Cgb.fr at Bice 2015

Flawless organisation

The cgb.fr team participated for the second time in the Beijing International Coin Exhibition 7 - 9 November 2015 and we would like to take this opportunity to thank China Gold’s organisers, especially Travis, who supervised our arrival in China and made it possible for us to participate in this event under the best possible conditions. We also thank the visitors who gave us an exceptional welcome and made it clear to us that the “Faguo” (the Frenchmen) were eagerly awaited next year.

Another dimension

Asian exhibitions always begin with a very official opening ceremony which we’re not quite used to in France. We listened to the speeches made by officials in front of reporters and an impatient crowd.

We then witnessed a ritual, which happened repeatedly on all 3 days of the trade show, with visitors rushing to get inside the exhibition area and the queue growing longer and longer to buy coins that are only available at BICE 2015. The queue ended up being hundreds of yards long and circling all around the inside of the exhibition.

An ever-changing trade show

In China, things change very quickly, and while we were a bit hesitant last year about this fair because it seemed a bit too investment-oriented to us, this year we noticed a real development in the numismatic market. Medals could still be seen everywhere and we saw new dealers with slabbed coins on display.

Chinese counterfeit coins have made a mark on the coin market and obviously in China more than anywhere else. Thus the question we’re asked each time a French medal or banknote is purchased, “How can we be sure that it’s authentic?” We then must explain that we have a commitment to guarantee the authenticity of everything we sell and the funny thing is that some Chinese customers have their photo taken with us to guarantee their purchase.

We know that this market is very slab-oriented and the on-site presence of all the major coin grading companies just confirms it.

History inseparable from coin collecting

The organisers have always been committed to linking history with coin collecting and this year they asked for an exhibition highlighting the 70 year anniversary of the end of World War II. Cgb.fr actively participated in its organisation. This exhibition will be the subject of an upcoming article.

To complete this exhibition, we brought French coins that had circulated during the war which we showed to large numbers of visitors and children to tell them about French coin collecting just as we usually do.

The 2016 Panda coin is here

Another ceremony also took place at the BICE – the launch of the famous 2016 Panda coin. Although it was less impressive than the 2015 version, this event is still totally incredible in the world of French coin collecting. Everything is done to highlight these coins offered in a variety of weights in gold and silver. China Gold even went so far as adopting a panda that we could watch, several hundred kilometers away in its park, on a giant screen during the entire ceremony.

BICE 2016 – part of the cgb.fr team’s trade show programme

This year’s experience confirmed that this show is an important part of our Asian programme and we already know that we’ll be meeting with our Chinese customers for the next BICE which will take place 4-6 November 2016.

You can find all of the photos from BICE 2015 on our Facebook page at Facebook de cgb.fr

If you would like further information about this trade show, don’t hesitate to contact our team at asia@cgb.fr