Dear Rare Coin Enthusiast…….
Turkey Day is upon us and I can’t wait. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. This is ALL about family, fellowship, food, and most importantly GRATITUDE. Let’s face it folks, regardless of your political leanings, we live in the greatest country on the face of the Earth. Just the fact that we are able to celebrate this wonderful holiday each year says so much. You see, the early pilgrims didn’t have all that much to be thankful for, but…they realized they had their families, their faith, and the FREEDOM to make better lives for themselves. We are SO fortunate.
This year Sherri and I are traveling to MO to spend the holiday with my family and I am like a kid on Christmas Eve. You see, I get to deer hunt with my brother and spend time with my family. Oh, and there are ALL those good things to eat. My mom is a fabulous cook and I am eagerly awaiting the FEAST. Sherri and I hope and pray you too are able to spend time with family and friends in an attitude of gratitude on this great holiday.
Last week’s Whitman Baltimore Coin Expo was fabulous. This Fall/Winter edition of their three shows per year schedule in Baltimore is ALWAYS good, but this year’s show was better than we expected with the current economy. Between Mike, Sherri, and I we had very little time to leave our table because we were busy from start to finish. One of the commonalities we see in Baltimore is the huge number of avid collectors. In this business there are hoarders, investors, and collectors. Baltimore is ALL about collectors and many people in the Northeast especially try and make to at least the November Baltimore Show. The ‘Bourse’ was packed and both the show and the Stacks/Bowers Auction were very well attended.
Recently we have seen a slowdown among coin buyers because (I believe) we are all worried about the economy. I too have my worries and sometimes the lack of business at shows is especially disheartening. We attend all the major U.S. Shows as well as most of the bigger regional shows and I can’t blame collectors for being both picky and frugal with their money. Lately we have seen this more often than not with the ANA World’s Fair of Money, and the Fall show last month in Dallas being ‘slow’ at best.
The show schedule through the FUN Show in January in Orlando is going to be very active. On the horizon the week after Thanksgiving is the growing great Southern regional show in Houston. The Houston Money Show wasn’t always a great show. In fact, although I have been doing 35 to 40 shows a year for nearly 30 years, I didn’t attend my first Houston Money Show until 2002. At that time the Money Show was being held in a shopping mall near IAH (Houston Intercontinental Airport) that the locals refer to as GUNPOINT Mall (the actual name is Greenspoint, but you get the picture).
This show has nearly tripled in size over the last 10 years and this quite good large regional show is definitely a must for most Southern and many national dealers. The show is held in the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston with easy access to lots of great hotels and restaurants. Oh, and the security is WAY better also.
The week after the Money Show there is a good and growing small regional show in Ontario, CA, a suburb of LA. This show is having some growing pains, but having a good show in LA besides Long Beach seems to me to be a ‘no brainer’ and the show should grow because of the super clean and nice facility. The second full week of December is the PCGS Invitational at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. This PCGS sponsored, mainly dealer oriented show, is quite popular with many larger dealers because of the great security and the focus of the show-grading on site by PCGS. This show is open to the public on Thursday and Friday December 13 and 14th. We have a table at the PCGS Invitational.
The Florida United Numismatists Show is being held a little later this year because of the calendar. Starting on January 9th the show is open to the public through Saturday the 12th. This is one of the ‘go to’ shows on the circuit and I have attended 27 or 28 straight FUN Shows. The activity at the show is very good and the dealers represented rival that of only the ANA in terms of quantity and variety. Many dealers who are unable to get out of their stores for other shows make a point of attending the FUN Show often times to get away from the winter cold. This is a great show.
We are excited about the shows on the upcoming schedule. We are attending all the shows I mentioned here and hope to see you at one of these shows or at a show in your area some time soon.
Happy Thanksgiving, Vic and Sherri Bozarth
