Central States Show Report

Proofmorgan

Hi All,

It has been a few years since I've been to Central States so I was looking forward to the "improved" show. The goals were to search for nice early gold, view the auction lots, sell/buy some bullion for a friend, try to upgrade some coins, and view a few coins set aside for me to look at by a couple dealers. Note: I decided to bring my wife along for the first time. I will post pictures tonight.

Wednesday Night:

We arrived into Midway without issue via a nice 1.75 hour direct flight out of Manchester, NH. Unfortunately, when trying to get to the convention center, Uber decided the ride should cost $150 for whatever reason (it was $45 from Schaumberg to the airport on the way back....strange). We decided to take a cab, which ran $90....only to be told that there was a customary time and a half that needed to be added for some unknown reason...as the driver overrode the cost to $135. That put a sour taste to start the trip. We headed to the hotel bar for a night cap and bumped into a few familiar faces from Stack's and PCGS and chatted a bit.

Thursday:

I woke up early to get the early bird entry. I was hesitant to pay the $125, but was glad I did after hearing about the public entry lines.....as well as the insanely long line at PCGS. I was able to view some nice early gold pieces brought in by NYGM and CNN/Stu Levine. The coins were beautiful, but I had a few consignments in limbo and the upcoming Bass sale definitely had me hesitant to make any significant purchases. There will be some dream coins will be up for bids in that sale.

My wife was somehow instructed to cut the public line and met me shortly after 10am. I showed her the "great four" display at great collections and I set her free to browse and tell me what she liked. Eventually, she showed me a buffalo nickel and 3 cent piece in PF68 with prices of $30K. I had to laugh, I guess she has expensive taste in coins.

I turned in a couple coins to try for a '+" and also had some OGH pieces true viewed ($5 total each....what a deal!). I struck out on the grading. PCGS is currently grading higher MS Early gold on luster over originality and color. It's a shame because more coins are starting to take a "bath" to accommodate. I connected with Doug Winter for awhile, which is always a treat and he is always very knowledgeable and insightful. As always, I swung by the CRO table to see some local faces and always some wonderful coins.

I was fortunate to finally meet up with EarlyAurum after years of chatting over the phone and text. We walked the floor for an hour to two and chatted about early gold. He was also able to see the coins that CNN and Stu had brought in and we debated back and forth which had the nicer 1807 $2.5. We also viewed the lovely Classic Heads from the Virginian Collection at the Stacks table. It was great to spend time with a fellow early gold collector.

Overall the show was well attended. There was some decent inventory at most tables, but the prices were definitely strong.

We headed to dinner at one of the nicer steakhouses in Schaumberg. Two separate ambulances had to take people out of the restaurant while we were there. It was an eventful dinner.

Friday:

The goal for today was to sell and buy some bullion for a friend and maybe run into some nice coins in the process. I was sent with a kilo and 5oz generic silver bars with instructions to trade up toward 50-100oz in a single bar. I was able to sell the silver I brought for $26.50 per oz at one table and buy the larger bar for $25.30 per oz at another. The result was an 87.26 oz vintage poured bar. By noon the bourse was seemed to be half packed up, which seems to be the trend at every show.

Next, I had to fulfill my spousal obligations of not spending every minute at the show and go out into the city to do the tourist-type activities and keep my wife happy....which is a nice break from the intense hunt on the bourse. We had some deep dish at Pequad's, which was nice and visited the SkyDeck. Our attempt to get a tour of the Blommer chocolate factory was unsuccessful, after catching the scent of chocolate while walking down a side street. We headed back to Schaumberg hit some balls at Top Golf, which was entertaining to say the least. The experience made me feel a lot better about my golf game, seeing stray balls flying all directions.

