[nabzy28]

Hit up a coin show this weekend and, having attended them over the years, I have noticed some changes over the years. I don't do numismatic type stuff, so these observations at just some local shows are more bullion related.

1. Over the last 5 or so years, nearly all back date 1 oz. gov't coins have all but disappeared. It's an interesting thing, as you used to be able to go on any of the major online dealer's sites and pick out back date stuff from the Perth mint, older Pandas, etc. That all stopped by about 2021. Shows were still good for it, up through about last spring, and I noticed a fall off. This weekend, pretty much absolutely nothing.

2. Used to be able to pick up really nice Constitutional (junk) coins under melt. That went away a few years ago, too. There was a very noticeable lack of it, other than some heavily circulated bulk bags of it this weekend. The nicer condition stuff that was there was sparse and it was price well over melt/spot.

3. The dealer demographic is changing. There was always the dealers that were in that 50/60/70's age range. In fact, it was the vast majority at the local shows. Last year, I noticed a few guys that were probably late 20's to mid 30's start setting up. At this one, there were even more, which is great to see.

4. It was packed. Very busy, all ages. A couple parents even had their younger children with them, looking around. I actually stopped a couple times and just watched the room for a moment, because it was great to see how busy it was and that the crowd was a total mix of all ages.

5. Pricing was very competitive and I was a little surprised by it, actually. Perhaps because the metals are both at highs - gold all time and silver the highest it's been in a long time - and they're just looking to churn bullion type stuff at these levels vs. trying to capture higher premiums.

Just an extremely small sample size observation, but definite trends over the last few years at local shows near me that I've noticed.