Anyone going to Baltimore this week? Day 1 Update... Day 2

lkenefic

Hello Everyone... any plans for Charm City this week? I'm going to try to go both Thursday and Friday.

This will likely be my last show for a while. I've accepted a tenure-track faculty position that starts in August and my coin collecting will be put on hold for a while.

Tibor

Wish I could attend. Always a good show.
Safe travels. Vaya Con Dios.

7Jaguars

Ah, Friday for me....Maybe Coinkat to come?

Fraz

@lkenefic said:
Hello Everyone... any plans for Charm City this week? I'm going to try to go both Thursday and Friday.

This will likely be my last show for a while. I've accepted a tenure-track faculty position that starts in August and my coin collecting will be put on hold for a while.

Congratulations.

CoinRaritiesOnline

We'll be at Table #442 as always.

epc

I'll be there Friday for the LSCC meeting, looking around and chatting. Any spending would come in upcoming auctions, unless I see something special (to me; there's always special stuff that's not on my menu). I also have some NGC grading credit to spend, having won a registry award in January.

Baltimore shows are good, but the Summer one is the smallest of the three.

Congrats, @lkenefic, on the new job!

DelawareDoons

Thursday and Friday, I'll be running around the floor and doing a little bit of table work.

lkenefic

I'm making an assumption here but does anyone know if PCGS is going to be taking membership renewals and coins for grading at this show? I'll have 5 or so coins to be sent in for grading but my membership lapsed after my automatic renewal didn't go through... I had to change account numbers due to a hack... and navigating the renewal online was a bit of a challenge.

Thanks in advance... and hope to see folks there!!

golden

No.

7Jaguars

They are ALWAYS there....

lkenefic

Yeah... I got contacted by Customer Care and they gave me a number to call directly... they're on PST so I'll probably just take care of it after dinner...

Also.... it's Fleet Week too... so expect the Inner Harbor to be packed. Lots of cool attractions... I think The USS Torsk will be back too... I might have to take that in

Barberian

@lkenefic said:
Hello Everyone... any plans for Charm City this week? I'm going to try to go both Thursday and Friday.

This will likely be my last show for a while. I've accepted a tenure-track faculty position that starts in August and my coin collecting will be put on hold for a while.

Congrats! I hope it isn't in Florida.

lkenefic

@Barberian said:

@lkenefic said:
Hello Everyone... any plans for Charm City this week? I'm going to try to go both Thursday and Friday.

This will likely be my last show for a while. I've accepted a tenure-track faculty position that starts in August and my coin collecting will be put on hold for a while.

Congrats! I hope it isn't in Florida.

Thanks! ...and no, it's just a different university across town in Baltimore.

Jacques_Loungecoque

I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

JimW

I'll be skipping it for various reasons - mostly due to Father's Day weekend activities. Aiming for the Fall show.

7Jaguars

Baltimore to me has always been Uber-safe, but have not been flamboyant or ostentatious at all. Super safe with common sense.

Jacques_Loungecoque

@7Jaguars said:
Baltimore to me has always been Uber-safe, but have not been flamboyant or ostentatious at all. Super safe with common sense.

I guess you haven’t seen that award winning documentary: The Wire.

lkenefic

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:

@7Jaguars said:
Baltimore to me has always been Uber-safe, but have not been flamboyant or ostentatious at all. Super safe with common sense.

I guess you haven’t seen that award winning documentary: The Wire.

The Wire was set in the '90s In Sandtown-Winchester. The coin show is at the Convention Center downtown and the Hilton Inner Harbor is connected via an indoor bridge over Light St... so you dont even have to go outside. Additionally with Fleet Week there will be added security along with the Navy and Coast Guard personnel that will be there... we're a long way and 30 years from The Wire.

Summer is slower so I actually get to talk to more people too...

ElmerFusterpuck

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

Just stop with the paranoia that seems to derail every thread on this forum, FFS! Being aware at all times is just common sense, no matter where the location, be it Baltimore, Vegas, NYC or some podunk town anywhere else. The political BS here is just so tiresome - reminds me way too much of the poisoned pixie sticks/razor blade apple tales from the 1970's and applying that to the entire nation. Just stop.

Jacques_Loungecoque

@ElmerFusterpuck said:

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

Just stop with the paranoia that seems to derail every thread on this forum, FFS! Being aware at all times is just common sense, no matter where the location, be it Baltimore, Vegas, NYC or some podunk town anywhere else. The political BS here is just so tiresome - reminds me way too much of the poisoned pixie sticks/razor blade apple tales from the 1970's and applying that to the entire nation. Just stop.

