Irish International Coin Fair February 23th-24th 2013

The Megaphone

Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone can give me a heads up as to what to expect at next weekends coin fair in the RDS.

I've been collecting banknotes for the last few years but have never been to one of these and cant find any info on the auld interweb about it.

Im particularly interested in adding a £1 ploughman to my collection so am interested to know if there will be many stalls and if items are competively priced.

Thanks.

barneysplash

I am going to this coin fair for the first time also.


Here is the info on the RDS website:

http://www.rds.ie/cat_exhibition_detail.jsp?itemID=1100018

and a good blog I found looking for info myself:

http://collectireland.wordpress.com/fairs/

I only found out about this fair by reading this month's "Coin News"

Hope to see you all there.

Happy Hunting!

The Megaphone

Thanks for that but have to say i'm suprised the Numismatic Society of Ireland doesn't have its own dedicated website - suppose these things cost money (no pun intended)...

Judgement Day

The Megaphone wrote: »

Thanks for that but have to say i'm suprised the Numismatic Society of Ireland doesn't have its own dedicated website - suppose these things cost money (no pun intended)...

Websites cost little or nothing but some organisations seem content to remain in the Dark Ages.

DMcL1971

The Numismatic Society of Ireland seems pretty old fashioned. They are always at the fair selling their official necktie. I have never actually asked them what the benefits of membership are (other than the tie). If there are any members on here I would be interested to know if it is worth joining.

In relation to the original poosters question. There will be a few dealers there who also sell banknotes. It's not my area of interest but I would be surprised if you could not get what you want. I have seen many beautiful looking old notes on display.

sorintrimbitas

I'll also be coming here. I tried calling The Numismatic Society of Ireland .. but their phone seems dead?
What do you guys collect?

Blade

DMcL1971 wrote: »

The Numismatic Society of Ireland seems pretty old fashioned. They are always at the fair selling their official necktie. I have never actually asked them what the benefits of membership are (other than the tie). If there are any members on here I would be interested to know if it is worth joining.

It's a secret society with regular meetings at a lovely property (full bar and all) owned by the Knights of Columbanus in Ely Place. You can't just phone them or look them up on the Internet or expect to be able to join them so easily, you have to be recommended by a respected member. That tie has a microchip built in that opens the front door during meetings. There's one this Friday in fact.

Have a chat with them at the fair, it's 20 Euro a year membership and worth it if you fancy attending numismatic events/general meetings/talks or their private Christmas auction etc. Tell them I sent you :P

sorintrimbitas

Blade wrote: »

It's a secret society with regular meetings at a lovely property (full bar and all) owned by the Knights of Columbanus in Ely Place. You can't just phone them or look them up on the Internet or expect to be able to join them so easily, you have to be recommended by a respected member. That tie has a microchip built in that opens the front door during meetings. There's one this Friday in fact.

Have a chat with them at the fair, it's 20 Euro a year membership and worth it if you fancy attending numismatic events/general meetings/talks or their private Christmas auction etc. Tell them I sent you :P

That was funny to read But again .. reality kicks in and .. it is sad that they aren't open to people. Collecting coins shouldn't be an elitist approach.

Blade

sorintrimbitas wrote: »

it is sad that they aren't open to people. Collecting coins shouldn't be an elitist approach.

Ah no, they are of course open to new members, they're just a bit old fashioned. I can see that changing though...

Blade

Just to give you an idea of the kind of meetings to expect, below is next Friday's. They usually bring in some interesting people for talks. But sometimes they hold competitions /auctions/ general chat nights or members nights where anyone can give a talk on any area of numismatics they want.


Guest Speaker
Mark Rasmussen
International Numismatist

For this Emil Szauer memorial talk we welcome a well known figure in the Numismatic world to present his talk
“The life and times of a Coin Dealer’’
This will be a very entertaining talk from a distinguished Numismatic personality with many years of experience .
The Committee would appreciate a good attendance for this occasion which it is anticipated will be enjoyable and interesting for all.

sorintrimbitas

Hmm .. it seems interesting. Are you going there? Is there a list with the meetings?

Blade

sorintrimbitas wrote: »

Hmm .. it seems interesting. Are you going there? Is there a list with the meetings?

There's no list with all the meetings for the year if that's what you mean. It's just on a monthly basis except the Summer months. I haven't been to one for ages but I still support them with the membership fee. I'll be at the coin fair on Saturday for sure though.

sorintrimbitas

If you are interested in non-Irish coins/banknotes .. let me know, maybe we can swap some. I'll also come to the fair this weekend.

