On Thursday October 27 I had a whirlwind afternoon visit to the Whitman Baltimore Coin Expo. The place was busy as usual, hosting not just the normal show but the Colonial Coin Collectors Club convention as well. Here are the two programs.

I quickly ran into Journal of Early American Numismatics Editor Chris McDowell and spoke for a couple of minutes. Shortly afterwards I bumped into Lianna Spurrier and her mom Sharon. We spoke about the upcoming NNP Symposium and they handed me one of the flyers they were passing out to advertise the event Lianna so deftly manages for the Newman Numismatic Portal. Don't forget to register!

I stopped next at the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4) area and said hello to Ray Williams. After a while I met Kyle Knapp in the lobby and we walked down the street for lunch at the Pratt Street Ale House. Kyle is a PCGS grader from California who loves numismatic books and runs the Auditorum Books website (https://auditoriumbooks.com/). He'll soon be the newest sponsor for the NBS website and The E-Sylum.

Back at the convention center I saw Jim Halperin of Heritage walking past for the second time, but I didn't get a chance to talk with him. Vicken Yegparian of Stack's Bowers said hello, and Jim Glickman introduced himself - he'd been at my Nummis Nova group's dinner last week (and I'd missed it because I was out of town). Mark Vitunic also stopped me in the aisle.

I hooked up next with another new friend, Greg Bennick. Greg had done a great interview with error dealer Fred Weinberg that we republished here in The E-Sylum. He'd offered to do more interviews and publish them on the Newman Portal as well as The E-Sylum. He was at the show with his father Dave who'd been collecting since 1948. We walked around the show and I introduced Greg to some folks for future interviews.

Later I visited the American Numismatic Society table where I found Ray Williams again, talking with Mary Lanin and Austin Andrews. Austin showed me the manuscript for Chris McDowell's new book on Betts medals. It looks great and will soon be published - stay tuned for the formal announcement.

Next I visited numismatic literature dealer Charlie Davis. He had a great three-booth setup. Here are some photos.

Check out those massive numismatic paperweights!From the case shown below I picked out and purchased a nice copy of Harvey Eastman's 1859 Treatise on Counterfeit, Altered and Spurious Bank Notes. Somehow this one had eluded me and I was happy to add it to my library.

The afternoon was a blur. In the course of the day I'd spoken with John Feigenbaum of CDN Publishing, Jeff Garrett and other E-Sylum supporters including Tom Caldwell of Northeast Numismatics and David Kahn.I also spoke with Erik Goldstein and John Kraljevich. Erik remarked that via email I'd alternately told him I would be at the show, then I wouldn't be, and then I would. I said, "I was right two-thirds of the time! I'm going to tell my wife!" I also sold John a small group of tokens and medals I'd accumulated over the years and didn't want anymore. Thanks!

On my way out of the bourse floor I ran into Brian Kendrella of Stack's Bowers and we spoke for a bit about our families. It was a busy day and I hated to leave without seeing more of my friends, but I had to get back to Virginia for a boring overdue oil change. Life can get in the way of numismatics sometimes. But it was a great day and I'm really glad I had a chance to spend some time at the show.