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Post-Long Beach 2004 report
by Dean Albanese Hello all! Back from the Long Beach winter show and still working even at midnight on a Tuesday night. I only work this late after shows because I love too, nothing is better then to wake up and know I have to work with coins all day. How this market is right now makes me appreciate our business even more. It seems so many people are buying "nice" coins now, I truly feel a lot more people are wanting to get educated on "eye appeal and rarity" vs. "sheet priced" coins, simply because there are not enough of the GOOD coins to go around. And the fun part is finding the treasure before the next person can. Coming into this business full time and being around the industry since the age of only 22 I've seen and appreciated a lot of changes, now that I'm 29 (still a youngster, and proud of it) I can truly say this Industry is getting some serious respect from big players. I've had the blessing to grow up into an adult around people who taught me a lot, many dealers and collectors. The education I've received by ALL is an education you cannot receive in any school. Sure, I've learned to make money, I have to in order to remain in business, but most of all I've learned to appreciate what I do and know I am lucky. I didn't do a whole lot of retail business at this past Long Beach, but I got the chance to meet a collector and talk about coins for a while. He said he would be back to buy a certain coin. He never came back, but I was happy to talk with him. My second day back in the office he called me and bought the coin, he just appreciated the time I took to talk and be straight with him. That made my whole week to know he appreciated my conversation about coins. Yes, the market is strong like EVERYONE is saying, and my only answer to low public and slow retail in Long Beach is this - Everyone is hung over from the F.U.N. show! I have no doubt that this year will be historical and great for the market, all dealers are feeling confident in their product (I know we are) and everyone just seems happy. I won't throw prices at you while you are reading this, I know it doesn't matter how many dollars people have spent with me. But this does matter, I sleep good at night knowing I made someone happy by selling them a beautiful treasure, and it just seems the treasures are getting better every day... Here are just a few of the highlighted purchases from Long Beach:
Cheers, Dean Albanese, CEO, Albanese Rare Coins Dean's father David is a Nostomania advisor. They can be reached at their outstanding web site. Visit our Coin News Archive. |