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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;SuperDave, post: 2697397, member: 1892&quot;]I just proved that with the Like button. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Odd show. I went loaded for bear, seeking a nice 1858 Canada Large Cent, the key to the series and quite rare in Mint State. A high-end coin. I saw 3 1858&#039;s in the whole building, all circulated (one was a pretty good deal, nice VF at $100 if that gives you an idea of 1858 pricing; I expect to spend $1000+ on the 1858 I choose). Only 4 tables had *any* Mint State LC&#039;s at all, and there weren&#039;t 10 total on the bourse.</p><p><br /></p><p>I completed the King George section of my date set with a nice 1916 in 63ish, but that was the only one of the MS examples I felt worthy. Snagged a high AU Woodie 1910, and a low AU 1876H with the Dark Chocolate color Canadian LC&#039;s tend to acquire. Didn&#039;t fit the collection, but I like it and the price was right, from the same guy Paddy flogged for the Half Cent. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The guy who sold me the other two LC&#039;s hogtied me and forced me to also buy an 1854 Nova Scotia Large Cent Token (well, perhaps I was more willing than I let on).</p><p><br /></p><p>Baltimore is a show where dealers come to sell to dealers, not the public. You expect to lose Thursday to dealer-dealer transactions, but I was irritated more than once by being unable to sit at a table because one dealer (you knew because of the badge) had half the guy&#039;s stock spread about, picking over it. This, during prime hours on Friday with a fair crowd in the building. Some tables wrapped up at Noon. You knew why they were there, and it had nothing to do with you or me.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nice silver type coins were scarce, of course excepting MorgansMorgansMorgans and GoldGoldGold. Saw some nice SLQ&#039;s, though, including a <b>killer</b> pastel-toned 1917 T1 PCGS 63FH at $375 which I darn near ended my whole trip to own. But other silver type? Only if you wanted well-circulated stuff; that was common. I was struck by the strength of the toner Morgan offerings - talk about killer coins - which must be an indication of where the market is at.</p><p><br /></p><p>One totally deranged dealer had cases full of Morgans &amp; Peace Dollars keyed to a price point selling raw. I could have had as many raw 62-63&#039;s as I wanted (common dates) for $27(!). He wasn&#039;t so great in the $50-$70 range, just OK, but he must have a metric ton of raw Morgans/Peace acquired at melt for what he was giving away at $23-$27. You coulda had highly lustrous, hammer-struck MS Peace Dollars for under $30, and never have I so regretted being mostly poor I&#039;d have looted that table. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> Never seen anything like it at a show.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was impressed with the quantity of medals to be had, saw half a dozen tables with serious offerings in both scope and quantity.</p><p><br /></p><p>Same for Early Copper; Tom Reynolds, Chris McCawley and Col. Butternut were all there, so if you wanted to pay $15k for a Large Cent you had plenty of choices. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Lincolns were OK. Charmy was there, so if you wanted the very best you could have it, and a lot of dealers had them on display, but it was like, &quot;we have a few really expensive ones and a slew of bright shiny large grade numbers from the Forties and Fifties for cheap&quot; kind of thing. Kinda weird, actually. I didn&#039;t see too many MPL&#039;s, maybe half a dozen, but I wasn&#039;t looking hard even though I had a $1k Lincoln of my own in my pocket as trade bait for either an MPL or an 1858 LC. *Almost* hit on a 1914 in PR64, but chose not to. Charmy and Rick Snow had the only really nice IHC presentations in the building, that I saw.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some guy who apparently left early - before I could hit him on the second pass - had about a quarter of a case full of Anglesey Druid Conders, and cases full of Conders in general, and only my strict policy of never buying anything on the first lap kept my show from ending right there. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The TPG tables weren&#039;t well-populated, either. That&#039;s all I&#039;ll say about those to avoid setting Paddy off again (rightly; ANACS beat him up for no reason). <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie7" alt=":p" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>I did not see a single 1921 Mexico Dos Centavos Centennial coin, nor a Mint State 1937 Australian Crown, two higher-value issues I&#039;m always looking for and would have bought if found. Not. One. Ancients were well-represented; World was weak except for OFEC buyers. There was one guy who had a few pounds of very nice Catherine the Great 5 Kopecks - I mean that literally; weight varies drastically but few are under 50g apiece - and I almost went broke there too. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Well, those are my impressions of the Whitman Spring Baltimore show. It was just like all of them, in other words - a way for Northeast dealers to have a big show of their own, and that&#039;s about it.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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