Show will help hobbyists make heads or tails of rare coins -- Central California
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.bakersfield.com/calendar/go_do/story/558895.html
Show will help hobbyists make heads or tails of rare coins
BY LOUIS MEDINA
Californian staff writer lme...@bakersfield.com
Sunday, Sep 21 2008 6:12 PM
Dollar coins were made of silver in the wild, wild west.
They were transported in money bags on horseback or by
stagecoach. They jingled a lot. Got scratched. Many lost
their mint condition.
Some didn't though.
Today, an 1890 Carson City silver dollar is worth as much
as $50,000, according to Dawn Edwards, president of Las
Vegas-based CK Shows, which is hosting the Central
California Coin & Jewelry Show Thursday through Saturday
at Bakersfield's Red Lion Hotel on Camino Del Rio Court.
The free educational and family event will afford many
the opportunity to see the rare coin, which is the show's
most expensive item.
"But it's always possible that someone could show up
with something very rare" that could exceed even that
coin's value, Edwards said. "Collectors are really
private, they don't want you to know what they have."
She said every continent on the globe will be represented
through the coins, paper money and jewelry pieces on
exhibit. "You can buy, sell and trade on the spot,
" Edwards said.
"There's a lot of serious coin collectors out there,
too," said Don Cohen, manager of the Bakersfield
Convention and Visitors Bureau, which helped ensure
Edward's company chose Bakersfield over Fresno and
Tulare - which it also considered - as the ideal
location to hold the show.
"We heard the area was underserviced and there seemed
to be some demand, and we thought, let's go there,
" Edwards said.
Cohen's office sent out CK's proposal to local hoteliers
for bids and Red Lion beat out the competition. The
reward: "There is some significant economic impact,"
Cohen said, including "50 hotel room nights that are
involved in this."
To say nothing of the show space rental and the
expected crowds. Edwards said she has advertised the
show in Fresno, Victorville, Los Angeles, the Edwards
Airforce Base area and Tehachapi, and also in Spanish
in the pages of El Popular newspaper.
"They (CK Shows) would like to build this up over time
into a bigger and bigger show," Cohen said. "They're
excited in coming to Bakersfield and we hope they have
a great experience."
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