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CICF Show


jlueke

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I have returned from the CICF (Chicago International Coin Fair) though it continues today and into Sunday. I arrived on Thursday to take advantage of the early bird registration. For $50 you get to go on the bourse on Thursday and an hour early the other days. Obviously this will not be cost effective for some, but if you are going to buy a decent amount it is well worth the cost. Besides not having to elbow other people out of the way in order to get to a table you see the new material before it is bought. The early bird times make for a much more relaxing and interactive buying experience.

My focus for this show was “Early Dark Ages”. Specifically, Ostrogothic, Visigothic, Vandalic, and Lombard coinage were in scope. While I will probably never focus on a single collecting area for a lifetime or even a decade a couple of years is doable. In preparation I checked out some relevant reference books from the ANA library and tried to get some feel for recent prices on the pieces in my budget. Early on I ended up saying hi and chatting with Zach of Beast Coins. He is as friendly and engaging in real life as he is online. Zach didn’t have gothic pieces but Rich Pearlman happened to be at his table right then. This fortunate coincidence brought to light a nice Visigothic piece that I would later purchase.

 

Visi342.jpg

 

As I wandered around the bourse saying hi and peaking at inventory I ended up at Glen Wood’s table. He had two nice Athalaric bronzes and I picked the one I liked better.

 

Athalaric340.jpg

 

Finally, Andy Singer had a few pieces. Most of them were a little too low grade for me but there was an Ostrogothic civic issue of Rome that hit the spot.

 

Ostro341.jpg

 

I did see a bit more Merovingian pieces than gothic coins but I am not yet ready to delve into that area. Many Merovingian coins are hard to look at, and those that have decent portraits tend to be quite pricey. Besides, the three coins I found pretty much blew my budget for the show. But, I did also manage to get a few nice coins out of a pick bin at Beasts. There were some very pretty coins that will serve well for coin club auctions.

Friday came with little left to do. I sat myself at Al Boulanger’s table and went through his world coin bins. By the time I was done it was 11AM and the public was actively coursing through the conference room. I ended up with way to many world coins, but these coins should be moving along shortly. There was more chatting than buying on Friday. The Twin Cities Ancient Coin Club was again well represented. Kent Froseth and Ken Hollister are both from Minnesota as well and both were having excellent shows even after just Thursday. On the bourse I ran into an old, or should I say long time, RCCer Jim Higby. There’s another abstract cyber-being that now has a human face. Kerry Wetterstrom again manned the Celator booth, we confirmed his scheduled arrival in the Twin Cities later this April. The club is fondly anticipating his upcoming presentation. Lastly, I traded some ACCG renewal slips with Wayne Sayles for some ACCG election ballots. The election is going quite well with a wonderful turnout and a good race. Many people have commented that all five candidates are deserving board members. They are correct! I’m sure even those who do not serve on the board will seek and be asked to contribute going forward. Wayne also mentioned that ACCG members will soon be able to borrow from the ANA library, great news in itself. The ANA library is a superb resource for those of us who cannot afford all the reference books we would like to own. So Friday was mostly a people day, and that is just as good as a coin day. I should also mention that John and Nancy Wilson were again volunteering at the show. I see these two everywhere helping out, they really do love the hobby.

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Visi342.jpg

 

That coin is awesome! You must have qutie a collection to be looking for stuff like that!

 

Great report, the Chicago show is on my attend some day list. I only get one coin trip out of the LA area per year and this year I'll be at the ANA summer seminar.

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Great report, the Chicago show is on my attend some day list.  I only get one coin trip out of the LA area per year and this year I'll be at the ANA summer seminar.

 

At least you get to go to Long Beach then :ninja:

 

I've always heard wonderful things about the summer seminar but I can never work the timing. What are you planning on participating in there?

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Great pieces. I've heard lots of good things about that show. One of my friends goes there to look for US Currency and always seems to do well.

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At least you get to go to Long Beach then :ninja:

 

I've always heard wonderful things about the summer seminar but I can never work the timing.  What are you planning on participating in there?

 

This will be my second visit, attending "Advanced Grading of US Coin" in the first week. The seminars are excellent if you really want to leard how coins are graded.

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Wow! A Sisebut Seville tremissis (SISEBUTUS RE / ISPALI PIUS - if i'm not mistaken), that's not a everyday's find... :ninja:

Jose :lol:

You got it! These are actually more common than most of the Gothic/Vandal/Lombard stuff I want.

 

Hey, there was an enormous collection of Portuguese coins that a dealer took in, did you sell out?

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Yes, Sisebut is one of the "easy" (a very relative "easy") Visigoth kings... :ninja: , Numisma and ANP auctions have one from time to time, regarding coins struck in Portugal as an example, coins from the Suebi/Suevi kingdom are much scarcer than Visigoth coins.

 

Nah, in general (for now and with a few exceptions) i only sell stuff that i upgrade, but i'm pretty sure i'll be "taunted" in a few days about the great purchases a couple of Portuguese guys did at Chicago...

 

 

Jose :lol:

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