You call it paranoia. Sane people call it statistics. And don’t tell me what to do as there is no politics, again - statistics directly relevant to the conversation. Nor are you a moderator.

Your reference to 50 years ago is perhaps where you should stay: 50 years ago. See, now I’ve given you unsolicited advice in return. BTW - It’s fascinating living rent free in your head and sad and pathetic that you spent your time researching my posts when you could have been doing something more productive than coming on here lying. Isn’t it past your bedtime?

Jacques_Loungecoque

@lkenefic said:

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:

@7Jaguars said:
Baltimore to me has always been Uber-safe, but have not been flamboyant or ostentatious at all. Super safe with common sense.

I guess you haven’t seen that award winning documentary: The Wire.

The Wire was set in the '90s In Sandtown-Winchester. The coin show is at the Convention Center downtown and the Hilton Inner Harbor is connected via an indoor bridge over Light St... so you dont even have to go outside. Additionally with Fleet Week there will be added security along with the Navy and Coast Guard personnel that will be there... we're a long way and 30 years from The Wire.

Summer is slower so I actually get to talk to more people too...

Good Lord, was a winky man really necessary for clarification….. 🤦‍♂️

lkenefic

I made it to the show just after lunch around 1:30... no lines... lightly trafficked... and not many vendors present. The entire back of Hall A was closed off.

Copper. I stopped by Tom Reynolds table and had the opportunity to chat with him for a while. Since this show is slower there's more opportunity. I also got him to look at a few coins I had planned to submit. I greatly value his opinion. Toms coins... wow... it's a good thing I forgot my check book today! Notably missing was Butternut and CVM.

Next on the list was to look for Type pieces... I only saw o e 1795 Flowing Hair 50C in my price range... a PCGS VG8. The dealer was busy with another customer so I moved on. I saw a few decent $3s so I may go back to get prices tomorrow...

There was no line for submissions, so that was a breeze... I straightened out my membership and submitted six coins for grading and Trueviews. Fingers crossed!

After I finished with paperwork and submissions, I went back through the boarse looking for raw nickels. I started a Wayte Raymond album and was looking for Liberty Heads mainly today... I ran out of time as most dealers were starting to pack up around 4ish.

I'll be heading back tomorrow... here's the view..

pointfivezero

Thanks for the report, @lkenefic. Would love to see pictures of the Flowing Hair half, if you purchase it.

Tim

Barberian

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:

@ElmerFusterpuck said:

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

Just stop with the paranoia that seems to derail every thread on this forum, FFS! Being aware at all times is just common sense, no matter where the location, be it Baltimore, Vegas, NYC or some podunk town anywhere else. The political BS here is just so tiresome - reminds me way too much of the poisoned pixie sticks/razor blade apple tales from the 1970's and applying that to the entire nation. Just stop.

You call it paranoia. Sane people call it statistics. And don’t tell me what to do as there is no politics, again - statistics directly relevant to the conversation. Nor are you a moderator.

Your reference to 50 years ago is perhaps where you should stay: 50 years ago. See, now I’ve given you unsolicited advice in return. BTW - It’s fascinating living rent free in your head and sad and pathetic that you spent your time researching my posts when you could have been doing something more productive than coming on here lying. Isn’t it past your bedtime?

Nah, it's paranoia, even with the stats. Just walk with purpose. Sheesh.

lermish

@Barberian said:

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:

@ElmerFusterpuck said:

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

Just stop with the paranoia that seems to derail every thread on this forum, FFS! Being aware at all times is just common sense, no matter where the location, be it Baltimore, Vegas, NYC or some podunk town anywhere else. The political BS here is just so tiresome - reminds me way too much of the poisoned pixie sticks/razor blade apple tales from the 1970's and applying that to the entire nation. Just stop.

You call it paranoia. Sane people call it statistics. And don’t tell me what to do as there is no politics, again - statistics directly relevant to the conversation. Nor are you a moderator.

Your reference to 50 years ago is perhaps where you should stay: 50 years ago. See, now I’ve given you unsolicited advice in return. BTW - It’s fascinating living rent free in your head and sad and pathetic that you spent your time researching my posts when you could have been doing something more productive than coming on here lying. Isn’t it past your bedtime?

Nah, it's paranoia, even with the stats. Just walk with purpose. Sheesh.

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:

@ElmerFusterpuck said:

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

@Jacques_Loungecoque said:
I’d encourage attendees to keep their guard up. With all the thefts and increases in risk, AND in Baltimore…. yikes. Nope.

