The Best Time To Attend A Show

by Michael E. Marotta
© Copyright 1998 by Michael E. Marotta

In any market, there are two key times: opening and closing. You can make money, find a bargain, discover a new friend, sell a dog, buy a gem, or fall in love at any time. However, if you track the numbers and kinds of transactions, you will find that some patterns appear, both on Wall Street and Main Street.

(1) If you are a coin collector and you want the best price for your sale to a dealer, sell early in the show.

The dealers have ready cash. They are looking forward to the show. They are prospective. They have time (hours or days) to sell the coin to someone else at a profit, so they won't have to lug it home.

(2) If you are a coin collector and you want the best price on your purchase from a dealer, buy late in the show.

Dealers are either ecstatic over a good show or bummed out over a sleeper. Either way, they are easier to buy from near closing: they are either adding profit-flavored icing to the cake of commerce or they are desperately seeking any cash flow to cover costs. Your purchase is one less millstone to haul home.

On the other hand, commerce is often a matter of context.

At the last minute, yours may be the coin they need to take home to a client.

Opening a show with a sale to you can provide the dealer with extra money for another purchase they want to make - and any sale can mark the start of a good show. I buy a table every now and then, and it isn't a show for me until I sell something. I can be easy on the first date.

It's a long time from the opening strike to the final bell. The middle of the show is a big window to miss. If you try to rush your sale or delay your purchase, you may make a mistake. Your dealer may not be physically ready or mentally prepared to do business. Your dealer may have sold the one you wanted. (I have a special interest in the coins of Cato the Younger. One smiled at me for three days before someone else took it home.) The best time to be at a coin show is when you are there. If you leave -- or if you don't come at all -- you can't do any business.