their usual standards.
Feb 17, 2008 | ANA, Baltimore, bicentennial, medals
With the Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention coming at the end of the month, I realized I did not talk about the last show I attended. That show was a while ago and would not be interesting now. What is interesting is one of the items I found while walking the bourse floor.
Whenever I go to a coin show, I look for something “neat.” Something different that was not expensive but would raise an eyebrow or two when I show the item to others. Last summer, I found an 1803 Large Cent with a barely readable date. There was also the GSA Softpack I picked up at the ANA National Money Show in Charlotte.
Before attending to the last Baltimore show, I decided that I would concentrate on my 1976 collection and look for numismatic-related items. With that in mind, I was walking the bourse floor looking at the various tables and found a set of medals in a plastic holder. The blue set caught my eye when I focused in and saw that the set was from 1976.
I stepped up to the table to take a closer look and found that it is the 1976 ANA Convention Medal Set. Back when the ANA held one convention per year, this set consists of pewter, bronze, and copper medals showing the image of the a bust of the Statue of Liberty in front of United Nations building. The medals for the 85th Anniversary convention also featured the star logo of the American Revolution Bicentennial Association (ARBA) and are stored in a custom case made by Capital Plastics.
This set registered high on the “oh, neat” meter. It was from 1976, had the ARBA logo, and would also fit in my New York collection. When the dealer said he is selling the set for $15, I did not hesitate to reach in my pocket for the money. As I learned more about the set, some collectors were offering four-to-five times the price I paid. The set is not for sale, but it is nice to know that I cherry picked a nice item.
I can only wonder what I will find at the end of this month. Stay tuned!
Feb 1, 2008 | ANA, Baltimore
When one catches a cold, life becomes miserable as we slog through our daily routines. Add the bad weather to the cold symptoms and getting out of bed becomes a chore. So after the dog climbed into bed to wake me up, I went to the computer to check my email to see a note from the American Numismatic Association announcing two courses will be taught at the Whitman Baltimore Coin and Currency Show in February.
While everyone points to the FUN Show as the beginning of the numismatic year, I look to Baltimore. After all, the Baltimore Convention Center is a little more than a one hour drive. And since Whitman took over the show, there have been many improvements that make it more enjoyable. One of the improvements was the inviting of the ANA School of Numismatics to teach courses on site. I love walking the floor looking for bargains and coins to fill the holes in my collection. I have also met a number of great people who are regulars in Baltimore. I look forward to seeing them again.
For this show, the ANA will present Understanding Die Varieties and Coin Collecting 101. Both classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, at the Baltimore Convention Center. For more information see the ANA School of Numismatics website for more information.
Last year, I recommended the Coin Collecting 101 to a new collector based on the description of the course. He enjoyed the course so much that he became an ANA member at the show. This morning, he said that he will be coming back to the show from suburban Philadelphia so he can take the Understanding Die Varieties course. Since this friend is also in information security, and those of us in this business tend to be skeptics by nature, I think this is high praise.
If nothing else, if you are in the area, you need to drop by the Baltimore Convention Center. It will be worth the trip.
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