It wasn’t just the 100+ degree weather that was hot at the 2012 Summer Whitman Baltimore Expo. Strong business, especially at the wholesale level and dazzling auction prices added to the heat.
The finest-graded specimen of America’s “most beautiful coin,” the MCMVII (1907) Proof Ultra High Relief double eagle graded Proof-69 by PCGS, crossed the auction block on the evening of Friday, June 29, 2012, and with the fall of the hammer a price of $2,760,000 had been won in the Official Auction by Stack’s Bowers Galleries. That edged the double eagle into the number seven spot for coin prices realized at auction.
Other highlights:
- Numismatist and author Donald Kagin presented “Our Nation’s First Circulating Currency: The Treasury Notes of the War of 1812,” as well as a special exhibit of the notes.
- An exhibit of Proof and Uncirculated Commemorative Star-Spangled Banner coins offered an opportunity to collect beautiful commemoratives, while helping fund our nation’s celebration of the hard-fought victory over the British in the War of 1812, in which Baltimore figured prominently.
- Ancients took center stage on Saturday, with a presentation by Professor Gabriela Vlahovici-Jones. “Faces of Cleopatra: Myths, Masks, Trademarks,” as a part of the Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington, DC meeting.
Whitman General Manager David Crenshaw said Marylanders, many of them without power at home, braved record heat to attend the Expo.
“A severe thunderstorm left more than one million residents of the greater Baltimore-DC area without power and temperatures that topped the one hundred mark made downtown awfully toasty, but we were still pleased with the attendance, and dealers we surveyed reported good business, especially at the wholesale level,” Mr. Crenshaw said.
Mr. Crenshaw said next year’s new dates, announced during the Expo, should help ease temperatures by bringing numismatists into Baltimore in mid-month rather than late June and early July. Better still, the newly announced dates (June 20-23, 2013) do not conflict with the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo.
“In the past, we’ve sometimes found it impossible to avoid conflicting with the Long Beach show, simply because of the dates that were available to us from the Baltimore Convention Center. Next year, we’re so pleased that our dates do not conflict,” Mr. Crenshaw said.
“Now the numismatic community will not have to choose between these two popular shows. We’re pleased and excited to be in this new time slot, and we look forward once again to hosting numismatists from across the country and around the world,” he said.
The next Baltimore Expo will be November 15-18, 2012 at the Baltimore Convention Center, Halls A, B & C.