By Jesse Robitaille
For its 53rd year, the Torex coin show and auction is returning to downtown Toronto’s Hyatt Regency hotel this June 27-28.
Owner and executive director Brian Smith said Torex is Canada’s “oldest and most popular coin and paper money show”, seeing hundreds of people at each of its three gatherings throughout the year.
With one show this past February and another scheduled for October, Smith said he expects more of the same for the summer gathering this June.
“We’ll see hundreds of collectors, and there will be something for everyone.”
The show opens at 10 a.m. on both days, closing at 5 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Daily admission is $7 and children under 16 years old are free.
At the helm since 2000, Smith said it’s an “honour and privilege” to serve the numismatic community with the Torex show three times a year.
“I’ve been doing this since June 2000, and it’ll be my 46th show.”
Torex plays host to “more than 40 of Canada’s finest coin dealers in Canadian, foreign and ancient coins, gold, silver, paper money, militaria, reference books and coin supplies.”
“The June 2015 Torex coin show is a must for any coin collector as well as part-time and full-time dealer,” said Smith.
Lot viewing for the show’s auction – a Torex highlight – begins on Thursday, June 25, running between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. that day and until 5 p.m. the next day.
Bidding for session one of three of the auction, led by Marc Verret and Eric Pacquet of the Canadian Numismatic Company, begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, June 26. Sessions one and two will be held Friday and Saturday evening, respectively, with session three taking place online on Monday, June 29.
With sale of the Kingston and Phil Harter collections, Verret expects the auction to be one of the “most prestigious numismatic events of 2015”, featuring some interesting chartered and Dominion bank notes and some of Canada’s finest known specimen and proof-like pieces.
Smith said there will also be a daily Torex raffle for a Royal Canadian Mint 2015 specimen set, valued at about $50, to be drawn at 4 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Entrants must submit a completed comment card in the show’s raffle box to be considered for the draw.
BIG EFFORT
“There are a lot of details, and I’ve got to make sure everyone is taken care of,” Smith said, listing his many duties in running the show. “I’m constantly working. It’s a year-round effort.”
But while Smith serves as the face of Torex, what people don’t often see is all the behind-the-scenes help that makes a show like this come together.
“You’ve got marketing, set-up, the hotel, people in the industry, media, security – so much goes into an event like Torex, and I have to be on the pulse all the time,” said Smith, who acquired the show from his mother, Ingrid Smith, after she ran it for 15 years. “It’s entire industries supporting each other.”
For more information, visit canadiancoinnews.com/event/torex-canadas-national-coin-show-2.