Don Charters
President's Message
Summer - 2011
Silver was the talk of the 72nd Anniversary Convention. The roller coaster neared the $50 mark on April 28, the same day the bourse opened to the public. Buyers were paying more than 33 times faces for 90 percent silver coins and dealers were scrambling to update prices for coins that were suddenly worth more as metal than as numismatic items.
The metal started its decline the next day, but still was just shy of $48 when everyone was packing up to go home Saturday afternoon. The week after the convention, silver fell off a cliff, dropping below $35. Buyers were paying only about 22 times face.
Analysts will write about what happened (Margin hikes seem to have been a big factor in the drop.) for months to come, but the silver spike made for an exciting couple days in the hobby.
Agile traders made money and others were left literally holding the bags. Usually our hobby moves a bit more slowly.
There’s nothing slow, though, about the planning for the 73rd Anniversary convention in Schaumburg, IL, next year. Planning is already underway. The Central States Numismatic Society Board voted at the just-ended convention to increase the rebates to booth holders who stay to near the end of the convention and to booth holders who stay three or more nights at the headquarters hotel. You can find details in Convention Chairman Kevin Foley’s column on page 12.
The Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center will be the convention’s home for the next five years. It’s a wonderful facility, and - this is important to a lot of our members - it has free parking. While paying for parking is a pretty minor expense when you’re buying coins, there’s still something about paying for it that really grates. The new site will eliminate that annoyance.
