We were lucky enough to attend our third ANDA Coin and Banknote show of 2010 in Canberra this weekend (the 6th and 7th of November). After attending the Melbourne ANDA and the Sydney ANDA it was something of a relief to go to the show in Canberra as it's virtually around the corner being only 2 hours away by car as opposed to a flight or a half day drive. The show itself was held at Exhibition Park in the Bundawang Pavilion, an easy 10 minute drive north of the CBD. Parking was plentiful and the pavilion spacious and equipped with a cafeteria and all the other required amenities.
We arrived a couple of hours early on the Saturday of the show to attend the free breakfast put on by the Royal Australian Mint (which we'll write about in another entry). Once we were done gorging ourselves on tax payer funded munchies we lined up and entered the show at 5 minutes past 10 in the morning. The first thing we noted upon entry was that only half the pavilion was being used and even that was only about two thirds full. The number of dealers in attendance was a little disappointing. Kudos to those who did attend, those hardy souls included Downies, IAG, Monetarium Adelaide, The Rare Coin Co., Edlins, Prospect Stamps and Coins, Steele Waterman Coins, the RAM, the Perth Mint, Coin Club Australia, Coinsearch.com, JPW Coins, and Sterling and Currency. A couple of empty stands were explained by the sudden illness of one Melbourne dealer and the editor of the Australian Coin and Banknote magazine. We hope they both recover soon!
Attendance for the first few hours of the show was strong, but most of those visitors were queued up at the RAM portable press to mint their own dollars. Because of this we had an easy time finding seats at dealers tables to peruse their stock books. Other keen collectors seemed to be enjoying the relaxed atmosphere as much as we did. If other coin hunters like us tired of looking at coins then they were entertained by ANDA as they held their usual hourly prize draws. Alternatively show attendees could sit in on 3 or 4 informational seminars a day delivered by industry luminaries, these seminars were also held at the other ANDA shows we've written about this year.
The Perth Mint and the Royal Australian Mint were both in attendance with a show special or two. The RAM resurrected the portable press for the show and this was THE major draw card for the first day of the show. With the counter-stamped 100 Years of Australian Coinage dollar and the C mint mark silver proof dollar of the same type collectors of shiny NCLT couldn't have been any happier. It was also the first opportunity that many people would have had to purchase the rather spiffy new 2011 Ashes 20c.
Overall we enjoyed the show. The lower number of dealers in attendance was disappointing and we only ended up visiting the show for one day instead of the planned two days simply because we'd looked at everyone's stock on the first day. Still, the whole show had a friendly relaxed feel to it and it was nice to sit a dealers table and have the time to look through their material properly and be able to ask questions without constantly being interrupted and bumped! We look forward to another show being held in Canberra in the near future.
Posted by mnemtsas at November 7, 2010 5:54 PM
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