Mine is coming tomorrow !
Only 13,819 left . Get yours before they are gone.

Fun in OKC! YeeHaw!!

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Hopefully one more show report isn't one too many ... there have been some really good ones I read this morning while trying to recenter in my own time zone and fully caffeinate!

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Tuesday

One thing about living on the edge of the Earth is that the two major airports are not especially close. So at 2:30am on Tuesday I dragged myself out of bed, drank some coffee and had a light breakfast ... grabbed my bags and hit the road.

My flight from Seattle was scheduled to go at 8:11am, and so I wanted to be at the airport by 6ish to be safe. Despite how early this seems (and it is!), this is still probably the best time to make that drive. I hit almost no traffic all the way in. Not many folks are quite as dedicated to o'dark thirty as yours truly!

Everything was going smooth and on time, without issue, until an overhead bin had a broken latch, above First Class seats no less. After 45 minutes of attempted repair and deboarding a few people from the plane to facilitate, someone finally made a command decision and they brought out the duct tape. Thank God!

So, after a fully hour and change delay on the tarmac, our flight finally got off the ground and we made it to Oklahoma City without further issue. I ordered and Uber to take myself and two other coin show travelers (one who I do know pretty well) to the Hotel/Convention Center.

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After a quick freshen up I quickly made my way over to the bourse, where I immediately met Paul @Pnies20 . He had just left David Kahn's table with a fistful of really nice CBH's, and a smile from ear-to-ear. But alas, the feeding frenzy was over. Dave had released the second part of the Penbrooke Collection an hour and or so earlier, and I missed it. I heard the table was three people deep.

Curse the broken latch!!

Thankfully, a dealer I am friends with snagged maybe half a dozen, and I think I got first shot on most of those the next morning. Which meant I had to pay up a little (a lot?), but I still ended up with three coins from that sale that I really appreciate.

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But before we go there ...

As is our tradition at the Summer ANA World's Fair of Money, the BHNC had our "Corn Roast" dinner on Tuesday evening. I had a little on the line here as I had found and hired the catering service on a wing and a prayer. Thankfully, as expected (hoped?!), it worked out very well and we had a great turnout. If anyone ever needs an event catered in OKC, it's Doricia with B&B Catering. She was FANTASTIC to work with, and the food was downright delicious, plentiful and overall, quite reasonable.

After dinner there was a lot of show and tell about coins people had brought, as well as some buy, sell and trade activity, and, of course, the general fun, comradery and banter ... and maybe even some embellished storytelling … that such events can bring forth. I did buy a coin from my friend Steve Herrman, and sold three … one to our newest member of the Club, and two to my friend Brigette @mtn_scout

But one of the best things here was that my good friend Lance @lkeigwin was in attendance!

For those of you that don't know how far the miracles of modern medicine go, he had a double lung transplant last September.

Read that again, and take a moment to let that sink in.

While I know from all the stories he and I have shared from before, during and after his ordeal, this has been quite a tumultuous journey. But he is alive, in relatively good spirits, and is a walking, talking miracle.

Also, I had forgotten he said he had something for me. Lance gave me an honorary T shirt for the little bit of moral support I gave him this last year. I proudly wore the T shirt he gave me on Friday all day on the bourse, in full solidarity (I may share the image later). Love you Brother!

Ohhh ... and, as a preview of the show and the day ahead, right as dinner was server ... lightning struck and the skies opened up ...

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Wednesday

I left breakfast at the hotel a bit early as I had agreed to meet with a friend I haven't met in person yet. One of the great things about going to shows is we have the ability to meet collectors from around the country and from every venue in life.

And so, in the lobby of the convention center, I had the enviable pleasure of meeting Mr. @MFeld , in the flesh even (!!!). This was before the show opened to the members or public, and I think we chatted for a good 45 minutes. We even carried that over into the show for a bit. He only stayed for a couple hours after that and had other people to see and find before heading home, but I really enjoyed talking with him.

I have known Mark through the boards, PM's, emails and/or his involvement with Heritage over the last 17 years or so, but we have never had the pleasure of meeting face-to-face. I think we hit it off very well and probably could have spent the whole morning chatting away, under different circumstances.

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A bit after Mark and I said our "safe travels” in parting, it was time to find some newps, and I quickly found myself chatting with Phil at Eye Appealing Coins, discussing and looking at coins.

I picked a few from his new inventory, and he picked through my "for sale box" taking a half dozen. That deal put me cash positive and coin negative, and we were both happy. It was a good start, for sure.

I also talked with my friends at David Kahn's table, and was glad to see Dave was back in the saddle, so to speak. It's always a pleasure to see and talk with Melissa (she's just so friendly to me), and with Dick Graham and Josh too. If you count Dick's recent health issues, that table had two more walking, talking miracles. Life is precious. Cherish it.

Anyway, knowing I needed to get the 7 coins I had dropped off at PCGS for grading before my certificates expired at midnight (!!), I did that (very smooth, as always!), and then I did the very important task of lot viewing at Sheridan Downey's table.

