Welcome back Long Beach

streeter

About three weeks ago, I was over a friend's house and casually mentioned that Long Beach was coming up in a few weeks." I wonder if we should go?"

Crickets.
Monday he calls and says, " you still wanna go?"
🥳Heck ya. But we have to do a little planning first. We're 450 miles away. Each of us can only spare one day. So we leave 10pm Wednesday night and take a little nap on the way. Get to the $15 parking garage and hand her a $20. "Guys, I need a credit card for parking" well neither of us can quickly find our wallets. They're in the backseat of the truck, packed. Not a good start. We eventually get to the "Covid Clearance Line" and produce our neg results test from Tuesday. Proceed to reg and get my visitors badge and stand in line for 45 minutes.
10:00 doors open. My bud and I had a plan. We didn't want to spend 8hrs so we decided to first, do a little price discovery. Said hello to the guys at Heritage and headed to the first of 8 tables that I had circled on my dealer list. I called those dealers, IIRC on Tuesday to see if they were bringing what we were looking for. I had done biz with them in the last 3-15 years and in the old days they treated people right.

I've been a coin guy since the 60's but was going to have to pass on examining coins. Both of us were on a pre33 mission. On the way to a preferred dealer we walk by Bruce Braga and glance in his case. Lotta yellow stuff. I likey yellow. He always treated me right in the old days at Ontario. Bought 6 ms65 Saints from Bruce. We counted the money 6x. Lol. Bought another two from a nearby neighbor. Now I think I realize I'm paying a bit more than if I was there on Wednesday or if I had made prior arrangements but I didn't. It's OK. We went to have fun. I Iive in a sparsely populated county and there are about 2 ms65 Saints that come up for sale a yr here. We ended up buying 31 ms 65 Saints and 6 10libs. I have a thing for ten libs. In the old days, I usually never had enough cash in my wallet to buy a 20. But I could always grab a 10 lib or indian. I've always liked to buy bullion as close to spot as possible. I consider 10 libs and Saints, bullion.

One dealer really annoyed me. I debated whether I should mention this but what the heck. Old line dealer, been around forever. I walk by his table and see four ten libs I want to buy. They're priced. If stuff is priced where I'm comfortable, I just inspect the coins never more than 30-60 seconds each if I like the initial eye appeal. Ask the dealer to write me an invoice. THIS DEALER RAISES THE PRICE $15 ea. Lolol, I did an eye roll to my buddy, clenched my teeth and closed the deal. We laughed about it all the way home. Went back over to K&K and bought his last four ms64 Saints. While I was watching my bud grind Ken for lunch money, I was sitting at Kerry's table. He says to me, "I need $5 for sitting at my table" he was joking and we got a good chuckle. I'd do biz with Kerry anytime. I explained I was just watching over a $4k transaction. We left at 1:30, And walked back to the truck and hit the road. This morning my bud says to me, " When's the next Long Beach? I particularly like this proof like ten lib.

pcgscacgold

Great report. Looks like you had a successful trip. I also like $10 Liberty's and buy them when I find graded MS coins not too much above melt (easier to do 1-2 years ago).

bolivarshagnasty

31 Saints and 6 Libs? Do you own an oil well in that sparsely populated county? Thanks for the report!

CoinJunkie

I was wondering why I didn't see any gold on the floor...

Thanks for the entertaining report.

MFeld

@streeter said:
About three weeks ago, I was over a friend's house and casually mentioned that Long Beach was coming up in a few weeks." I wonder if we should go?

