Charmy's February 2023 LONG BEACH EXPO SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

ThePennyLady

As always, I love attending the Long Beach Expo as it is not too far from where I live and I can go home each night, not to mention I have a lot of local customers that I look forward to seeing and catching up with. And the weather was fantastic the whole week, bright and sunny - typical SoCal weather!

This very cool huge penny statue is just down the street from the convention center (photos courtesy of Matt Chapman).

This was one of the busiest Long Beach shows I've attended. The Long Beach Expo folks did a great job marketing and getting the public in the door, and not just sports fans but also many serious coin collectors. There were a few set up glitches (new process of obtaining ribbons, late entry time, no chairs/lamps, some tables not quite set up), but the facility vendor worked very diligently to make sure everyone had what they needed and everything sort of fell into place and worked out just fine. And from what I could tell, the show personnel was very eager to accommodate all the dealer's needs. Each day was very busy and crowded and many of the dealers I spoke with said it was one of their best Long Beach shows.

So since the Expo introduced a new policy of picking up ribbons at the show (rather than mailing them out as they've done in the past), we arrived early on Wednesday to allow extra time to collect our ribbons, but it ended up being a very quick process with not much of a line at the registration booth.

I took a few photos of the lobby area when I arrived and since it was pretty early still, there weren't many dealers there yet.

At 11am, they opened up the loading dock, we drove in, unloaded, waited for the noon dealer set up time, and after a brief delay, we were let in to begin setting up our booth.

Although they're not copper, I decided to sell this large group of beautiful silver rounds that I had collected since the 1980's. I always had an interest in and enjoyed learning about Native American history so I began collecting silver rounds depicting various Native Americans, chiefs, buffalos, and wolves. With all the other things I still collect (Indian and Lincoln cents, various penny exonumia and Condor tokens), I decided it was time to part with these. Many are scarce and hard to find.

After my table was organized and all set to go, I left my booth buddy Rich in charge for a few minutes so I could do some shopping! Along the way, I came across this AMAZING group of 1877 Proof sets at Bob Campbell's table. Three of them were even housed in 1957/58 scarce old blue tinted holders. All I can say is WOW!

Bob also had a gem 1909 Cent set - what a beauty!

He also had three other proofs sets; unfortunately, one of the sets was reprocessed - can you guess which one!

I even managed to find a few pieces for my inventory - these are all the coins I acquired throughout the show - these and many other Pretty Pennies are posted on my website: https://thepennylady.com/

Soon it was time to open one of the bottles of wine I brought. This 2014 Ceres Zinfandel was smooth, very nice rich and fruity.

For dinner, we went up the street to L'Opera which has some great Italian food, as well as steak and seafood.

Ron Guth and Karl Stephens

My bff Joanne Stephens

My "coin show husband" Rich Wogoman and me

We each brought a nice bottle of wine - each bottle was really good and went well with our meals!

I had my favorite, chicken piccata

And their desserts were delicious!

Thursday morning when I arrived around 9am, there already was a line forming at the registration area

I took a few minutes to view the beautiful Tyrant display before the public came in.

Even though these pictures were taken later in the day, the show was still very crowded and quite active

My boothmate, Rich's brother came to the show with his adorable 6-year old grandson who was excited to buy some Pokemon cards.

Rick Snow showed me a STUNNING fresh new 1955/55 Doubled Die PCGS MS65 RED that he had just purchased - it's the nicest one I've ever seen! I love knowing that coins like this beauty still exist and being able to see them in hand.

I brought a special bottle of wine to share with a few select folks - it was a wonderful 2017 Justin Isosceles Reserve Cab (out of Paso Robles) and was fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed by each of us! This is one wine I highly recommend for special occasions, as it is on the pricey side (but since I'm a member of Justin, I get a bit of a discount).

That night after the show we went to Captain Jacks in Seal Beach - though a bit pricey, it's a wonderful locals seafood restaurant/bar on Pacific Coast Highway and has some of the best fresh seafood around. Also, it was my friend Matt Chapman's birthday so it was a nice place to celebrate his birthday.

Me and Matt

Rich Wogoman and Ron Guth

Thank goodness Rich and I split the prime rib - it was HUGE!

Matt and Ron had the crab which is what Captain Jack's is known for

This beautiful old Packard happened to be parked right outside on PCH - I do enjoy seeing old classic/vintage automobiles.

I stopped by the PCGS table on my way in Friday morning - they were busy as usual!

Paul at the ANACS table

One of my favorite (quite buff) SoCal dealers, Walt Ankerman

@ElmerFusterpuck stopped by and bought a beautiful 1935-S which was the last coin he needed for his set!

That night we went out to our very favorite staple Long Beach show restaurant just up the hill - King's Fish House.

They offer free corkage so we usually bring 3-4 bottles of wine and enjoy sampling each bottle!

I always have their macadamia nut crusted halibut - it is the best!

It's a very popular restaurant with many other dealers as well - this is Bob Campbell and his crew who were seated right across from us.

