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Baltimore, one day visit
Stork
Posts: 5,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
Well, I made an excuse to drive up to Baltimore. I 'had' to go to Bethesda, and the dog rescue I got one of my dogs from was holding an event at a winery in Northern VA, so clearly a trip to Baltimore was in order. I got there around 12:30 on Friday and stayed until close to 5:30. Never mind my Bethesda errand could have been done online and I can buy wine anywhere, hey it was an excuse to run away from home for a day...and finding a decent hotel room on the cheap with last minute online booking helped.
First of all, though I've had fond thoughts of living in Bethesda years ago (great neighborhood, restaurants) I realized just how much I HATE the driving experience and the crowds. My 4-ish hour drive was a 5.5-ish one with backups on 66 and 495 (two spots). Going home I went to the base, drove around an old favorite neighborhood and saw how much more was built up/in and the local traffic sucked almost as bad as the beltway. The previously fun road to drive on was knee deep in drivers and cyclers, plus I saw a sign to 'save the Crescent Trail'....really, take away the bike commuters' trail?--ugh. My husband rode his bike nearly every day for 5 years which kept him sane in the otherwise insane traffic and now the trail is apparently being subsumed by some building project, double ugh. I no longer have fond thoughts of returning to my old stomping grounds. I like where I live now.
Anyway, I ended up getting to Baltimore a little later than I expected. I had sort of planned on poking through boxes for my 'minor' collection interests, but I was locked on buying at least one 'big' coin for me and so I was a little more focused on just looking for Japan (or Albania). With a little less time than anticipated (though not by much) I didn't end up going through EVERYTHING--I felt like covering a bit of ground quickly--and then wasn't looking to go back to the same places twice. I did stare at a bunch of ancients (thanks to all you people posting pictures) but wisely did not buy anything. I have bought a few books and need to read them before I start even thinking about going that direction. Naturally the few coins I priced were over $500...not the sort to buy on an unknowledgable whim.
So first off, I went to NGC and PCGS. I had a slabbed one sen for both of them that had mis-identified Emperors (and thus dates). My OC finally got the best of me and I wanted them fixed. (I may have dropped off a few coins too
).
After that I started over with Julian's table. Doesn't everyone start with Julian? He remembered that I had just bought something off ebay that week from him, and remembered I like Japanese, and remembered I used to live near his store. Seriously??? How does he do that? Am I really the only person named Cathy that buys stuff off ebay from him? I was amazed, and he is fun to talk to. I found a nice little 1 rin to buy too
. He was fun to talk to of course...and seemed concerned I not let my brain fall into disuse by only working part time. I promise not to turn into a vegetable.
Next I started my wandering with an eye to getting to Northeast Numismatics. They had a 1 yen on their site I've been lusting after. My only other nice yen is a white one, and this one had some color. I was VERY pleased with the way it looks and in person it's even nicer than their photos which I am shamelessly stealing and posting here. I didn't buy (even though I wanted too) as I did want to look around a bit first. Silly me.
Among my wanderings I checked into trading my slabbed gold/palladium bullion (pandas) for generic bullion or dollars. One of the Chinese coin dealers made a reasonable offer on my palladium panda and some lowball offers (too lowball on some, borderline on another that comes into play in my next paragraph). Most likely the palladium was worth more than I thought--possibly to a non-US market, but I'll never know so I'm happy
.
Anyway, I couldn't get the yen off my mind and after about an hour or two went back and got it. NEN was kind enough to take one of my 'slabbed bullion coins' (the one that had an almost reasonable offer from the other dealer) in trade plus some $$. Using Cathy Math, I either got it for the price I then spent replacing that one ounce of gold at GoldenEagleCoins' table plus the little bit of money out of my pocket--OR using Cathy Math Squared, it cost the original price I paid for that one ounce coin (back in the day when gold was under $700 and Pandas only had a slight premium to spot). In that case it was a screaming deal.
Even by the normal Cathy Math I got what I wanted--an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS coin, an ounce of gold still in my shoulder bag (in another form) and not much money out of pocket. The price I offered for the trade-in value was one that I'm very confident NEN will be able to make money on, so a win-win (basically I took the semi-lowball number from the cash offering person and used that--I'd rather have NEN getting a good deal than someone I don't know).
