In my last blog, I predicted that the Central States show in Rosemont would be active. How did the show turn out and what are my current impressions of the market? Read on for all the answers…and more.

After a lack of shows for over a month I knew that there would be a strong demand for nice coins and I was right. Every dealer I spoke to at the beginning of the show told me that they literally had to be three places at once to get a shot at the fresh coins that were available. For someone like myself who does coin shows without assistants, partners, lackeys or go-fers it can be very frustrating to try and buy coins, view auction lots, answer emails, make phone calls and more – often all at once. I can’t ever remember a time when I’ve had to work harder to buy!

I arrived in Chicago on Tuesday and began buying literally as soon as my plane touched the ground. Wednesday was PNG Day which meant that only a limited number of the table holders could set up. I got to wear some spiffy clothes and I got to focus exclusively on wholesale business which, for better or worse, is what shows are really about right now (I’ll explain a little bit more about this statement in a second).

There were a few very interesting deals that broke at the show. I was able to buy some nice early gold coins from an outstanding collection of pre-1834 gold that a West Coast dealer was selling. This was the sort of deal that usually sells at auction (all the coins were in old holders and many were significantly undergraded) and I believe that virtually the entire deal sold to the first three or four people who viewed it. I also heard about a neat collection of Bust Quarters by die variety that sold (I was able to buy a few leftovers from the dealers who handled it) and I was impressed that the collector who owned it didn’t place it in auction. (more…)

Not many people understand the connection between Edgar Allan Poe and the City of Baltimore, home to the 2008 World’s Fair of Money®. But anyone purchasing a 117th Anniversary ANA Convention medal will own a striking collectible and gain a greater understanding of Poe’s connection to the city where he lived, wrote, died and was buried. Artist Jamie Franki conducted countless hours of research on Poe, searching for images preserved in portraits, daguerreotypes and drawings – as well as numismatic items that may have celebrated the author and his genius. But for all of his efforts, he found just one lowrelief, traditional side-view medal of Poe – used as a literary award by the New York Public Library in the late 19th century.

“This is quite possibly the second medal ever struck with Poe’s image,” Franki said. “This should give the medal an unusual appeal and make it quite collectible – especially for anyone who is a fan of Poe or American literature.”

Franki’s design features a three-quarter view of Poe in high relief. The portrait on the obverse is inspired by an oil painting by Baltimore artist Oscar Halling and “informed by every image I could find,” said Franki. The word, “Nevermore,” immortalized in The Raven, circles the edge above Poe’s head and a small incused silhouette of a raven is perched on his signature, which was taken from an archival scan.

The reverse tells the tale of the annual “Poe Toast,” where for each of the past 59 years on Poe’s birthday, a black-clad figure visits the gravesite and raises a cognac toast. The toaster then leaves a half-bottle of cognac and three roses on the grave.

“Poe is an absolutely fascinating person to draw,” said Franki, a coin collector who teaches art at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. “He was poor, sickly, a substance abuser and an odd character. His face is asymmetrical; his mouth is at a different angle than his eyes, and he has a misshapen, sunken nature to his features. I wanted his expression to reflect his wit and intelligence as well as the somewhat tortured life that he lived. I looked at so many paintings, drawings and daguerreotypes that I’m confident I produced a pretty fair likeness of the man.” (more…)

By Tom Mashberg for the Boston Herald

Tom Caldwell was barely 11 when he collected his first coin – a nickel his mom gave him for milk money in 1964. It turned out to be an 1866 shield nickel, worth $20 at the time and from $300 to $1,750 today, he said, depending on condition.

“I haven’t stopped collecting since,” said the 55-year-old president of Northeast Numismatics in Concord. “It’s a way of life.”

Caldwell was one of scores of dealers at the Bay State Coin Show at the Radisson over the weekend displaying coins from every nation, era and metal imaginable.

There were Roman denarii used by Caesar to pay his troops. There were coins featuring emperors and kings from Persia and Greece and England, many in gold and silver, and of course there were highly collectible U.S. coins dating from Colonial times to the 21st century. And there were people.

“Attendance is definitely stronger – people are here to buy tangible assets, and they are aware that precious metals are going up in value,” said Merritt Reynolds, who owns Coins of Merritt in Watertown, N.Y. “Interest is strong.”

Read Full Boston Herald Story Here