June 21-24, 2007: The MidAmerica Coin Expo in Rosemont, IL

If this is Sunday, we must be back in New England after another successful coin show, another interesting coin auction, and another opportunity to talk coins with another group of local collectors.

And it is. And we are. And we did.

Our show began last Wednesday, as we rolled into town for the first of two Stack’s auction sessions. We had viewed the lots a few weeks ago, but re-reviewed a few key colonials in the afternoon, figured our bids and readied ourselves for the 6PM start.

We targeted about a dozen pieces and bought ’em all, as they say. Some went cheap, some went as expected and a few bumped into our max numbers, for a generally satisfying result.

Thursday brought dealer set-up and a relatively quiet bourse floor with subdued activity. We sold a few coins, bought a few coins and then headed over to the second Stack’s session, again at 6 PM, where our focus would be on gold. Again we bought everything we aimed for – including one XXL 6-figure item.

Friday and Saturday on the floor were decent but not great. I can’t speak for others, but we did enough business to justify the trip and convince us to come back next year (but not much more than that). Neither NGC or PCGS set-up at this show, and that hurts in our opinion. The presence of the services usually generates a certain amount of energy and movement at any show and that just didn’t happen here.

But next week will be a different story, as PCGS, NGC and everybody and their brother will be in Baltimore for the Coin and Currency Convention starting Thursday.

And of course, we’ll be there too.