Thread: First Show of the Season: Wiesbaden German-American Coin Show (and a few purchases)

Today, with the first (faint) signs of spring, took place the first coin show of the season in the area where I live in central Germany, the Wiesbaden German-American Coin Club Show. This is a show which was started in the early 60's when quite a few American military personnel lived in the area, stationed at the nearby USAF and USArmy Bases of Rhein-Main, Wiesbaden, and Erbenheim. Nowadays, the name of the coin club remains, even if 95 % of the military personnel have moved out, and the show is now mainly attended by German dealers and collectors from the area.

My son and I eagerly awaited at the door punctually at 9:00 a.m when the show started, and were not dissapointed: about 30-40 dealers had set-up, and there was plenty to look at. Here are some pictures of the show. You will notice the average age of the dealers and collectors is well past 60.....except of course for my son (and myself).

I toured the tables looking for American coins, early 1800's german state coinage, or Roman coins of interest. There was very little american material, except for the inevitable Morgans, and was offered a lot of about 40 Morgans and Ikes, and assorted other modern U.S for about 20 Euros per coin. I passed on that since i am not interested in those. However, I did find a dealer who had some interesting U.S notes from 1890-1910. Since i know nothing about those, i passed on them as well, but will post pictures of them separarately; maybe there is something interesting there that i can pick up later from the dealer, whose name i noted.

In general, I did not notice any softening of prices, and the bargaining was hard. This is very usual here. The dealers were however sticking mostly to their stickered prices, and offering only small discounts. I was kinda hoping that with the hard times good deals where to be had, but not so at this show. So I had to pass on a couple of interesting talers and minor coinage which seemed interesting, but the price was not.

What i did find however were 3-4 dealers selling Ancients, and spent most of the time with them. Here are two of the coins which i found - A sestertius of Commodus (the bad guy from the Gladiator movie) with Hercules on the reverse carrying a club. Also, a Denarius of Domitian as Caesar, with an intereresting reverse. I managed to get those two for what i thought were very reasonable prices from a dealer who was closing his business, and had a very nice time discussing ancient coins with the dealers.
All in all a nice show, and already looking forward to the next!

Hope you enjoyed this.

Regards,

Eduard

Never been to a coin show before...Cool pics...And very nice pickups...

Even though, I don't really know what they are...lol
Hope you enjoyed your coin show!

Very nice coins Eduard. Coin shows are great fun. I hope to go to a big one in April.

The only show I have done there in Europe was one in Paris one time. For me it is interesting because I am not a big collector of USA coins, and like more stuff from Europe.

Thank you for sharing your experience at that show.

Nice writeup, thanks Eduard. Always interesting to hear about coin shows outside the US. What I notice in the pictures is a lack of close up lighting, as in table lamps.

great looking finds

just looked at the pics again...that is a lot of coins, are all coin shows like that?

Nice Commodus. Now you need to find one with the emperor himself dressed as Hercules.

Thanks Guys,
We had a lot of fun at this show. It is not a major one, just 40 dealers or so, but it is awesome to look at all those coins. We ended up going back in the afternoon and chat with a dealer who had some interesting dug 16-17 century crowns. Amazing coins he had.

Originally Posted by Ardatirion

Nice Commodus. Now you need to find one with the emperor himself dressed as Hercules.

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Thanks Ardatirion. As usual, i did my research AFTER buying the coin...Far as i can tell Commodus minted 3 Sestertii with Hercules/lion motifs. Apparently he fancied himself Hercules re-incarnated. The one i got seems to be the scarcest of the 3 going by coinarchives.

Originally Posted by tmoneyeagles

Even though, I don't really know what they are...lol Hope you enjoyed your coin show!

Oh yes, pity we need to wait another 6 weeks for the next one!

Originally Posted by scottishmoney

The only show I have done there in Europe was one in Paris one time. For me it is interesting because I am not a big collector of USA coins, and like more stuff from Europe.

Scottish, you would love it at these shows. Row upon row of of European coinage from 20+ centuries of history. What i miss though are the U.S coins...they seem to have dried up in Europe. Never been to a show in France, but quite a few in the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I like the UK shows the best.

Originally Posted by tmoneyeagles

just looked at the pics again...that is a lot of coins, are all coin shows like that?

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Yes, there is usually quite a lot of coins. Unfortunately though, many have been cleaned. People here do not seem to mind so much......


Regards,

Eduard

I have to wonder, what did the coinshow widows do while the men were away buying up dosh?

Mine usually goes shoppy with her mum.

Originally Posted by scottishmoney

I have to wonder, what did the coinshow widows do while the men were away buying up dosh?

Mine usually goes shoppy with her mum.

Hah, hah!
Well, mine was away for the day so had "permission" to go. Otherwise i never would have been able to go back in the afternoon......

Great write up Eduard and it looks like it is a well attended show

Well, I hope whoever attended this show had fun..It looked like fun!
I can't wait to go to my first coin show!