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The ANA World's Fair of Money held August 16-20, 2022, in Rosemont, IL, was a resounding success both for us and for other coin dealers at the show! Sales were high, with collectors buying, and dealers having strong wholesale activity. Some dealers reported some of their strongest sales ever, and we had one of if not our best Chicago show ever (for sales.) The coin market is strong, and activity is healthy both on the retail and wholesale levels. Mint errors were for sale at the show, but generally were difficult to purchase as prices were often higher than we could pay. We will pay strong prices for any mint errors, but if a coin is "overpriced" in our opinion, we aren't going to buy it because we wont be able to offer it to our customers at a good value. 

We saw many mint errors at the show, although only purchased a relatively small number. Buying was somewhat tough. We did pick up some great coins though, and they will be showing up on our website in the coming days, and months. If you are not subscribed to our email alert, we recommend it, since subscribers get an email when we offer the fresh mint errors on our website, and coins often sell quickly when we list them.

There were a lot of customers with questions about their coins--is it authentic? What kind of mint error do I have? Is this 1943 copper cent real? Those are some of the many questions we answer at shows, which is part of the work of a coin dealer. There have been a plethora of (probably Chinese) counterfeit 1943 copper cents on the market of late, which although they are easy for a well informed collector to determine that they are fake, unfortunately many beginners are taken in by them. When in doubt, it's best to buy a coin certified by a major 3rd party grading service, or at least as an expert on the coin in question. 

It was great to see so many collectors at the show as well. There were a number of young collectors, and we also have started noticing more and more young coin dealers over the last few years--this is a good sign for the hobby, and hopefully this trend continues. Additionally, mint error coin club CONECA had a table at the show--if you are not a member of CONECA, you can join on their website, which we recommend.