Show Recap: Whitman Baltimore Coin Expo, November 2023

[Parthicus]

Here, as usual, is my brief, highly personal and biased, recap of my day at the Whitman Baltimore Coin Expo. This year I attended on the first day of the show, Thursday November 9. However, my day did not start out well. Around 10 PM the previous night, I started feeling dizziness and... let's just call it nausea (three times). I only managed a little sleep, and while the nausea abated the dizziness didn't seem to be getting any better. I had given up all thoughts of going to the show (I couldn't walk even a few feet without holding onto a support) and was starting to plan how to get to a medical office. Around 7 AM, I drank a glass of water, and almost immediately started to feel better. I drank another glass, rested in bed a bit more, and by 10 AM was completely better. It turns out I was just dehydrated, and the treatment is the obvious one. Dehydration is no joke, people, stay hydrated out there.

I made it to teh show at 1 PM (doors opened to the public at noon). The show seemed overall busy, many tables had multiple visitors at a time. There were also some booths where the dealers had not yet set up, which I don't usually see on the second or third days of a show. I had a good talk with Michael Bezayiff, a dealer whom I hadn't met before but who proved very knowledgeable, even about some obscure Eastern series. Allen Berman was very engaging as always, though I had a scare at his table. I was examining a coin that was in an older, damaged plastic flip, and the flip had cracked at the bottom. Well, the coin fell out of the flip and onto the hard Convention Center floor with a loud "plink". Fortunately the coin was undamaged and Allen wasn't too upset, though he did suggest that I should always hold coins above the table. (I did end up buying the coin, see below.) I said that I almost had a heart attack, to which he replied "Please don't have a heart attack at my table, it would give me a bad reputation."  😄 One other interaction of note was at Harlan J. Berk's table, where they had two specimens of Colosseum sestertius on display, with a list price of $375,000 for the pair. (I am sure @David Atherton could tell us more about them.) They said I could photograph the coins, and even took them out of the cabinet so I could get better pics. (Though, remembering what happened at Allen Berman's table, I did not ask to hold the coins. ) Here are the beauties:

I did notice that the hoard of tetradrachms of Tigranes II of Armenia is still being dispersed, but the prices are still too high for me to justify buying one. As usual, I spent most of my time (and money) with the ancients dealers, and towards the end wandered about in the world and US sections making a few small purchases. I left about 4:30 PM, taking just one short break around 3 for a quick snack and rehydration. Overall it was a good day, I spent most of my allotted budget and got some nice coins. And now, here is my haul for the day. First, my coins from Allen Berman. Top: A Parthian tetradrachm of Vologases IV (this is the coin I dropped on the floor) and small Parthian bronze of Phraates IV, and Sasanian drachms of Hormazd II and Kavad I (though Hormazd has a major head wound, he was cheerfully cheap). Bottom row is 4 "Kushan" coins Allen sold as a lot for $20- I am confident the three coppery-colored coins are in fact from Yaudheya, the darker is either late Kushan or one of the many Kushan-imitatives and requires further research:

Some more ancients: Top row starts with two coins from Tamco Numismatics (bought as usual from minimally-ID'd "you pick" groups), trilingual drachm in the name of the Turco-Hephthalite king Vasu Deva, and an AE drachm of the Kushan king Wima Kadphises (I already had the far more common tetradrachm of his). Next is a silver hemidrachm of the Abbasid governors of Tabaristan, anonymous type, nicely rainbow-tomes, bought from Michael Bezayiff. Bottom row is four coins bought from a $10 junk box of Tiber Numismatics: AE in the style of Alexander the Great (either lifetime or shortly afterwards), Byzantine 20 nummi probably pre-reform of Justinian the Great, Roman provincial from Zeugma of some emperor who I'll have to figure out, and a Crusader coin of the famous Tancred.

Finally, some modern coins. Top row is 4 Canadian large cents that are part of the Super Secret Side Project. Bottom row cost a total of $20: $6 each for the Barber quarters, and $1 each for the worn George V penny and the Hungarian 2 forint. I like the use of just the crown, and not the monarch's portrait, on the Hungarian coin as a tacit acknowledgement that it is only the symbols of monarchy that matter, not the actual person wielding them.

So, I had a good day at the show. I ended up with just $2 of my allotted budget unspent and got some nice coins, including many that will require lots of fun attribution. (Don't worry @Furryfrog02, I left plenty of junk box goodies for you and the tadpoles.)  Hope you enjoyed my recap, please let me know your experiences at the show.

[David Atherton]

5 hours ago, Parthicus said:

One other interaction of note was at Harlan J. Berk's table, where they had two specimens of Colosseum sestertius on display, with a list price of $375,000 for the pair. (I am sure @David Atherton could tell us more about them.) They said I could photograph the coins, and even took them out of the cabinet so I could get better pics. (Though, remembering what happened at Allen Berman's table, I did not ask to hold the coins. ) Here are the beauties:

 

Exquisite examples to say the least! I suspect they are being sold as a pair because they are two different varities: the first is from Titus' reign, the second a Divus Titus type struck very early in Domitian's reign using the same obverse die.

Excellent write-up about your visit!

[Furryfrog02]

Looks like you had a good time @Parthicus (after the eh...nausea)! I will be heading up this morning after dropping my daughter off at school. Sadly, none of the tadpoles can come this time since they have school. But, since it is Veteran's Day and I'm a veteran...and a government employee...I have the day off so I plan to use it wisely...by going to the coin show! 🙂

[CPK]

Sounds like fun! Congrats on the pickups @Parthicus.