Coins We Love: Berlin World Money Fair Recap

Last week I took a trip to the World Money Fair in Berlin, Germany! It was an amazing trip and I am excited to share all the details with you. Below we have included the highlights from the show itself, but if you want the full story including travel, pit stops, and evening escapades, check out our newest blog post!

The Berlin World Money Fair isn’t your typical coin show. As their program explains, a “Fair” is an opportunity for dealers to network and introduce new products to their clients. So, its purpose isn’t to be a coin show, but it really does turn out to be a bit of both. There are booths set up on the side halls where the coin show occurs (and a little at the main entrance as well), but it’s not your typical VFW Hall or Whitman Baltimore show. The products are mostly centered around modern issues and ancient coins. There are a number of currency dealers and auction companies attempting to show off their consignments and upcoming sales, but the big focus is all of the modern issues that are being produced at all of the world mints. And, there are some really cool things that are being produced with today’s modern minting innovations.

As you walk through the coin show you make your way to the Mint Exhibition Hall. Imagine a hall almost as big as the FUN Convention or the Summer Baltimore Show filled with 5 and 6-figure booths (yes, I’m serious) displaying many of their new products for the next year. I don’t get the opportunity to attend many professional business conventions, but this makes me see how our national coin shows can be improved. This event is enough to get any numismatist excited!

Along with the big, flashy booths, a number of the mints release special World Money Fair coin issues in limited quantities and you will see hundreds (thousands?) of people jumping in line for their favorite mint issues at their favorite mints. I asked my son, “Luke, is this the Comic-Con of Coin Shows?” The early morning energy and the buzz of the show are quite exciting and it was fun to participate and observe as a collector, not as an early bird dealer. Once the special issues had sold out for the day, I took the tour around all of the mints to check out future new products that we can offer. I definitely saw some favorites among the new designs and licensees and hope to be able to start opening up our doors a little bit to these new issues as well. There was everything from the first 3-D Printed Coin and AI-coin minting to jewel-encrusted animal coins and some of the most beautifully designed artistic coins. My un-numismatic, history-loving son even found coins that he liked! Having one child who loves everything coin-related and one that does not has helped my perspective on these new issues as we continue to expand the hobby to those that are not already coin collectors.

My touring was broken up a few times by meetings with some of the mint customer managers in discussing their products, greeting friendly faces from back home across the pond, and the occasional ANA Governor question, but the day was for the most part spent observing, discussing, and looking into the future of numismatics.

I have to admit that the day went far better than I expected, we were able to check off quite a few items on our list that we wanted to discuss and look to for the future. And the networking that occurred was fantastic. For a last-minute trip that I kind of dreaded (getting out of the office for 9 hours on a plane wasn’t my kind of fun as I have so much to get back to), but it was certainly a worthwhile venture.

Friday was much of the same at the show, with a few more meetings and get-togethers and tying up some loose ends before departing. We took some videos of the event to give you a view from my eyes, so hopefully you’ll get the opportunity to enjoy a few of those! I also think that you’ll start to see some of the fruits of our overseas labors in the coming months as we want to share some of our favorite things that we’ve found with you on our website! This month, you can start with the Niue issues that we finally got listed that are in our Modern World Coins Collection on the website.

Numismatically Yours,

John Brush

P.S. If you want to test your grading skills, try out our February Grading Contest! The winner will receive a 2025 CACG $1 Silver Eagle. View our blog post for the coin images, rules, and how to submit HERE!

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