A lecture on the Olympic Games and the Stack’s Bowers Galleries Official Auction headline the Whitman Baltimore Expo here, November 17-20, 2011 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

“The Olympic Games: The First 1,166 Years,” an hour-long presentation by Anthony F. Milavic promises to take the audience back to the birthplace of the Olympic Games. Mr. Milavic, a retired U.S. Marine Major traces the Games to their roots in funeral games, religion and other facets of Greek culture from the earliest recorded histories.

Join Mr. Milavic at 2pm on Saturday, November 19 in Room 329 and learn how Olympic champions include the heroic and the unlikely—including a cook, a princess and even a corpse.

The evolution and conduct of the Olympic Games, from a one-day local event to a five-day Greece-wide festival, is illustrated with imagery on ancient figure-vases, statuary, and—naturally—rare coins, including coins depicting unique information on the conduct of ancient Games.

The Expo’s Official Auction, conducted by Stack’s Bowers Galleries will include Part 1 of the Teich Collection. This remarkable collection has been in private vaults since the 1950s, when Dr. Samuel Teich began collecting by purchasing their first coins from Robert Friedberg.

More than 8,000 total lots are set to cross the block, over 950 lots of U.S. currency and in excess of 4,200 lots of U.S. coins, plus an additional 2,800 lots of world coins and world paper money.

Rick Ponterio, executive vice president, said the world lots will be a special highlight.

“We are ready to wrap-up 2011 with our final auction of this incredible year, and we have a tremendous selection coming to Baltimore for the official auction,” Mr. Ponterio said.

“We have an exceptional choice of popular Chinese coinage that is sure to attract worldwide attention, and Mexico is very strong with a large selection of more than 800 lots of Mexican coinage, plus some unique standouts that span the globe. Our paper money assortment offers quite a wide variety, also, with some very distinctive items that will excite collectors when they go on the block,” he said.

Lot viewing will take place in Room 327/Booth 1461, with the auction in the familiar Charles Street VIP Suite.

Fans of Liberty Seated coinage will not want to miss the Liberty Seated Collectors' Club massive exhibition of Seated coinage.

Among other highlights, scheduled to take place in Room 329:

• The Fellowship of Christian Coin Dealers will meet on Friday, November 18 at 7:30am.
• The Liberty Seated Collector’s Club meets at 9am on Friday, November 18.
• The Maryland Token and Medal Society and The Early American Coppers Club will meet at 11am on Saturday, November 19.
• The Maryland Numismatic Association will meet at 3pm on Saturday, November 19.
• Ancient Numismatic Society of Washington, DC will meet at 4pm that day.

“We’re looking forward to another great November Expo in Baltimore. Join us for what promises to be a remarkable end to the numismatic year,” Whitman General Manager David Crenshaw said.

Dealer setup will be Thursday, November 17 from 8am until Noon. Dealer hours are 8am until 6:30pm Thursday and 9am until 6:30pm Friday and Saturday; and Sunday from 9am until 5pm.

The Expo is open to Early Birds (for a fee of $75) Thursday beginning at 10am and Friday-Sunday beginning at 9am. Public hours are Thursday from Noon until 6pm; Friday and Saturday from 10am until 6pm and Sunday from 10am until 3pm.

Kid’s Korner activities begin at 10am on Friday and Saturday. Every youngster aged 6 to 14 who attends will go home with free coins and prizes.

For more information on the Official Auction by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, including all lot viewing and auction session times, visit StacksBowers.com.

Consult Whitman.com/Expo for the latest updates on all exhibits, meetings and activities, or to register for free.