Just stop with the paranoia that seems to derail every thread on this forum, FFS! Being aware at all times is just common sense, no matter where the location, be it Baltimore, Vegas, NYC or some podunk town anywhere else. The political BS here is just so tiresome - reminds me way too much of the poisoned pixie sticks/razor blade apple tales from the 1970's and applying that to the entire nation. Just stop.

You call it paranoia. Sane people call it statistics. And don’t tell me what to do as there is no politics, again - statistics directly relevant to the conversation. Nor are you a moderator.

Your reference to 50 years ago is perhaps where you should stay: 50 years ago. See, now I’ve given you unsolicited advice in return. BTW - It’s fascinating living rent free in your head and sad and pathetic that you spent your time researching my posts when you could have been doing something more productive than coming on here lying. Isn’t it past your bedtime?

@Barberian said:
Nah, it's paranoia, even with the stats. Just walk with purpose. Sheesh.

Gerry Fortin is not shy about sharing his opinions and leans the way the majority of the coin collecting community leans when it comes to a lot of the issues discussed here. Interesting to see his blog this morning. I'm happy to see the willingness to change one's mind when presented with new/changed information.

https://www.seateddimevarieties.com/DailyBlog.htm

Gerry Fortin said:
What is All The Fuss About Baltimore?

For years, many collectors have been worried about traveling into Baltimore. Might those fears have been unfounded?

After we closed up shop on Thursday, Diane and I decided to walk through the Inner Harbor area towards locating a well known Italian restaurant called La Tavola on Albemarle St. The stroll across the Inner Harbor piers was thoroughly pleasant on an early evening. The Inner Harbor is similar to any other large city with an active waterfront. In Baltimore's case, it was Fleet Week and Fly Over presented by Northrop Grumman with a host of ships docks at the piers including a visit by the USS Marinette, a Littoral class combat ship that is docked at the pier adjacent to the Hyatt Hotel.

The former days of BLM demonstrations and street panhandlers was a distant memory last evening. I for one have changed my view of the Baltimore Inner Harbor area and would encourage collectors to seriously consider returning to Baltimore come the Fall show in late October. The Whitman staff has communicated to me, that Baltimore is seeing an improvement as a holiday destination and last evening brought recognition of that forecast.

Come this evening, Diane and I will once again take a stroll and locate another local eatery.

Barberian

@lermish said:

@Barberian said:
Nah, it's paranoia, even with the stats. Just walk with purpose. Sheesh.

Gerry Fortin is not shy about sharing his opinions and leans the way the majority of the coin collecting community leans when it comes to a lot of the issues discussed here. Interesting to see his blog this morning. I'm happy to see the willingness to change one's mind when presented with new/changed information.

https://www.seateddimevarieties.com/DailyBlog.htm

Gerry Fortin said:
What is All The Fuss About Baltimore?

For years, many collectors have been worried about traveling into Baltimore. Might those fears have been unfounded?

After we closed up shop on Thursday, Diane and I decided to walk through the Inner Harbor area towards locating a well known Italian restaurant called La Tavola on Albemarle St. The stroll across the Inner Harbor piers was thoroughly pleasant on an early evening. The Inner Harbor is similar to any other large city with an active waterfront. In Baltimore's case, it was Fleet Week and Fly Over presented by Northrop Grumman with a host of ships docks at the piers including a visit by the USS Marinette, a Littoral class combat ship that is docked at the pier adjacent to the Hyatt Hotel.

The former days of BLM demonstrations and street panhandlers was a distant memory last evening. I for one have changed my view of the Baltimore Inner Harbor area and would encourage collectors to seriously consider returning to Baltimore come the Fall show in late October. The Whitman staff has communicated to me, that Baltimore is seeing an improvement as a holiday destination and last evening brought recognition of that forecast.

Come this evening, Diane and I will once again take a stroll and locate another local eatery.

Good for Gerry!

PeakRarities

I'm considering the fall Baltimore show this year, I'll give it a shot and see how I feel about it.

Copperindian

A bit off theme here, but speaking of Gerry Fortin, he has two interesting auctions starting tomorrow & ending 6/22. One is seated dimes (a specialty of his) & the other is Walkers. Some nice early ones there, most if not all with CAC stickers.
If you visit his site, be sure to check out the cool rockets on display. Gerry is obviously an aficionado!

BillJones

My Baltimore days are over. My wife is afraid to go to the city because of the crime rate.