Blade

sorintrimbitas wrote: »

If you are interested in non-Irish coins/banknotes .. let me know, maybe we can swap some. I'll also come to the fair this weekend.

I'm afraid not, I only collect Irish and Ancient coins. Maybe someone else here might be interested.

The Megaphone

sorintrimbitas wrote: »

Hmm .. it seems interesting. Are you going there? Is there a list with the meetings?

I actually thought you were being sarcastic :rolleyes: until i read the remainder of the thread - sorry

As a matter of interest, what is the age profile that generally attends these meetings?

Blade

The Megaphone wrote: »

As a matter of interest, what is the age profile that generally attends these meetings?

They are generally older folk who've been with the society for years. But they are all very friendly and welcoming. They do want to encourage new and younger members to get into coin collecting, they just haven't really gone about it the right way.

sorintrimbitas

Blade wrote: »

They are generally older folk who've been with the society for years. But they are all very friendly and welcoming. They do want to encourage new and younger members to get into coin collecting, they just haven't really gone about it the right way.

Maybe we can help them somehow .. I'm a web developer, if they want and care .. we can do them a simple website (for free), they just need to pay their hosting somewhere, buy a domain and add new content to it.

Blade

sorintrimbitas wrote: »

Maybe we can help them somehow .. I'm a web developer, if they want and care .. we can do them a simple website (for free), they just need to pay their hosting somewhere, buy a domain and add new content to it.

I'll mention it to them on Sat. They could really do with one!

barneysplash

We should all meet up for tea at the fair on Saturday.
Coin collecting is a too-solitary hobby in this country, unfortunately.

I always get envious of youtube videos of coin fairs and shops
from the US that have a great social scene as well. Here is a
class looking place that encourages you to sit around and chat
with other collectors:

Blade

barneysplash wrote: »

We should all meet up for tea at the fair on Saturday.
Coin collecting is a too-solitary hobby in this country, unfortunately.

I have to warn you that the tea at the RDS coin fair is absolute pi$$!

But yeah I'll be around Saturday afternoon, probably around 3 or 4 pm. If people want to meet up, maybe they should mention it here then we can all get together and arrange contact details by PM...

sorintrimbitas

Blade wrote: »

I'll mention it to them on Sat. They could really do with one!

Cool. Let me know what they think of it

sorintrimbitas

Blade wrote: »

I have to warn you that the tea at the RDS coin fair is absolute pi$$!

But yeah I'll be around Saturday afternoon, probably around 3 or 4 pm. If people want to meet up, maybe they should mention it here then we can all get together and arrange contact details by PM...

Sounds great As I said I'm new to Dublin and would be nice to know other collectors. So count me for meeting.

barneysplash

Blade wrote: »

Just to give you an idea of the kind of meetings to expect, below is next Friday's. [/I]

If they met on a Saturday afternoon a lot more people would be able to attend, myself
included. Friday night in Dublin city is not good for public transport at night.

On the subject of meeting up on Saturday, why don't we just wear a sticker with our screen name
on it to the fair? It would make spotting each other easy. What do you think?

barneysplash

The fair starts tomorrow, are we still on for meeting up?

sorintrimbitas

Should we set a certain hour?

Blade

It's going to be late tomorrow afternoon before I get in, probably around 4. Most of the dealers there will know me and will be able to point me out, but sure I'll PM yous my number.

DMcL1971

I made a flying visit this morning as I had plans today. It seemed very good, it looked a lot bigger than last time and quite busy despite the snowy weather. I didn't buy much but I saw a few interesting things. There were two people selling the UN One Pound proof coins in the blue boxes that were discussed here previously. Andrew in West Wicklow Coins was sellng of official mint sets quite cheaply to clear some stock. There were he usual Michael Collins coins going for ridiculous money.

How did the rest of you get on? Any exciting finds?

Blade

I met briefly with Sorin, but was too late for Barney and looks like you were home and all before I got there at 4 O'Clock. I just picked up an order from the CB, but other than that I bought nothing. I just had a quick look around and a quick chat with a load of people I knew. But I didn't spot any bargains except all those sets Andrew was selling off, but I've enough of those already!

