Coin and Collectibles Show Is for the Money-Minded

Ancient Roman coins can be bought for as little as $10, or silver Spanish pieces of eight for $50.

The money is on display at the Long Beach Coin & Collectibles Expo which opens today ) at the Long Beach Convention Center and runs through Sunday.

Also on exhibit will be witch’s pieces, 17th century coins manufactured in Massachusetts and later bent in the belief they kept witches away, and a 42-ounce gold nugget from Alaska.

Also of both numismatic and historical interest will be a $10,000 bill, which the U.S. Treasury Department stopped printing in 1934, and a $50 gold piece minted in 1915 to coincide with the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.

“Everyone is interested in money, but no one stops to take a look at our money and all the symbolism and history in it,” said Donn Pearlman, a spokesman for the coin show.

More than 2,000 dealers from across the country will be participating in the expo. Organizers say about 6,000 people are expected to view the exhibits.