Man, there were some WOW! coins available in that sale!! Unfortunately, some of those were only available due to a Club member who passed away suddenly last year. But there were some mighty coins and no lack of interest (if you look at the Prices Realized on Sheridan's website, you'll see).

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By this time I was spent but before I went over to the Hotel to get ready to Bid the Downey auction and get ready for dinner, I stopped by Alan of @Desert Moon at his table. I had long wanted to at least say Hi and chat with him a little, as we have missed really connecting at the last couple shows and since he has been on the “other side of the table”. I also wanted to see him as soon as I could because I hoped he still had a coin I thought I might want.

Interesting story here. On Thursday I did a presentation on Die Cracks and Die Crack progression for the BHNC open meeting (more on that further on in the report). To close out my presentation, I did a fun segment on Todd's Top 10 Die Cracks for Capped Bust Half Dollars from a list of coins I had selected a few weeks ago.

One of the coins I had decided to highlight was a Very Late Die State 1813 O-107a ... a coin which I have never owned. I find this a fascinating Die State coin for the numerous obverse and reverse cracks and die fatigue it exhibits. For those of you who attended my presentation ... well you know! And thank you for coming too!

Anyway … low and behold, a few days before the show, a PCGS AU55 CAC example showed up on Desert Moon's website. I studied the online images, the previous sale, etc, and felt it might be a great fit for my group of girls.

The coin was still there, and we came to an agreement while chatting. He even bought a coin from me as we chatted a little more, and then I was off to make bids and enjoy dinner.

All of my bids (except one) got crushed. I only was bidding on a half a dozen, but I wasn't even the real underbidder on most by the time the dust settled. I did win one, but she didn't come home with me. She did pay for my trip however, but I didn't know that yet, and it hadn't happened yet either, so that is really a story for a different day.

Dinner with friends on Wednesday was very nice, and quite a lot quieter than the 40 or so we had for Tuesday's event.

Dave @drddm , Paul @Pnies20 , David @DavidK , Chase @jcrispies , Phil @habaraca and his lovely wife Barb all were in attendance, and we had a lovely meal.

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I know a lot of people who come in and do a show in one or two days, and while I don't like to do it that way, I guess I can see how it can happen, as a great majority of the show was packed into the point from when I got to the show at about 3:30p on Tuesday until about 29 hours later, as I found myself enjoying the last of my glass of wine after a steak dinner. It had been a whirlwind trip so far, with just non-stop activity, discussions, viewings and wheeling and dealing ... but a fantastic time with great people and some good coins.

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I'll try to offer more thoughts and stories from the next few days (I stayed through Saturday at 11am) ... but here are the four new coins from Wednesday. I'll look through the rest of my ramblings from my flight home and try to summarize Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a seperate post to this thread sometime later today or early this week.

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sorry for the blurry, poorly exposed free-hand image ... I'll highlight these coins with better images soon, probably in the Saturday Coffee and Coins thread

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more to come ...

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

I hereby dub this the Royal Eagle specimen of the 1882 trade dollar

@2windy2fish said:
@tradedollarnut
I had never heard of that, very interesting! All of us will be checking every trade dollar from now on looking for it…
Curious what you all think about the 68 grade with the coins rather conspicuous lines in front of Miss Liberty?

From my 25 year old memory, I recall the coin having hard clear mirrors with somewhat pleasing heavy gold toning. I passed on price and because I wasn’t sure the lines weren’t post mint damage which would be a no no for me. Subsequent recent examination by another testifies to them being raised on the coin. His comment was die breaks to which I emphatically state no way no how - die breaks aren’t perfectly straight and perfectly placed in a crown pattern. IMO, this was intentional at the Mint and must have been late in the game since I’ve never seen another example of any date.

Rim clips on 1921 Morgans are worth about $80. Had the grease fill totally and cleanly removed the 192 of the date, that would be worth a premium as well.

@pcgsregistrycollector said:

@Rc5280 said:
PR64 JD-1

Bruh was u looking at greatcollections

Sorry bro - it just happened!
I went to:
1) Price Guide
2) Proofs
3) GC ad on the page - Bingo lucky stumbled into it!

I have slowly transformed from a passionate collector into the seemingly stereotypical local-yokel dealer. Having other responsible and predictable income, I have the luxury of selling coins basically to move them straight across, so I can 'pay-up' for quality without the need to advance the price any more to 'cover' anything or make a 'profit'. I love the hobby, the coins, and the relationships, and the lack of need for profit (but NOT trying to take a huge loss if possible) gives me a good comparison point for the success or failure of the 'but', and also whether the market for quality is TRULY up or down. Also . . . if I 'pay up' for quality, and no one else will (using my business model of moving them straight across - or even at a slight loss), well, I guess I know the fault is mine and I am not buying true quality or buying 'right'.

I love those responses that deal with the true 'state of the market' . . . regardless of opinion. Knowing TRUE collector trends really assists me in buying and keeping my inventory on track with quality and collector needs,

In my real world, the desirability of a 1909-S VDB in VF35 matters much more than the new 1804 dollar . . . not that I don't love those coins made of unobtanium . . . . .

Drunner