Unexpected coin show, or: Getting my cheap thrills on a Thursday afternoon

I had not been planning to go to the spring Whitman Coin Expo in Baltimore (I usually only attend the fall show), but I noticed that I had a) fewer dollars in my bank account that I would prefer, and b) some bullion-value US silver coins that I was willing to part with, given the recent massive jump in silver prices. And if I was going to be at a coin show, surely it wouldn't hurt to at least look at a few inexpensive coins too...

So I attended the show on opening day, yesterday (Thursday, March 5, 2026). The show was held in Halls F and G of the Convention center, rather than the larger Halls A and B where the fall show is usually held. I heard that the room assignment was a last-minute change, and after hiking a very long distance from the Convention Center entrance, up and down escalators, to a final descent into what looked vaguely like we weren't supposed to be there, I easily believe it. But once I was registered and inside the bourse, it looked very familiar, if a bit smaller than the fall show set-up. I was surprised how active it was for a Thursday afternoon show- plenty of collectors strolling the floor, most dealers had more than one customer at a time. I shopped my silver around, focusing on dealers with "we buy silver" or similar signs, and was able to sell my stash. I then spent the next couple of hours happily browsing in the "ancient and world coins" section. Allen Berman was animated and friendly as always, though he had few of the coins I usually seek and I only ended up buying one coin from him. I spent quite a while at the Educational Coin Company table, digging through their bulk lots in search of treasure while talking to the dealers and to some fellow collectors. I also spotted a big wooden box of world coins at $2 a pop at a dealer called Transition Metals LLC, and patiently waited my turn to dig through the treasure. I don't have any spectacular finds, but ended up taking home many interesting pieces, some of which will require more research, and also managed to take home most of the cash I had made selling my silver. So, here are the coins I bought. First, my one coin from Allen Berman, a bronze of Hetoum II from Cilician Armenia, and three Parthian silver drachms from Educational Coin Company that had interesting mintmarks.

Next, my other Educational Coin Company purchases, These ended up being three pairs where the two coins were from the same group, but have definite differences in design/legend. Left to right: the ancient kingdom of Lichhavi in Nepal, Shahis of the Indian subcontinent, and the Kuninda kingdom of India:

And finally, my world coin copper blowout from Transition Metals LLC. This group features large bronzes from Italy, Portugal, France, and Japan, a coin from Japanese-colonial Korea (much scarcer than the Japanese coins it resembles), British North Borneo, British India, medieval Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, Song Dynasty China, Bhutan, and finally a small, very thin 1/12 anna of the British East India Company.

All in all, a good show, I increased my cash supply and also got some new coins to enjoy. Let me know what you think about the show, my coins, or whatever else.

 

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Nice report and sounds like a successful show! Congrats on the sales and some fun acquisitions!