Baltimore show

[toneddollars]

A friend and I left Boston at 4:30am to drive to the Baltimore show on Thursday, we arrived around

12:00pm. We registered in, and went into this little sectioned off area on the bourse to look at B&M auction

lots. Not really to much in the auction that either of us were interested in. I did look at the Yankee

collection of buffalo nickels. A very nice looking group of toned, high grade buffs. There was a question

around the show of whether or not they were real. In my opinion, they looked like a collection that

had sat in an album for a long time and toned up nicely.

 

When we were finished looking at the auction lots, we tried to take a left on thto the bourse floor , but were stopped by security

and informed that since we had general admission badges we must wait until 2:00pm, bummer, but a good try anyways.

At 1:55 they opened the doors to the general public and all 30-35 people rushed in, not all that well attended to begin with. The

crowd would pick up later on. This small amount of people at the start allowed for much greater access to the tables.

 

Over all the show was not that busy, and most dealers I spoke to said things were verrrrrry sloooooowww. I ran into Ron Serna

on the floor and we talked about the economy and its effect on the coin market and also about the bailout for the BIG THREE. No

surprise that Ron is all for the bailout, considering he is from Mich.

 

I saw plenty of gold, but most of it was better dates. Not much in common date stuff, I think the dealers were waiting for the rise in price,

that appeared today ($60 rise ). I saw more Commems than I usally notice at these shows. Some one had two Cleveland sets in the original holders. I bought a real sweet proof indian cent for my collection (pictures later) 1889 with flashy green color from Mike Steffano. He was sharing space with Dennis King. I also found a nice 1873 closed 3 proof with that same geen coloring, and scopped that up. Two nice coins for the proof indian colection. I am usally happy to come away with one indian at a sow, so finding two was a major score. Tom T (big moose) showed up at the table as I was paying, showed him the new indian and he likey it. We both agreed with Mike that it is not an easy date to find with great color. This just added to my glee of adding this beauty to the set.

 

My buddy found a dealer with two 1945 war nickels with great toning. This is just what he was looking for. Both coins were in PCGS

holders, one was a 67 and the other was a 66. We both agreed that the 66 was the nicer coin for the grade, it was cleaner than the 67.

I am not sure what the graders were looking at. Both had cool color, with me thinking that the 66 was just a tad neater, and him seeing them as equal. There in lies the rub with toned coins, all eyes see it diffently, so to each his own.

 

There was some talk around that NGC and PCGS were slow, that submittals were down. Also that NGC was saying there would be no

layoffs. Isn't that about a two week advanced notice to an upcoming cutback?????

 

We finished the floor in three hours and started on our way back to Boston by 5:30pm. Arrived home at 12:30 am and overslept by two hours this morning. Thank God I am the boss.

[BillJones]

I finished with Baltimore show today (Friday). For the first time in a long while I did not purchase a super bourse badge. It's just not worth since they have cut down the hours to only four for $75.

 

I got into the show yesterday at 2:30. The crowd then looked about normal for super bourse day, but today the general public crowd was WAY down from what it has been.

 

I might be buying deck chairs on the Titanic, but I purchased three really nice coins for my registry type set. Two were upgrades, and the third was one I did not have. I've reached my goal of hitting 99% complete on my cent to non-gold dollar set. It's going to be while before I'll be able to go any further.

 

From what I heard the auction prices were still fairly strong for better material. The common stuff is not popular from what I can see.