Midland Coin Fair at the National Motorcycle Museum, near Birmingham

[Scootermuppet]

Hi all,

Not sure if this would be the right place to post this…? But I did find mention of it in this part of the forum from a search.

Just wondering if anyone from the forum is thinking of going to this event? I’m in the lucky position of being around 15 minutes away from the venue, so will be going to have a mooch around first thing 🙂

May we’ll be back on the afternoon as well, as a friend wants to go but is away until around lunchtime - and as far as I know, once you’ve paid for entry, you can re-enter later?

Be nice to put a real face to some of the names here on the forum 😁

Cheers, Bob

(note to forum Mods - please feel free to deposit this post in an alternative section if necessary - Thanks! 👍)

Edited November 2, 2021 by Scootermuppet
Amended title to a general one rather than a specific date

[Tn21]

Let us know how it goes.

Any bargains ? 

Selection of coins etc. 

 

 

[Scootermuppet]

I certainly will 👍 with my limited knowledge of coins in general, I’m not sure I’d spot a bargain if it fell on my foot though! 🤭😂

if there’s anyone there selling 50p’s I may be able to judge the prices, but numismatic coins I wouldn’t have a clue.. 🤦🏻

I imagine there will be a fair selection generally, looks like there should be around 30 dealers there by all accounts, and no doubt a few bargains to be had whatever your tastes.

I’ll do a quick overview when I get back.

[Scootermuppet]

Well, quite an enjoyable visit as far as I was concerned, room was pretty full with dealers tables, and there was something for everyone, from what looked like Roman coins and maybe earlier (to my untrained eye) through the ages to modern day decimal, silver and gold, proofs and bullion.

There seemed to be plenty of visitors,  but it wasn’t so crowded that I felt ‘twitchy’ - I wore a mask, though it wasn’t compulsory - and access wasn’t too bad around the various tables.

All the dealers I spoke to seemed very pleasant, even when they found out I didn’t have a huge budget! 😂 and extremely knowledgable in their chosen fields - although I did spot a ‘rare piedfort’ 2oz Silver bullion coin on one stand 🤭!

Prices varied between tables, certainly for the kind of things I was looking at (50p’s and 1oz silver mostly] so was worth a mooch on each one. Plenty of sovereigns there too, from eye-wateringly expensive proofs and such, to bullion at the going rates.

Spotted a couple of interesting items (to me) and thought “I’ve enough time to collect my friend and come back and get those, as the opening times said a 3:30pm finish and I only live around 15 minutes from the venue - sadly, friend couldn’t make it, so had a bite to eat and headed back - only to find a half empty hall and the rest of the dealers packing up 😲 (this was just before 2pm) so the advertised finish time of 3:30pm seems dependent on how brisk the trade is after lunch I’d guess…

At least I saved the money I was going to spend on the things I’d seen ☺️ - will add it to next months budget and try again - the Fairs are on the second Sunday of the month, so the next will be 14th November at the Motorcycle Museum, near the NEC.

I’d recommend arriving at the official start of 9:30am …and not nipping home for some lunch before making your purchases! 🤣🤣

Incidentally, the Cafe at the Motorcycle Museum is open to the public, so refreshments can be had on-site - Please Note: they only take cards, and I believe there is no cash machine on the Museum site either! 
 

Might see you there in November ☺️
Bob

[Arbkev]

1 hour ago, Scootermuppet said:

Well, quite an enjoyable visit as far as I was concerned, room was pretty full with dealers tables, and there was something for everyone, from what looked like Roman coins and maybe earlier (to my untrained eye) through the ages to modern day decimal, silver and gold, proofs and bullion.

There seemed to be plenty of visitors,  but it wasn’t so crowded that I felt ‘twitchy’ - I wore a mask, though it wasn’t compulsory - and access wasn’t too bad around the various tables.

All the dealers I spoke to seemed very pleasant, even when they found out I didn’t have a huge budget! 😂 and extremely knowledgable in their chosen fields - although I did spot a ‘rare piedfort’ 2oz Silver bullion coin on one stand 🤭!

Prices varied between tables, certainly for the kind of things I was looking at (50p’s and 1oz silver mostly] so was worth a mooch on each one. Plenty of sovereigns there too, from eye-wateringly expensive proofs and such, to bullion at the going rates.

