The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 29, July 14, 2002, Article 7

MEMPHIS REPORT

  Bob Cochran sends this report on the recent Memphis
  paper money show:  "The Memphis Show was a lot of fun,
  as usual.  I shared a table with Tim Kyzivat from Chicago;
  He was selling paper and I was selling selections from Don
  Fisher's library.

  A few observations about the Memphis Show:  Most of the
  dealers who had tables were complaining about the lack of
  good material to buy.  Some of them had  many of the same
  notes I'd seen in their cases a year ago.  Many dealers
  attended the auction sessions and were active bidders; I
  don't know if they were bidding on the notes for inventory or
  for customers - probably a bit of both.

  The general consensus is that the HUGE auctions now
  dominate every show - certainly no surprise there!  Quite a
  few people who stopped by our table said they were
  waiting to see if they were successful in the auction before
  they would try to find something to purchase  on the bourse
  floor.

  In the "book arena," the standard references did really well.
  I sold most of the SPMC and privately-published references
  for Obsolete notes, and a long run of the Muscalus booklets.

  Also sold quite a variety of catalogs of Confederate notes by
  Criswell, Slabaugh and others.  Don had several early copies
  of Robert Friedberg's "Paper Money of the United States" in
  nice condition, and they sold quickly.   So did a few copies
  of "The Comprehensive Catalog of U.S. Paper Money" by
  Gene Hessler, which, in my opinion, is by far and away the
  BEST general reference book ever published about U.S.
  Federal issues.

  All of the non-U.S. titles sold, but I must say that I priced
  them to "move."

  My personal observation is that many paper money collectors
  continue to have VERY narrow collecting interests.  As such,
  they usually invest in ONE "general" reference, such as the
  Hessler, Friedberg or Krause-Lemke book about U.S. Federal
  issues, and individual state books (if they exist) for obsolete
  notes.

  Probably the most popular book out right now is the "Standard
  Guide To Small-Size U.S. Paper Money," by my fellow SPMC
  members Dean Oakes and John Schwartz.   The small-size notes
  issued 1928 to date are WHITE HOT, and this book is now in
  its 3rd or 4th edition!"

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum