Greetings and I hope that all of our readers are having a wonderful summer! I am happy to report that the 2023 Summer Florida United Numismatists ("FUN") show was a sold out success with over 270 numismatic dealer booths. The 17th Annual Summer Fun Show took place from July 13-15 at the Orange County Convention Center and proved that the numismatic and collectibles market shows no signs of slowing down in 2023! Historically, the Summer FUN Show has often taken a back seat to its sister the Winter FUN Show, which is known as the bellwether show in the numismatic industry. However, last year the Summer FUN Show was the first major show that fully opened up in the United States after the COVID Pandemic causing a blockbuster show. That momentum from last year carried into this year's Summer FUN Show, causing a quick sellout of dealers from all over the world and was attended by thousands of collectors over the three day event. The theme for this year's show is "Exploring Space: Next Stop Fun 2023" and featured special participation by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation. A space exploration-themed limited-edition note featuring Artemis 1 (part of NASA's new Artemis Program to put humans back on the moon) was produced specifically for the show in which the proceeds go to help honor fallen astronauts and their families as well as develop and fund STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs for our youth.
As usual, most of the coin and currency dealers at the show were extremely pleased with the collector attendance and sales for the show. Demand for physical precious metals continues to be very high, resulting in strong bullion sales of gold, silver and platinum at the show. High grade vintage gold, premium Morgan dollars, and key date U.S. type coins continue to be sought after by collectors. Large size U.S. federal notes and high denomination notes continues to be sought after on the U.S. currency side. For international coins and currency, the most requested items continue to be vintage Chinese gold, silver and early copper coins and vintage Chinese currency. This year, I also noticed an increase in demand for better vintage Korean coins and currency as well. As always, the Summer FUN Show offered something for everyone including grading service appraisals, educational seminars, auctions, collector meetings, events for young numismatists such as panning for gold, scout merit badge programs, and other events.
For this Summer FUN Show, I again set up with my business partner Rick Stelzer (Vintage Collectibles Group of Sarasota, Florida), Michael Chou (President of Champion Auctions), and Adam Biagi (Pacifica-Panhandle of Monterey, CA), a well-renowned numismatist that specializes in foreign coins and currency. It is with sad news that I report our friend who usually set up with us at major coin shows, Glen Jorde (Lake Region Coin & Currency of Devil's Lake, ND), passed away peacefully at his home in North Dakota the Sunday prior to this year's Summer FUN Show. Glen was a top-notch numismatist, whose highlights include being the co-founder of PMG ("Paper Money Guaranty"), past President of PCDA ("Professional Currency Dealer Association"), and was just this January named a FUN Numismatic Ambassador. Glen was a great friend and mentor to many, especially young numismatists, and could always be seen laughing and smiling at coin shows. A scholarship for a young numismatist at the Summer ANA Grading Seminar in Colorado Springs, CO (where Glen taught many times) has been set up by his numismatic friends in Glen's honor.
A highlight of this year's Summer FUN Show was being able to view some recently graded gold coins of the "Great Kentucky Hoard" discovered earlier this year by a man on his Kentucky farm. Well-known numismatist and U.S. coin expert, Jeff Garrett is handling the recently discovered coins and called this collection one of the "highlights of his career." The Great Kentucky Hoard consists of over 700 American Civil War dated coins from 1840 to 1863. Many of the coins discovered include $1 U.S. gold pieces, $10 U.S. gold Liberty coins, and $20 U.S. gold Liberty Double Eagles. Numismatic treasures discovered in the hoard include gold rarities from the Dahlonega and Charlotte Mints and almost a roll of superb examples of the elusive 1863 Double Eagle $20 gold piece. Jeff Garrett stated that the coins were a "virtual time capsule of Civil War era coinage." According to Coin World, the entire collection of coins from the Great Kentucky Hoard is worth millions. Given the location and timeline of the coins, Ryan McNutt, a conflict archeologist at Georgia Southern University stated that "it is entirely possible this [the coins] were buried in advance of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's June to July 1863 raid [into Kentucky during the American Civil War]." While viewing this collection of numismatic treasures, one could not help but think of the history in which these coins were a part of.
This year's educational seminars were particularly interesting. Longtime former FUN Convention Coordinator, Cindy Wibker, gave an informative discussion on "Collecting Civil War Tokens" covering how these tokens came into existence, subjects they covered on the tokens, and best books and resources available to learn more about them. Randy Campbell, former President of FUN and the National Silver Dollar Roundtable, gave a presentation on the "Top 10 Dates in the Morgan Dollar Series in Circulated Condition" which gave focus to these rare coins often overlooked in the popular series. A "So-Called Dollars" presentation was given by Tony Swicer, current FUN President. "So-Called Dollars" is the term given usually to dollar-sized coins issued to honor important events, expositions, anniversaries, world's fairs, and similar events. Collectors for "So-Called Dollars" have been growing over the past few years and the seminar was well attended. Another particularly interesting seminar, "Coin Design and the Role of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee," was given by Lawrence Brown, the current chairman of the CCAC. CCAC is the committee that advises the U.S. Treasurer on coin designs and makes suggestions concerning content of new numismatic items put out by the U.S. Treasury. Needless to say, this presentation contained some lively discussion and did not disappoint.
In summary, this year's Summer FUN Show was another success after last year's blockbuster show. Precious metal sells continue to point to another strong year for the numismatic industry in 2023 as demand continues to drive the market through the year. Who knows, it is possible that one day the Summer FUN Show will be as popular as the Winter FUN Show that highlights our industry, so if you ever get the opportunity you should attend one or both of them. I want to give best wishes to our readers all over the world, and I look forward to seeing my good friends, Michael Chou, Jeffrey Wai, and others this November at the Champion Macau Auction and the HICC/Champion/CAA Auction in April 2024. Until next time, all the best in your numismatic pursuits and enjoy the rest of your summer!
As usual, most of the coin and currency dealers at the show were extremely pleased with the collector attendance and sales for the show. Demand for physical precious metals continues to be very high, resulting in strong bullion sales of gold, silver and platinum at the show. High grade vintage gold, premium Morgan dollars, and key date U.S. type coins continue to be sought after by collectors. Large size U.S. federal notes and high denomination notes continues to be sought after on the U.S. currency side. For international coins and currency, the most requested items continue to be vintage Chinese gold, silver and early copper coins and vintage Chinese currency. This year, I also noticed an increase in demand for better vintage Korean coins and currency as well. As always, the Summer FUN Show offered something for everyone including grading service appraisals, educational seminars, auctions, collector meetings, events for young numismatists such as panning for gold, scout merit badge programs, and other events.
For this Summer FUN Show, I again set up with my business partner Rick Stelzer (Vintage Collectibles Group of Sarasota, Florida), Michael Chou (President of Champion Auctions), and Adam Biagi (Pacifica-Panhandle of Monterey, CA), a well-renowned numismatist that specializes in foreign coins and currency. It is with sad news that I report our friend who usually set up with us at major coin shows, Glen Jorde (Lake Region Coin & Currency of Devil's Lake, ND), passed away peacefully at his home in North Dakota the Sunday prior to this year's Summer FUN Show. Glen was a top-notch numismatist, whose highlights include being the co-founder of PMG ("Paper Money Guaranty"), past President of PCDA ("Professional Currency Dealer Association"), and was just this January named a FUN Numismatic Ambassador. Glen was a great friend and mentor to many, especially young numismatists, and could always be seen laughing and smiling at coin shows. A scholarship for a young numismatist at the Summer ANA Grading Seminar in Colorado Springs, CO (where Glen taught many times) has been set up by his numismatic friends in Glen's honor.
A highlight of this year's Summer FUN Show was being able to view some recently graded gold coins of the "Great Kentucky Hoard" discovered earlier this year by a man on his Kentucky farm. Well-known numismatist and U.S. coin expert, Jeff Garrett is handling the recently discovered coins and called this collection one of the "highlights of his career." The Great Kentucky Hoard consists of over 700 American Civil War dated coins from 1840 to 1863. Many of the coins discovered include $1 U.S. gold pieces, $10 U.S. gold Liberty coins, and $20 U.S. gold Liberty Double Eagles. Numismatic treasures discovered in the hoard include gold rarities from the Dahlonega and Charlotte Mints and almost a roll of superb examples of the elusive 1863 Double Eagle $20 gold piece. Jeff Garrett stated that the coins were a "virtual time capsule of Civil War era coinage." According to Coin World, the entire collection of coins from the Great Kentucky Hoard is worth millions. Given the location and timeline of the coins, Ryan McNutt, a conflict archeologist at Georgia Southern University stated that "it is entirely possible this [the coins] were buried in advance of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's June to July 1863 raid [into Kentucky during the American Civil War]." While viewing this collection of numismatic treasures, one could not help but think of the history in which these coins were a part of.
This year's educational seminars were particularly interesting. Longtime former FUN Convention Coordinator, Cindy Wibker, gave an informative discussion on "Collecting Civil War Tokens" covering how these tokens came into existence, subjects they covered on the tokens, and best books and resources available to learn more about them. Randy Campbell, former President of FUN and the National Silver Dollar Roundtable, gave a presentation on the "Top 10 Dates in the Morgan Dollar Series in Circulated Condition" which gave focus to these rare coins often overlooked in the popular series. A "So-Called Dollars" presentation was given by Tony Swicer, current FUN President. "So-Called Dollars" is the term given usually to dollar-sized coins issued to honor important events, expositions, anniversaries, world's fairs, and similar events. Collectors for "So-Called Dollars" have been growing over the past few years and the seminar was well attended. Another particularly interesting seminar, "Coin Design and the Role of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee," was given by Lawrence Brown, the current chairman of the CCAC. CCAC is the committee that advises the U.S. Treasurer on coin designs and makes suggestions concerning content of new numismatic items put out by the U.S. Treasury. Needless to say, this presentation contained some lively discussion and did not disappoint.
In summary, this year's Summer FUN Show was another success after last year's blockbuster show. Precious metal sells continue to point to another strong year for the numismatic industry in 2023 as demand continues to drive the market through the year. Who knows, it is possible that one day the Summer FUN Show will be as popular as the Winter FUN Show that highlights our industry, so if you ever get the opportunity you should attend one or both of them. I want to give best wishes to our readers all over the world, and I look forward to seeing my good friends, Michael Chou, Jeffrey Wai, and others this November at the Champion Macau Auction and the HICC/Champion/CAA Auction in April 2024. Until next time, all the best in your numismatic pursuits and enjoy the rest of your summer!
Michael Chou discussing the gold coins from the "Great Kentucky Hoard" with Jeff Garrett
The gold coins from the "Great Kentucky Hoard"