Pinnacle Rarities
Annually dealers and collectors alike look forward to attending the Florida United Numismatic convention with unusual amounts of optimism and renewed vigor. This year’s show was no exception. The show returned to its old stomping grounds after a year hiatus in Tampa, a move we welcomed. Orlando is a great location for a convention with plenty of food and lodging options for all budgets and tastes. The show offers much of the same. With a record number of dealers set up this year, there were a lot of collectibles on the floor for all. With extreme patience and diligence we were able to tackle the shear volume of coins and ferret out a remarkable number of quality items sure to please a large range of collector tastes.
The market has been steady, and buyers are becoming accustomed to the lower availability of quality material, and the premiums dealers will ask for PQ items in their case. Last month, the auction catalogs hit our desks like so many phone books, but the time spent plowing through the sale was worth the fight. Highlighting these sales, the Steven Duckor Saints were impressive and Harvey Jacobson’s early fives were simply spectacular. Prices realized were all over the board, but premium quality examples continue to bring strong prices. The auctions kept us busy, but our best source of fresh material remains our loyal collector base.
That may be the thing we enjoyed the most about the latest FUN show. Having the opportunity to talk with long time clients, and meet new collectors makes this show and other major conventions worth the trip alone. Many collectors make the trek to Florida and we were glad to see them. A number of them used this show to pare down inventories or to trade up, and few left our table with much left in their boxes. We appreciate the opportunity to buy back the material we placed over the last couple of decades. If you haven’t given us a chance to make offers on your coins, you may be selling yourself short.
Overall the show was very active. We managed to find a number of items in all price ranges, most of which are posting to the website as I write. The time spent with our dealer friends is precious, and the opportunity to meet face to face with the people we correspond with regularly over the phone or via email is priceless. If we got to talk to you at the show know we enjoyed the time. It was indeed FUN to be back in Orlando. If you didn’t make the show, check our show schedule and look to meet with us later in the year. We will look forward to meeting you.
