By William Shamhart – Numismatic Americana …….
Last week was the 56th showing of the Greater Houston Coin Club’s Money show of the Southwest. A Texas size shout out (thank you) goes to Carl Schwenker and all the members of GHCC that volunteered at the show. Their efforts make this venue a must attend event of the year (as always).
I arrived in Houston early in the afternoon, with enough time to attend Heritage’s lot viewing for their auction that week. I met a couple clients there and we talked about the lots as we looked at them. After lot viewing it was off to my hotel and a couple hour meeting with clients regarding their collections. It is always good to sit down (or plan a phone call) with your dealer of choice and talk about what direction you want to head with your collection. Times change, client’s taste change, and life changes, it is a good idea to keep up with it.
The show set up at 8 o’clock on Thursday (9 on Friday) which allowed a few extra hours of wholesale, or should I say dealer to dealer, time. I’ve always had a hard time with the phrase wholesale in this industry. There isn’t any set pricing or warehouses where a dealer can go and buy his inventory and then mark them up a certain percent. In fact I’ve looked at a coin (at somebody’s table), asked for a price, passed on it, and then watch a collector (not a dealer) ask for a price while I am still there, get quoted the same price and then buy it. I guess one man’s wholesale is another man’s retail.
I did a little “wholesale” business in the morning (Christine couldn’t make it this time) and then got ready for the collecting “public” to arrive. And they did. As usual this show gets a large crowd of collectors, dealers, vest pocket dealers, speculators, and everything else. There was a constant flow of people throughout the three days the show was open. I got to talk to a lot of customers of ours as many of them made the trip to Houston. In particular there were four different clients that I had the liberty of spending quite a bit of time with. It was the high-light of the show. These relationships Christine and I have built of the years really mean a lot to us.
As I said, there was constant flow of people through the George R. Brown convention center for the duration. Sales were a little weak for what I expected, but our buying more than made up for it. Sometimes you just don’t have the right coins for the right collectors at the right time. That is why we are continuously buying new coins for inventory. And, you guessed it, if it weren’t for the relationships we have built over the years there is a good chance Christine and I wouldn’t get as many coins as we do. In fact it is because of these bonds that we are able to offer the items that Christine is busy putting up on the web. Virtually all of them were purchased from existing customers or dealers with whom we have done business for a long time. It would be nearly impossible to acquire this many high quality pieces one at a time on a bourse floor, they simply aren’t out there (lying in dealer cases).
I’m not going to list any of my favorite purchases here because I don’t think I could pick two or three that I like better than the rest. I think they are all pretty cool. Oh, and remember that meeting I had on Wednesday night? Well the outcome of that is that we will have a few VERY neat gold coins available after PCGS’ Members Only Show next week in Las Vegas (this time at the Cosmopolitan). Stay tuned for those or if you get to attend that show take a look at them. I know you’ll be pleased.
The Holiday season is in full swing now, and we wish everyone a great one. And thank you for your patronage throughout this past week. We really appreciate it.
Happy Holidays!
Bill and Christine
About Numismatic Americana, Inc.
Numismatic Americana is an arena of rare coins, American history, artistic beauty, and commercial innovation all rolled into one. In our site we will offer a variety of items for your consideration along with many informative articles.
Through our many contacts in the industry we have been able to assemble a collection of items rarely seen in the mainstream of numismatics. Some may seem familiar, while others will appear unique, truly something for everyone.
We invite you to browse through our site and inquire about items that are of interest.
William Shamhart and Christine Monk
Numismatic Americana, Inc.
www.numismaticamericana.com
360-791-5494
