Readers have had nothing but great things to say about the recent Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists (PAN) show near Pittsburgh. The market continues to grow in strength and draw in new and returning collectors. -Editor

"The show was a huge success. Every dealer I spoke to had a good to great show (Bob Hurst, Gus Tiso, Elizabeth Coggan, APMEX, The Reeded Edge, Jewell Exonumia, Cybercoins.net, Running Bear, Dan Olevian Numismatic Rarities, David Kahn Rare Coins) just to name a few!

"The Lecture Series was well attended both Friday and Saturday. The PANKID Zone was well attended Saturday after noon (around 55 YN's and their parents. Bob Stakeley of the History Center gave a very nice presentation entertaining everyone and the kids auction was a great success. Even Lightning Rod Ben Franklin was seen walking the bourse and enlightening everyone (pun intended)!

"Public attendance for the three days was over 1,300."

"The PAN show was crazy-busy, just like the other shows where we've set-up recently...Gettysburg, PA in early April and Manchester, NH the week after that. Pent-up demand for coins is off the charts, and from dealers even more so than from collectors. Make no mistake though...collectors have been out in force, and the ratio of casual browsers to serious buyers is as low as I've ever seen it. "Good quality, real collector coins are truly hard to find, and don't hang around in stock very long. The really great material is nearly impossible to find...and incredibly easy to sell. We started the show low on good inventory, having only 7 long, white slab boxes full (compared to our more typical 9 or 10). At the end, we packed up and took home 4.5 of them, thus we sold roughly a third of our inventory. We were able to buy some coins of course, but I don't think we replaced the number sold.

"Dealer set-up started Wednesday afternoon, and the floor was teeming with folks eager to buy whatever they could get their hands on. It certainly helps that the metals markets are fairly strong, and that there is huge demand from promoters for generic silver dollars of all kinds, from culls to slabbed 66's. Prices for that material are very strong, and seem to be rising still. It was a nearly perfect storm.

"Thursday noon saw the entry of the public, and there was a good line waiting for "first shots". Business was brisk all afternoon, again with serious buyers being the norm. We were almost expecting a repeat on Friday, but even with rainy, cold weather, the public took a little hiatus...thus we only did roughly a "normal" day's business! But, Saturday, folks were back out in force!

"We were awe-struck by the number of kids in attendance on Saturday...and serious kids too. One young man, a 12-year old, came to the table with his mom, and very much impressed all of us with his knowledge and understanding of coins. The kid knew what he wanted, he knew why and he could easily explain it all. Not only remarkable, but refreshing as well. His mom was amazed to get a grasp of her son's level of interest in coins...she knew he liked coins, but had no clue how much! The young man selected a very nice Large cent from our inventory and we sold it to him at a very reasonable price. We always hear that we need to appeal to kids, and that is absolutely true. What is truly great to see is that, at least in a small way, we are succeeding.

"Next up on our show schedule is the brand new show run by Battlefield Coin Shows, in Altoona, PA. We look forward to seeing all of you there, the first weekend in June."

Rich Jewell reports that there were fourteen active exhibits and one non-competitive exhibit at the PAN Show. Rich's Carson City exhibit took First Place. Chick Ambrass won Second Place for his Leprosy Coinage of Brazil World Coins exhibit. Michael Hicks won Third Place for his Numismatic Paper Exhibit-Series 1963B One Dollar Federal Reserve Notes-Barr Notes and his US Coins exhibit-The Changing Faces of the United States Dollar Coinage from 1878 to 2019. In the Exonumia category, Tom Uram's "The Code Talkers of WWI & WWII" took First Place. -Editor

"Col. Steve presented Tom Corey and Richard Jewell ANA Presidential Awards. He also presented one to Carlos Kearns. The show was outstanding - dealers were excited, the public was excited, and attendance was up by 30%. The PAN KidZone probably had 40 children there. Bob Stakeley from the Heinz History Center moderated the YN auction. NSS Life is the KidZone sponsor."

"The show was well-attended and had more dealers on the bourse floor than in 2019 (Fall) – they expanded the bourse floor into the area where the talks and the KidZone takes place – which is great because it drew more shoppers and the curious back to where the talks (and our table) were located.

"We (Becky, my partner, and I) gave three talks on Friday – which for us was by far the most well-attended day – Saturday had a strong attendance for the Kids Programming and Auction (which was good for attracting younger parents and kids).

"I was pleased to see a handful of young women (and guys) listening to Becky's talk, which was geared towards the ladies – it was about the Treasury Girls and women working in the mints as adjusters and later as steam-press operators – and moving into leadership roles at the Mint in the 1900s.

"I gave a talk on Friday about the Phantom Mint of The Dalles Oregon and the colorful folks of the town of The Dalles in the Civil War and Oregon Trail era; well-attended and well-received.

"Both days I led folks on the Furious Flight of the Confederate Treasure Train and learned about a possible connection between the fleeing CSA money of '65 and the so-called Randall Horde of large cents – possibly found at a Georgia Railroad station – the story (and possible connection) will go onto the website."

"Pat did his impersonation of Ben Franklin in full costume and on Saturday he drew a good crowd of young parents and their children who were attending the popular KidZone programming."

"I signed future show contracts with the convention center. We all agreed how odd it must have looked with me in costume, so we had to get a photo. This was just before my lecture."