Well, the doors and closed.�the janitors are sweeping up the floors and another Long Beach Coin Show is just a memory.� Some changes that were so very apparent and are not (necessarily) good news.� The name has been changed from the Long Beach Coin Show�to the Long Beach Collectors Show.� Nothing really added to the already existing Sports Collectibles and Stamps booths that were already there.� Perhaps more of the former.� The real scary sight was the number of booths that had clearly displayed signs that said "BOOTH UNSOLD.� DO NOT SIT HERE."� Booths unsold at Long Beach�- that is as unbelievable as that the Sun will not rise tomorrow or there is no Easter Bunny.� Already, over the past 20 years the size of the show has shrunk to under half of it original size.� Maybe this should be a DEFCON 4 Alert as to the state of Numismatics today and to start thinking what needs to be done to ameliorate the situation.

I have just spent a chunk of the morning putting coin books back on the shelves.� And that got me started thinking what books I like the best, which ones I use the most and which ones are the most useful for my collections.� And then that got me thinking about how other people view and use books in working on their collection. So let me start off this thread:

Since we are talking about counterfeits we really need to differentiate between the different types of counterfeits.� The ones of most concern to the average collector are fakes made to fool collectors into paying current prices for collectable coins.� The "restrike" of the EID MAR denarius of Brutus is an example that�I have in my collection (purchased as a restrike).� Also read the monthly column in The Numismatist for an ever growing list of examples.

CAVEAT EMPTOR - Buyer Beware.� Having said that, I have to say that all the coin dealers I have dealt with in person abroad were basically honest.� If you deal with coins sold in tourist shops, you want to be extra cautious.� My younger son recently got back from Peru and brought me a very presentable 4 Real of 1806 that he bought out of a tray of "old silver coins" in a souvenir shop.� The coin is real and I love it.� But back in 1966 I was in a Greek coin shop and asked to see some Athenian owls.� Out came a tray of fakes.� I knew he had real ones, so rather than berate him for trying to pass off fakes to a dumb American, I said, "No.� I was not interested in replicas that would interest tourists.� I was interested in actual ancient tetradrachms."� When the dealer know that he had a customer who had at least some knowledge of ancient coins, out came the real tets and I selected a very nice example for $30.00 (a very fair price for that time).� I perhaps got a slightly better price than was warranted because after spotting his trying to pass off fakes, I did not accuse him of it.

How much more would you pay for a coin that carried a really great pedigree or provenance, like one from the Eric Newman collection or the Brand Sale or�for ancients, from the BCD collection?� I know when the FDR stamp collection was sold, buyers paid many multiples of the value of the stamp, just to get one from a Presidential collection.