Baltimore Coin Expo Opens with Dealer Enthusiasm

I’ve just returned from Baltimore where I spent Thursday at the Whitman Coin Expo. I actually arrived in Baltimore via a stop in Washington D.C. for a short visit with my new friends from the U.S. Mint who I found to be incredibly engaged in the numismatic hobby and looking to spread the word to collectors (and dealers) that they have an open ear to the hobby. More on this in future weeks. After my visit to the Mint offices, I took an Amtrak up to Baltimore where I had a busy morning meeting with dealers and then an interview with David Lisot, which we will post in a week or two.

The show itself opened to greater enthusiasm than I expected.

Dealers as a whole reported that the market is much better than it would appear.

What does this mean, exactly? Well, it means that while we are generally seeing prices decline in a number of highly-traded areas like Morgans, proof sets, etc. there is still quite a bit of activity at the new lower levels. Commerce is happening and many dealers I spoke to were happy to talk briefly and then off to do a deal elsewhere. I was really encouraged.

At the show, I showed off a new CDN product which we will be announcing very soon: “The CPG Coin & Currency Market Review”. This tabloid-format publication will be published quarterly with a complete set of CPG prices for collector reference. We plan to distribute (via mail and show) over 20,000 copies of this guide starting in mid-December. We will be handing them out to everyone at the FUN show in January. Stay tuned for more big announcements from CDN in the coming months.