The Holmes cents that got away were tempting me again.

The latest Baltimore coin show had its ups and downs for me.

I took vacation days Thursday & Friday. As usual, the bourse

did not open to the public until 2PM on Thursday, so I started

with B&M auction lot viewing that morning. Several coins were

interesting to me, and one in particular drew me to the afternoon

session. Unfortunately, the starting bid was 50% higher than what

was shown the previous night on-line, and bidding took the pretty

large cent out of my comfort zone.

Earlier in the afternoon, when the public was let in, I made

a beeline for the NGC tables. I had decided to have my 2009 UHR,

1995 10th Anniversary eagle proof set, and some regular proof

sets certified. (Wish me luck on the 1995-W silver eagle. A 70UC

is worth a pretty penny! But I'm telling myself I'll be satisfied

with 69UC.)

Speaking of pretty pennies, after finishing up with NGC, I went

to check out the offerings of a couple of the usual suspects.

One of them had both of the Holmes cents I had sought during

the auction three weeks earlier. Of course, they seemed even

prettier than before, and had price tags to match. I just wonder

what would have happened had I not bid them up. Would that

dealer have gotten them for less, and now be offering them for

what I was willing to bid? But now I'm stuck with waiting for

the next Baltimore show and deciding whether I'm willing to pay

significantly more than I was three weeks ago. I'll keep you

posted...

Of course, there were other options. On Friday, I visited one

of the other top copper dealers who had three nice AU 1821

cents, one of which struck my fancy. In the end, I decided it

was just too much to spend right now. So my large cent registry

set remains unchanged.

However, I did make one purchase. In addition to large cents

and half dimes, I'm starting to look for some nice type coins,

like the 1944-D MS68FB dime I got earlier this year. The folks

at Legend had a pretty 1943 half dollar in PCGS 67 + CAC at a

reasonable price, so I bought it. There's a quick & dirty photo

attached.

I was so wrapped up in my own activities that I did not get much

of an impression about the show overall, and I did not even go

on Saturday. One thing I did notice was that there were fewer

dealer tables than there were for other recent shows here. They

had been using an extra section of floor space that was closed

off this time.

Happy collecting to all, and have a safe & fun Independence Day!