FUN Show Day 1

Desert Moon · January 4, 2023 4:50PM

My Fun show started yesterday (Tuesday) getting up at 4:30 am to make my flight in my home airport. I watched Florida implode on Monday with an FAA computer glitch so was obviously concerned. Good news was that I was NOT flying Southwest. FAA apparently got their glitch resolved so my home flight left and arrived on time into Bush in H-town (my old hometown prior to retirement this year). I then had a 3 hour layover b4 my connection to Orlando, so I went to Pappadeaux in Terminal E where my wife and I always eat when we have time at Bush. Had excellent IPA and food so I was good to go. Amazingly, the flight out of Bush left on time, and landed in advance at MCO. I was at my hotel near the Orange County Convention Center about 20 minutes after my flight official arrival time. No complaints. Spent the evening getting ready for the Show on Wed.

In the morning, I first went lot viewing at Heritage. There were a few very nice coins I am interested in, and all of them in hand turned out to be coins I would want to bid on. Then the FUN registration opened up, I signed up for my Early Bird badge and literally it took 5 minutes including photos for the badge. There was hardly anyone there besides me to register. Then I connected with a dealer friend to show him some coins I wanted to sell. We spent a good hour on pricing and came to a fair deal for both of us. Then the dealer and I spent a good 3 hours chatting about coins. Was a great time.

The bourse opened for EB's and Dealers at 2 pm. At that time the badging/registration area was a massive amount of folks, making me glad I did that in the early am. I waited to go in until 2:30 after the big push. My first table was to go to CRO to pick up a coin. I also wanted to look at a coin John had, turned out it was as nice as his images, so bought that as well. I will image these at home and post them here. I then made the rounds to my favorite dealers, Eye Appealing, Kahn, Doug Winter, Dave Perkins, a few others, picked up one more coin. Many of the dealers were not set up yet to show coins. On Dealer Set Up day as it is, it appears that alot of emphasis is on Dealer to Dealer transactions (not surprising) so activity is focused on this rather than setting up quickly for many of the Dealers (not all). It was good to reconnect with John Agre of CRO, Doug Winter of DWN Numismatics, and Phil Hinkleman of Eye Appealing after not seeing them for 3 years during the pandemic. I also got to reconnect with UltraHighRelief, Charmy, ldhair, Dave Perkins, and others. So for my first Early Bird, it was good.

Observations:

I got to introduce myself to Winesteven who was setting up his Educational Exhibit on his ultra-amazing Eagle Eye-CAC stickered indian cent collection. Will be looking at that in more detail tomorrow. He showed me an 1864 that was fully red and original color. It was a coin like no other of its type. One of those unbelievable coins that WS is very happy to own.

I briefly looked at Bill Jones edu. exhibit on 1795 coins and talked to Bill briefly. Simply astounding, will do more study of them tomorrow and hope to peruse Bill on as much as I can get out of him on these. One of the truly great numismatists out there these days IMO, we are lucky to have him posting on these boards.

Two things that almost everyone agreed on. First was that most had flight delays or cancellations. Airlines are a mess these past few days. I was one of the few lucky ones with on-time flights.

Second was that there is no question that there has been a shift in numismatic collecting in the last couple years. Dealers told me that there is more money going through, more expensive coins are selling quicker, and a lot of the money is coming from younger folks - who for whatever reasons there seem to be younger and new numis with strong amounts of funds to buy great coins. All of this is good for the numismatic industry. The biggest problem appears to be keeping great coins in stock and replenishment when they sell. Dealers told me great coins are hard to find right now, and they are expanding their ways to bring them in.

Tomorrow will be more bourse activities. I need to research out some coins tonite that I saw on the bourse today, will revisit the edu exhibits tomorrow, and also look for more coins when the dealers are fully set up.

Best, SH

lermish · January 4, 2023 5:46PM

Fantastic report, thank you, can't wait for Day 2 and 3!

Flatwoods · January 4, 2023 6:11PM

It sounds like all went well and you had a great time. I will be there tomorrow.
I need to seek @BillJones out. Have enjoyed his posts for many years.
Would love to run into you as well @spacehayduke, always enjoy your coins.
It sounds like @winesteven exhibit is worth the time to peruse as well.

Walkerguy21D · January 4, 2023 6:41PM

Great first day report!
Hope to see you there on Friday.

Boosibri · January 4, 2023 6:43PM

Great report!

vplite99 · January 4, 2023 7:10PM

Thanks for the report - looking forward to more.

BryceM · January 4, 2023 7:16PM

One of these years I'll make the Winter Fun trek. Unfortunately it conflicts with a professional conference that I attend almost every year. Until then, I'll live vicariously through posts like this. Thanks for the post, and I look forward to seeing your universally nice NewPs.

Zoins · January 4, 2023 7:20PM

Great report and observations! Glad you got to meet @winesteven and @BillJones!

Pnies20 · January 4, 2023 7:23PM

Have fun!

I always end up talking with Dave Perkins for hours at every show we’re both at. One of the nicest dealers I’ve met.

Smudge · January 4, 2023 7:33PM

Thanks for your report.

Bigbuck1975 · January 4, 2023 7:33PM

Nice report. Thank you for sharing.

jom · January 4, 2023 7:46PM

Great report. I hope to hear more!

jom

PeakRarities · January 4, 2023 7:54PM

Thank you for the report, I'm very excited for my first major show. Looking forward to seeing the the exhibits, buying some coins, and meeting with a few of the other members here.