chicago international coin fair.

There should be some token dealers at the show. Many know one another, so ask for direction to one, at any larger dealer table.

 

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will do. thanks.

 

Well finally freed up time and I will be there Friday. Anyone feel free to PM me and we can exchange phone numbers. I was thinking of a CT coffee around 11 or so in the little food court outside of the bourse floor.

Chris

 

What is a "bourse"? I've never seen that word before and thought it was a typo at first, but obviously it isn't.

 

The bourse is the trading floor. I know most smaller shows ONLY have the bourse, but larger shows like this have other rooms as well for club meetings, educational programs, displays, etc.

If you are used to smaller shows, "bourse" is identical to what you are thinking of, the place where dealers are selling their coins.

 

You really should have gone to the Central States show last weekend. I'm afraid you might be disappointed with this show. As I said this show is only about 5% US material.

Bourse come from the French meaning exchange or marketplace.

 

I write checks all the time. Its a method of business that is still quite necessary, its one of the easiest ways to prove expenses for many things.

 

It just occurred to me that the reason I am able to buy so many good world coins at my local dealer is that so few collectors are interested in world coins, so I find coins others don't notice. If I go to an event like this, where everyone specializes in that, it seems like all the good stuff would be gone right away. So is that the case or what?

Also, I like to buy low value items. Will I be able to find that there, or is it mostly higher price coins? Like do sellers have value bins you can browse through?

 

There is a lot of higher end stuff there but there are some dealers with low priced stock boxes and I know Al Boulanger will be there with his tubs. There is something for every price range there.

 

Agreed. I am usually picking through pick lots, pick bins, and of course the numismatic bookseller there.

 

Well I will be there all day tomorrow. If anyone else shows up, I am the bigger guy in a red Twins t-shirt. Stop and say hi!

Chris

 

i am heading there this morning with my daughter. i dont care care if i can get rid of my bashlows or not. im in no hurry. i did go to the central states show, but i thought it went 1 day longer than it did. when i got there, half of the bourse was empty. i did run into abraham lincoln though and he addressed me as "general grant." i guess because i have a big beard. highlight of my day. in other news, my football team drafted RGIII. so i got that going for me........which is nice........

 

I attended the show on Friday. It was my first coin show and I'm glad I had a chance to finally go and see what it's all about. And since I mostly collect world coins it was nice to find one that caters to my area of interest.

My observations are that it was different than I expected. The booths were smaller than I expected and there wasn't a very big area to spread out. Usually when I go to a coin shop I take out my lists of coins I need and get a spot to myself where I can look through my lists and methodically sort through the coins for sale, but there just wasn't the room to do that here. Also, many sellers didn't really seem to have that many coins, but what they did have was very high end. I saw a lot of types of coins I've never seen before, and it really makes me wish I had money. I also found I could quickly tell if a seller was worth my time by looking at the prices on a few coins I am familiar with. There were some where I'd see a coin that I know I could get for a dollar on eBay marked for $6, and with these I'd just move on. On the positive side, there were some dealers who had decent priced value bins with some really nice coins in them. I was able to get several coins I need for my collection for good prices. I had been kind of afraid that all the good stuff would be picked through already, but I got good deals on many items. I also didn't know how uptight some dealers might be with me browsing through their stuff, but many times they didn't seem to be paying attention really. That was nice because I didn't want to feel like I was pressured to buy something or leave.

It was interesting observing other people too. Many of the buyers and sellers were clearly from other countries, or else were at least immigrants. I don't mean that as a judgment, just an observation. It was interesting listening to people bargaining too. Some were really relentless and bargained over everything. I paid the asking price on what I bought because it was mostly from value bins and already priced reasonably, I thought.

I did find though that after about 3 hours I had seen everything I wanted to see. I buy lower priced stuff from value bins and only a few dealers had that, so once I had looked at them all I was done. It also tipped me off to a few new dealers to visit in the area that I didn't know about before. And on a side note, there was an anime convention across the street, and there were some very unusual people around who make me feel less nerdy for collecting coins.

In all, it was a good experience and I'd definitely like to go back next year.

 

Sorry I didn't see you or Riff Hiddendragon. I was there most of the day.

For my story, I bought three books, (new Hendin, new Album, and a book on Persian coinage). I walked around not really sure what I was even interested in buying. I get that way at shows sometimes, especially CICF where there is so much available. Well, after a few passes at Berk's pick bin and it being busy, finally I stopped and waited. Then I noticed I knew one of the two guys at the pick bin, so asked if I could nose in.

I have never seen such nice coins 6 for $110, or about $18 a piece if you buy 6 at a time. There was a small group the other fellow had picked out, and when he left not buying them, I quickly asked if my friend wanted them, he didn't, so I put them in my pile. Empresses everywhere. I got about 14 denarii of empresses, about 4 sestertii of empresses, and the rest coins like large bronze on Hadrian, nice scowling face of Caracalla denarius, and other pieces that struck me. Seriously, VF empress denari for $18? I wasn't going to, but I went through about the whole pile, and pick out 36 of them. So, that was my only coin purchase.

I need to get photos taken, as there are a few I am wondering about. One is a nice VF of Diocletian that is smaller and thin. I am almost wondering if it is a fractional follis issue. I bought a couple greeks just for fun.

You know the best part? I was hands deep in a large batch of ancient coins, and my hands were filthy when I was done. Not much better than that!

Chris

 

Sounds like you had fun, Chris. Sorry I didn't meet you, but with it being my first experience I was really trying to take it all in and make sure I didn't miss anything, so I forgot about even looking at who else was there unless they were crowded around something I wanted to look at.

 

You lucky people! You got to go to one of the biggest shows in the country. Thanks for telling me what it was like.
My wife and I celebrated her 70th birthday Sunday, yes her seventieth. Dinner was great as usual and my first and only glass of Merlot tasted like Nectar From the Gods. It was opening day at the Stormville Flea Market and I dearly wanted to see if
there were any coins.
Thanks again. Any pictures from CSNS to get an idea what it looks like?

 

This was my first time at this particular show. I do have to say I was a disappointed. I was expecting the show to be a lot bigger. I've been to a few different shows here in the Los Angeles area and most of them have been quite a big bigger. Part of my disappointment was also in regards to the coins they had available. If you're into ancient coins then you probably had a good time. I was hoping to find more modern silver coins, from other countries, than at other shows I've gone to in my area. Sadly that was not the case. I'd say it was probably about 90% ancients and 10% modern. Of the modern coins most of them were gold. I know gold is selling so that's what dealers are bringing. I'm not sure I would go back unless I knew more about the coins that were going to be brought to the show. Just my opinion.