It's a shame because the city has built a really great convention center, but the thugs have take over. They spent a bundle to build the inner harbor area, and the Little Italy has some great restaurants. It's too bad.

lkenefic

OK... let's digress back to coins...

Well... I woke up to a vicious sinus headache around 0530 and didn't make it down to the Inner Harbor until after 1pm...

Still lightly trafficked today... again this is by afternoon. Not certain what the morning or early bird crowd looked like but that allowed me to really get a good look at raw material... Nickels mostly... here's the haul for today. I'm going to have a busy night and a precursor to Saturday Morning with Coffee and Coins...

I also got a couple of early copper pieces for the albums..

All things considered, I think this was a pretty good show for me. I guess we'll see how well I did with submissions this go round. Regardless, I had fun reconnecting with sifting through a huge stack of coins and looking specifically for raw coins...

As far as the whole "Baltimore thing" goes... I'm just not going to get into it. The only thing I can report on is seeing a bunch of Phillies fans in town for a much anticipated showdown between two likely playoff contenders and seeing street vendors with all the O's merch... I can report on the "electricity in the aire" and the short line to get into Pratt St. Pub for a great burger and a beer. I can report on the nice walk back to UMB parking garage and my relatively easy commute back home. So, when people tell me that I should be afraid... be very afraid... I'm not sure what they're talking about because it simply doesn't match my reality.

Anyway, this will likely be the last show I do for a while... these will certainly keep me busy for a while...

CoinRaritiesOnline

Gerry Fortin said:
What is All The Fuss About Baltimore?

For years, many collectors have been worried about traveling into Baltimore. Might those fears have been unfounded?

After we closed up shop on Thursday, Diane and I decided to walk through the Inner Harbor area towards locating a well known Italian restaurant called La Tavola on Albemarle St. The stroll across the Inner Harbor piers was thoroughly pleasant on an early evening. The Inner Harbor is similar to any other large city with an active waterfront. In Baltimore's case, it was Fleet Week and Fly Over presented by Northrop Grumman with a host of ships docks at the piers including a visit by the USS Marinette, a Littoral class combat ship that is docked at the pier adjacent to the Hyatt Hotel.

The former days of BLM demonstrations and street panhandlers was a distant memory last evening. I for one have changed my view of the Baltimore Inner Harbor area and would encourage collectors to seriously consider returning to Baltimore come the Fall show in late October. The Whitman staff has communicated to me, that Baltimore is seeing an improvement as a holiday destination and last evening brought recognition of that forecast.

Come this evening, Diane and I will once again take a stroll and locate another local eatery.

My wife and I did the same this evening - the waterfront was busy and active and a lot of fun, and there is of course no shortage of good restaurants.

tommy44

Whenever I'm downtown in a big city with a high crime rate I walk around with a sting hanging out of my nose and talk to myself. So far no problems.

I have fond memories of the Whitman EXPOs when they were held in Atlanta a million years ago. I'd love to get to the one in Baltimore one of these days.

ScarsdaleCoin

I hate to say this but I really do have to speak up… Whitman runs an awesome show… the lack of support from collectors is truly sad. Baltimore is as safe or unsafe as any other big city in America. This weekend was a wonderful time to be here in the city. Baseball everyday right down the street, a car show next door and fleet week. It was great weather and the perception as you are unsafe and you are going to be robbed has got to be stopped. If you are that afraid then either stay home or simply stay at the hotels that are connected to the convention center … either way the trash talk is just a sad statement by a few people and casts a dark cloud on a great show ….now the other side of the coin is that the Summer show is always lighter than the other two shows. Big deal…. there are still tons of dealers and lots of coins to look at and it’s more spread out so you don’t have to fight any crowds. So give November show a chance and come back to one of the best east coast shows! And bonus check out the view at night!

Barberian

@rnkmyer1 said:
A bit off theme here, but speaking of Gerry Fortin, he has two interesting auctions starting tomorrow & ending 6/22. One is seated dimes (a specialty of his) & the other is Walkers. Some nice early ones there, most if not all with CAC stickers.
If you visit his site, be sure to check out the cool rockets on display. Gerry is obviously an aficionado!

He's a hopeless Nerd. I am as well, a very large Nerd. I read his blog partly for horror and amusement.

