Show Report - Monthly Tri State Coin and Stamp Show, Langhorne PA

jp84

Show is held monthly (I believe) at the Sheraton Hotel Bucks County. The show is small, just 11ish dealers attended on August 21. As an overall comment quite a few of the dealers had no prices on their showcase material. This is one of my bugbears as I use the prices of things that I know to gauge whether it is worthwhile to sit down and talk with a dealer (i.e. if they have a few things that I know are priced accurately then I know it is worth my time to sit down and look at their material).

Anyway - on to the dealers themselves. One stamp dealer - I did not visit him but he looked busy. Coin dealer #1 two Allstate cases with mostly raw material with the table filled out with mint sets and a couple of junk bins. I bought a couple of coins from him. I did ask to see a coin in his showcase that looked good from a foot away. He pulled it out of the case looked at it under a loupe and told me "oh yeah, that's original". It wasn't. The coin was cleaned and damaged, either his eyes are no good or he is intentionally misrepresenting things. Coin dealer #2 two cases full of slabbed tokens and medals. Looked like quality stuff but not my cup of tea. Might be worth a visit to see this dealer if you are nearby and interested in this type of material.

Coin dealer #3 - dealer from Arizona that is touring the northeast doing coin shows with his wife, been on the road something like two months. Gotta love his hustle. Decent chap with good prices. Coin dealer #4 - case of Morgans with no prices. Coin dealer #5 had a number of Morgan rattlers - prices seemed pretty good from what I know of the premium on rattlers. The Morgans themselves were the really common issues 1881S 1884O etc. Coin dealer #6 - bullion guy. No name silver rounds at $24.50 - didn't have any Eagles or Maples or anything name brand. Paper Money dealer #1 - looked like he had nice stuff but again not my cup of tea. Coin dealer #7 - really overpriced stuff that he will be hauling around from show to show forever. Don't understand these guys - there is usually one at every show.

Overall rating - this show is worth a visit if you are in the area, I would not drive a long distance to attend but there were a couple of quality dealers and you never know what you can find. Free admission.

marcmoish

I like your report, nice read, good info!

golden

Thanks for your report.

Namvet69

@jp84 thanks for that, you spared me the 30 minute drive. Peace Roy

DelawareDoons

I think the Trevose Monthly show is king in the greater Philly area.

SurfinxHI

@jp84 said:
Show is held monthly (I believe) at the Sheraton Hotel Bucks County. The show is small, just 11ish dealers attended on August 21. As an overall comment quite a few of the dealers had no prices on their showcase material. This is one of my bugbears as I use the prices of things that I know to gauge whether it is worthwhile to sit down and talk with a dealer (i.e. if they have a few things that I know are priced accurately then I know it is worth my time to sit down and look at their material).

How do you know if they are priced accurately? What is accurate for you, might not be for someone else…therefore, prices are “high” but negotiable, vs lower but firm….which is better?

ricko

@jp84.... Thanks for the report. I like small shows... went to many when I lived in the PNW.... no shows here at all. Interesting details on dealers, and yes - there does seem to be a high priced dealer at shows. There was one in the PNW - high prices and grouchy... Never saw him sell anything - maybe that is why he was grouchy. Cheers, RickO