Best Of

I feel good to have nabbed the “first one” on the first day. After that, I would prefer a slabbed version, preferably from our host.
I really do prefer the presentation in a PCGS holder. The grade is not important to me.

@U1chicago said:

@cinque1543 said:

@cinque1543 said:

@Desert Moon said:
Every single show I have done so far over the past 2 years (n=5), are very busy and then just tank on Friday.

Just curious about this. Do show sponsors (in this case ANA) require dealers to stay for the entire show, or are there a lot of empty tables by Friday afternoon and on Saturday?

Can anyone comment on this?

It’s not required at most shows. By Friday afternoon you tend to start seeing empty tables and on Saturday it’s even emptier.

This is good information for those of us who’ve not been to many shows. If you can only spend one day at a show, I guess it’s best go on Day 1 or Day 2.

I usually avoid using the portrait setting on my iPhone, but today I found a good use for it:

Is it weird that I heard you saying some of these things in my head? 🤣

Here are some action shots from Thursday..

I arrived Wednesday late afternoon so I could set up my stuff at @alefzero 's table, say "Hi" to a bunch of the VAM collectors present, and make dinner plans -- The Clove for Indian food. Decent food, lots of it, no pictures.

Thursday I actually got doing a few pictures for people -- fewer than usual, but that gave me time to wander a bit. Took a look at the coins S-B had on display and got to handle the previously unknown and now finest known Class III 1804 dollar. I spoke with John Dannreuther about it for a little while (OK, one doesn't simply speak with JD for a little while) and he and John Kraljevich are determined to figure out some sort of provenance for it. Not sure how, but more power to them. Cool coin, for sure, though.

The "Augusta Saint-Gaudens" ultra-high relief $20 from the Tyrant collection was on display. Very cool coin. The edge engraving was unfortunately not visible.

Several of us went to Mickey Mantle's for steak Thursday night. I allow myself one steak dinner per coin show.

Friday started quite early. I got to the show at 8 so that I could take my photo gear to the GC table, where Ian graciously let me photograph the 1844-O $5 and $10 proof coins under the watchful and curious eye of one of OKC's finest.

I brought a coin with me to show fellow VAM collectors and anyone else I thought might be interested. Cuds on Morgan dollars are extremely rare. While this is technically a retained cud, as you can still see a couple denticles on it, it is the strongest cud on the reverse die of any Morgan dollar. The reverse die being the anvil, a broken away piece of die doesn't fall out like it would on the hammer, rather it sinks down into the arbor holding the reverse die. While all the VAM guys loved it, so did collectors of other varieties, error collectors, and aficionados of generally cool stuff. It's currently not for sale, but if it were, it'd have interest from far beyond the VAM community.

I did my shopping on Friday, purchasing a bust half and one and a half Morgan dollars. First the Bustie, purchased from David Kahn. A little dark, but fully lustrous:

The Morgan I purchased was an 1888-O Hot Lips (VAM 4) in AU50. These get really expensive fast above this grade. It's from the "California" collection of the late Lloyd Gabbert. The seller came to our table and was looking to sell a bunch of coins to help pay for his grandkids' college. He sold a few to the others at my table, too. These always look to have less detail than they're graded because the doubling is so strong.

Finally, the half Morgan dollar. During WWI, the Germans were telling the Indians that the paper rupees the British had circulating there were worthless and that India would be better served fighting alongside Germany. The Pittman Act of 1918 resulted in the melting of 270 million silver dollars, which were then sold to the British to back their paper. They were then coined into Rupees at the Calcutta mint in 1919, which are approximately half dollar sized. I bought this from Andy Lustig.

Dinner Friday at Rendezvous Pizza with a few VAM guys hit the spot. Again, no food pictures.

Saturday started with a walk across the parking lot from the MainStay hotel where I was staying to the Country Inn, because the breakfast person hadn't shown up yet. I chatted with someone who came to town to see what some errors they had were worth and to get them graded (uh oh). I didn't see the coins, but she said she had a Connecticut quarter with 90° rotated reverse, a 1941 cent with a cracked planchet (my terms interpreting her description) and something else. I tried letting her down a little bit by telling her they probably weren't worth grading and sent her to the ANACS table to get an assessment, where they'd finish the dream crushing.

There was a lot of public at the show on Saturday, and many had never been to a coin show before. This show was hyped up locally and they were excited to see what it was all about. Families that were filling folders with roll searching got a taste of other stuff that was out there and they were proud of their town being chosen, and for good reason. The convention center was brand new and conveniently located near a totally renovated entertainment district (Bricktown) that had been mostly dilapidated, abandoned buildings in the 1990s. The food at the convention center, was supposedly good and also fairly priced. There was a burger stand outside the bourse floor that could be smelled now and then from the front of the 1400-1700 aisles. Saturday there was a farmer's market in the park across from the convention center and a lot of food trucks. Had it not been so stinking hot outside, food trucks could have made a killing on the convention. I had some time Saturday at the airport to chat with Greg Allen, and he thought the despite the challenge posed by lack of direct flights from everywhere (he was going OKC-ATL-MSP), it would be a great venue for a Spring ANA show.

Finally, a food picture. Here you see me trying to figure out why Mrs. Freshly's donuts are so gross. I didn't buy them, but when offered one I obliged so that I could provide you, gentle reader, with an honest "do not put in mouth" recommendation. The ingredients list was longer than this post. I haven't found an MSDS online yet.

@BStrauss3 said:
Funny thing... a coin I saw at the show. It's not really core to any of my sets, but it would be a nice adjunct. Rare date of a rare coin (small mintage) in a rattler. Except...

Sold at Stacks in January for $1,920. If I had really wanted it then, I could have (maybe) had it for one more increment, call it $2k.

The current owning dealer apparently bought it for $2,700 sometime this summer. Wants $2,800 for it. It might never come around again or disappear for a decade. I just can't see paying a stupid tax after choosing not to pay less in January.

On the other hand, maybe the successful bidder was willing to go up to $3,000, just didn't have to because there weren't any other bidders above $1,920. So maybe $2,800 is a "bargain" for a rare date of a rare coin in a rattler.

Dealer cost is kind of irrelevant when you are looking to buy a coin. Let's say a dealer found a 1955 doubled die cent in AU in change. Cost = 1c. Do you expect the dealer to sell it for $500 or so? Don't think so.

One way to evaluate a price on a coin is to look at a pile of money in one hand, and the coin in the other hand. Which hand do you want? If you want the coin more than the money, then buy the coin. If you would rather have the money, don't buy the coin.

@erwindoc, is this what you are referring to? Took me many years to put this set together and if I were to sell, would so only as a full complete set.

New pickup for me at a local show today. No, not a truck. Somewhat of a rarer issue.