Show Report: GSNA Show, Day 1 (Thursday 5/19)
airplanenut
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I left school as quickly as possible after an in-school concert to get to the GSNA show, which is the largest show in NJ, held yearly. I got out half an hour after I had originally planned (I didn't know we had the concert until last week), but I got to the show only a few minutes after it opened. First, I met with Andy Lustig, and we chatted for a little bit. He headed off, and I headed in.
I spent a good amount of time walking around the bourse, just getting an idea of what was there. I also ran into Mark Hotz, who is one of the YN chaperones at the ANA Summer Seminar (and lives a town over from where I'm moving in MD), whom I didn't know would be at the show. It was a pleasure to be able to talk with him for a little while, especially since the weather outside was so nice.
As I was walking, I kept running into different people, and found more enjoyment in talking than buying. The bourse, though, didn't seem crowded at all--at one point, I really noticed the noise level, because it was not as loud as most shows. My guess is tomorrow will be busier, simply because it is closer to the weekend, and a full-day show, whereas today opened in the afternoon. One dealer, though, I did overhear saying that this show has been much better than last year.
The first coin I purchased came from a dealer who also sets up at the local show. He brings quite a few of the double row Intercept Shield boxes full of slabs, and I looked thorough all of them (6 full ones, I believe). I went to the table to tell Mike Cali (commemdude) something, and then stayed to look at the boxes. Mike had just looked through the commems, so I figured I wasn't going to find any nicely toned ones... then I found an 1893 PCGS MS64 in the wrong box
Gorgeous original color on both sides, and I was advised it's a good coin to try again with to see if I can get it into a 65 holder... we'll see
Another "interesting" coin of note was a PCGS MS70FS SMS 1997 5c. I saw it, and commented "ooh, 70... must be perfect" or something to that effect. The dealer made a joke, and I said I'd look for some imperfection. Within about 3 seconds, though, I found, with my naked eye, three spots on the obverse, and I didn't even look at the reverse
. Oh, well.
The other really great part of the day was sitting down and talking with Bill Shamhart (njcoincrank). I saw lots of incredible coins (and I found a die crack he hadn't seen on a McKinley gold dollar in 66CAM--a $25k coin--which made me happy, since I've missed a lot of huge die cracks in the past... and needed a loupe to confirm this one... since there were only 100 produced, it's hard to believe the die would have broken). I was also fortunate to talk with Bill long enough to gain some great advice, both for life and coins. While looking through my type set, his compliments really made me feel good about it. Also, his encouraging me to tell the story of how I acquired some of the coins reminded me about how special some of them are to me--coins that I will never, ever sell.
Before I left, I found one other coin, a very lustrous ANACS MS65 1949-S BTW half with a little bit of peripheral color. Just a really eye appealing coin. Tomorrow will likely be my last day at the show (which ends Saturday), so I'll be looking forward to spending some more, and possibly walking home with a higher-value coin than I'd usually purchase. Pictures will come within the next few days, I hope.
Jeremy
I spent a good amount of time walking around the bourse, just getting an idea of what was there. I also ran into Mark Hotz, who is one of the YN chaperones at the ANA Summer Seminar (and lives a town over from where I'm moving in MD), whom I didn't know would be at the show. It was a pleasure to be able to talk with him for a little while, especially since the weather outside was so nice.
As I was walking, I kept running into different people, and found more enjoyment in talking than buying. The bourse, though, didn't seem crowded at all--at one point, I really noticed the noise level, because it was not as loud as most shows. My guess is tomorrow will be busier, simply because it is closer to the weekend, and a full-day show, whereas today opened in the afternoon. One dealer, though, I did overhear saying that this show has been much better than last year.
The first coin I purchased came from a dealer who also sets up at the local show. He brings quite a few of the double row Intercept Shield boxes full of slabs, and I looked thorough all of them (6 full ones, I believe). I went to the table to tell Mike Cali (commemdude) something, and then stayed to look at the boxes. Mike had just looked through the commems, so I figured I wasn't going to find any nicely toned ones... then I found an 1893 PCGS MS64 in the wrong box
Gorgeous original color on both sides, and I was advised it's a good coin to try again with to see if I can get it into a 65 holder... we'll see Another "interesting" coin of note was a PCGS MS70FS SMS 1997 5c. I saw it, and commented "ooh, 70... must be perfect" or something to that effect. The dealer made a joke, and I said I'd look for some imperfection. Within about 3 seconds, though, I found, with my naked eye, three spots on the obverse, and I didn't even look at the reverse
. Oh, well.The other really great part of the day was sitting down and talking with Bill Shamhart (njcoincrank). I saw lots of incredible coins (and I found a die crack he hadn't seen on a McKinley gold dollar in 66CAM--a $25k coin--which made me happy, since I've missed a lot of huge die cracks in the past... and needed a loupe to confirm this one... since there were only 100 produced, it's hard to believe the die would have broken). I was also fortunate to talk with Bill long enough to gain some great advice, both for life and coins. While looking through my type set, his compliments really made me feel good about it. Also, his encouraging me to tell the story of how I acquired some of the coins reminded me about how special some of them are to me--coins that I will never, ever sell.
Before I left, I found one other coin, a very lustrous ANACS MS65 1949-S BTW half with a little bit of peripheral color. Just a really eye appealing coin. Tomorrow will likely be my last day at the show (which ends Saturday), so I'll be looking forward to spending some more, and possibly walking home with a higher-value coin than I'd usually purchase. Pictures will come within the next few days, I hope.
Jeremy
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Comments
It's too bad we'll miss each other on Saturday!
Check out the Southern Gold Society
How about:
Was John Burns there?
How was New World Rarities inventory? (did they have three tables full of material?)
Who else was there that we don't usually see at Parsippany?
Check out the Southern Gold Society
<< <i>Was John Burns there? >>
Not sure
<< <i>How was New World Rarities inventory? >>
(did they have three tables full of material?) >>
Lots of stuff... didn't pay much attention to it, as it wasn't the kind of material that interested me. A few coins in the auction look nice, but not much.
<< <i>Who else was there that we don't usually see at Parsippany? >>
Like my father, I'm terrible with names... the big Parsippany guys are there, though.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
A) John Burns = big guy, sells books;
Oy!
Check out the Southern Gold Society
Yes, John Burns was there.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>Bourse Directory = sheet of paper with map of bourse floor and list of dealers' names - see any unfamiliar names? >>
Some of us just find the dealers by walking and don't look at the directory... some of us don't know it even exists
It was my pleasure to meet Andy Lustig and Bill Nagle for the first time.
Overall I thought the activity level among collectors was very low, but a lot of people think the first day is "dealer's day". Silver type and commems on the floor were mostly things I had seen in the past, very little high end or fresh stuff IMHO.
One dealer told me that with the recent tightening and slow turnaround at the services, there is a lot of inventory waiting to find the right home in the right slab, and that is hurting the dealers who have to turn inventory.
Commems and Early Type