First Kansas City IPMS a success
A new venue, a different type of barbecue, and an influx of new clients were all factors in the perceptions dealers shared with Bank Note Reporter about the recently concluded…
A new venue, a different type of barbecue, and an influx of new clients were all factors in the perceptions dealers shared with Bank Note Reporter about the recently concluded 41st Annual International Paper Money Show.
IPMS, which had until now been hosted in Memphis, Tenn., received largely positive reviews from dealers who traveled to Kansas City, Mo., to take in the first IPMS held there, June 8-11 at the Sheraton Kansas City at Crown Center. The show was open to public on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with dealer setup the prior Thursday.
IPMS is owned and operated by LFK Tradeshows and included a major Lyn Knight currency auction (see results here).
Dealer Ralph Muller, of Salt Lake City, Utah, who found his table to be in a nearly constant state of activity, was one of those who was pleased with show transactions. “It was a wonderful day yesterday,” he told Bank Note Reporter of Friday’s activity. “I had people lined up at my table all day. It was busy. I’m very happy.”
Muller said most of his sales were in world currency, Confederate notes and U.S. obsoletes.
Asked about the market in general, Muller joked: “For me, I live in Salt Lake City. The paper money market in Salt Lake City is not that great but it is much better in Kansas City.”
“We are actually having a very good show,” said Frank S. Renberg, Reindeer Mountain Collectibles, Rockford, Mich.
“We love Kansas City, my daughter and I have never been here before and we are enjoying the town and it’s fun to do a comparative analysis of barbecue. It’s been wonderful so far.”
Renberg said his world offerings accounted for about 80 percent of sales up to that point in the show. He also witnessed interest in U.S. fractionals.
John Markis, Trusted Traditions, Lauderdale by the Sea, Fla., characterized his show as “very positive,” having experienced good business on the show’s first day.
“I was introduced to a couple of new clients that I had never done business with before,” he said. “They were serious clients. They were more aggressive buyers. The net was positive overall. There were less expenses [for this show] and we are in the black.”
Fractionals and world notes were among his sales leaders. Asked to characterize the currency market, Markis said, it was “strong in world, picking up in fractional and steady but sure in U.S.”
Pierre Fricke, Sudbury, Mass., who deals primarily in Confederate notes, said, “It’s been a good show. Yesterday, in particular, was really solid. We probably had the same kinds of crowds as we had in Memphis here. Different people in some cases. Some people we saw in Memphis we did not see here. Other people we never knew before we met.
“So it was about the same size crowd as Memphis last year and at least yesterday from my perspective we were busy all day at least until about 3 o’clock.”
Fricke said he sold a little bit of everything. “I sold some copper coins. I sold an 1862 San Francisco $20 gold piece. I’ve sold some Confederate notes, including some rare varieties. I’ve had some people looking at some high end notes. I’ve sold some lesser notes and I’ve had a pretty good run of obsoletes.”
Awards
Although the show location changed, IPMS still boasted its usual run of educational forums and top-notch exhibits.
At the annual Society of Paper Money Collectors Awards Breakfast and Tom Baine Raffle, this year on Friday morning at Harvey’s in Union Station, the organization inducted five new members to its SPMC Hall of Fame: Joseph Boling, Judith Murphy, Chuck O’Donnell, Fred Schwan and Daniel W. Valentine.
Other top awards were as follows:
• Michael McNeil, Forrest Daniel Award for Literary Excellence.
• Henry Simmons, Richie Self, James Desabaye Wismer Award—Book of the Year for Comprehensive Catalog and History of Confederate Bonds. Runner-up awards went to Q. David Bowers for Vols. 6 and 7 of the Whitman Encyclopedia of Obsolete Paper Money and to Bob McCabe for Counterfeiting and Technology.
• Andrew Shiva, Founders Award for service to the hobby.
• Wendell Wolka, Nathan Gold Memorial Award for lifetime achievement and outstanding service to the SPMC.
• Rob Kravitz and Benny Bolin, Glenn Jackson Award for “Fractional Currency The Engravers & Artists.”
