Best Of

@JWP said:

The Flying Taxis almost became a reality at this summer's Expo 25 in Osaka. Pictured is my photo taken in June of the Veriport where they were to land and takeoff followed by a screenshot of an earlier demonstration there at the Veriport.

The original intent was to have the Air Taxis transport passengers to the Expo and when that was not possible due to certification delays the plan was to provide demonstrations. The demonstrations however were short lived when a part fell off of a SkyDrive eVTOL Air Taxi being demonstrated.

My photo of the Veriport:

Screenshot of the short-lived demonstration at the Veriport:

Looks like lots of good reports being posted here, so figured I'd post mine. To those that predicted gloom and doom for this show, let's just say that forecast was as accurate as a snow prediction in OKC during August.

As is usual during our trips, me and my wife planned a vacation around this coin show. That meant looking for fun pub spots, visiting museums, finding a place to play bar trivia and so on. We stayed at the Wyndham Grand, which was a short walk to the convention center. It was a nice place to stay and we took advantage of the indoor pool. It was hard not to bump into somebody that was there for the coin show, be it a dealer or collector.

Now for the show stuff. The was the first time we've been to OKC, and we ended up liking our stay there, and the show itself was wonderful, the exhibits, the number of dealers, the convention center and so on. I went to the show each day from Tuesday thru Saturday. The first 3 days seemed pretty brisk, tailed off a little on Friday, but was surprised to see the long line to get in on Saturday. It's most likely because it's the only day most people could make it, Most dealers I talked to had a good to great show, and quite a few mentioned "better than expected." The exhibits and coin displays were really good too.

As for me personally, the show went way beyond expectations on day 1 due to a show purchase I was not expecting. First thing I did was submit 17 coins to GreatCollections for a future auction and pick up two tickets to the PCGS cocktail party.

As most of you know, my icon coin is my crazy toned PCGS XF-45 1822 bust half, which I won in a Heritage auction in late 2017. In that same auction, there was similarly toned PCGS AU-50 1818/7 bust half that I was also after. After the prices took off, I decided I'd just focus on the 1822, which I did win. Over the years, I did try to track it down and even made an offer to the owner that bought it, but all I got was radio silence. Fast forward to the OKC show, and one of my Instagram contacts pinged my and said he had something to show me. It turned out to be that 1818/7 bust half I've given up on! He did send a message a while back with a pic of that coin, but I assumed he was holding on to it for his collection. So below is my elusive dream fulfilled; it truly made the show a smashing success for me! I've also added the 1822 to show that it was the long lost twin.

If I had to go home at this point, it would have been OK. Of course I didn't do that, there was so much more to see! The second coin I ended up getting about an hour later was this stunning 1887 Seated Liberty half graded MS-64+ PL with a green CAC sticker. All that was good, but what got me was the cameo contrast and it was a date I needed for my set. So this one is now in my registry.

Won this stunning XF-45 CAC 1917-S obverse Walker from GC, so went back to their table to pick up that coin. I liked the look of this coin better than the VF-30 that I already had.

Found this Draped Bust dollar at David Perkins' table; he always has some of the best looking bust dollars out there. I always wanted a problem free mid grade circulated piece as type, and we all know there are not that many out there, even for the common dates. This 1799 in VF-30 CAC hit all the right buttons for me, so now it's in my collection.

I love toned Morgans and saw many at the show. But this one graded MS-64+ CAC jumped out at me due to the unusual toning pattern and the facts that it was an 1887-O date, not one you commonly find toned

This next one I bought from a YN who I made friends with from the last PCGS Vegas show. He's another rising star among the YN's, and believe me, they are out there in force and are also very knowledgeable. This is a toned 1970-S Kenned half graded PF-68 and has some of the colors of an oil slick.

Saw this raw (in a flip) toned 1994 Canadian silver 1 oz. maple leaf for just over double spot. AT? Not sure, but I really didn't care. Just loved the look of it!

And the last coin I bought as Saturday was winding down was this nicely toned 1995 silver eagle graded MS-68.

That wraps up the slab portion. I also bought some raw coins for my various bookshelf albums, and the best ones were a couple of nice AU Indian cents from Rick Snow @EagleEye, an 1864-L and an 1872,

Now some of my observations from the OKC show:

The number of YN's in the hobby appears to be be pretty strong. In fact, I hung out with quite a few of them over the week, including going to bar trivia, sharing coin and dealer stories. They didn't mind us "old folks" being around, they actually liked being around us. If the others out there are like these young folks, the future of the hobby is bright. The dealers that complain about "not enough new blood" need to get out more. Or maybe a personality adjustment is in order.

Attractive, properly graded coins in a popular series don't last long on the floor. There was many a table where I saw a nice coin (but not in a series I was collecting) in a case, then came around again only to see it gone. I saw that especially for CAC bust and seated dollars.

Cases that looked like an F-5 tornado tore through the coins saw far less traffic than the ones that had the coins neatly laid out and easily visible to customers. There might be a super nice coin lying below the rubble, but I don't have the patience to shovel through all that. I usually pass tables like this.

I would like to see this show to return to OKC in the future. Maybe even a PCGS member show?

We found plenty of things to do around OKC, including taking a canal boat ride, eating at the various local establishments and visiting the the OKC National Memorial Museum and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. We also found a wonderful BBQ establishment next door called Hank's. We even got to meet the owner who was super friendly and we wished him continued success. That smoked turkey leg there was the bomb!

I'm not a social butterfly, but I believe I socialized with more people than at any shows in the past. I ran into quite a few forum members, including @dperkins, @Desert Moon, @drddm, @jacrispies, @pursuitofliberty and others I'm sure I've missed. Also met quite a few more of the Instagram crowd in person, including one collector who happened to be deaf, along with being an artist who loved to paint/draw coins in various mediums. He wanted to do a painting of my 1818/7 bust half, which I look forward to seeing.

Overall, it was a great show for me, sounds like it was great for others here. You have now reached the end of the post.

@Pnies20 said:

@mtn_scout said:
Your write up does a good job of recounting everything Todd although I was wondering when you'd mention the Early Cents auction. That was a big part of my table's experience at Tellers as @Pnies20, @drddm, @jacrispies, myself, and others were watching live and having quite the discussion about prices realized. I, like Todd, got smoked in the auction but someone at my dinner table at Tellers did walk away winning a lot.

Like Todd all the dealers I asked had a really great show. There was some moaning about connecting flights but dealers seemed very happy with the turnout. I heard from one of the ANA volunteers that there was a HUGE number of people who became ANA members at the show so considering everything I wouldn't be surprised if there is another show in OKC.

You got one of my favorite coins at the show! I just didn’t happen to need it. I’m glad you listened to me after pestering you to get it! 🤣

I was glad you told me about it and the collection Kahn had in general. I really like the two other coins I got from that collection as well.

@Coinscratch said:
Some of the pics are too dark, blurry, or just not fully lit. Along with mix-matched photos.
Not to be a pain but work on the lighting. You have time, I don't see any reason for rushing this.
My second opinion is worse than the first but again might just be bad lighting.

I fixed the order

@Bullsitter said:
11,999

@Bullsitter's ats number is from 3:50pm today.

ats: 18,518

Looks like the Mint added a cool 6.5k back into the available sales.

Just sent the 3 Graded ones in for Reconsideration and decided on only submitting the 73-D,49-D & 44-S

MS61