Being The "Ancient And Foreign Guy" At A Small Show

It had been a few years since I had done a show. I had made my annual pilgrimage to the CICF the last several years to buy ancient and world ('foreign' to non-world collectors) coins but had not done a table myself for several years. It was fun. I did a table in Rhinelander, Wisconsin (a lazy hours drive from my home) and it was profitable despite the lack of any serious ancient coin collectors at the show.

Taking a cue from my friend Zach Beasley, I had a 'pick bin' of inexpensive Judaean Widows Mites. I also had some fun, inexpensive flashy coins (the kind kids like) from the Middle East and a pretty display case of inexpensive Roman and Greek Silver - almost nothing over $100.

The strategy worked! I could not boast as any other dealers did of selling an expensive 1909-S VDB or some juicy slabbed silver dollar but I persuaded a number of people to step out of their comfort zone of US, Canadian and Euro type coins and to buy something different than what they are used to. I was a little disappointed I did not bring any Canadian silver dollars with me but other than that I came home richer than I thought I would and the paltry amount of US coins I did bring (as a safety net) made up only 20% of what I sold that day. 80% of what I sold was ancient or world coinage. This was especially good as there were well under 50 tables at the show and it was held in a relatively small town.

TTFN, Ta-Ta-For-Now (as Tigger would say)

Jim McGarigle
Polymath Numismatics
ANA ANS ACCG

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