• Jason Bradford and Scott Linquist, Nathan Goldstein Award for new member recruitment.
• Bill Gunther, Ron Spieker, John Davenport and Wendell Wolka, Social Media Award for work on the SPMC obsoletes database.
• Lisa Harrold, Mark Dregson, Wendall Wolka and Shawn Hewitt, President’s Award.
The SPMC also presented literary awards for articles and columns appearing in its Paper Money publication in 2016. Winners, beginning with Favorite Column and followed by article categories, were:
• Favorite Column: First Place, Loren Gatch for “Chump Change”; Runner Up Robert Gill for “Obsolete Corner.”
• Miscellaneous: First Place, Terry A. Bryan for “Rare Vignettes on American Bank Note Company Files Link to Philatelic Collectibles”; Runner Up, Robert Laub for “Roslyn, Long Island, New York, An 1883-94 Postal Note Timeline.”
• Miscellaneous Federal: First Place, Robert Kravitz and Benny Bolin for “Fractional Currency, The Engravers and Artists”; Runner Up, Lee Lofthus for “Series of 1886 Silver Dollar Back $5 Silver Certificates.”
• World: First Place, Carlson R. Chambliss for “North Korea’s Paper Money Issues Continue to Remain Enigmatic”; Runner Up, Cedrian Lopez-Bosch for “Fernando Fernandez, a Mexican Banknote Engraver & Printer.”
• Small Size: First Place (tie), Peter Huntoon, Jamie Yakes and Lee Loftus for “Launch of the Series of 1928E $1 Silver Certificates”; First Place (tie), Edward Zegers Jr. for “Bureau of Engraving and Printing Currency Overprint Processing Equipment (COPE)”; Runner Up, William B. Brandimore for “The Silver Certificate Star Notes of the 1935 Group.”
• Nationals: First Place, James Ehrhardt for “Stolen Loot: Robbery of the Osage National Bank”; Runner Up, Steven K. Jennings for “How Four People Changed the History of the United States.”
• Obsolete: First Place, Bill Gunther for “An 1834 Promissory Note from Alabama Reveals a ‘Lost’ Community”; Runner Up, Charles Derby for “Hutton & Freligh—Mississippi Treasury Notes During the Civil War (Pts. 1 and 2).”
• Confederate: First Place, Steven A. Feller for “2363 Note Survey on T-64 CSA $500 Notes: What Was the Last Note Issued?”; Runner Up, Steven A. Feller for “A Great Note Finally Obtained: The Earliest Surviving Confederate Note.”
Exhibit awards were presented later in the day on Saturday. Though the exhibits are non-competitive, several organizations present awards. Knight thanked all those who took the time to prepare exhibits for the show.
Winning entries and presenting organizations were as follows:
• Robert R. Moon, “Charles Stephen Millington, Businessman, Congressman and Officer of Four Different National Banks.” Moon received the Professional Currency Dealers Association’s John Hickman Award for the best exhibit of National Bank Notes. The award was presented Dennis Forgue.
• Mark Anderson, “Swedish Money from Heavy to Weightless: Centuries of Innovation.” Anderson received the International Bank Note Society’s Amon Carter Award. The award was presented by Dennis Lutz.
• Mark Anderson, “Swedish Money from Heavy to Weightless: Centuries of Innovation.” Anderson received the SPMC Stephen R. Taylor Best in Show Award. The award was presented by Shawn Hewitt. Honorable mentions went to Rick Altaus, “Bryant and Stratton Across America, and Neil Shafer, “Notes from Unusual Materials.” Alan Moser took SPMC Best One Case Exhibit Award for “A Struggle to Survive: Citizens National Bank of Hampton Iowa.” Nancy Wilson was presented the SPMC Julian Blanchard Award for the “Battleship Note.”
• Michael McNeil, “Historic Endorsement on Confederate Treasury Notes.” McNeil received the Bank Note Reporter Most Inspirational Exhibit Award. It was presented by Robert R. Van Ryzin.
Date or location for the 42nd IPMS were not available at press time.
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More Collecting Resources
• Order the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, General Issues to learn about circulating paper money from 14th century China to the mid 20th century.
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