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ANA report Darkside style

Well, I did a lousy job keeping track of things for this report. Totally forgot my phone has a camera among other things. Got distracted and missed a few cool things (like I hear the guy from Pawn Stars was there along with an Elvis impersonator...and I missed it!). For this I blame the fact I seem to be in a state of flux when it comes to my collecting.

I went to Philadelphia early as I signed up for the Ancients course (Sunday and Monday). Very nice for the plane-phobic, Amtrak now has service starting just a few miles from my house. So, after a nice breakfast at a downtown hotel (a holdover from the heyday of the railroads), my husband dropped me off at the train station. Pretty cool considering there I was leaving on a solo trip on our anniversary! Had an uneventful ride (though the wifi was down) and got to the downtown Marriott. I picked that as it had the ANA contract, plus the ancients class was supposed to be held there. Sadly they had overbooked and had to move our class to the convention center. I appreciated the extra walking--seriously all the walking I did kept me from feeling lousy--and it helped me find cool restaurants (I call my area of the country a 'gastronomic wasteland'...I may or may not have eaten dim sum multiple times we'll just say). The only bad part was the room was cold the first day. The second day I wore jeans and bought a light sweatshirt, so naturally it was much warmer!

Got to have lunch with @Nap and @EVillageProwler. Awesome sandwich and perhaps a small prank was played. Lots of fun and I suppose I could have met many other forum members, though the liteside seemed to have their own network. Missed out on a few people I've pm'd back and forth with. Oh well. I also forgot to see what it was that @Nap bought from a dealer I'd purchased from too.

In terms of Ancients I have always felt like I didn't know enough to know even where to start. I'm not the best student of history and it has always seemed a tad overwhelming. It's still overwhelming, but the course did a great job of giving one a framework on which to hang knowledge. It was taught by Kerry Wetterstrom and touched on a huge spectrum of coins. Never enough on any one type of course as there wasn't enough time, and would have loved more on counterfeits vs. genuine and seeing a wide variety of quality. There was of course no time for that and how much was shown was excellent. I suppose I'll have to look into the bigger courses someday! OTOH many books were mentioned. Several were bought via cellphone during the class.

Next door another class was being held, the one on conservation/problem coins. Also looks to have been a great class. (A third class occurred during the week and was on coin photography--desperately want to do that one some day too but carrying my photo gear which is rather fixed would be tough).

Anyway, still huge amounts to learn but at least when looking in the dealer cases I could feel like I had a basic clue of what I was looking at.

Tuesday morning I walked from the hotel down to Independence Hall and did the tour there (a lovely talk by the volunteer reminding one of the constitution!) and checked out the Liberty Bell. Hugely worthwhile and someday I'd like to spend time in the Constitution museum.

After that I headed back to the show and dove right in. The world/ancients section seemed decently sized. In no particular order on Tuesday/Wednesday:

-- Checked out what I thought would be the coin I should not buy--as in budgetary reasons, particularly as on Wednesday I got a call I could pick up the car I ordered later. A side story there and that delivery needs to be delayed...but even so $XX.XXX on a car so I had no business thinking about the coin. Of course I was thinking about it anyway. Went and looked and turns out there had been a TYPO on the dealer's website. Wrong variety. Not needing a slight upgrade at that kind of money at this time frame. I did score a nice bottle of water ($4 at the refreshment stand!) from the owner's assistant/partner :).

-- Sold a spare Lunar Monkey (gold) at one of the bullion dealers. Of course I did that Wednesday after the price dropped.

-- Stopped at the Civitas Galleries table and did my usual 'sell me something'. Knowing I am interested in the Albanian coins and the themes on them, he pulled out several Macedonia/Herakles headed coins. Couldn't decide between bronze and silver so took one of each :smiley: He had some dude there trying to be a real customer, so I didn't spend too much time, but always appreciate the time there. And the coins!

-- Saw a guy who I'd bought a chogin from at NYINC and this time grabbed an Akita bronze.


shorter tail/more common variety.

--. Had seen an Akita bronze at Clark Smith's table while he stepped away. By the time I got back when he was there, it had already sold, which is when I popped back to get the other one pictured above. That was a fun table. I've emailed him numerous times, I'd met him and his wife in Tokyo years ago, and not too distantly did a swap. I'm sure he made money on it, but I got cool coins out of the deal. In this case he had a couple of dealers from Japan there. Another customer was asking about the chogin minting process and they gave a great explanation, translated by Clark Smith, which was hugely interesting. Ended up at that table a third time when I sold an Albanian duplicate. Very interesting conversations there! He mentioned thinking about writing a new English language reference. I told him I would pay big for that :smiley:

-- Ran through the ancients tables twice, and finally a few pieces jumped out at me at Shanna Schmidt's table. My one feeling with ancients is the total inability to actually value them mentally. Yes, I know what features are desirable, but translating that into spending money is a bit tough. Interestingly she had a third coin with one of my favored designs, a hippocamp on it. She was quick to point out what was not desirable about the coin and mentioned a gorgeous example coming up in the sales and how much more that one would go for. It actually went for an even bigger number. In any case she was great to talk to (had talked to her some in NY too), and the coins 'spoke' to me, so there you go. Roman Republic in this case.


