Written by: Danny Bisgaard

It was a cold and icy Salem Coin Show in December. Ice started forming on Dec. 6, 2013, and made for show set up a challenge - especially trying to get home.

Dealers arrived at 6 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013, and began setting up. By the time the public arrived at 9 a.m., seven dealers from the Northwest, especially south of Salem could not make the show. We still had over 90 tables of coins/stamps/postcards and the number of dealers was in the low 60's. Dealers came in from as far north as Seattle, Wash.; as far south as San Francisco, Calif.; as far west as Florence, Ore.; and as far east as Boise, Idaho.

The two day show was successful for most dealers, but the public attendance was down by half from previous years.

Exhibits were a hit - two YN's provided three exhibits for the public to view. Katie Reinders and Marie Fernandes each won gold and silver for their exhibits. Six seniors provided seven exhibits for the public to view. James Reinders, Danny Bisgaard and Larry Gaye were the top three winners of gold and silver.

The PNNA elongate machine was on hand to squish pennies for the public. The Salem Show plans on having a different design for each year's show for years to come.  The machine will next be in Kent, Wash., at the Boeing show scheduled for January 18-19.

Dealers started tearing down early on Sunday, Dec. 8, to get a head start home due to the weather conditions.  We did have one dealer come in just for Sunday as he was able to traverse the southern area of the state.

This year's show is scheduled for December 6-7 - hope all of you can make it.

Interested in show applications, contact Danny Bisgaard by phone at 503-588-8162 or by email at d.bisgaard@comcast.net.