Danno

Took a trip down to Baltimore Friday. Had expected traffic going in/out of city due to the one bridge being out, but traffic was normal. Parked about 3-4 blocks away for $17/day. Did my usual lot viewing. Didn't take long, as there was not much of interest for me this time.
If anyone here hasn't lot viewed before, it really is easy. Walk in the room, sign in. They'll hand you a bidders card. You can grab a catalogue if you like. Sit down and they hand you a lot sheet. Circle the ones you want to see and they'll bring them over to you. Easy.
Used my 4 vouchers ay PCGS. Walked right up and sat down. Quick and easy. Dropped off 3 coins at CAC for stickering. Again, no waiting. Even had time for a quick tutorial on using their website. Picked up recent auction wins at GC and Stacks. Saving on the shipping for the grading and lots basically makes the trip down pay for itself. Walked the floor for awhile. Usual huge array of coins. Saw silver selling for @$31 an ounce. Morgans also $31, Peace $29, for those interested.
Got to watch the flyover from one of the outside decks. Impressive and LOUD. There was a car show at the convention center also. We didn't go.
As others have said regarding Baltimore, "Baltimore is as safe or unsafe as any other big city in America." I saw nothing that would keep me away.

Catbert

I’ve attended the November Baltimore show several times and found it worth my time. Was careful as always and never felt uncomfortable.

PhillyJoe

I tried to talk my wife into going to the show and the Phillies game but we are pet sitting this week. Safety and amenities are always a balance.
Many years ago I went cheap and parked at Ravens Stadium for the November show. I came out at 5:00p and it was pitch dark. That was a long walk by myself! Next show I parked at the hotel across the street.
Inner Harbor was decimated by the pandemic snd I’m happy to hear it has rebounded. Perfect weather weekend for coins, cars, ships, planes, food and baseball. Can’t top that.

DelawareDoons

Well I wrote up a post and the system blocked it.

TLDR: Show kinda sucked. To be expected for summer Baltimore though.

Took a 40 minute walk through Locust Point, Riverside, Otterbein and Federal Hill on my way back to the convention center after dinner from 8:45-9:25. Didn't see a dang thing concerning, never felt remotely unsafe. Walked around the area around the convention center both before and after the show Friday, never felt unsafe. Go look at crime maps for Orlando, Baltimore, Long Beach, Dallas, Rosemont, any major city. They all look pretty close to the same. When's the last time you heard somebody say they're skipping Long Beach or FUN because they're worried about crime?

That said, I wouldn't intentionally put myself into bad situations; Common sense goes a long way in avoiding becoming a victim.

I'll close this post by saying that some of y'all really need to touch grass.

coinkat

Considering the posts here and elsewhere on this forum, it really has developed into a forum whereby I am simply no longer welcome... And that is fine.

And if there is a change in venue for the Baltimore show at some point in the future, that would be a horrible mistake.

blitzdude

Lots of empty booths, chairs and what appears to be an abundance of mustard stains. RGDS!

ajaan

@coinkat said:
Considering the posts here and elsewhere on this forum, it really has developed into a forum whereby I am simply no longer welcome... And that is fine.

And if there is a change in venue for the Baltimore show at some point in the future, that would be a horrible mistake.

'kat you're always welcome on the darkside.

breakdown

I have been to Baltimore shows probably 15-20 times over the past 15 years or so. They have always run a very good show.

A great collector base within driving distance (from New England down to Virginia) attracts a lot of good dealers.

Thanks for the report. I would hate to see the Baltimore shows become irrelevant as that would leave only FUN and ANA as major shows for me and those are not great spots on the calendar.

csanotes

@coinkat said:
Considering the posts here and elsewhere on this forum, it really has developed into a forum whereby I am simply no longer welcome... And that is fine.

With 22k+ posts it is fair to say that you probably have t-shirts in the back of your closet which are older than some of the people who have different opinions than you. And whichever side of a debate I always remember..being wrong louder doesn’t make you righter. The ability to not be offended, and damn sure not by some coin twit on a forum really goes a long way to realizing 99% of things don’t matter in the long run. Carry on.

epc

I live just outside Baltimore, and drive into the city for all the Whitman shows. I've missed only one in the last 22 years, due to being on vacation. Walking to and from my car, I'd be approached by beggars from time to time. But that hasn't happened for several years. On the one hand, I do feel generally safe walking around that part of town in the daytime. I've never had a notable incident. On the other hand, I do try to keep aware of what's going on all around me as I walk quickly...

For Seated Fest II at the Spring 2019 show, I walked around with 6 figures of my half dimes in an LL Bean shoulder bag. One of the other displayers walked in and out with probably 8 figures in a brief case or two. No issues. But yes, there is always risk...

lkenefic

One new thing I noticed is that the coordinators of the show have all of the branding as just "Whitman Expo".... there;s no references to "coins"... anywhere...