Baltimore Darkside Report

coinkat

Baltimore was an interesting show... the usual dealers were there including some new ones, including Civitas among others, and there were was quality coins. I saw a small number of some decent quality coins from France, Germany and England. One dealer had some Canadian with what I thought was aggressive prices, but the trend in Canadian seems to be upward.

There were ancients, but I did not look at them because I had many other things going on.

I bought a 1921 2 Pesos for my old bookshelf Mexican type set that ends in 1968. I bought a Napoleon 5FR that I thought was nice and original, but expensive. I priced what I thought was a really attractive Louis XVIII 1814 L 5 FR that was graded MS64 by NGC. For those that have opined that French is going up, they may be right as the price was 1400. I still maintain that the 1814 series is very tough in MS, but I saw and spent money on other coins.

I managed to buy two raw German States coins that I liked that are currently on vacation. More on those when they return.

I did notice that inventories were thin... there is no blame here because there may be a problem with new/fresh coins of quality that are available.

newsman

<< <i>I did notice that inventories were thin... there is no blame here because there may be a problem with new/fresh coins of quality that are available. >>



I second that. There were a lot of holes in dealer cases where the good coins should have been. And the ones they did have were priced a lot higher than even at the last Baltimore show.

Other than a very nice 1907 Brazil 1000 reis I got from Civitas, all I could find were a pair of nice BU red Palestinian coppers, a 1944 mil and a 1927 2 mil.

SYRACUSIAN

Thanks for the report kat, and congrats on the new purchases, can't wait for a photo of that Napoleon III 5 francs.

Newsman PM sent.

Stork

Thanks Coinkat . I was there too, but as I'd been at work the previous 24 hours or so I must admit I wasn't able to pay as good attention as you did.

I do remember a representative from Doyle something or other who showed me a couple things they are running on auction (available via ebay I found out). I got to see this stunning 20 yen, and the young lady took it out and let me REALLY look at it. She also handed me this Oban, which I might add is not is a slab so I actually touched it! I was extremely surprised she did that, but my goodness, absolutely awesome to look at.

There seemed to be quite a bit of traffic through the darkside stuff... I was rubbing alot of shoulders at times. I stopped at the Civitas table and by that time I was so sleepy I didn't even bother introducing myself (I hope I wasn't too rude). I didn't even realize it was them at first until I saw the familiar tags! Lots of cool stuff though.

I only pawed through a couple dealer's darkside boxes. I saw a decent 5 Lati that I now wish I'd gotten now that I've read Roy's nice write-up about it on Henri's thread. I had to pick up a little bullion and found an extremely clean sovereign. I found a nice XF-ish one yen with a gin mark to the right, my first one with the Tokyo marking. I also finally got my first non-commemerative Japanese gold coin, a Meiji 3 2 yen coin, which I am very happy I got. I almost passed because I was tired and wasn't sure I was being rational. To heck with rational, I got it .

Next time I go I hope to be wider awake and with more energy to actually find people and speak to them .


Cathy

SYRACUSIAN

To heck with rational, I got it .






Regarding the oban: JAPAN: Large Gold Piece. Possibly a Man-en Oban Kin
Similar in nature to JNDA #6, FR. #7, 112.4 grams, 81 x 134 mm. This item has been examined by experts in the United States and photographs have been examined by experts in Japan resulting in differing opinions as to its authenticity and it is offered as such.No Estimated Value.

Estimate: US $1,500.00 - US $30,000.00