I spent much of today at the Baltimore Whitman Coin Expo, arriving around 10:45 AM and leaving about 4:15 PM, with only a short break for lunch about 2 PM. Overall, the show seemed pretty active, with most of the dealers that I checked out (mainly in the Ancients and World sections) having at least one customer most of the time. Had good conversations with a number of dealers, especially Tom Wood of Ephesus Numismatics and Allen G. Berman. (Tom Wood was especially talkative, and we had a good discussion of Nabataean history, numismatic references, and more.) I bought quite a few coins, none of them budget-busters but lots of very decent, meat-and-potatoes (by my standards) coins, plus some cheap ones just for fun. I took quick photos of all of them to share here. I apologize for the poor photo quality, but a) I was rushed, and b) it's already past sunset, so I couldn't use sunlight as I usually do for my coin photos. First, three silver drachms from Allen G. Berman: Sasanian, Parthian, and Hephthalite. The Sasanian is an unusual mint (which needs further research) and the Parthian is a somewhat scarcer variety. Next, four coins: an early Nabataean from Ephesus Numismatics, a Greek silver drachm from Harlan J. Berk's $15 junk box, and two coins from Marcos Xagoraris of Aristos Ancients: a Parthian tetradrachm of Gotarzes II with interesting doubling on the reverse, and an Undo-Scythian of Azes II: Next, four coins from Donald Zauche: A Roman Republican denarius depicting the Nabatean king with a camel, bronze of Hieron II of Syracuse, Sicily, a modern of Tipu Sultan of Mysore in India who was one of the strongest opponents of British colonization, and a tiny bronze of Norman Sicily with Arabic inscription on the reverse. (The denarius and the Tipu Sultan coin changed places between photos because... I was testing to see if people were paying attention. Yes, let's go with that explanation .) I bought five coins from Georges Tambakopoulos of Tamco Numismatics, three Parthian and two Sasanian. Only the leftmost Parthian was ID'd and sold individually, the other coins were from pick-your-own lots. The two other Parthian coins were chosen for rare mintmarks, while the Sasanians were chosen for nice, clear strikes. And finally, a group of 14 modern coins I picked from a $2 each junk box. My initial IDs show 3 Canadian bank tokens, three from Indian states (including one jital), two Chinese, two Russian, and one each from Brazil, Japan, Burma, and the Papal States. These should be fun to try and fully ID and catalogue on a rainy (or snowy) afternoon. So, as you can see I had quite a productive day at the show, and am now tired but happy. I would love to hear from anyone else who attended the show (on any day), so please post your impressions and haul photos here.
All of those are great. I hope you left some for the rest of us! My son and I will be there tomorrow morning. Hoping we find something to come home with us.
Very nice pick ups especially like the sassanians.... 1st one looks to be ZWZWN unknown site Northern Provinces and interestingly may not even be a mintmark.....Cool find!
What an awesome haul! I especially like the doubled Gotarzes, the Hypsaeus et al. denarius, and the very last Sasanian with the dotted border exactly matching the rim. Azes (58-20 BCE) AE unit, ex X6
Yes, that's what I was referring to when I called it an "unusual mint". As you allude to, ZwZwN may actually be meant as a denomination. But I want to do more research before commenting further. Unfortunately, I didn't meet any other CoinTalk folk there, it seems most people are going today (Saturday) and not Friday. Still, I look forward to hearing other people's recaps and seeing their new treasures.
Great haul @Parthicus - I'm going to a show in SF on the 6th and 7th of December. I've actually never been to a show so it will be very interesting to see what I can find.
...Look forward to hearing what you find...I'm not sure but I think its quite an uncommon coin...Lovely mix of coins Congrats..
That's a cool mix of coins @Parthicus , a little bit of everything from several time periods and from all over the world! I hope you don't mind if I post some of my recent coin show pics here, seems we have very similar taste. A Canadian bank token... A struck rupee from Bundi, from the 20th century (Edward VII)! A cool Sasanian of Shapur II! SHAPUR II, AR DRACHM, 4th century AD. O: Crowned bust of Shapur to right, inscription around , R: Flaming fire altar between two crowned attendants, head of Shapur on top of altar to right. 20 mm, 4.2 g. A worn sestertius. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius O: laureate and draped bust right R: ROMAE AETERNAE, decastyle temple; S C in ex. 32 mm, 23.6 g.
Nice bunch! The chinese is a Jiayou tong bao, regular script northern sung. The Japanese is a 2 sen, looks like Meiji 14.
Great recap! I ended up writing my own, so I didn't hijack your thread. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/baltimore-whitman-coin-expo-summary.350240/
Seems you foreign/world/ancient buyers are much more likely to buy coins unslabbed and in greater quantities unslabbed, too. Congrats on your purchases and thanks for the Baltimore Whitman show review.