As states south of the border continue their re-opening process, the United States’ first major post-pandemic coin show took place this July in Orlando, Fla.
“The coin market is coming out of the pandemic strongly, with most dealers reporting healthy activity,” wrote Len Augsburger, the president of the U.S.-based Liberty Seated Collectors Club, in the group’s July E-Gobrecht newsletter.
From July 8-10, thousands of U.S. collectors attended the Florida United Numismatists’ (FUN) annual Summer FUN Convention, which was the largest gathering in the event’s 15-year history.
That month, west-coast show organizers also announced the Long Beach Expo will return to the southern California coast city from Sept. 30-Oct. 2. It will be the first Long Beach Expo since February 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The show is typically held three times a year.
“‘Eager’ is not the right word,” collector Michael Turrini, of Vallejo, Calif., told CCN in mid-July about returning to in-person events. “I prefer just ‘glad.’ That’s what I observe and feel among those in our coin hobby: they want to return to the rhythm of ‘in-person’ meetings, coin shows and conventions. The corollary is that many ‘returnees’ have funds to spend. For me, it primarily a chance to again meet and mingle with fellow hobbyists and catch up with life and living – OK, having cash ready is an influence too.”
Collectors in Canada are also preparing to return to in-person bourses, club meetings, auctions and more in the coming weeks (“In-person coin shows survive, set to return this fall in Canada,” CCN Vol. 59 #8).