Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists

Coin Show Dealer Information


150   tables   3,300+   attendance

The annual PAN shows have grown each year, and are among the best regional shows in the country. The typical show has up to 150 tables of dealers and 3,300+ walk-in attendance.

What Makes the PAN Shows So Great?

Location, Location, Location The Greater Pittsburgh ExpoMart is adjacent to the largest shopping mall in the area, on one of the busiest roads in town. Thousands of drivers and shoppers pass by each day, and virtually everyone in the tri-state area knows where it is.
Free Parking There are some 20,000 free parking spaces in the lots surrounding the ExpoMart and Monroeville Mall.
Publicity, Publicity, Publicity While facility rent and security costs consume the lion's share of each PAN Show budget, most of the remainder is reserved for publicity. We advertise extensively in the numismatic press, local newspapers, and send Press Releases to every newspaper, TV, and radio station for miles around. We also place posters in coin shops, supermarkets, and other public places all over town.
And More Publicity We give ourselves headaches trying to dream up new publicity angles each year to grab the attention of the local media, and many have been very successful.

Coin Drop OK, so we're copycats. But it worked like a charm. We spent a 1914-D cent in downtown Pittsburgh and sent out our Press Releases. Two local TV stations picked up the story and one even sent a film crew to the show. Two of our members were interviewed on the radio. The local papers mentioned it too, one with a front-page teaser. The story even made it to the AP newswire, and we ended up on the air with a talk show host in Chicago. Wow!
Pittsburgh's Money Exhibit Another year we solicited exhibits of local tokens and paper money, which resulted in large articles in both major area newspapers. One article had color photos covering the front page of its human interest section. That much advertising space would have cost the entire show budget. Some of the nicest things in life ARE free...
$100 Bill Sale When the new $100 bill designs were released, we announced that we'd "sell" examples for $98 to the first 100 people who asked (one per customer, thank you). The papers picked up on this, too. Most people looked at us like we were nuts, but the stunt bought us a lot more than $200 worth of publicity. (Yes, we sold out, but believe it or not, it took 'til Sunday)

Marketing For years we have steadfastly accumulated a mailing list of every collector who's registered for our show. Before each show we target these collectors with a special postcard reminder. (NOTE: this is the ONLY use of this mailing list).

The card serves as an "express registration" form. We know it works because we collect hundreds of these each day at the registration table. PAN showgoers are repeat customers.
Practice Makes Perfect The PAN team has been producing shows for many years, and we've learned a lot. We know a lot of things that work, and a lot more that don't. Problems always crop up, but after running several shows at the ExpoMart things are going pretty smoothly now. The hall has room for our show to grow, and we look forward to doing just that.

What's In It For Me?

Sandwiches! On setup night (Thursday) PAN provides a free sandwich buffet for dealers including cold cuts, fruit, and snack food (look for it in the club meeting room).
Donuts! Each morning PAN provides some twenty dozen fresh donuts for dealers. Get 'em quick, 'cause they disappear fast (look for them in the club meeting room). Coffee is available at the cafe in the ExpoMart lobby
Soft Drinks! Each day PAN maintains a cooler with cans of soft drinks, plus an ample supply of chips and pretzels to snack on. These drinks & snacks are located at the curtained dealer courtesy booth at the window near registration. No dealer should go hungry or thirsty at a PAN show.
Pages Some of our young numismatists and their friends earn tips by working as pages at the PAN shows, cleaning cases and fetching food for dealers stuck behind their tables. We can't promise anything (you know how unpredicatable kids can be), but we make an effort to recruit pages for every show.

How Do I Sign Up?

Membership You must be an individual PAN member to set up or man a table at the shows. The membership requirement ensures that all dealers will be kept informed of club and show news via The Clarion. Click here for a membership application.
Bourse Application For a copy of the bourse application, contact:

John Paul Sarosi
P.A.N. Bourse Chairman
106 Market Street
Johnstown, PA 15901
(814) 535-5766

How Can I Help?

Feedback Tell us what you think about PAN and the PAN shows. What did you like? What didn't you like? Be brutal, we can take it. We can't fix every problem but we'll listen carefully to your complaints and suggestions. Some of our best ideas have come from dealers, so please, give us whatever advice you have to offer.
Spread The Word
Bring a Friend If you have a good show, spread the word to your dealer friends. Invite them to come to the next show.
Flyers & Posters Ask the Publicity Chairman to send you some show flyers or posters to display at your shop or distribute at the other shows you attend.
Mailings Let your clients know you'll be at the show. Send out a mailing before the show, and include one of our show flyers. It works! Dealers who've done this tell us it really helps bring 'em in.
Link to the PAN Home Page If you're reading this with an internet browser, then you probably have email and may even have your own web site for your business. Add a link so your customers will be able to click here to learn more about the PAN shows.
Donations for Young Numismatists PAN's Young Numismatist programs require a steady supply of coins, coin books, Whitman folders, and other items to be given away to kids.

PAN's Coins for A's program encourages youngsters to learn about numismatics by distributing free coins to students as a reward for receiving A's on their report cards. Modelled after a similar program started by the Texas Numismatic Association, Coins for A's has proved to be quite popular with youngsters across Pennsylvania.

Got any surplus stock to donate? Or would you like to make a cash donation? Click here for a donation form.

Speak Out! So whaddaya know about numismatics? Don't hide your light under a bushel - pass some of your expertise on to others by speaking at one of the club meetings or educational forums. Or how about speaking to a group of kids about your specialty?
Registration Table Have a bored spouse or assistant? Just want to stretch your legs for a few minutes? The volunteers manning the Registration Table can often use some help, even if it's just to spell them long enough for a restroom visit.

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