Saturday I had to manage my booth alone as Rich had a prior commitment. It was difficult at times since I'm on the kids' Treasure Hunt trail, but it sure made the day fly by. I gave out over 80 penny gifts to the treasure hunter kids who stopped at my table to get the answer to my numismatic treasure trivia question! It was great to see so many kids participating! And in between, I even had several decent sales.

I also had the more than usual amount of folks asking for my opinion on the pennies that they found searching rolls. I saw a couple counterfeit pennies, including TWO 1943 counterfeit copper cents, and several handfuls of pennies with tiny anomalies that they thought made their penny worth a lot of money, but I had to tell them to just spend them. There was also this gentleman who stopped by my table to show me some coins and he had an actual shopping cart!

All in all, it really was a very good show and, as always, I had a great time seeing cool coins, chatting with old friends, and of course buying and selling pennies! Also as usual, it's always good to head home at the end of the show to my hubby and cutie-pie Penny!

Next up: The ANA National Money show in Phoenix (March 1-4), followed by the Buena Park Show (March 11-12).

Tibor

As all ways a fun report. Thanks.

lilolme

Thanks.
Interesting you mentioned busy as a couple people I texted said it was on the slow side. This kind of shows how fickle it can be depending on who is coming in and looking for what.
if you are doing Baltimore, then that will be 3 shows in 3 weeks. Busy.

johnny9434

I love the Packard myself. Nice report 🙂

Namvet69

Thanks so much for the virtual tour. Yup, when the weather's nice it's a real gift.

bronzemat

Great report, as usual. Charmy.

ElmerFusterpuck

As usual, a fun report. But it was me that got the 1935-S cent! Not sure if I want that Glen guy holding it for me.

dsessom

I'm jealous that you do this for a living. You always look like you are having so much fun! Thank you for always sharing your adventures!

ricko

@ThePennyLady... Thank you Charmy, for another outstanding show report. Great pictures, great coins and great wines. I recently tried a Cabernet Sauvignon that is exceptional... you should try it... It is called Sailorsgrave and the website is https://www.sailorsgravewines.com/ .
Thanks again and I look forward to the next one. Cheers, RickO

1northcoin

Great collection of photos. Next best thing to being at the show in person. Much thanks as always.

steelielee

Thanks for posting, great report as always. Love that 55 double cent.

Desert Moon

Great report, thanks.

ThePennyLady

@ElmerFusterpuck said:
As usual, a fun report. But it was me that got the 1935-S cent! Not sure if I want that Glen guy holding it for me.

My bad, wrote down wrong user name, so sorry! (it's fixed!)

psuman08

Thanks for sharing. I hope to get to meet you one day - I feel like I already know you.

WAYNEAS

Always a pleasure to read your show reports.
Thanks again for sharing.
Till your next report.
Wayne

pcgscacgold

Your reports never disappoint. Thanks for all the time you put into the hobby.

Walkerfan

Another GREAT report!

Wish I was there!!

Thanks!!

littlebear

Excellent report! Thank you!

Indianlincoln

The 1909 cent set looks beautiful now I want to put one together!

Thanks for the report, looked fun!

golden

Thanks for your great report.

asheland

Great report!

BestGerman

Charmy, your show reports are the best. You are a numismatic evangelist!

jedm

Great report, thanks! My guess as to which proof set was reprocessed is the bottom pic.

Dave99B

Wonderful report! Love the smiling faced kiddos!

Dave

alohagary

Great report

jacrispies

That is a fantastic overview! Looks likeis was a blast!! Glad it turned out well.

Awww that packard!!!!

2windy2fish

@ThePennyLady What grade did you assign to the 2022 LARGE cent?
Thank you for another awesome report!

divecchia

A great show report as usual.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

Donato

dsessom

I just purchased an 1899 Indian from Charmy. It's not a big ticket item, but it is the first Indian cent in my collection. Well, besides a few raw ones. I chose the 1899 because that's the year my great grandmother Cora Moore was born, and I was lucky enough to know her very well. She passed in 1988 when I was 18.

I don't mean to hijack the thread. I met Charmy Harker at the ANA Money show in Fort Worth back in 2010, and she was a wonderful lady! Thank you Charmy, for my first graded Indian cent! (PCGS MS65BN)

JimTyler

I always need an Alka Seltzer after the food pics.

ThePennyLady

As always, I am grateful for all the kind words and support for these show reports. I am very fortunate to be part of the numismatic community and to be able to bring a part of it to those who cannot make it to the shows. Again, thank you each and every one of you!

BLUEJAYWAY

@ThePennyLady said:
As always, I am grateful for all the kind words and support for these show reports. I am very fortunate to be part of the numismatic community and to be able to bring a part of it to those who cannot make it to the shows. Again, thank you each and every one of you!

Little late with the kudos. As usual I enjoyed the read and the time you take to keep us informed. As a viewer of your reports these many years, may I take the liberty to say that you never seem to age. So the wine/meals must be the secret to your youth.