THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE OF COIN SHOWS

Due to the recent demise of the coin show circuit, we are embracing the coin business in a new way. We have gone back to the website and aggregator sites as the centerpiece of our business model. The convenience of shows had gotten us away from our online platform. We hope you're going to like the New HLRC website offerings, with emphasis on one of a kind coins, sold most often, one at a time.

A Crisis Ripples Through the Country

Who could have predicted a pandemic would come to the globe in 2020. Well, evidently a lot of people did! As the pandemic sweeps the continents, the world is forever changed. Our customs and habits in numismatics will change as well. Trends that were growing will accelerate. Areas in decline may disappear completely. Coin shows and their immense impact on our industry have vanished for now. One cancellation after another. Unprecedented. Speculation abounds when our traveling fraternity will meet again. The composition and purpose of trade shows had been declining for a long time. Most notably the absence of retail/collector trade on the bourse floor. Attending shows is inefficient for collectors and bourse floors can be intimidating. Collectors prefer to buy from the comfort of their home or office. That would have been a true statement before this crisis. Truer even more today. There is no disputing the internet has become a larger part of business activity year after year. Cancelling its in person national competition seems likely to exacerbate that trend.

The Engine of the Coin Industry

I was a kid collector from 1962-1970. As I emerged from college in 1980, I was drawn back to coins by the Gold and Silver boom. This boom was created in no small part by the Hunt brothers from Texas manipulating futures contracts to get richer. I have these characters to thank for a very interesting and exciting career, which began in earnest with coin shows. I have been doing coin shows for 40 years, 20-25 events a year. They have been the lifeblood of my business model. Though often exhausting and stressful, they have also been a lot of fun.

When I discovered I could make a living buying and selling coins, it was an eye opener. There had been no major or even a single class at college for rare coin dealers. Imagine that! But here I was contemplating a path that seemed really fun and profitable. I would be able to avoid graduate or law school. I didn't need a license. I didn't have to cut my hair for an interview. The barriers to entry were the lowest imaginable. A business card, loupe, checkbook, bourse application, and a box of coins. Raw coins in those days. Because of coin shows, that's all you needed and the world of collectors was at your doorstep. No office, or staff, or even a website was required to start your own numismatic odyssey.

As I explored the world of coins, it wasn't long before I was taking tables at the local shows. The Hampton show held in the Holiday Inn, Hampton Va. was among my first. The show was two or three times a year on a Saturday and Sunday. It's been a long time but I can still recall the excitement each time I set up at one of these shows. As time went on, I branched out to regional shows and then began flying to shows all over the country. For a young man from a modest economic background, it was a heady time. There were analogies to rock stars, but to my chagrin, there weren't any cute girls chasing me around. But I was living large and having a blast doing it. I made the closest and best friends of my life on the bourse floor. Men and women I have known, many for 30-40 years now.

I accumulated nearly every award hotels and airlines offer. When the movie Up in the Air came out, I imagined I was George Clooney. Still no cute girls chasing me around. But that was okay. Coin shows enabled me to meet and involve myself with everyone in the business. I learned from my peers, and they from me, as time went by. Auctions and having coins graded on walk through tiers became a big part of my business, thanks to the shows they were partnered with. None of this would have been possible without being there.

Whenever a major show takes place, it becomes the epicenter of the coin business for that week. There is not a more important place to be than on the bourse floor trading coins with everyone in attendance. All of that has come to an abrupt ending. Of course it's temporary, but I have my doubts that shows will emerge unscathed. Additionally I predict the emergence won't fully begin until 2021 for the majors. I just don't see gatherings that bring 5,000-10,000 people together as being viable until infections are down to a smolder. Even then if you are at risk, haven't had it, and no vaccine is available many people will refrain.

The Immediate Future of Coin Shows

The ANA contacted me last week to see if I would still be coming to the show in August. It will always be important to attend the ANA show. It's expensive, but I can factor in the costs. But when those costs include the exposure afforded by air travel and public transportation, hotel living, eating out all week, and contact with thousands of strangers, while a pandemic rages across the county, even a die hard road warrior like me must take pause. As I pointed out to the young women on the phone, I'll be 63 when that show takes place. I said, "bet against my attendance." In fact, I said "bet against the show taking place at all."

I'm not sure I need to point this out, but a lot of people in our industry, both dealers and collectors, are over 60. It's also no secret that coin dealers are not the fittest group. I'm guessing a lot of compromised people attend coin shows. Until this really clears up, most of them will stay home. The other factor that seems pertinent is habit. I have been saying I needed to do less shows for years. But changing one's ways is easier said then done. But if the pandemic keeps me away all year, I may see it in a different light. That feeling is already germinating as the re-engineered business is taking off.

A close friend recently challenged me on that point. She said, "No, I don't think so Harry, as soon as it's safe, you will be back at every one of them". "No," I said, lacking full confidence, "I'm going to do fewer shows when this is over." An incredulous look followed. I replied, "I expect I will do less shows and or less days at each show." She still wasn't convinced. While I can't say for sure what I will and won't do in the future, I do feel my habits regarding shows will be changed. Addictions are hard to break, but when forced, new habits form. You, my faithful newsletter readers, will be the first to know.

Our listings have grown past 200 and we're shooting for 300.

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http://hlrc.com/

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