Going to shows pays bonus
We are now reaching the heart of the autumn coin collecting season. Traditionally, once the kids have gone back to school, the collector in the family, usually the dad, can…
We are now reaching the heart of the autumn coin collecting season.
Traditionally, once the kids have gone back to school, the collector in the family, usually the dad, can spend a little time with his hobby.
For those not ruled by the school calendar, the arrival of fall means outdoor activities of summer must be put away for another year and indoor pursuits taken up.
No matter how you might find yourself thinking about coins these days, here are a couple of things to add to your check list.
Plan to go to a local show.
Look at the "Numismatic News" Show Directory and see when one is coming to a VFW Hall near year.
These shows are the highlight of the year for the local clubs that sponsor them. Go and help make the event a success. Buy a few raffle tickets. You might win a silver dollar. But even if you don’t win, you are doing a good deed.
Once you are on that local bourse floor, make a new dealer friend.
It is amazing how bashful we can all be looking at someone across a bourse table.
Ask to see something the dealer clearly has. Strike up a conversation.
You might discover you have so much in common that you will want to go to other shows and do it again.
You should also take a coin with you that has been in your collection forever and offer it for sale.
Too many collectors have gone rusty when it comes to bourse floor etiquette. Their contacts are stale.
We can blame the Internet. We can blame busy collector lives.
But when that dark day arrives when your collection passes to your heirs, if you did no planning, you know they won’t be offering it online.
It will be better to sell the material to that helpful and friendly dealer that you met in the autumn of 2016 at a local coin show.
Going to a local show now makes everybody winners, even if many of them will never know it.
Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."
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