Saturday:

I decided I would make one last pass on the bourse to see if I could snap a late entry in someone's case. No luck. I did go back to the bullion dealer to grab two 106 oz vintage poured silver bars matching the one I purchased for my friend. One for me and one for my father, who did not attend this time. The same dealer had a 25oz poured silver Engelhard that was 1 of less than 50 produced. Needless to say, it was out of my price range for bullion. I was also able to grab about 50 oz of name brand bullion at generic prices at various tables. The bourse was about 75% packed up at this point.

Our $45 Uber provided a nice trip back to the airport, where I prepared my wife for my anticipated private room search. I knew over 300oz of silver would draw attention. I had loaded it all into a backpack, which was immediately pulled from xray. The young TSA employee was stuck holding the bag for the better part of 5-10 minutes while they had to coordinate a private screening. The TSA employee and myself both laughed about the weight of the bag. I was brought to the room and had to unpack the bars and answer many questions about why silver is a good investment and how you buy such things. One of the two officers even asked if they could hold one of the bars and I obliged. They both agreed it was likely the most interesting thing they'd seen in their 5 years on the job.

Overall, it was a great experience. I was successful on the bullion hunt, meeting great people, but struck out on the grading and did not pull the trigger on any early gold. I'm looking forward to the next show, which will likely only be FUN or whenever the Bass collection is available for Viewing/Auction.

joeykoins

Great Report.
Maybe next time you guys can rent a car, instead of all those high Uber fees?

SeattleSlammer

Excellent report thank you. ⭐️ …..what’s up with the lack of CAC beans on The Virginian Collection?….not that there’s anything wrong with that…. 🤓

kaz

Thanks for your report!

coinbuf

Nice that you enjoyed the show despite a few hiccups.

pcgscacgold

Great show report.

Thanks for sharing the photos of the Virginia collection. Last night I was reading "Classic Gold Coins of 1834-1839" by Daryl Haynor and many of the Virginia collection coins are referenced in there. It's a great read/reference for any Classic gold collectors. Every so often @Ronyahski stops by here on the forum.

SmEagle1795

Great report, and to put your mind at ease: you weren't scammed by the cab (at least not illegally, although any cab trip is a scam in my book).

I live in Chicago - those terms are printed on the sign in the back of the cab that fares to certain "zones" are 1.5x the price and Schaumburg/the suburbs are indeed in that region. I complained once and the argument is that they have to cover the time it takes them to get back to the airport/city.

The Uber price sounds ridiculous though, presumably a case of "surge pricing" but that's far higher than I've ever seen.

But, glad you had a nice time at the show regardless!

rip_f

Interesting perspective of another collector of heavy metal. I was there on Friday with the collector who sold the 25oz poured silver Engelhard you admired on Saturday.

Floridafacelifter

Sweet early gold! Thanks for the report and pics!

CharlotteDude

Great pics and insightful commentary - thanks for the report.

Elcontador

Thanks for the report and pics. BTW, some people I used to know who worked at TSA came face to face with live animals people were trying to take with them (and not 'comfort' animals, either).'

RichieURich

Great report and pics, thanks for posting both!

cnncoins

Sorry I missed you at the show. Hope you enjoyed all the "eye candy" at the show! There were many cool coins on display.

sparky64

Excellent report, thanks.

Dave99B

Fantastic report … but those Uber/Taxi fares? Wow!

Love all the early gold pics. Amazing stuff. Thanks for the great report.

Dave

winesteven

As others correctly said, great report. But why so few pics (lol)?

Steve

ricko

Thanks for a great show report. Super pictures of the early gold coins. Seems you did well on the bullion... but those cab/uber fares are scary. Cheers, RickO

ElmerFusterpuck

@joeykoins said:
Great Report.
Maybe next time you guys can rent a car, instead of all those high Uber fees?

But then you get stiffed pretty hard with downtown parking fees! The rates at some places make me think that maybe my car could be a cheap hotel room at $50 a night.

messydesk

@ElmerFusterpuck said:

@joeykoins said:
Great Report.
Maybe next time you guys can rent a car, instead of all those high Uber fees?