Spotted a couple of interesting items (to me) and thought “I’ve enough time to collect my friend and come back and get those, as the opening times said a 3:30pm finish and I only live around 15 minutes from the venue - sadly, friend couldn’t make it, so had a bite to eat and headed back - only to find a half empty hall and the rest of the dealers packing up 😲 (this was just before 2pm) so the advertised finish time of 3:30pm seems dependent on how brisk the trade is after lunch I’d guess…

At least I saved the money I was going to spend on the things I’d seen ☺️ - will add it to next months budget and try again - the Fairs are on the second Sunday of the month, so the next will be 14th November at the Motorcycle Museum, near the NEC.

I’d recommend arriving at the official start of 9:30am …and not nipping home for some lunch before making your purchases! 🤣🤣

Incidentally, the Cafe at the Motorcycle Museum is open to the public, so refreshments can be had on-site - Please Note: they only take cards, and I believe there is no cash machine on the Museum site either! 
 

Might see you there in November ☺️
Bob

I've been thinking of visiting this as I'm only 45 minutes away. Thanks for the write up. I may go next month

[Scootermuppet]

You’re welcome @Arbkev - it’s likely to become a regular monthly visit for me,  nice to have something to look forward to, even if I don’t always get a chance to buy anything!😁

Apparently, every quarter there’s a larger one, in a bigger room, next one is December by all accounts…

Might see you there, 

Bob

 

PS - Forgot to mention, there are Banknotes too for those who enjoy those 👍

[sovereignsteve]

8 hours ago, Scootermuppet said:

I’d recommend arriving at the official start of 9:30am

Yes I would advise that as well. Your experience of them all packing up early is quite common.

[Stuntman]

I've been to this fair about 5 times, back when I was more interested in predecimal UK coins, but I haven't been since about 2017.  It would be good to go again sometime if there was the potential for a Forum meet up.

I'm about 75 minutes away.

The joy of this fair is that you can see loads of different coins and get a better appreciation of what sort of stuff you might want to collect.  And you can sell to the dealers there - I've done this a couple of times.

[Scootermuppet]

On 29/10/2021 at 21:00, Stuntman said:

I've been to this fair about 5 times, back when I was more interested in predecimal UK coins, but I haven't been since about 2017.  It would be good to go again sometime if there was the potential for a Forum meet up.

I'm about 75 minutes away.

The joy of this fair is that you can see loads of different coins and get a better appreciation of what sort of stuff you might want to collect.  And you can sell to the dealers there - I've done this a couple of times.

@Arbkev, @Stuntman, @sovereignsteve, @Tn21  -  As it's so close to me, I'm aiming to attend every Fair (even if it's just for window shopping!) so would always be up for a meet-up - either Officially arranged or just on the spur of the moment - apparently, each Quarterly Fair is a little larger than the other 2, and the next 'larger' one is due in December. That said, I'll be attending Novembers Fair, which is on 14th November - Remembrance Day, so if anyone else can make it, I'd be happy to say hello 😁.

Also, if anyone knows a better section of the Forum to post something like this in, do let me know and I can set up a Post there too - Cheers!

Bob

[sovereignsteve]

2 minutes ago, Scootermuppet said:

@Arbkev, @Stuntman, @sovereignsteve, @Tn21  -  As it's so close to me, I'm aiming to attend every Fair (even if it's just for window shopping!) so would always be up for a meet-up - either Officially arranged or just on the spur of the moment - apparently, each Quarterly Fair is a little larger than the other 2, and the next 'larger' one is due in December. That said, I'll be attending Novembers Fair, which is on 14th November - Remembrance Day, so if anyone else can make it, I'd be happy to say hello 😁.

Also, if anyone knows a better section of the Forum to post something like this in, do let me know and I can set up a Post there too - Cheers!

Bob

It's a bit far for me now I don't have a father-in-law to visit down there.

When @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer @LawrenceChardstarts organising a fair in Blackpool, I'll certainly be up for a forum meet😉

[Scootermuppet]

3 minutes ago, sovereignsteve said:

.....

When @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer @LawrenceChardstarts organising a fair in Blackpool, I'll certainly be up for a forum meet😉

And that would be an expedition for me! 😂 - Would like to visit Chards at some stage though...

[LawrenceChard]

1 hour ago, Scootermuppet said:

And that would be an expedition for me! 😂 - Would like to visit Chards at some stage though...

 

1 hour ago, sovereignsteve said:

It's a bit far for me now I don't have a father-in-law to visit down there.

When @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer @LawrenceChardstarts organising a fair in Blackpool, I'll certainly be up for a forum meet😉

Thanks. Neil Smith recently suggested similar.