Otherwise, that palladium panda funded the vast majority of the rest of my fun coin buys. No pictures, but I did get a couple of rin coins, a couple sen coins, a couple 10 sen (two NICE ones, one in a PCGS 65 slab, and one that will likely be in a 64 slab upon it's return from a grading trip--it's a nice enough year to do that) plus an odd assortment of more modern 10-100 yen coins for fun. Now that I have every coin I 'need' for my type set album except a trade dollar (which I was keeping my eye open for) I seem to be gravitating towards getting nicer versions of the type set in slabs plus I am looking at multiple dates. I never thought of myself as a date collector, but it's starting to happen.
Overall, the show did not seem overly crowded, but I've never been to one on a Friday before. People took time to chat ...and like I said surprised me a bit with their memories. I had fun at a new table--a gentleman from Michigan who unfortunately had several PVC flips, but some real nice little minors I had to liberate. He has a daughter in the Public Health Service so that was a nice conversation.
I also kept an eye out for TooTawl, but never saw him. And he's not easy to miss.
I was astonished at how many people knew my name until I remembered I had a name tag on, but even so...a few people I've seen VERY sporadically over the years did recall details and things I've bought (or even I was a buyer). I swear Josh from Civitas Galleries said "Hi Cathy" without looking at the name tag. David Amey remembered my fondness for Japanese coins (and that I keep looking for things from his own collection ). One person (Hello NEN!) started writing my last name on a receipt and got 5 letters in before I had to add any.
Silver and gold bullion seemed readily available though I didn't do much pricing (just enough to get my ounce back). Golden Eagle always seems to have a person or two in front of the table. IIRC that is where I bought a lot of that bullion I ended up slabbing and now I'm selling (the Chinese pandas and unicorns...things I'm happy I bought back in the day).
I have no idea how the US side stacked up...I barely looked. I saw several sellers of ancients and happened to be standing there when a guy was looking at a gorgeous gold coin I don't know enough about to describe. All I heard was '30 or 40K'
. I didn't notice much by way of conders or medals. There were a few medal dealers but nothing catching my eye this time, which is unusual. I generally leave with a new medal but not this time. One guy had a ton in one case that was all Abraham Lincoln.
There were a few dudes running around in suits (I saw many clustered around the Stacks & Bowers table, not sure if they were working there or were some coin syndicate on the prowl to buy later, because that is what they looked like).
Oh well, I ramble. Basically I got the one really nice yen I'd been looking at--and it was nicer in person. I found two very nice 10 sen coins I didn't know I was shopping for, and it was fun to poke around and chat. Plus a handful of more minor buys to give me some fun times.
First of all, though I've had fond thoughts of living in Bethesda years ago (great neighborhood, restaurants) I realized just how much I HATE the driving experience and the crowds. My 4-ish hour drive was a 5.5-ish one with backups on 66 and 495 (two spots). Going home I went to the base, drove around an old favorite neighborhood and saw how much more was built up/in and the local traffic sucked almost as bad as the beltway. The previously fun road to drive on was knee deep in drivers and cyclers, plus I saw a sign to 'save the Crescent Trail'....really, take away the bike commuters' trail?--ugh. My husband rode his bike nearly every day for 5 years which kept him sane in the otherwise insane traffic and now the trail is apparently being subsumed by some building project, double ugh. I no longer have fond thoughts of returning to my old stomping grounds. I like where I live now.
Anyway, I ended up getting to Baltimore a little later than I expected. I had sort of planned on poking through boxes for my 'minor' collection interests, but I was locked on buying at least one 'big' coin for me and so I was a little more focused on just looking for Japan (or Albania). With a little less time than anticipated (though not by much) I didn't end up going through EVERYTHING--I felt like covering a bit of ground quickly--and then wasn't looking to go back to the same places twice. I did stare at a bunch of ancients (thanks to all you people posting pictures) but wisely did not buy anything. I have bought a few books and need to read them before I start even thinking about going that direction. Naturally the few coins I priced were over $500...not the sort to buy on an unknowledgable whim.
So first off, I went to NGC and PCGS. I had a slabbed one sen for both of them that had mis-identified Emperors (and thus dates). My OC finally got the best of me and I wanted them fixed. (I may have dropped off a few coins too
).After that I started over with Julian's table. Doesn't everyone start with Julian? He remembered that I had just bought something off ebay that week from him, and remembered I like Japanese, and remembered I used to live near his store. Seriously??? How does he do that? Am I really the only person named Cathy that buys stuff off ebay from him? I was amazed, and he is fun to talk to. I found a nice little 1 rin to buy too
. He was fun to talk to of course...and seemed concerned I not let my brain fall into disuse by only working part time. I promise not to turn into a vegetable.Next I started my wandering with an eye to getting to Northeast Numismatics. They had a 1 yen on their site I've been lusting after. My only other nice yen is a white one, and this one had some color. I was VERY pleased with the way it looks and in person it's even nicer than their photos which I am shamelessly stealing and posting here. I didn't buy (even though I wanted too) as I did want to look around a bit first. Silly me.
