In the last two weeks there have been two coin shows in Chicago; Chicago International Coin Show (CICF) and Central States.

The CICF Show was very good but not for Modern Chinese coins.  There was only one seller of Modern Chinese coins with a few other dealers showing some common date Pandas.  Even the auction was weak.  The coins were average for rarity and not the best quality.  As mentioned, always spend a great deal of time viewing auction lots.  There is no other way to see so many coins all at one time.  You can learn so much from viewing auction lots.  For World coins and Ancient coins, I am sure the show was really good as there were many people and lots of activity.  This show seems to be gaining some momentum.

The next show was the Central States Show.  A lot of people with a steady flow for each of the three days.  This is a US Show that had a lot of Modern Chinese coins.  It seems many US dealers are now buying and selling Modern Chinese coins.  This is great for the market.  More competition yields greater demand and higher prices.  It was nice to see so many people we communicate with via phone and the internet.  This was a great show in that it was fun and very productive.  We only planned to attend one full day.  The show was busy enough that we were there on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  There were so many things going on.  We feel it is always better to work in person, when possible.  All of the dealers commented what a great show they had.  

Collect, Invest and Have Fun.......................................