Dublin Coin Fair recap and New Purchases!

Clio

So I just went to the Dublin international coin fair last Saturday and had a really nice time. Thought I'd tell folks here about it quickly.

If you don't care anything about the recap just scroll till you see coins!

First I'd like to mention a few things for anyone who might consider going in the future. The venue was at Royal Dublin Society Balls Bridge Hall 3.

They have some parking on site but I am unsure how much was available as I just walked to the venue from the bus drop-off point. I believe it was 9 euros for parking but don't quote me on it. The show on the whole is very under advertised in my opinion. for a good while leading to the show I struggled to find information on it. That image was posted here: https://collectireland.com/category/coin-stamp-fairs/ Which is mostly where these things are posted but in reality it would've been nice for the show to been at least advertised on this site of the convention center it was hosted at. https://www.rds.ie/Whats-On. There was no mention leading to the event and made me a bit worried.

I arrived Saturday morning at about 10:30, just before the hall opened. There was a small room we waited in that bathrooms adjacent which was nice considering how difficult it can be to find bathrooms out in Europe. The hall was closed off until 11:00 on the dot which I more or less expected but wanted to make sure I was there early. While waiting someone did walk around with some vouchers for free or discounted entry.

Which was very nice of them. They gave me 3e off and a free one for me and my wife. I am under the assumption they had a few to give out to early visitors until they ran out. Not sure if they do this every year but it was a welcome surprise. More coin money as it were.

The hall was nice and well lit with a decent amount of booths to visit. I had come specifically with the intent to purchase a 1937 Shilling in a high grade so my first goal was to make a full circuit to scope out examples before purchasing anything else. There was only 1 nice example I could find and it was at Del Parker's table. He's had it listed on his site for a few months now so I knew about it before hand as well as what he was asking which I think on the whole is just too much. It's out of my budget anyhow. This was actually my first coin show I've been to so I'm unsure how it compares to others but I want to say there was about 20-40 slabs total in the room. This wasn't too surprising to me with how pricey it can be to sub coins much less sub them from Europe. I quickly assessed the quality stock at each dealer and tried to ask each one a bit on what else they might have not shown. I found out very soon that the coins I'm generally looking for are rare even at these events which I suppose was a good thing considering how quickly my budget dwindled.

There was quite a bit of nice Irish silver which was exciting. Most everything capped out at AU grades however save for your typical common years of each denomination. I won't get too much into the pricing because I was looking for a few coins and didn't consider how things were priced not on my list. You can get an idea from the photo above. As far as variety there was quite a bit of Irish and UK coinage in the room. Some sellers with more common coins in long boxes to sift through had more variety but there were no particularly high grade US coins to be seen save for some common date morgans and peace dollars. There was one Australian seller there that I was aware of and I did ultimately buy something off him. He had a good variety of nice coins. in particular a few Irish Shillings. I lapped the room a few times coming past his table and finally had to bite. so here's the first purchase of the day.

Really nice example of a tough date. I paid up for it but it's one of the nicest I've ever seen. The seller was very friendly and talked with me a bit about collecting them saying that he collected them himself and had come to the fair hoping for upgrades for his set.

My other major purchase was this.

Really nice example though not as nice as the 1933. These two help round out my set pretty nicely and even though I didn't find the 1937 I'm almost glad I didn't so I was able to afford these two. I bought another coin or two but nothing so outstanding that I felt like sharing.

I spent about two hours at the show and could've probably spent more time but wanted to be considerate to my wife who joined me.

Really fun experience and glad I got the opportunity to go.

TwoKopeiki

Awesome show report. Thank you for taking the time to share!

Boosibri

I miss that show! Thanks for the report and nice pick ups. People don’t realize how tough high grade Irish moderns are.

Clio

@Boosibri said:
I miss that show! Thanks for the report and nice pick ups. People don’t realize how tough high grade Irish moderns are.

If it weren't challenging it wouldn't be as fun. but yes this exactly. Having the money isn't always enough.

TomB

Great report and beautiful coins. Thank you.

Boosibri

@Clio said:

@Boosibri said:
I miss that show! Thanks for the report and nice pick ups. People don’t realize how tough high grade Irish moderns are.

If it weren't challenging it wouldn't be as fun. but yes this exactly. Having the money isn't always enough.