Not sure the why of this one, but the triga jumped out at me, not quite literally.


This one has been on my 'eyeball' list since starting to consider Ancients. I love themes, and I love sighthounds. This one actually looks like a sighthound dog. Some of the versions of this coin I've seen the dog is much more of a cartoon. I just liked it even though I've seen many others.

-- Saw Bidask--got to talk to him a bit about a Japanese coin in his case.

-- Actually walked away from a few places...didn't have that 'need to buy' urge on a couple Japanese coins that would have been mild upgrades. Close but not quite.

-- Found several tables with eBay sellers I 'know'. One is a guy I actually buy from directly...my go to source for the Queen's Beasts coins, my only active 'collectible bullion'. Great guy and looked to be busy some. Another had a coin I'd been considering on eBay. Seeing it in person made me feel better about not buying it. If I change my mind, I have his card. Saw two other eBay sellers sharing a booth. One had a rare yen variety that MIGHT have gotten my money another time. I 'need' that one still but it didn't do it for me. The other had a high want Albanian for me. NGC gave it an MS-60 and I want better. Great to see it in hand, NGC was a bit harsh (it was a bit better than I expected) but not what I want.

-- Stopped at the WINGS table. He had an incredibly lovely toned Japanese 10 sen that I did end up getting for no good reason other than I liked it. And, because I was shopping for Japan, Albania, and Ancients, I also bought a Queen Elizabeth 6p from him. Hmm, how did that slip in there?


A common date, and I have one technically 'better'. But this one is prettier.


Seriously, how did she sneak in there? The coin looks better than my photos. I can't seem to nail the 'life' some of these coins have.

-- Checked out the mint sections. Looked at the 1933 double eagles and made me grumpy. All I can say is, 'at least they didn't melt them'. I ended up walking away with a set of Shinkansen commems from the PandaAmerica guy. I mean really. 5 100 yen coins for only $10. Silly but fun.

-- The ANA exhibits were much more interesting than I would have though. I loved the (apparently the winning) Byzantine gold display. Plus a Roosevelt display (him, plus the coins he authorized), one where different headgear was traced, world in flight medals, coal scrip, some bust halves or something, and tons of others. Excellent jobs! There was a disturbing display on a bunch of counterfeit material that had been recently recovered from a dude in NJ posing as an agent (?tobacco, TSA, I forget). The volume, the breadth, and the fact it much was bullion (APMEX), and slabs (both major TPG), YIKES.

As I started looking some volunteer handed me a people's choice ballot, so I had to be serious and REALLY look. Time well spent. Just wish I'd gotten some darned photos.

The rarities to be seen throughout the displays, exhibits, and the bourse was absolutely mind-boggling. Some on display, some for sale. Shoot, if I had the money I might have tried for Andy Lustig's 1922 High Relief Peace. Gorgeous coin! Then there were the auction previews--oh my! I spent too little time there and wish I'd prepared a better list ahead of time. Just getting the chance to see the coins up close and personal was excellent. Especially fun was going from the class to the viewings. The class certainly spoiled us by showing awesome examples, totally reinforced by the in hand lots.

Thursday was my travel back day. Deciding between the bourse and walking to the Philadelphia Mint, I chose the latter. Nothing being actively minted, but it was a nice walk and fun to see. If I'd gone to the bourse maybe could have seen the Pawn Stars dude, or something else. Oh well. Got to the train in plenty of time, it was late. Got stuck behind other trains and construction slow downs so got home much later than anticipated.

Saturday we had a local coin show and I actually went! Found one guy with ancients and nabbed a couple--haven't photo'd those as yet. One was in an elderly looking Harlan Berk flip, and the other he 'brought back from Bulgaria' several decades ago. Didn't pay much for that one!

All in all, an excellent trip! Wish I'd visited with more people perhaps. Wish I'd paid a little more time to the rarities on display and available for auctions, wish I could have found a budget busting coin yet relieved I didn't! In fact all purchases were covered by sales (including a non-show sale). Now, the hotel, tuition, food (oh my, the FOOD), and transportation were extra, but that's just life!


Comments

  • ElmhurstElmhurst Posts: 768 ✭✭✭

    Is that all...lol...glad you had a great trip !!

  • Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Congratulations, love those Japan coins, especially the Akita bronze. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself and thank you for sharing !!! :)

    Timbuk3
  • bronzematbronzemat Posts: 2,602 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wonderful write up, great coins shared.

    And ancients are a blast. Almost 10 years into them myself and never regretted it.

  • SwampboySwampboy Posts: 12,875 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow!!
    You sure know how to make the most of a coin show Cathy.

    Thank you for the excellent write up.
    I love your newps especially the Republican serrated denarius.

  • bidaskbidask Posts: 13,834 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Great report !

    Glad you can read Japanese B) Thanks again .

    I manage money. I earn money. I save money .
    I give away money. I collect money.
    I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.




  • bigmarty58bigmarty58 Posts: 1,998 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thank you for the darkside report!

    Enthusiastic collector of British pre-decimal and Canadian decimal circulation coins.
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