But then you get stiffed pretty hard with downtown parking fees! The rates at some places make me think that maybe my car could be a cheap hotel room at $50 a night.

This show is out in the suburbs. Parking is free but renting a car at O'Hare will cost you dearly once you pile on fees.

Ronyahski

@pcgscacgold said:
Great show report.

Thanks for sharing the photos of the Virginia collection. Last night I was reading "Classic Gold Coins of 1834-1839" by Daryl Haynor and many of the Virginia collection coins are referenced in there. It's a great read/reference for any Classic gold collectors. Every so often @Ronyahski stops by here on the forum.

Thanks for the nice note. I am so pleased that my book has become very useful for collectors of the series. Proofmorgan just sent me a PM, so I hopped onto the forum to reply and then saw his post.

Stack Bowers displayed the #1 Quarter Eagle and Half Eagle sets. For various reasons, and with bittersweet thoughts, I decided that it was time for them to find a new home. Despite that decision, I plan on continuing my research on the series, so look for a 2nd edition of the book in about 7 years from now.

The set will be on display in June at Baltimore and Long Beach. I have asked S/B to display the entire collection, which includes the rare die marriage coins. Some are not the highest grade, but with R-6 and R-7 rarities, you have to take what you can find.

Ronyahski

@SeattleSlammer said:
Excellent report thank you. ⭐️ …..what’s up with the lack of CAC beans on The Virginian Collection?….not that there’s anything wrong with that…. 🤓

I agree with you, nothing wrong with that. Collect what YOU like.

But to respond to your inquiry- in 2019-2020 the entire Virginian Collection was photographed by Phil Arnold at PCGS, whose (stellar) pictures dominated the illustrations in the Classic Gold book. Thus, the entire collection was re-holdered with special inserts. So any CAC beans were were removed from the old holders.

I thought about following in the Pogue footsteps, but S/B wants to submit the entire Virginian Collection to CAC. Many coins were already CACd, but actually the majority of them have never been. So for all of you CAC fans, stay tuned.

earlyAurum

Great report and thanks to @Proofmorgan for the shoutout. I really enjoyed the show too which seems to be the case across the board. Those classic gold coins in the Virginia collection are awesome!

joeykoins

@ElmerFusterpuck said:

@joeykoins said:
Great Report.
Maybe next time you guys can rent a car, instead of all those high Uber fees?

But then you get stiffed pretty hard with downtown parking fees!

Well, the show's parking was free. Now, the hotel you guys were staying at, might be a different story? Still probably cheaper than those Uber fees?

vplite99

Excellent report and pictures. I especially like the bullion.

pcgscacgold

@Ronyahski said:

@pcgscacgold said:
Great show report.

Thanks for sharing the photos of the Virginia collection. Last night I was reading "Classic Gold Coins of 1834-1839" by Daryl Haynor and many of the Virginia collection coins are referenced in there. It's a great read/reference for any Classic gold collectors. Every so often @Ronyahski stops by here on the forum.

Thanks for the nice note. I am so pleased that my book has become very useful for collectors of the series. Proofmorgan just sent me a PM, so I hopped onto the forum to reply and then saw his post.

Stack Bowers displayed the #1 Quarter Eagle and Half Eagle sets. For various reasons, and with bittersweet thoughts, I decided that it was time for them to find a new home. Despite that decision, I plan on continuing my research on the series, so look for a 2nd edition of the book in about 7 years from now.

The set will be on display in June at Baltimore and Long Beach. I have asked S/B to display the entire collection, which includes the rare die marriage coins. Some are not the highest grade, but with R-6 and R-7 rarities, you have to take what you can find.

I didn’t realize it was your collection. I knew you had amazing coins but wow, those are beyond amazing.

I should have looked closer when I was at the show. I regret not spending more time with them. I will look forward to the 2nd edition of the book. The 1st is a must read and critical tool in learning about Early Quarter and Half Eagle coinage.

Thanks so much for stopping by.