Among my wanderings I checked into trading my slabbed gold/palladium bullion (pandas) for generic bullion or dollars. One of the Chinese coin dealers made a reasonable offer on my palladium panda and some lowball offers (too lowball on some, borderline on another that comes into play in my next paragraph). Most likely the palladium was worth more than I thought--possibly to a non-US market, but I'll never know so I'm happy
.Anyway, I couldn't get the yen off my mind and after about an hour or two went back and got it. NEN was kind enough to take one of my 'slabbed bullion coins' (the one that had an almost reasonable offer from the other dealer) in trade plus some $$. Using Cathy Math, I either got it for the price I then spent replacing that one ounce of gold at GoldenEagleCoins' table plus the little bit of money out of my pocket--OR using Cathy Math Squared, it cost the original price I paid for that one ounce coin (back in the day when gold was under $700 and Pandas only had a slight premium to spot). In that case it was a screaming deal
. Even by the normal Cathy Math I got what I wanted--an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS coin, an ounce of gold still in my shoulder bag (in another form) and not much money out of pocket. The price I offered for the trade-in value was one that I'm very confident NEN will be able to make money on, so a win-win (basically I took the semi-lowball number from the cash offering person and used that--I'd rather have NEN getting a good deal than someone I don't know
). Otherwise, that palladium panda funded the vast majority of the rest of my fun coin buys. No pictures, but I did get a couple of rin coins, a couple sen coins, a couple 10 sen (two NICE ones, one in a PCGS 65 slab, and one that will likely be in a 64 slab upon it's return from a grading trip--it's a nice enough year to do that) plus an odd assortment of more modern 10-100 yen coins for fun. Now that I have every coin I 'need' for my type set album except a trade dollar (which I was keeping my eye open for) I seem to be gravitating towards getting nicer versions of the type set in slabs plus I am looking at multiple dates. I never thought of myself as a date collector, but it's starting to happen.
Overall, the show did not seem overly crowded, but I've never been to one on a Friday before. People took time to chat ...and like I said surprised me a bit with their memories. I had fun at a new table--a gentleman from Michigan who unfortunately had several PVC flips, but some real nice little minors I had to liberate. He has a daughter in the Public Health Service so that was a nice conversation.
I also kept an eye out for TooTawl, but never saw him. And he's not easy to miss.
I was astonished at how many people knew my name until I remembered I had a name tag on, but even so...a few people I've seen VERY sporadically over the years did recall details and things I've bought (or even I was a buyer). I swear Josh from Civitas Galleries said "Hi Cathy" without looking at the name tag. David Amey remembered my fondness for Japanese coins (and that I keep looking for things from his own collection
). One person (Hello NEN!) started writing my last name on a receipt and got 5 letters in before I had to add any. Silver and gold bullion seemed readily available though I didn't do much pricing (just enough to get my ounce back). Golden Eagle always seems to have a person or two in front of the table. IIRC that is where I bought a lot of that bullion I ended up slabbing and now I'm selling (the Chinese pandas and unicorns...things I'm happy I bought back in the day).
I have no idea how the US side stacked up...I barely looked. I saw several sellers of ancients and happened to be standing there when a guy was looking at a gorgeous gold coin I don't know enough about to describe. All I heard was '30 or 40K'
. I didn't notice much by way of conders or medals. There were a few medal dealers but nothing catching my eye this time, which is unusual. I generally leave with a new medal but not this time. One guy had a ton in one case that was all Abraham Lincoln. There were a few dudes running around in suits (I saw many clustered around the Stacks & Bowers table, not sure if they were working there or were some coin syndicate on the prowl to buy later, because that is what they looked like).
Oh well, I ramble. Basically I got the one really nice yen I'd been looking at--and it was nicer in person. I found two very nice 10 sen coins I didn't know I was shopping for, and it was fun to poke around and chat. Plus a handful of more minor buys to give me some fun times.
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Comments
Amazing looking coin - congrats!
Taler Custom Set
Ancient Custom Set
Actually, you're probably the only woman who buys from him
Nice yen and great report.
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.