Let’s hold a coin show

For a number of years now, worry has been expressed about the fate of coin shows. The Internet is making it less necessary to go to a show auction to bid, or to sit across the bourse table to buy coins and other numismatic items.

This trend is not helpful to coin shows. But the strange thing is that at least in the past six months, there is no evidence that the Internet is pushing coin shows out of existence.

I have been working on the "Show and Auction Guide" insert for Numismatic News, World Coin News and Bank Note reporter.

It is a section of the three papers that runs twice a year. The purpose is to inform American collectors where the coin shows are in their areas for the next 12 months.

These shows can be anything from a small commercial show at a mall and a club show at the VFW Hall to the national conventions sponsored by the American Numismatic Association.

The amount of space for coin shows that I have to give to the section that I am working on actually has gone up a bit from six months ago.

This fluctuation can be due to more show promoters sending their information to us. I understand that. But the simple fact that the listing is not shrinking indicates that coin shows are living to fight another day.

Is this because the promoters are failing to recognize when they have been beaten by the Internet, or is there a basic collector and dealer need that these shows are meeting that is going unexplained?

At this point, it is too soon to draw a conclusion.

However, the good news is the number of coin shows is not shrinking in the coming year.

You do have a choice in how you choose to buy your coins. Take advantage of all the alternatives. Look up your favorite shows in the June 7 issue of Numismatic News or the July issues of World Coin News and Bank Note Reporter when they are published.

Then go.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."