CPMX beats weather, dealers report strong sales

Weather-related travel delays impacted dealer attendance at this year’s Chicago Paper Money Expo, March 5-8, in Rosemont, Ill., but they didn’t dampen the spirits of most who attended the popular paper money outing.

Now in its 21st year, the 2015 CPMX was held at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare and kicked off on Thursday, March 5, with dealer setup and Professional Preview admissions. Public hours were on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

These dealer responses were gathered on Saturday morning.

Joe Peruski, Monroe Currency & Coin, Monroe, Mich., was particularly pleased with the show.

“It’s been extremely good,” he said. “I moved a lot of U.S. type and a ton of my world notes, all graded.”

Large-size type notes and higher grade small-size notes, he said, “moved extremely aggressively price-wise. The 66, 67 third-party graded small-size notes sold very well.”

“I had a very good day yesterday,” said Glen Jorde, Lake Region Coin & Currency Exchange, Inc., Devils Lake, N.D.

His action was mainly during the afternoon of that day and included world and U.S. notes.
“It’s was kind of an interesting mixture,” he said of what was selling, adding that the market has been good since the beginning of the year.

“I’ve done a show every weekend since the first of the year, and the shows have been actually pretty good. I’ve done small shows and large shows and so far so good.”

Marty Roland, A-Coin & Stamp Gallery, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla. was also happy with his show sales.

“I couldn’t be any more pleased with the results,” he said. “If Saturday is like Friday I will go back to Florida a happy man.”

Most of his sales were in large- and small-size U.S. type notes and a few Nationals. “It was just a general mix,” he said.

Roland also has high hopes for the paper money market.

“I think the market is real strong on all paper currency right now, so our outlook for 2015 is very positive.”

Dealer Scott Lindquist, Minot, N.D., lamented that the show was not as good as last year’s.

“But I think that’s more to do with the weather,” he said. “Last year I had my best show since 2009, period. This year, they aren’t here.”

Linquist deals in a range of U.S. currency, Confederate currency and world notes.

The prior year his sales at CPMX were in the $40,000 to $50,000 range, this year it was about $10,000 to $12,000.

“It’s still a good show,” he said. “It’s not just a great show, although my expectations were set on that.”

“I actually had a decent show,” said Jim Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Currency, Fort Worth, Texas. “I was surprised by the public sales I was able to make yesterday. Thursday was a little slow, but yesterday I surprisingly had some decent public sales.”

His sales were across the board, including obsoletes, Confederate notes, U.S. large-size type and some Nationals.

Keith Bauman, TNA Associates, Franklin, Mich., was one of the dealers who had trouble making it to the show due to inclement weather.

“It was just really OK,” he said of his CPMX experience. “Last year we grossed double what we did this year. But it was constant, but people didn’t spend the money. The sales were $100, $50, $20, $10, and the big sales were to dealers.” The rest were smaller deals. Most of the small sales were in world notes, which he said were “hot.”

“Well, actually the show has been very good, especially in the buying department,” said Steve Perakis, Alex Perakis Coins & Currency, Lima, Pa. “I’ve bought way more than we expected to here.”

Sales were “all over the map,” he said, including obsoletes, type notes, and small-size U.S. notes.

“I think if we had a little bit more of our inventory here we could probably have sold more. We’ve done very respectable.”

He said it was “a blessing in disguise when you can come to a show like this and buy a good quantity of new material you haven’t seen before. So I’m very happy with that.”

The show also featured meetings of the Chicago Coin Club and the International Bank Note Society. Nearly 60 members and guests were on hand for the March 7 CCC meeting to hear a presentation by Steve Feller on “WWII Civilian Camp Money of North America.” Shortly thereafter, Stanley Campbell addressed the IBNS on “Hunting for Collectibles in Cuba.”

Lyn Knight Currency Auctions, Overland Park, Kan., conducted the official show auction.