This entry is the second part of the 2009 Brisbane ANDA Coin and Banknote Show report started in this entry. We'll cover the quality and types of coins available at the show, talk about some highlights that we saw, and make brief mention of some of the people we talked to.
The feeling generally from interstate dealers was that it's almost not worth the efforts of travel as I believe it was around $1500 for dealers to have a table at the show. With airline weight restrictions they aren't able to travel with the amount of stock that they'd like to bring. It was quite a common excuse that "no we didn't bring what you are asking about due to the airline weight restrictions". Show attendees will have felt the effect of this with many dealers not showing their full range of available material. We certainly asked for several things from different dealers and were told that what we'd wanted had not been brought along. Our other observations of the material present was that there was an absolute overload of low and mid grade material available for viewing and very little high grade Australian pre-decimal coins on show. Most dealers seemed to have limited themselves to just one or two cases of higher grade coins and bulked this out with folders full of, well to put it simply, junk.
It's worth talking about slabbed coins quickly because we (and a lot of other people) think that this is where the Australian coin market is heading. Despite this belief we didn't see any indication of it in Brisbane, only two dealers had slabbed coins from recognised grading companies that we noticed. Sterling and Currency had a limited number of slabbed coins and International Numismatics brought along several dozen slabbed coins. That being said the recognised Australian 'slabbed' dealers such as Pacific Rim Coins, Drake Sterling and Walter Eigner did not attend the show so perhaps the lack of slabbed material was not a true indication of the market.
There was some great stuff at the show and it's worth writing about some of it because you just dont see some of it very often at all. A highlight we felt, was Canberra Numisco selling a "Fastbuck Wallet" from 1966 for $1490. With just 70 Fastbuck Wallets issued in 1966 they are a true decimal rarity and this was the first time either of us had actually seen one in the flesh. Other dealers had showpieces well worth viewing but sadly not within the average collectors budget. Sterling and Currency were offering a 1966 pattern 50c, International Numimatics caught the eye with a complete penny collection and a sixpence collection in PCGS slabs for over 100k for each collection. A selection of Foy Bags available also with approx 6 on offer that we saw. Foy Bags come in two varieties and you dont see the more common Melbourne bag too often at all, and the Perth Bag is almost never seen. Unusually there were two Perth bags available at the show! Sadly one had been ripped in half and taped together but, still, it's a genuine Perth bag. Klaus Ford Numismatics had about the best bag either of us had seen, perhaps in EF condition with the paper still very white. Sadly the reverse had been written on by the original owner of the 1934-35 Centenary Florin it once contained. The note said 'This is valuable. Do not clean. If you must use soap and water'. A wise warning indeed! Personally we think this added to the charm of the bag but little did the owner know that 70 years later the paper bag could be worth more than the coin it contained! Those error collectors would have been disappointed with not much available at the show. Those rarities available had truly rare price tags to match!
As well as coins and banknotes to buy there were upcoming auction lots to view. This is handy for interstate buyers for forthcoming auctions. the last thing you want to do at auction is to buy anything sight unseen. International Auction Galleries, Downies, and Roxbury's were all there promoting their auction services and showing auction lots.
Ian McConnelly was manning the Australian Coin and Banknote magazine stand. If you haven't met Ian he is the varieties writer in the magazine and it's always a pleasure to chat with him about varieties, events and general numismatic interests. We spoke to him for an hour about many different things and he sent us on our way with some 1988 Brisbane Expo rolled pennies and Expo Dollar Notes, nice freebies on his behalf that he was handing out as gifts. We also caught up with well respected decimal researcher Wayne Roberts. Those who dont know Wayne should realise that a lot of the improvements in accuracy in the decimal section of the McDonalds Australian Coins and Banknote Catalogue are due to Wayne's hard work in researching from the mint's annual reports and variety hunting. Some other dealers were present but without tables some just for a catchup with mates, stock hunting and others to attend the ANDA AGM for presidential elections and an ANDA dinner.
Personally we had a fun time at the coin show. It's always a blast to look through hundreds of coins and 'geek' out talking to fellow collectors and getting to salivate over coins that you'll never be able to afford. If we look hard at ourselves, though, we can only be slightly disappointed with the quality of coins on show. Neither of us left the show with a single high grade Australian pre-decimal coin for our own collections. This was for a few reasons, firstly there were a LOT of cleaned or manipulated coins that dealers wanted top dollar for. Secondly, we saw a number of 'high' grade coins in PVC album pages that were damaged as well as coins that had clearly just come out of PVC album pages that were showing evidence of PVC damage. The last reason was just lack of material, not many dealers had high grade pre-decimal coins. That being said we did purchase some lovely 1950 and 1960 rainbow copper, a few high grade non Australian coins, and picked up several Australian Penny and Half Penny varieties for just a dollar or two that dealers hadn't identified correctly and placed in their normal stock folders. ANDA Coin shows are always worth attending, if one comes to your city please go along, it's a great way of getting into the coin collecting hobby. It's also a good way of getting a coin collection valued by a range of dealers and ensuring you get a fair price for it.
Posted by mnemtsas at May 24, 2009 5:31 PM
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