Maastricht MIF Paper Money Fair Show Recap

The MIF International Money Fair was held September 22 to 24 in the city of Maasatricht in the Netherlands. As one of the show co-sponsors, The Banknote Book was in attendance to meet and discuss with dealers and collectors from around the world.

Friday was dealer setup day and early entry for collectors, and there was much trading in the morning hours before lunch. One of my main observations when walking the bourse floor and viewing inventory was that much of the available stock was modern notes and current releases. It is becoming more and more apparent that any scarce to rare note is now ending up in the hands of auction houses. Dealers realize that this is really the only way to maximize value. This is because so many notes are achieving runaway prices at public auction. Thus, a dealer is not comfortable potentially leaving money on the table. While this may be great news for the auction companies, it can make it difficult for collectors to fill in the missing pieces of their collection.  

Bourse chairman, Dimitri Waltmans, presents me with his famous Dutch cheese platter.

On Friday afternoon as the rain began to fall we had the "B2B" reception where dealers could relax and enjoy each other's company in an informal setting. I had great conversations with staff from PMG, Stack's Bowers, a cadre of dealers from the United Kingdom, and others. It is great hearing their perspectives on the paper money market.

Saturday was the first full day of the show open to the public. There was a small gathering of people waiting to get in when the doors opened and business was again moderately robust. An observation to note is that it is clear the world, while initially very much against it, has fully embraced third-party authentication and grading of paper money. This was the second show in which PMG offered on-site grading and they hit full capacity quickly. While not perfect, it has certainly added significant market value. Saturday afternoon was much slower trading-wise, and the wear of past few days on the dealers was evident.

Posing here (center) with Richard Stein (to my right) and his team from PMG Europe

I had the two newest Banknote Book chapters, France and Scotland for preview and all who viewed it was very impressed. Many Banknote Book contributors came by to talk, and it was great hearing their support of the project. After two years of work, all who are aware of The Banknote Book know that it is in god hands and that it will continue to be updated and completed to remain the best world paper money catalog.

Sunday a smattering of dealers packed up and headed home early, but I was actually quite busy. I had some great conversations with researchers and authors from various countries who are working on some amazing projects and publications. As a company, we are always open to collaborations to its important to be aware of these types of projects. The passion that we all share for history and paper money in particular was fully evident. 

In conclusion, the world paper money market is healthy as ever. My only concern going forward is that ever-escalating values are pricing some collectors out of the market and discouraging them. However, nothing goes up forever so a minor correction would not be the worst thing to happen. As for The Banknote Book itself, the widespread adoption of the catalog numbering system is not far away. Look for some exciting announcements in the coming months!