I owned a 1933 1/2 in P66 which was the most phenomenal Irish modern I had ever seen. Miss that guy

neildrobertson

Nice show. It looks a lot like a US show. I don't know why I'd expect anything different.

SaorAlba

The pre-18th century Irish would surely intrigue me!

gscoins

By chance, I noticed this show on the Internet late last week and wished I could attend (long plane ride!). I appreciated the report. Did you see a mint 1937 half crown? An extremely difficult coin to find.

Clio

@gscoins said:
By chance, I noticed this show on the Internet late last week and wished I could attend (long plane ride!). I appreciated the report. Did you see a mint 1937 half crown? An extremely difficult coin to find.

Can't say I noticed one but then again I wasn't looking for one either. Are you currently looking for one?

Clio

@SaorAlba said:
The pre-18th century Irish would surely intrigue me!

I don't know this is quite old enough for you but I did pick this up at the show as well

gscoins

Clio, I am looking for a 1937 half crown in BU, but haven't had any luck. I bid on a PCGS 64 copy a while back in a Heritage auction, but ended up being outbid. I now wish I had gone a bit higher...

Del Parker told me a couple of years ago that the '37 half crown in mint condition was rarer than the 1943 half crown in the same condition. I suppose that's not surprising, given the low mintage (100,000).

Anyhow, I'm still searching.

Senator32

Nice pickups @Clio

SaorAlba

The Wood's Hibernia coins are interesting for so many reasons, contracted coinage that was minted underweight in "bath" metal - bronze with a higher tin content. Of course they were unpopular in Ireland so they were doft off on those rascals in N. America - the latter varmints having gone to extremes to banning them in commerce in Massachusetts-Bay and New Jersey.

This is an example I purchased for a princely sum whence I was still an anklebiter. Dealer ripped me off, was a learning experience.

Cougar1978

Fantastic report. Irish coins among my favorites for World.

3stars

Not too far from a LUAS stop, so you can park south of the city and tram in.

Clio

@SaorAlba said:
The Wood's Hibernia coins are interesting for so many reasons, contracted coinage that was minted underweight in "bath" metal - bronze with a higher tin content. Of course they were unpopular in Ireland so they were doft off on those rascals in N. America - the latter varmints having gone to extremes to banning them in commerce in Massachusetts-Bay and New Jersey.

This is an example I purchased for a princely sum whence I was still an anklebiter. Dealer ripped me off, was a learning experience.

That's not as bad as some. At least the coin is worth looking at Hasn't even been cleaned.

@gscoins said:
Clio, I am looking for a 1937 half crown in BU, but haven't had any luck. I bid on a PCGS 64 copy a while back in a Heritage auction, but ended up being outbid. I now wish I had gone a bit higher...

Del Parker told me a couple of years ago that the '37 half crown in mint condition was rarer than the 1943 half crown in the same condition. I suppose that's not surprising, given the low mintage (100,000).

Anyhow, I'm still searching.

I will keep an eye out for you but I rarely see MS examples of the Free State stuff. 39-42 is easy enough and I've seen a few nice 43 half crowns. Just pricey.

Boosibri

The 1933 1/2c in P66 I noted. Sold my entire Irish collection to a guy in Cork for a nice sum.

Clio

@Boosibri said:
The 1933 1/2c in P66 I noted. Sold my entire Irish collection to a guy in Cork for a nice sum.

That is a wild coin. Still top pop on PCGS it looks like! I aspire to have as impressive a Shilling set.

Boosibri

@Clio said:

@Boosibri said:
The 1933 1/2c in P66 I noted. Sold my entire Irish collection to a guy in Cork for a nice sum.

That is a wild coin. Still top pop on PCGS it looks like! I aspire to have as impressive a Shilling set.

I had a 33 Shilling OGH in P66 in that set. It isn't in the registry and comes up as NO NUMBER but cert is 09432721 if you are building a census track.

Clio

@Boosibri said:

@Clio said:

@Boosibri said:
The 1933 1/2c in P66 I noted. Sold my entire Irish collection to a guy in Cork for a nice sum.

That is a wild coin. Still top pop on PCGS it looks like! I aspire to have as impressive a Shilling set.

I had a 33 Shilling OGH in P66 in that set. It isn't in the registry and comes up as NO NUMBER but cert is 09432721 if you are building a census track.

Thanks for that, now I want it badly haha.