- 01/24/2022
- Warren Mills
- Winter of 2022
F.U.N. Show Report
Chris and I set off for the FUN Show early Tuesday, January 4, with great anticipation. I arrived at the Manchester airport a little after 4:00 AM and we finally arrived in Orlando and got to our hotel room at 12:30 AM the next morning! Almost 21 hours of airport bliss but it was worth it.
The show didn’t start until 2:00 PM on Wednesday the 5th. This year, I took some of our wholesale coins just to fill up the cases. We left New Hampshire with 260 certified coins and came back with 88. Right out of the shoot, we were up to our eyeballs with dealers trying to buy nice coins for the grade. There was no quibbling about prices either. We sell nice coins and knowledgeable buyers know it. The first day we were worn out. Thursday thru Saturday were steady days. The onslaught on Wednesday left our cases depleted but I did my best to buy nice coins. We are shorthanded right now but new purchases will be filtering onto our site throughout the next couple of weeks. The first 20 coins were posted to our website the week of the 10th with more to follow.
My take from the show was that we may be in the beginning of a new bull market. Most of you know that I am not a roses and lollipops numismatist. There are many dealers that say the market is on fire year after year and when you examine the numbers, we have actually been in a steady decline since 2009. I believe that 2021 will prove to be a rebuilding year for the market. The FUN Show is usually a barometer of how things are going to shape up for the year. If this year’s show is any indication, then we should be in for a solid year. There was broad based support from copper through gold. The only area that seemed a bit slow was nickel coinage. However, if you had top quality pieces for the grade, they sold and quickly. I was prepared to pay 10% more for coins than I had at the recent Baltimore show but quickly became apparent that I had to pay 15% more for nice coins. Accurately graded coins that have good eye appeal appear are strong. Momentum is building and I look forward to a strong market in 2022.
Most dealers and major market supporters use auction prices realized to buy and sell nice coins. Collectors and dealers that only use the Grey Sheet will be left to buy lesser quality coins for the grade. What needs to happen is that the Grey Sheet must start to reflect the true market and add pluses to coins on the sheet. They are caught between the preverbal rock and a hard place. It is hard because the average and below average coins for the grade are everywhere and these coins dilute the pricing of the truly exceptional coins. I hope a balance can be found but there is no doubt about it, the coin market is getting hot!