Cover Story — Treasure Paintings

THE CLARION VOL. 35, No. 2 (#111) MAY 2018 CREATING ART: STORE YOUR TREASURE(D) COINS IN PLAIN SIGHT by JR Bissell (see article inside) Numismatic Art ~Paintings & Prints inspired by the authors treasured coins PAN PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF NUMISMATISTS Bridging Collectors and Dealers from the East Coast to the Midwest --- Creating Art: Store Your Treasure(d) Coins in Plain Sight By JR Bissell What's the worst part about owning a 10, 20, 50, or 100 thousand dollar coin? Easy, having to keep it locked up and out of sight all the time. The amount of joy we get from gazing upon our prized treasures is immeasurable. Unfortunately, most of us would agree its pure insanity to leave one of those pieces on the coffee table in plain sight! We all place our treasures back in their bank vaults or home safes just to be certain they are there when Well I'm back, and on a mission, to paint my one muse, treasure! I honestly can't think of anything on this planet earth that gets me more excited to paint than treasure. It appeals to children, adults, historians, adventurers and the treasure seeker in all of us. I have to mention Cooper's Treasures on the Discovery Channel as an example. This man is literally in outer space, and what is he doing? Looking for Shipwreck Treasure. I mean isn't that the coolest thing! we want to view them again. I'd bet some of you reading this right now haven't seen some of your favorite coins in months or worse, even years. (Pictured above is the author, JR Bissell, with one of his paintings, a 1711 Mexican gold 8 escudo from the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet). Growing up I drew everything I fell in love with, ask anyone who knew me. If I thought something was awesome the first thing I did was draw it. My dad's brand new corvette, I'd sweat in the garage all afternoon drawing it; sharks had a significant chapter in my doodles as well. High school was a continuation of my passion; I took three art classes in my senior year! I was obsessed and determined to go to college and major in art (even though I was taking classes like AP Chemistry and averaging a 4.2 GPA, ha!), my dad put a halt to that idea as soon as it came out of my mouth, naturally. So off to business school I went. 9 I'm not trying to toot my own horn (hate saying that), but when I look up and see these paintings, my absolute fondest treasures, it gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment in owning these beauties. They are no longer lost coins in a drawer, bank vault or safe but works of art hanging in a room to be admired every day or night. It's a colorful depiction and encapsulation of my collection of sunken treasure to be seen by everyone who enters my home. I think the art helps capture something on a larger scale that we enjoy in our favorite coins. In my The Clarion • May 2018 --- opinion, and hopefully yours, you would agree that these precious coins are also art, so it only makes sense to make art inspired by these pieces. How Do The PAN Shows Compare? One of the statistics that we like to do is to attempt to track the number of dealers and attendees at coin shows and create a ratio. These are difficult numbers to acquire since not all shows publish both numbers. We have been able to assemble some numbers for the last three years of a few coin shows. The attendance numbers presented do not include dealers, table help. Some shows combine both so we subtracted the number of dealers listed in their directories. Our goal was to see how the PAN shows stacked up as compared to others. We have never published this list before and have stats going back to 2013. If you run a coin show and have accurate numbers then we would be grateful to include them. We view this as a tool to determine the trends and the health of the coin show business. Major national shows tend to attract attendees that are serious buyers and sellers. Smaller shows may have a mix of serious buyers to curiosity seekers. There are many other factors that determine the success of a coin show. This is only presented as food for thought. We would be interested o hear your own thoughts? Email us at: PANcoins@gmail.com The chart at left offers some considerations mat dealers weigh out when selecting which hows to set up at. me Clarion May 2018 on this planet I'm going to keep drawing and painting the thing I'm in love with, treasure! I may even go into sculpturing them, its just a thought at this time. My paintings are about to enter a new level. I'm creating limited run prints of these paintings available for $199.00 to $249.00 capturing the beauty of the originals for a fraction of their price. For more information contact me at jbissell@san.rr.com, or PirateGoldCoins.com or on instagram-itsbissell ATTENDEES PER DEALER RATIO COIN SHOWS date year dealers public ratio ANA SUMMER WFM, Denver Aug 2017 321 7,105 22.13 FUN Jan 2015 599 10,250 17.11 ANA SUMMER WFM Aug 2015 420 7,104 16.91 PAN Oct 2015 6 1,297 13.51 GETTYSBURG Sept 2015 74 937 12.66 GNA (Georgia) Apr 2017 182 2,150 11.81 PAN May 2017 110 1,237 11.25 PA PA Oct 2017 106 1,185 11.18 May 2016 97 1,084 11.18 PAN Oct 2016 103 1,102 10.70 PAN May 2015 103 1,089 10.57 ANA MID WINTER, ORLANDO Mar 2017 350 2,513 7.18 CSNS (Schamburg) Apr 2016 526 2.865 5.45 ANA MID WINTER, Dallas Mar 2016 500 2,585 5.17 DEALER CHECK LIST - HOW DOES THE PAN SHOW MEASURE UP? PAN SHOW OTHER OTHER REGIONAL MAJOR FILL IN AND COMPARE SHOWS SHOWS CORNER TABLE FEE $ 450.00 √ ? ? STRAIGHT TABLE S 315.00 √ ? ? TABLE DISCOUNT AREA YES √ ? ? EARLY BIRD FEE $ 50 for all show days √ ? ? HOTEL ROOM RATE $ 95 PER NIGHT √ ? ? HOTEL PARKING FREE √ ? ? CONVENTION CENTER PARKING FREE √ ? ? TAX FREE SALES TAX √ ? ? STATE LOCAL & STATE TAX FORMS NONE √ ? ? MODERATELY PRICED RESTAURANTS PLENTY √ ? ? DOCK TO EASY LOADING & UNLOADING FLOOR, ONE √ ? ? LEVEL LOADING PLENTY √ ? ? CARTS SECURITY ARMED 24/7 √ ? ? CAMERAS WIRED & WIRELESS √ ? ? 10