Crickets.
Monday he calls and says, " you still wanna go?"
🥳Heck ya. But we have to do a little planning first. We're 450 miles away. Each of us can only spare one day. So we leave 10pm Wednesday night and take a little nap on the way. Get to the $15 parking garage and hand her a $20. "Guys, I need a credit card for parking" well neither of us can quickly find our wallets. They're in the backseat of the truck, packed. Not a good start. We eventually get to the "Covid Clearance Line" and produce our neg results test from Tuesday. Proceed to reg and get my visitors badge and stand in line for 45 minutes.
10:00 doors open. My bud and I had a plan. We didn't want to spend 8hrs so we decided to first, do a little price discovery. Said hello to the guys at Heritage and headed to the first of 8 tables that I had circled on my dealer list. I called those dealers, IIRC on Tuesday to see if they were bringing what we were looking for. I had done biz with them in the last 3-15 years and in the old days they treated people right.

I've been a coin guy since the 60's but was going to have to pass on examining coins. Both of us were on a pre33 mission. On the way to a preferred dealer we walk by Bruce Braga and glance in his case. Lotta yellow stuff. I likey yellow. He always treated me right in the old days at Ontario. Bought 6 ms65 Saints from Bruce. We counted the money 6x. Lol. Bought another two from a nearby neighbor. Now I think I realize I'm paying a bit more than if I was there on Wednesday or if I had made prior arrangements but I didn't. It's OK. We went to have fun. I Iive in a sparsely populated county and there are about 2 ms65 Saints that come up for sale a yr here. We ended up buying 31 ms 65 Saints and 6 10libs. I have a thing for ten libs. In the old days, I usually never had enough cash in my wallet to buy a 20. But I could always grab a 10 lib or indian. I've always liked to buy bullion as close to spot as possible. I consider 10 libs and Saints, bullion.

One dealer really annoyed me. I debated whether I should mention this but what the heck. Old line dealer, been around forever. I walk by his table and see four ten libs I want to buy. They're priced. If stuff is priced where I'm comfortable, I just inspect the coins never more than 30-60 seconds each if I like the initial eye appeal. Ask the dealer to write me an invoice. THIS DEALER RAISES THE PRICE $15 ea. Lolol, I did an eye roll to my buddy, clenched my teeth and closed the deal. We laughed about it all the way home. Went back over to K&K and bought his last four ms64 Saints. While I was watching my bud grind Ken for lunch money, I was sitting at Kerry's table. He says to me, "I need $5 for sitting at my table" he was joking and we got a good chuckle. I'd do biz with Kerry anytime. I explained I was just watching over a $4k transaction. We left at 1:30, And walked back to the truck and hit the road. This morning my bud says to me, " When's the next Long Beach? I particularly like this proof like ten lib.

Unless the dealer who raised the price of the $10 Libs had a really good explanation, I almost certainly would have passed and told him why.

streeter

Mark, he raised it $15 each and you know him.
I ground my teeth, in the old days I would have thought about walking. I'm too old to let $60 bother me.

RichieURich

Great report and it sounds like you found what you were looking for! Congratulations!

streeter

@bolivarshagnasty said:
31 Saints and 6 Libs? Do you own an oil well in that sparsely populated county? Thanks for the report!

Bolivar, not 31 Saints....31 MS65 Saints. I suspect someone(🙄) got the cream before me.
I hadn't been to a show or bought much of anything for two years. Just saved the money. What can you buy these days? Stocks, Bonds, real estate are in a bubble. I don't need a vehicle. The cash is depreciating at least 10% a year. The economy as a whole scares me.
Saints look like a no brainer.

ricko

Good report... a few chuckles there.... Though I would not have tolerated the price rise .... I think I could have talked him back down. Cheers, RickO

streeter

Ricko, I appreciate your thoughts. This whole situation played out in 2 minutes. I've had my share of times when I asked a dealer, if he has any room on a price. This dealer thought he was clever. I probably made his day. He probably bragged at dinner how he scalped a newbie, lol. Everything evens up over time.

We wanted to go home. A 68 and 62 year old on 2hrs sleep. With 7 hrs of driving ahead of us. I'm actually glad the wives demand we only bring half the money we originally intended to bring. Otherwise we'd have been there til 6pm. And this 68 yr old who forgot how exhausting 4 hrs of walking can be, oh joy, I would have given Mr $15 a piece of my kranky mind. Good thing I didn't.

