Coin Show Report - WESPNEX (Rye Brook), NY
DaveG
Posts: 3,535 ✭
Today I went to the three-day (Fri-Sun) WESPNEX show in Rye Brook, NY. This show is held four times a year - three of the shows are at the Westchester County Center in White Plains and this show is held at the Rye Town Hilton. This show used to be bigger - it was held in the main auditorium of the Westchester County Center and featured about 150 dealers (about 30% stamp dealers). Unfortunately, now-a-days, the show is held downstairs in the County Center and has about 80 dealers or so.
The Rye Town Hilton is a nicer venue, but a bit cramped for the 80 or so dealers in attendance. I'd say about 8-10 stamp dealers were there, so it was a "better" mix than usual. There were some new dealers there, including Butternut ("Col." Steve Ellsworth). The floor was pretty quiet when I got there at 10:30 (a half hour after opening), but it got busier about 11:15-11:30 or so.
There was the usual mix of inventory - lots of Morgans, Walkers and Classic Commems; Island Coins had a large toned inventory, etc. There were a fair amount of Bust halves around, but little smaller denomination Bust material and very little early (pre-1853) Seated. New World Rarities had a couple of old tenor half eagles, both slabbed (one was an 1806 in a PCGS AU-55 slab, I recall) as well as a handful of advertising counterstamped coins from the 1830s or 1840s. They also had a PCGS-slabbed Clark Gruber $20, except this one was a die trial in copper! (How esoteric is that?) And, it was "only" $5200!
I saw a fair amount of raw and slabbed with-motto Coronet Gold and Saints/Indians - not quite generic, but not rare date material, either. One dealer said that he had sold a lot of "common-ish" gold, including 4 raw Saints as I was looking at his inventory.
After the recent thread about the lack of demand for proof and mint sets, I took note of the large inventories of both that several dealers had - and no one was looking at them.
I've commented in a couple of recent show reports about the number of early PCGS and NGC slabs that I've been seeing recently. Today I saw only a couple of NGC 3 slabs (No bar code, raised logo on back, used late-87 to late-89) and three or four of the PCGS 2-3 type slabs (used late-89) and a lot of rattlers, of course. While several of them were inexpensive, I didn't buy any today.
I asked several of the dealers how the show had been - the response was pretty mixed: a couple of dealers were pretty happy, but a couple said that the show was "slow".
My sense was that there wasn't a whole lot of new inventory on the floor. Dart Coins seemed to have pretty much the same inventory that they've had for a couple of months now, and several of my other "usual" dealers didn't have anything new. My sense is that the dealers are pretty tired and are looking forward to a quiet December.
As for myself, I didn't actually buy anything today, but I did pay for and take delivery of an NGC VF-35 1814 Bust Half that one of my usual dealers bought at Baltimore. (I saw it just after he bought it, but he didn't want to sell it before he attributed it, so I got "first dibs" on the coin.) It's a nice dark coin with some underlying luster and a band or two of blue toning.
All-in-all, it was a decent show.
The next WESPNEX show is Jan. 19-21, in the Westchester County Center in White Plains.
The Rye Town Hilton is a nicer venue, but a bit cramped for the 80 or so dealers in attendance. I'd say about 8-10 stamp dealers were there, so it was a "better" mix than usual. There were some new dealers there, including Butternut ("Col." Steve Ellsworth). The floor was pretty quiet when I got there at 10:30 (a half hour after opening), but it got busier about 11:15-11:30 or so.
There was the usual mix of inventory - lots of Morgans, Walkers and Classic Commems; Island Coins had a large toned inventory, etc. There were a fair amount of Bust halves around, but little smaller denomination Bust material and very little early (pre-1853) Seated. New World Rarities had a couple of old tenor half eagles, both slabbed (one was an 1806 in a PCGS AU-55 slab, I recall) as well as a handful of advertising counterstamped coins from the 1830s or 1840s. They also had a PCGS-slabbed Clark Gruber $20, except this one was a die trial in copper! (How esoteric is that?) And, it was "only" $5200!
I saw a fair amount of raw and slabbed with-motto Coronet Gold and Saints/Indians - not quite generic, but not rare date material, either. One dealer said that he had sold a lot of "common-ish" gold, including 4 raw Saints as I was looking at his inventory.
After the recent thread about the lack of demand for proof and mint sets, I took note of the large inventories of both that several dealers had - and no one was looking at them.
I've commented in a couple of recent show reports about the number of early PCGS and NGC slabs that I've been seeing recently. Today I saw only a couple of NGC 3 slabs (No bar code, raised logo on back, used late-87 to late-89) and three or four of the PCGS 2-3 type slabs (used late-89) and a lot of rattlers, of course. While several of them were inexpensive, I didn't buy any today.
I asked several of the dealers how the show had been - the response was pretty mixed: a couple of dealers were pretty happy, but a couple said that the show was "slow".
My sense was that there wasn't a whole lot of new inventory on the floor. Dart Coins seemed to have pretty much the same inventory that they've had for a couple of months now, and several of my other "usual" dealers didn't have anything new. My sense is that the dealers are pretty tired and are looking forward to a quiet December.
As for myself, I didn't actually buy anything today, but I did pay for and take delivery of an NGC VF-35 1814 Bust Half that one of my usual dealers bought at Baltimore. (I saw it just after he bought it, but he didn't want to sell it before he attributed it, so I got "first dibs" on the coin.) It's a nice dark coin with some underlying luster and a band or two of blue toning.
All-in-all, it was a decent show.
The next WESPNEX show is Jan. 19-21, in the Westchester County Center in White Plains.
Check out the Southern Gold Society
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Comments
I don't think I'm good friends with them. Maybe Chris was just trying to move the coin. Also, about 10 minutes after I looked at the coin a kid (12 to 14 years old) was looking at it. He then looked Chris right in the eye and asked "How much do you need for it?" Chris didn't even crack a smile as he said "$5,200". The kid didn't bat an eye, but just put the coin down. (Perhaps he's the next Q. David Bowers?)
mommam17:
Yes and Yes.
Check out the Southern Gold Society
Lt Colonel Jeff