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Udo
Posts: 984 ✭✭
Numismata European Coin Convention in Munich - Report and some pics
On last weeks Saturday me and my collecting buddies Tom, Frank, Jakob, Wolfgang and Matthias met in Köngen near Stuttgart, the starting point for
our trip to Munich. Frank had borrowed a VW van from his boss and the plan was to get to Munich altogether in this vehicle. Usually a ride for two hours.
But nobody wanted to travel with an empty stomach, especially not the driver, so we had to have breakfast first in a well known restaurant. There
wasn't much business that time.
We finally pulled out at 9.00am and came along very well. But then the traffic info said that Autobahn 8 to Munich was completely closed due to
lumbering. And there was a 12km traffic jam before the exit. We followed Autobahn 8 as long as possible and left before we reached the traffic
jam. But now we had to drive on small roads and through small towns before we reached another freeway which led into Munich direction.
Again we had no luck and got into another traffic jam, time passed by.
Oh God, fe finally arrived after 5 hours, it was 2.00pm
The entrance:
In the lobby we met some members of a German coin forum, in the backround the entrance to the exhibition hall, what would await me there?
Near the entrance was a drawing of building, 3800 square meters exhibition space, 252 exhibitors.
Ok..... it was large, there were three hours left before they would close and I needed a plan to manage it within the remaining time. Let's go...
... GULP
My plan was simple: I just looked for the stuff I'm interested in and left out tables like this, modern Euro coins.
I left out tables like the one in the foreground with pre-numismatic currency and also tables covered with albums. There was just no time to
browse through (PVC) albums.
I passed by very quick here, well just stopped to take the photo. Yeah there were still some guys who put their price stickers directly on the
coins.
And as usual I moved on quick where coins had that overdipped appearance or smeary PVC look. I stopped at tables like this one instead.
After more than 2 hours of scanning I focused on two remaining dealers, Karl-Heinz Utsch and Matthias Pfefferle.
Utsch had a nice 5 Mark Saxe-Altenburg 1903 for 620 Euro. But that coin would have eaten up my budget with no money left for dinner.
Especially since his prices were never negotiable. I've tried several times before and the best result I could ever reach was 5 Euro less
when I bought coins from him worth of 200 Euro. He's a real jerk in that concern.
He always has nice coins though.
So back to the table of Pfefferle just on the other side of Hall 3. Pfefferle also had two examples of 5 Mark Saxe-Altenburg, both for less
money, but they were not good enough. I looked through his other Empire coins and a 2 Mark Lippe 1906 catched my eye. Pfefferle didn't
have his own lights and the fluorescent tubes 6 meters above just didn't spend enough light. I complained about the bad light in the hall
and Pfefferle said: "Just go ahead and take the coin somewhere where you have enough light to examine it."
Back through the hall to Utsch with the coin, he had his own lights. Additionally I then was able to compare the coin side by side with the
example Utsch had for sale. His coin was cheaper but Pfefferle's coin was better. Again back to his table.
I got a 10% discount from Pfefferle so I could afford the nicer and better coin for the same price that Utsch asked for his example.
Nevertheless, since I had some money left, back to Utsch. I looked through some of his coins that would fit in the remaining budget and
found me a 3 Mark Bavaria 1912. It was 5 minutes to 5.00pm then, I was done.
Here's the 3 Mark Bayern 1912 from Utsch
And the 2 Mark Lippe 1906 from Pfefferle - Mintage: 20.000
In the evening we all sat together in a Bavarian restaurant. I don't want to feed a stereotype, but yeah I've had a Schnitzel again.
All in all it was a great day except of the traffic jams. Did I miss something? Certainly, the time to scan the stuff was just too short. But I had
the opportunity to look at stuff of several dealers that I never met before, I've even seen some slabs from a grading company I've never heard
of before. Wanted to check back and take a photo but couldn't find the table anymore.
On last weeks Saturday me and my collecting buddies Tom, Frank, Jakob, Wolfgang and Matthias met in Köngen near Stuttgart, the starting point for
our trip to Munich. Frank had borrowed a VW van from his boss and the plan was to get to Munich altogether in this vehicle. Usually a ride for two hours.
But nobody wanted to travel with an empty stomach, especially not the driver, so we had to have breakfast first in a well known restaurant. There
wasn't much business that time.
We finally pulled out at 9.00am and came along very well. But then the traffic info said that Autobahn 8 to Munich was completely closed due to
lumbering. And there was a 12km traffic jam before the exit. We followed Autobahn 8 as long as possible and left before we reached the traffic
jam. But now we had to drive on small roads and through small towns before we reached another freeway which led into Munich direction.
Again we had no luck and got into another traffic jam, time passed by.
Oh God, fe finally arrived after 5 hours, it was 2.00pm
The entrance:
In the lobby we met some members of a German coin forum, in the backround the entrance to the exhibition hall, what would await me there?
Near the entrance was a drawing of building, 3800 square meters exhibition space, 252 exhibitors.
Ok..... it was large, there were three hours left before they would close and I needed a plan to manage it within the remaining time. Let's go...
... GULP
My plan was simple: I just looked for the stuff I'm interested in and left out tables like this, modern Euro coins.
I left out tables like the one in the foreground with pre-numismatic currency and also tables covered with albums. There was just no time to
browse through (PVC) albums.
I passed by very quick here, well just stopped to take the photo. Yeah there were still some guys who put their price stickers directly on the
coins.
And as usual I moved on quick where coins had that overdipped appearance or smeary PVC look. I stopped at tables like this one instead.
After more than 2 hours of scanning I focused on two remaining dealers, Karl-Heinz Utsch and Matthias Pfefferle.
Utsch had a nice 5 Mark Saxe-Altenburg 1903 for 620 Euro. But that coin would have eaten up my budget with no money left for dinner.
Especially since his prices were never negotiable. I've tried several times before and the best result I could ever reach was 5 Euro less
when I bought coins from him worth of 200 Euro. He's a real jerk in that concern.
He always has nice coins though. So back to the table of Pfefferle just on the other side of Hall 3. Pfefferle also had two examples of 5 Mark Saxe-Altenburg, both for less
money, but they were not good enough. I looked through his other Empire coins and a 2 Mark Lippe 1906 catched my eye. Pfefferle didn't
have his own lights and the fluorescent tubes 6 meters above just didn't spend enough light. I complained about the bad light in the hall
and Pfefferle said: "Just go ahead and take the coin somewhere where you have enough light to examine it."
Back through the hall to Utsch with the coin, he had his own lights. Additionally I then was able to compare the coin side by side with the
example Utsch had for sale. His coin was cheaper but Pfefferle's coin was better. Again back to his table.
I got a 10% discount from Pfefferle so I could afford the nicer and better coin for the same price that Utsch asked for his example.
Nevertheless, since I had some money left, back to Utsch. I looked through some of his coins that would fit in the remaining budget and
found me a 3 Mark Bavaria 1912. It was 5 minutes to 5.00pm then, I was done.
Here's the 3 Mark Bayern 1912 from Utsch
And the 2 Mark Lippe 1906 from Pfefferle - Mintage: 20.000
In the evening we all sat together in a Bavarian restaurant. I don't want to feed a stereotype, but yeah I've had a Schnitzel again.
All in all it was a great day except of the traffic jams. Did I miss something? Certainly, the time to scan the stuff was just too short. But I had
the opportunity to look at stuff of several dealers that I never met before, I've even seen some slabs from a grading company I've never heard
of before. Wanted to check back and take a photo but couldn't find the table anymore.
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