ScarsdaleCoin

No wonder the dealers in Long Beach reported a good show…. Customers walking in buy Saints like m and ms

Treashunt

@MFeld said:

@streeter said:
About three weeks ago, I was over a friend's house and casually mentioned that Long Beach was coming up in a few weeks." I wonder if we should go?

Crickets.
Monday he calls and says, " you still wanna go?"
🥳Heck ya. But we have to do a little planning first. We're 450 miles away. Each of us can only spare one day. So we leave 10pm Wednesday night and take a little nap on the way. Get to the $15 parking garage and hand her a $20. "Guys, I need a credit card for parking" well neither of us can quickly find our wallets. They're in the backseat of the truck, packed. Not a good start. We eventually get to the "Covid Clearance Line" and produce our neg results test from Tuesday. Proceed to reg and get my visitors badge and stand in line for 45 minutes.
10:00 doors open. My bud and I had a plan. We didn't want to spend 8hrs so we decided to first, do a little price discovery. Said hello to the guys at Heritage and headed to the first of 8 tables that I had circled on my dealer list. I called those dealers, IIRC on Tuesday to see if they were bringing what we were looking for. I had done biz with them in the last 3-15 years and in the old days they treated people right.

I've been a coin guy since the 60's but was going to have to pass on examining coins. Both of us were on a pre33 mission. On the way to a preferred dealer we walk by Bruce Braga and glance in his case. Lotta yellow stuff. I likey yellow. He always treated me right in the old days at Ontario. Bought 6 ms65 Saints from Bruce. We counted the money 6x. Lol. Bought another two from a nearby neighbor. Now I think I realize I'm paying a bit more than if I was there on Wednesday or if I had made prior arrangements but I didn't. It's OK. We went to have fun. I Iive in a sparsely populated county and there are about 2 ms65 Saints that come up for sale a yr here. We ended up buying 31 ms 65 Saints and 6 10libs. I have a thing for ten libs. In the old days, I usually never had enough cash in my wallet to buy a 20. But I could always grab a 10 lib or indian. I've always liked to buy bullion as close to spot as possible. I consider 10 libs and Saints, bullion.

One dealer really annoyed me. I debated whether I should mention this but what the heck. Old line dealer, been around forever. I walk by his table and see four ten libs I want to buy. They're priced. If stuff is priced where I'm comfortable, I just inspect the coins never more than 30-60 seconds each if I like the initial eye appeal. Ask the dealer to write me an invoice. THIS DEALER RAISES THE PRICE $15 ea. Lolol, I did an eye roll to my buddy, clenched my teeth and closed the deal. We laughed about it all the way home. Went back over to K&K and bought his last four ms64 Saints. While I was watching my bud grind Ken for lunch money, I was sitting at Kerry's table. He says to me, "I need $5 for sitting at my table" he was joking and we got a good chuckle. I'd do biz with Kerry anytime. I explained I was just watching over a $4k transaction. We left at 1:30, And walked back to the truck and hit the road. This morning my bud says to me, " When's the next Long Beach? I particularly like this proof like ten lib.

Unless the dealer who raised the price of the $10 Libs had a really good explanation, I almost certainly would have passed and told him why.

I totally agree, it isn't the $15, it is the point of it.

Hell, if he had raised the price $1, I would have been outta there.

streeter

Frank,
🥲 Now I feel like less than a man. I'm completely ashamed of myself.

May I explain? Generic graded gold, i.e. ms63 10libs or ms65 Saints follow gold spot frequently. Most that I looked at...maybe a hundred pieces.... are priced on the reverse. This cat had them priced face up. I appreciated that. He was 10% low.
It bothered me for about a minute... I thought about it... And didn't say anything..and did the deal. He was still 9.85% % low. My goal was to buy not argue.

It was two old geezers facing off, I blinked. But I owned the gold I came for.