TOREX Coin Show Toronto

This blog will track collecting coins, stamps & currency and follow wherever this may take me.

I attended the Torex Toronto coin show on February 25, 2007, and added to my collection with an AUD $1 bill, some Canadian mint dollars (fairly worthless with .38 silver) and a Maritius note. The dealers at Torex seem to prefer British coinage, and there was only a few that sold foreign currency there. Most had Canadian coinage, and one had a collection of coupons and gift certificates.

Unfortunately I missed the Canadian Tire Collectors Meetup(?). My friend who worked at Canadian Tire was pissed off when somebody brought in $900 in Canadian Tire money to buy a BBQ. Apparently the stuff holds its value though.

Be sure to keep those Chuck-e-Cheeze tokens and Subway coupons!

Future goals for acquisition
Paper currency samples from every country.
Tuvalu stamps
Tesla coins and stamps (Croatia is to adopt EUR in 2008, so the 2006 Tesla coin may be worth something more than $50!).

After browsing eBay and other auction sites, apparently the most common lowest-priced currency right now is Afghani and Iraqi.

Auction Sites
http://www.teletrade.com/ - granddaddy of them all.
http://auctionfire.com/links/coins.html - not sure about this one.
http://www.sothebys.com/ - not for me just yet.

Events in Ontario, Canada
http://www.nunetcan.net/cpms.htm

Reference Sites
http://www.canadiancoin.com/


Like any other hobby, it has to have it's own slang. I picked up a few terms today that I haven't heard of before:

Coin slang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numismatics - a catch-all term for collecting & studying currency & it's history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonumia - not to be confused with Numismatics, this is the study of coin-like stuff. See novelties. http://www.misterbanknote.com/novelty.htm
Specimen - Samples of currency, some specifically made for collectors. Adds to the value of a note.
More slang here..

Fanatical collectors
http://www.toronto.ca/archives/becker_collections/index.htm - Larry Becker had one of the largest collections of Toronto memorabilia, which was donated to the city's archives in 1999.
http://acoins.com/binion.html - Ted Binion's silver dollars are no longer buried in the desert.
http://www.raregoldcoins.com/newsletter_archive.asp?Vol=3&Issue=6 - The $150,000 coin found in a golf shoe