I would be concerned about getting it right, and that it would take some organising. If someone with experience of organising a coin fair showed up, I would certainly see if we @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer could co-operate.

A possible venue just occurred to me, a place called Solaris might work:

https://www.blackpool.gov.uk/Residents/Parks-and-community-facilities/Solaris-centre/Solaris-centre.aspx#ad-image-0

It's on New South Promenade, Blackpool FY4 1RW, just opposite the Glitterball, and in line with Harrowside. According to Google Maps 0.3 miles and 6 minutes walk.

[sovereignsteve]

6 minutes ago, LawrenceChard said:

I would be concerned about getting it right, and that it would take some organising. If someone with experience of organising a coin fair showed up, I would certainly see if we @ChardsCoinandBullionDealer could co-operate.

I have no experience organising such but I'm happy to help out in whatever capacity I can.

Maybe @neilsmithcoins could put us in touch with the people who organise the Yorkshire one for some tips?

[Stuntman]

Regarding the Midland Coin Fair on Sun 14th Nov - I can't make that date because I'm going to the races at Cheltenham with free corporate hospitality so I'm not going to pass that up!
But definitely another time...

[Scootermuppet]

Don’t blame you! 😁

Ill add the dates of other upcoming ones on here too, it’s around the same time each month I believe.

Enjoy your outing! 👍

[AndrewSL76]

Horrible news from the last fair: https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2022/plea-to-help-track-down-stolen-coins-after-machete-wielding-thieves-strike-at-solihull-fair/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=atgnl&utm_campaign=atgnl-19012022

[Kookaburracollector]

Grim reading indeed…there are usually plenty of security guards there, but who wants to tackle a thug with a machete!

 

[Fivepoundfred]

More detailed info on the coins stolen from B'ham coin fair on the Token publishing website news page.

 

[Kookaburracollector]

Having read the article, it suggests the robbery could have taken place outside the coin fair. At 2-45pm a lot of dealers will also be leaving then. Rather than being a well planned and targeted attack, I think the person robbed (I know not who) was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Having looked at the inventory of coins stolen, I don’t think this person was targeted specifically..there were far more expensive hauls to be had.

Thoughts are with whoever it was…

[Bixley]

32 minutes ago, Kookaburracollector said:

Having read the article, it suggests the robbery could have taken place outside the coin fair. At 2-45pm a lot of dealers will also be leaving then. Rather than being a well planned and targeted attack, I think the person robbed (I know not who) was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Having looked at the inventory of coins stolen, I don’t think this person was targeted specifically..there were far more expensive hauls to be had.

Thoughts are with whoever it was…

I agree with the above. Looking at the inventory I suspect the thieves will be disappointed that there were no gold coins. All the coins appear to be of interest to collectors only and I think the robbers will have great difficulty in selling these on especially as some of the coins were low value.

[Scootermuppet]

Sad news indeed…

I haven’t been to a couple of the recent ones, including the January one, and I have tended to get there when it opens - lots more people around, and in my experience, it always finishes well before the stated end time - which I think is 3pm from memory.

Thoughts with those affected, and just wonder if it will put anyone off from visiting? 🤔

[Scootermuppet]

Time to resurrect this one! 😁

The Midland Coin Fair will be held at the National Motorcycle Museum (Near the NEC) Birmingham on this coming Sunday 14th August 2022 - 9:30am - 3:30pm officially (but don't leave it too late, they often pack up early...)

Please Note - there are no Cashpoint / ATM facilities at the Motorcycle Museum, but a lot of the Dealers there take cards too - and the Cafe is CARD ONLY too (well, it was the last time I went a couple of months back).

If anyone is thinking of going along, I'd be happy to meet up and say Hello 🙂 - always nice to put a face to the Forum Names.

Cheers,
Bob

Edited August 12, 2022 by Scootermuppet
amended times

[Scootermuppet]

Will be at this one Today!

If anyone else makes it, let me know on here (or by DM) happy to say Hi, and coffee  is on me 👍 😁

[shawy2510]

Went today & thought it was very poor, I was there just before opening & there was not many people in the queue. The coin dealers were not the best either but it killed 30 mins 🤣

[Scootermuppet]

Yeah, it did seems a bit … subdued?

One of the usually well stocked dealers hadn’t brought any Gold with them at all ! 😲

I was looking for Gillick Sovereigns and there were some there, managed to find a reasonably priced one, but not as good as I remember it in last months. Maybe the time of year? Lots of people on holiday I guess…

Edited August 14, 2022 by Scootermuppet
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