Thoughts from the Baltimore Show (Thursday)

MEJ7070

I was only at the show yesterday for a couple of hours as I had obligations back in Northern VA in the early afternoon. Not how I usually like to “do” coin shows…..but I’m pretty slammed at work right now.

Still, it’s not like I’d actually NOT go. That’s simply not an option . So I trudged up to
Baltimore around 830 and was “in line” for EB just before 10:00.

I’m kind of surprised I haven’t seen any commentary yet about Whitman’s new data harvesting kiosk system that took my check-in from a 1 minute process to about a 5 minute process……and that was me waiting in line behind 2 other guys.

By the time I left the line was coiled at least 100 yards down the hallway as hundreds of people were waiting to access maybe 8 machines. Frankly, it looked to be a disaster.

Hoping they got things rolling MUCH better than things were going during EB time. I had a couple conversations with the Whitman employees who were trying to keep things humming and none of them seemed happy about the changes. It certainly seemed to me to be massively inefficient.

Also…..coins.

There were some really cool coins out there yesterday! Some that I hadn’t seen for sale before, as well. I saw a lot of “fresh” coins that piqued my interest.

Here were my pickups…..

West Coast Coins (AU 58FH/CAC)

HLRC (OGH MS 63/Gold CAC)

CRO (AU 58/CAC)

Bill Goetz (XF 45)

All in all it was a great time as always. I really hope all those I saw standing in line on the way out had fun days and positive experiences as well.

291fifth

I love the 1921 dime and the 8 R.!

lermish

Thanks for the report. LOVE that CAR 8R, well done!

Maywood

What makes you think the coins were fresh??

MEJ7070

@Maywood said:
What makes you think the coins were fresh??

I hadn’t seen them offered anywhere before.

The “what is fresh” rabbit hole isn’t really where I was trying to go with my post, but it was nice to see some material that I personally wasn’t familiar with.

lkenefic

Thanks for the show report... and thanks for the heads-up about the "electronic sign-in". Hopefully that gets resolved before the summer show. Best, Leo

ScarsdaleCoin

Well your report of long line is promising that people attended... the
ANA used a new check in system last week at their Spring show and it worked great... scan the qr code and print your own badge... I do think a bunch of dealers skipped the show due to burnout as we have had several big shows back to back past few weeks...

MEJ7070

Yeah…..after posting earlier I started worrying that maybe what I’d written would discourage people from attending. That is the absolute last thing I’d ever want to do.

The fact that no one has had anything negative to say tells me the lines must’ve moved along fast.

And, @ScarsdaleCoin that’s good to hear that the system worked so well last week.

RedRocket

@Maywood said:
What makes you think the coins were fresh??

Red Rocket wonders why Mrs. May Wood would take on such a tone?

Sweetpie

Yes the line was long for the 12 noon for the general public admission but after 10 minutes it started to move at a good clip. The online registration option definitely helps shorten the line a bit. I'll say maybe 25% of the patrons used this option (?)

JimW

I was there today, it was still ineffecient IMO, and confusing because there was two lines...
I thought the crowd was a liitle sparse for a Friday. There was a really cool double struck Morgan at the GC table and a nice display of early copper at HA IIRC. 👍

JohnF

@MEJ7070 Thank you for the report! You are fair and accurate. We are implementing new technology which is always dicey at first, but will ultimately speed up future show access. I'm so proud of our team for embracing the challenges. It would be easy to stay in the 1990's but we need to modernize and this is the first of many steps, including more live streaming from the show. Mint Director Hollis came in for an interview, which was awesome. You can watch it here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm-7lJQ_Enk

We thank everyone for supporting Whitman Expo and look forward to seeing you tomorrow (Saturday), June, or November!

John

Byers

@JimW said:
I was there today, it was still ineffecient IMO, and confusing because there was two lines...
I thought the crowd was a liitle sparse for a Friday. There was a really cool double struck Morgan at the GC table and a nice display of early copper at HA IIRC. 👍

Yes, the double struck Morgan Dollar was featured in Mint Error News:

https://minterrornews.com/news-2-26-26-famous-1887-double-struck-morgan-silver-dollar-from-the-fred-weinberg-collection-featured-in-greatcollections-auction.html

lermish

@JohnF said:
It would be easy to stay in the 1990's

And fun! I miss the 90s😢

MEJ7070

@johnF appreciate you chiming in. Certainly makes sense and seems very logical. Whatever helps you guys keep putting on a great show sounds good to me.

Walkerguy21D

Looks like you found some really cool coins in the short time that you were able to attend!

Maywood

@RedRocket should get his hand out of his pocket and his head out from behind and realize it was just a question. Please don't start something that isn't there.

RedRocket

@Maywood said:
@RedRocket should get his hand out of his pocket and his head out from behind and realize it was just a question. Please don't start something that isn't there.

Red is severely taken aback by the unwarranted attack at best and brutal behavior at worse of esteemed board member May Wood. Please, less engagement with this rhetoric or you are likely to hurt my feelings.
You're better than that.
Be nice.
Regards,
Red R.

Cougar1978

Really nice CAC gold Texas Half!