It's business as usual plus!

It is of course impossible to ignore the events of the last few months, events that started with the September 11 atrocities in New York and, sadly, have yet to end. Events that have, to all intents and purposes changed the face of the world forever. Undoubtedly these events shocked us all but now the initial horror is waning what effect will September 11 and its aftermath have on our lives? Will we now be plunged into economic turmoil? Will the world again face the spectre of recession? You could be forgiven for thinking yes, that is the inevitable consequence, however in our hobby and trade at least this doesn’t seem to be the case at all. Certainly there have been effects on the coin industry as there have in every other industry on the planet – for example CNG’s next Triton sale was due to be held at the World Trade Centre in December, an event that of course cannot now take place at that venue, and it has been noted in some sectors that American dealers and collectors are, in some cases less eager to travel overseas than perhaps they were two months ago. However things are by no means as bad as may have once been feared. Unbowed CNG have vowed to hold their next Triton sale on time at a different venue and whilst some US dealers may have hesitated about taking to the skies again many others have not – as their attendance at both COINEX and the IBNS convention showed. Indeed these shows were testament to just how buoyant our market remains, terrorist atrocities or not. Coinex was truly buzzing on the first day (Friday October 5) and the Saturday was without a doubt the best ‘second day’ of a show any dealer can remember, the BNTA declared it their best fair ever and there are few if any who attended on either day who could disagree with them. Similarly the IBNS was packed out on the first day (Saturday October 6) and whilst the Sunday was certainly slower the weather had more to do with that than anything. Like Coinex the event was declared a phenomenal success and again there were few who would, or could, disagree. For us at Token both shows were outstanding, with the Saturday seeing the launch of our new, fully revised, Banknote Yearbook, which was snapped up by dozens of eager readers. It was also gratifying to note how many people were also keen to get their hands on the next Coin Yearbook and we were just sorry to disappoint so many who expected it to be launched alongside the banknote Version – they will be glad to know it will be available from November 3 when it is launched at Bloomsbury Holiday Inn - the new venue for the London Coin Fair. There will undoubtedly be the cynical few who insist that this buoyancy in the hobby will not last as the effects of the New York and Washington horrors take hold, or indeed those who believe that it is in fact caused by the atrocities with investors hurriedly pulling out of shares and less tangible assets in favour of more traditional investments and thus creating a false market that will only last a short time; we like to take a less depressing line but not necessarily one tinged with too much false optimism – certainly September 11 had a profound effect on us all and yes there might be a certain amount of new money coming into the market having lost faith in stocks and shares; however there is also very much an air of “business as usual” of not letting the terrorists “gain the upper hand” and of “getting on with things because otherwise they win”, and whilst the coin market might not be the place you would immediately expect to find such resilience it seems to be there in bucketfuls, long may it remain so.