April 2-4, 2026: The New Hampshire Coin & Currency Expo

April 4th: Day 3

We strolled onto the bourse floor crisply at 9 AM on Saturday and discovered that the room actually opened at 8 and was already teeming with activity, meaning we were fully 1 hour behind and we hadn’t even started yet.

So we raced to catch up, namely by having MaryAnn handle the table while I scoured the bourse floor with a fine tooth comb looking once again for NEWPs.

And while I did find some cool coins that I liked, and wanted to buy, most were priced at levels I could not get my head around (or, in one case, not even halfway around) So I didn’t, leaving them for the next guy (who could possibly be me down the road if the prices change in the interim and I happen to be there when they do – hey, you never know, stranger things have happened, and all that).

At one point walking back to the table just as MaryAnn was writing an invoice for the sale of a coin, about which I have two comments:

1. I really enjoy seeing that, and
2. I never say one word in these situations to MaryAnn or the customer unless I am spoken to first, since they seem to be doing just fine without me

Then shortly thereafter we sold another colonial coin here in what by then was becoming a solid trend bordering on an epidemic (the good kind) which of course your author enjoys since I like these and used to collect them myself.

Good vibes I reinforced by buying another cool one that unexpectedly walked up to the table after that.

With a good crowd on the bourse floor all day and none of the dealers leaving until things finally started to wind down in the mid-afternoon.

So after a while we packed up and headed out too while reflecting on another extreeeeemely productive NH show in which we bought a lot, sold plenty, saw many old and new friends and had an excellent time in a convenient venue.

And now we’ll enjoy a few hours off before we dive into prep for Tuesday’s Early Bird which will be chock full of interesting coins.

So you might want to keep an eye out for that –

April 3rd: Day 2

Ten Interesting Things that Happened on Friday in Manchester

It was (of course) another looooong, rainy commute up to NH. At least no snow though.

It was crowded and active all day, as foretold by the long, snaking queue of attendees in the hallway outside the bourse room waiting for the 10 AM opening.

I tried very hard to buy more cool coins on the floor here, but found a reason to pass on even the most promising examples. Maybe we’ll have better luck on Saturday.

We sold a whole bunch of coins to a whole bunch of different customers, including coins which had been on the website, and others which were unleashed here for the very first time.

A collector friend told me he had a friend who was looking for a coin that resembled the town seal of Sherborn, Massachusetts. And even though that town is not too far from Weston, I was unfamiliar with said seal and had to look it up:

Conclusion: That looks like a Noe-1 Pine Tree Shilling to me.

The snack bar did not disappoint with a surprisingly delicious cheeseburger that frankly does not look like it would be any good. That’s part of the charm though.

I marvel at the % of attendees who are serious collectors at this show, as it is more than pretty much anywhere else on the circuit.

There were more customers looking at colonial coins here than at any recent show I can recall, and based on conversations with some like-minded dealer friends, we were not the only ones to experience that.

I got a migraine late in the afternoon almost certainly caused by the funky lighting in the bourse room. Sometimes after a show here I see headache-inducing ghost images of those square florescent lights on my ceiling sort of like the imaginary chessboard in that fine miniseries The Queen’s Gambit:

I’m serious.

We worked on a last, late deal here for a truly wild Capped Bust Half Dime we bought a few weeks ago. I’d be happy to sell that, but just as happy to have it around for a little while.

We went to dinner with some dealer friends at the excellent Italian restaurant down the street capping off an excellent day in Manchester in style.

So let’s do it all again on Saturday before we hightail it out of town in the mid-afternoon.

EOM

April 2nd: Day 1

Team CRO arrived in cold and rainy NH at about 2:50 PM on Thursday, joined the queue of table holders and vest pocket dealers in the hallway outside the bourse room, casually looked out the vast floor to ceiling windows and we’re horrified to see that it was now snowing outside. That should not have come as a great surprise given the temperature, but still, NO ONE wants to see that in early April.

Fortunately, coin dealering is a mostly indoor activity, and so we checked in, quickly completed our DIY badges as is customary here, headed to our usual table #802 straight in from the door, and set up briskly as a couple of Early Bird attendees impatiently waited for us to put some coins out.

So we tried to go even faster than usual, finished setting up straight away, and then sold 2 coins just like that.

After which your author raced around the room like Mario Andretti (or even faster), looked at about 20 coins in various dealer cases, studied a bunch of them back at our table, ruled out 2, negotiated the prices on another 5 and ended up buying 4 of those.

“Hey, that’s a pretty good start” I said to myself as I headed back to the table and noticed that there were even more national dealers here than the last time we attended this show in November. That’s good for everyone IMO, the more the merrier and all that.

Also merry: Returning to the table and selling one more big coin, then buying a couple of early American medals of the sort that have been doing pretty well on the site lately.

But suddenly it was 6 PM and time for us to head out after what had been an extreeeeemely productive Thursday here in NH.

So of course we’ll look forward to doing it all again on Friday as we’ll be here for the entire day, the last straggler dealers will all show up, a strong local collector contingent will come to the show (we hope) and we will buy, sell, trade and schmooze as much as possible.

And then blog all about all of it right here in this space in about 24 hours from now.

Until then, then –