After a lifetime on-and-off casual/quasi-serious collector and after a hiatus, I'm finally going to my first bona fide coin show this weekend...Whitman Expo in Baltimore. I attend annual model train expos, fishing expos, horticultural/conservation professional expos with all the dealer tables and wares, dragging out the best looking staff ladies to, if you'll excuse the tongue-in-cheek description "prostitute for the cause" (i.e. good marketing...they know what gets attention of male customers) and sales BS. I purposely go with little $ to spend but use the opportunity more for networking and seeing who-has-what for followup contacts. In all these "fields" I have specific (usually offbeat, I-have-three-heads, non-conformist, progressive ahead of the curve) interests and its usually quick through the floor scanning tables and displays, check back at a few and I'm out the door. Should I expect the same experience at my first coin show? Any lessons and advice for the unitiated? For disclosure my interests at this point in my life (just turned 50!) include: stacking generic gold and silver bullion collecting gold/silver Chinese Panda bullion dates and varieties building complete proof series of modern US coinage large cents and early coppers...first coinage of the USA Type US coins for historical... A lot of starting NOW and working backward to make up for lost time...'cept for the large cents where I'm going in the opposite direction. I'll meet up in the middle somewhere around the Indian Head Era BTW...This all started when my grandmother gave me ONE coin as a kid...a family heirloom, very personal and treasured LONG before they ever heard of Numismatics. It just happened to be a 1928 F/VF Peace Dollar...they were dirt (The Grapes of Wrath) poor, worked in the coal mines of West Virginia, brought this with them and gave it to me in the late 60's/early 70's.
Right on. I'm sure you'll have a good time. There will be so many people it isn't like dealers are going to lock eyes with you. And you can always stop by and ancients table and talk history if you want. My last show was in Vienna Virginia and I went with medium hopes, low expectations. Had a really good time. Not sure how tommorrow will be. Never been to anything this big. Fishing Expos sound like a good time.
Expect huge. I only collect ancients and will be worn out by the time I see the few dealers in the ancient and world section. I don't know how US collectors do it except walking quickly. In past years many dealers seem to close up shortly after lunch on Saturday and going on Sunday is a waste of time IMHO. Perhaps there are better deals then if what you are looking for is something everyone has? The show has a website with a list of dealers so it might help to see if anyone you know is there and see that one first. That is definitely my plan. If I have time and money later in the day I will look more generally but there are 3-4 tables that I will see first. There is a lot of food across the way in the Inner Harbor if you must eat while there but show food is neither good nor cheap (again IMHO). Enjoy.
If you are going to be there saturday the Early American Coppers club meeting is at 1PM in Room 317. Feel free to stop by, non-members are welcome to attend. Otherwise be sure to check out the copper dealers there, they definitely do not have run of the mill stuff, Chris McCawley, Doug Bird, Tom Reynolds, Butternut, Greg Hannigan. P.S. Funny story, but the last show I went to there, one of the local strip clubs sent two dancers down to hand out fliers.
That piece is priceless my friend as it contains a Provenance very personal and unique. It is like no other coin that you will ever own. Treasure it.
