TSNS Chattanooga Show Report, November 2019
giorgio11
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The Chattanooga show is just about a three and a half-hour drive away from us, and apparently summer decided to change to winter while we were on the road. Such are the perils of driving to regional shows. It was pouring rain until we hit Sweetwater, Tennessee, and then fortunately the rain let up for the rest of the trip. We made it to setup by about 2 p.m. on Thursday. We were pleased that this show seems to not only retain a lot of the dealers who have been here for years, but it also attracts a considerable number of first-timers, many of whom are pleased enough to become regulars. I think this show in particular is one that folks have to get to know you a bit before they start to nibble at your wares.
We did a decent amount of wholesale business on Thursday. The show has a new organizer, Katie Williams, and she and the show staff really went out of their way to simultaneously be businesslike, yet welcoming—even to the point of handing out little post-Halloween goody bags attached to everyone's show badges. A nice touch!
Here is a photo of lovely Katie in action that I took later during the show. Note not only her photo but the bustle of activity in the background! (Some of our material is in the foreground.)
It was colder'n blue blazes on Thursday night, and Friday morning I had to both scrape the frost off of my car, and I helped a Soccer Mom with three cute little girls to scrape her car so she could get everybody to the soccer tourney at Camp Jordan on time.
I was next to a first-time dealer and he seemed pretty pleased with his activity. On both Friday and Saturday, I was amazed to see so many retail customers with their want lists, eagerly filling up those empty holes in their sets and albums. We sold quite a few nice Lincoln cents (of course VDB cents are always popular with us), but both CC Morgans and Gem Peace dollars were hot as well. Folks were looking for gold, but since it had dipped by $40/oz or so in the previous week, we left a lot of our better gold at home.
We bought some nice coins from a major longtime vestpocket dealer, and some of them were gone within an hour afterward! A lot of people also enjoyed stopping and seeing the rather extensive Conder token offering we had up for sale as well. Such an underrated, beautiful series!
Even though I was glad to be busy at the table, I regret that I was not able to get a chance to talk with @snizzle Tom and his lovely wife when they came up ... Second time now, same thing happened in Dalton. I'm sorry about that, Tom!
I saw a lot of my other longtime buds from Chattanooga and Knoxville. Overall it was a really successful, well-done show. Since our next scheduled show is not until February in Knoxville, it's time to work on blowing out some of the chaff on eBay and continuing to work on our new website designed by Ryan at www.interfanatic.com.
The drive home was sunny and uneventful—the best kind!—and as always, Saturn and Neptune and Mrs VDB were overjoyed to see me.
And thus endeth my tale.
Kind regards,
George
Comments
Thanks for a great show report....and nice cats....Cheers, RickO
Great write up - thanks for taking the time and effort, and glad to hear the show was a success!
Glad you had a good show, George. I am truly sorry I had to miss it.
Thanks @Yorkshireman for your kind note. Hopefully we can catch up in Dalton next April if not before ... I'm gonna be doing the GNA show there for the first time! I hear it's slightly larger than BRNA and obviously in the same venue.
Kind regards,
George
Excellent report - thanks for taking the time and pictures.
WS
I'm glad you had a good show and safe travels George. "Life" did not allow for me to make it this time. Thank you for the report!
nice report and cool pics as well
Thanks for your show report.
Great show report George glad to see you even in passing.
I will definitely see you in February for sure
Tom