RCC/With a Friend like a Euro, Why Do I Need Enemies

With a Friend like a Euro,
Why Do I Need Enemies

by Paul Landsberg

For those of you who have not kept abreast of international developments, quite recently that most recent of wunderkind, the Euro, has gone into a precipitous nose dive. Now like many people who watch professional basketball I have this image of Alan Greenspan thunderously rejecting a shot from some European finance minister and following it up with some vintage Dikembe Mutombo finger wagging (grin). However, I'd like to relate my recent experiences with the Euro and why it has affected my collecting of ancient coins.

On the whole the U.S. dollar has been relatively strong overseas. At the same time, it is a reality of collecting ancient coins that European coin dealers tend to have nicer coins at better prices. So like all market driven animals, I have bought material from sellers in Austria, Germany, France and England. My hardest misstep came when one of our own, a RCC member, gave me an auction catalog from a Belgian dealer. Aaaaah, the bargains that were seen based on estimated prices in Euros. The coins already attractive at pre-decline conversion rates were now at the "screaming deal" level. Using my near patented 'just in time bidding" (JITB) technique ('yup, I procrastinated until the night before the auction (live) and emailed my bids) I entered a substantial set of bids. Frankly many of those bids were at the "screaming deal" level or better so I felt that I bid hard on coins I wanted and vaguely made motions at ones that were too cheap. Low and behold, it turns out the devastation to the Euro came back and bit me on the butt!! When I received my winning bids notification I realized that I had found out why "screaming deal" was so appropriate….. I had won so many lots I was screaming …..so as I tided this story, 'with a friend like the Euro, why do I need enemies!!!!"

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