Mixed results at ANA show

“Business was good for all the wrong reasons,” said Harry Miller of his results at the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money Aug. 9-13 in Anaheim, Calif.

“There was not a lot of retail public, which is kind of what I expected,” the Patchogue, N.Y., dealer said.

“The good part of the business is there is a lot of overseas demand for promotional type material,” Miller said.

What is in demand is modern commemoratives in quantity and type coins in quantity, he said.

Miller blamed the demographics of the area for the lack of collectors on the floor.

“A few fill in dates of Barber material and silver dollars,” he said of those collectors who did visit him.

At the Dick Grinolds Americana table, the Minneapolis, Minn., dealer said, “It was very slow in the first few days. It’s improved, but it’s very average or slightly under average in my estimation. It’s hoping to be average but hasn’t quite hit it yet.”

Missouri paper money dealer Leon Thornton offered a terse assessment of his results: “This show did not meet expectations.”

Expectations are a relative thing. World coin dealer Al Boulanger of Pittsboro, Ind., called attendance good from the vantage point of his bourse table.

“Sales have been pretty much as I expected. I didn’t have high expectations for the show, but that’s the state of the market,” he said.

Boulanger elaborated on just what the present state of the world coin market is: “It seems to have split into two areas, inexpensive and expensive rarities.”

He said the middle range of material, which he defined as $25 to $200 coins, does not seem to be selling.

Gary Adkins, who is a Minneapolis dealer currently serving as ANA vice president, said, “I think it was a little slower than I expected it would be. It’s picked up a little today (Aug. 12).

He called general business conditions very good and pointed out that a wide variety of coins are selling online.

Showing more enthusiasm for the convention results was Colorado Springs, Colo., dealer Tom Hallenbeck.

The former ANA president said, “It started out gang busters. It kind of petered off a little bit mid-show and now it’s picking up again.”

He said, “Wholesale has been brisk. Retail is a little bit soft. Numismatic gold has been flying off the shelves now.” This is due to current low premiums.

World coin dealer M. Louis “Mark” Teller of Encino, Calif., described his results.

“We’ve bought very well. We’ve made several large sales, but almost no small sales. The foot traffic is just very, very slow,” he said.

“It’s not like we lost money coming here. I’ve bought quite a lot of merchandise here. The sales have been sparse, but they have been very good,” Teller said.

At the QA Check table, Mike Ellis said, “Business has been quite well.”

The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, firm evaluates and stickers modern coins.

John Gulde of Scottsdale, Ariz, said, “It’s been great for us because we do gold. We’re doing good in gold. We carry better dated gold.”

Gulde was sharing space with his daughter, Jennifer Muenzer of The Family Trust Numismatics, Berryville, Va.

“We’ve done well wholesale. We’re not doing so well retail,” was the assessment of Jack Beymer of Santa Rosa, Calif.

“There isn’t the participation I would expect at an ANA,” he said.

Anthony Terranova of New York City described it this way, “It’s been somewhat slow but steady. There wasn’t a whole lot of foot traffic, probably because its Southern California.”

Assessing the mixed commercial results of the ANA convention, it appears that those who brought U.S. gold collector coins achieved the best outcomes.

More Collecting Resources

• Subscribe to our monthly Coins magazine - a great resource for any collector!

• Are you a U.S. coin collector? Check out the 2017 U.S. Coin Digest for the most recent coin prices.