I meandered over to the Baltimore show this afternoon for several hours. In general, attendance by collectors and dealers was lower than I ever recall seeing. Several of the dealers that I spoke with said that it was pretty normal for the summer show to be less crowded than at other times - summer doldrums? In any event, there were many vacant bourse areas and no crowds at all. The dealers were polite but unusually bored. So bored in fact, that one particular dealer graded a Lincoln cent that was barely an AG3 (on a good day with great lighting) as a VG . Most noticeably absent were the ancient dealers and definitely fewer world coins in general. Still, there was a nice selection and I made quite a few purchases, including: 5 proof Lincolns, an 11-S and a 24-D, some nice Italian pieces and a few hunks of silver. I will try to get pics up soon. The Whitman folks bought the show recently and their presence was large as you might expect. Turns out that they will be publishing CherryPicker’s Guide Vol 1 and it is supposed to be updated. That book has been on my want list for a while but I guess I will wait for the update. It was a nice afternoon and even smaller than usual this show has a great deal to offer and it has become a habit with me. I'm looking forward to the November show.

Whitman Expo Site Link

yarrr... I really wanted to go. I actually came home this weekend from Iowa kinda to go to Baltimore but then I realized why don't I spend the time with the family instead of 6 hours in the car and 2 on the bourse floor.

I tried going to the coin store here but its closed til the 5th (I think they were at baltimore) so I was bummed. I've been subsisting on the triannual Baltimore show for the last few years as my only source for big purchases. I gave up hope getting to the summer show by going to a local shop in Richmond or back in Ames, Iowa. But the shop in ames is a baseball card shop with little selection and the shop here was closed. I was super bummed because usually I only go for the big notes or coins to add to my series and i was excited to buy some cheaper type coins this time around. Now I have no where to go til I get back home in August!!! I'm dying here!

Well, at least I'll have earned money to spend then.

I also went to the baltimore show. One of the reasons there were less dealers was that, alot of flights from the west coast were delayed or canceled. A dealer told me thats why there were so many empty tables. One of the bigger world banknote dealers didn't make it in. I picked up a few more polymer notes why I was there. And I had one dealer who was selling world banknotes, that didn't even know what a polymer note was. So i educated him.

All in all it was a good time. Not alot of selection in any world area of collecting. Tons of US stuff though.

I also picked up some new books. I got the 2008 Standard catalog of world coins 1901-2000. The 13th edition of Standard catalog of world paper money modern issues. The 5th edition of Standard catalog of world coin 1801-1900 and the Cherrypickers guide 4th edition Volume 2 covering half dimes to modern dollars plus gold and commemoratives.


I also picked up a coin show calender that covers from July 2007-July 2008. And Krause was giving out the Numismatics Industry Directory

Didn't see that directory but I did get free copies of the PCGS market report and the Swiatek report. I enjoy getting stuff like that to read as I probably would not buy them

Both were free, I still haven't had a chance to go through them yet.