It's hard to find bargains when most things aren't priced and I just couldn't be arsed asking them how much everything was! Anything that was priced was way too expensive as far as I was concerned. I'm sure there was plenty of bargains hiding there somewhere but I had no time for that. My favourite dealer Keith from the UK wasn't there so I knew I'd end up coming out with nothing.

MasterSun

DMcL1971 wrote: »

I made a flying visit this morning as I had plans today. It seemed very good, it looked a lot bigger than last time and quite busy despite the snowy weather. I didn't buy much but I saw a few interesting things. There were two people selling the UN One Pound proof coins in the blue boxes that were discussed here previously. Andrew in West Wicklow Coins was sellng of official mint sets quite cheaply to clear some stock. There were he usual Michael Collins coins going for ridiculous money.

How did the rest of you get on? Any exciting finds?

Saw a 1966 10s double set there, the dealer was asking for 200 eur.

I got a fair deal on a 1937 2s6d.
Need to impove my haggling skills, a friend of mine who also went there got way better deals than me.

Blade

MasterSun wrote: »

Saw a 1966 10s double set there, the dealer was asking for 200 eur.

I got a fair deal on a 1937 2s6d.
Need to impove my haggling skills, a friend of mine who also went there got way better deals than me.

I take it that double set was the proof coins? Either way that's quite expensive, I'd value those in proof at around 130 max. There was also a double set of the normal circulation coins issued by a 3rd party, I got one of those last year for 50 Euro.

Fancy posting a photo of the harp side of that 1937 2 and 6? No worries if it's too much hassle, just curious to the grade you bought.

sorintrimbitas

Well.. it was pretty interesting (my first coin fair in Ireland). I managed to talk with a lot of people, meet Lorenzo (sadly I missed Barney with half an hour) and get some nice coins + few mint sets :

10 Kreuzer 1872 : http://www.allnumis.com/coin/austria/10-kreuzer-1872-13107
the 2003 mint set : http://www.allnumis.com/coin/ireland/2003-special-olympics-ireland-2003-26655
2 Florins : 1928 and 1930 and few other cheap world coins (I started a collection : one coin per each country).

MasterSun

Blade wrote: »

I take it that double set was the proof coins? Either way that's quite expensive, I'd value those in proof at around 130 max. There was also a double set of the normal circulation coins issued by a 3rd party, I got one of those last year for 50 Euro.

That's right.

I have a 3rd party double set too, is this what you have?


not in a good grade, but the price i paid is alright considering the rarity

Blade

MasterSun wrote: »

I have a 3rd party double set too, is this what you have?

Yup that's the one I have.

barneysplash

It is a shame we did not get to meet up.
Perhaps we could organize a meet up on a Saturday afternoon in Dublin city?

I had a nice chat with Phil Mussell from Token Publishing.
I bought a copy of the Krause World Coins books
and he gave me a free copy of this January's Coin News,
fair play to him.

Were those people selling the Central Bank of Ireland stuff
really from the Central Bank?

I joined the Numismatic Society of Ireland and have already
received a confirmatory e-mail from them.
They had a great A - z of numismatics exhibit created by
one of their members. I would love to get a paper copy
of that. I had a nice talk with Derek from the society and
he gave me a copy of the society's occasional papers 39 - 51,
fair play to him.

I felt a bit sorry for the stamp people down the back,
There was not a lot of interest in their stuff at all.

Blade

barneysplash wrote: »

I had a nice chat with Phil Mussell from Token Publishing. I bought a copy of the Krause World Coins books and he gave me a free copy of this January's Coin News, fair play to him.

Other than the specialised Krause books, I think there's 3 of the general 'World Coins' books, each covering a different century.

barneysplash wrote: »

Were those people selling the Central Bank of Ireland stuff really from the Central Bank?

Yes, assuming you mean the first stall on the right as you went in the door, that was the official central bank collector unit.

barneysplash wrote: »

I joined the Numismatic Society of Ireland and have already received a confirmatory e-mail from them. They had a great A - z of numismatics exhibit created by one of their members. I would love to get a paper copy of that. I had a nice talk with Derek from the society and he gave me a copy of the society's occasional papers 39 - 51, fair play to him.

Not sure if it's the same exhibit you mean but every year the Society has a visual competition where members can display numismatic items on a particular subject. The winner gets the Society's silver medal and also gets to show their display at the Feb. fair.

barneysplash wrote: »

I felt a bit sorry for the stamp people down the back, There was not a lot of interest in their stuff at all.

Don't worry the stamp people have their own large fairs where the coin people are in the minority!