Long Beach show Saturday

skier07

I know this has been discussed multiple times but I don’t think recently.

I was at the Long Beach show yesterday (Saturday) around 12:00 to pick up PCGS in show submissions. The show was mostly empty and 75% of the dealers were either gone or packing things up. Heritage lot viewing was no longer available. I feel sorry for collectors who can only attend the show on Saturday. Admission is $10 and parking is another $15. It seems like very poor value. Waiving the Saturation admission fee might be the right thing to do.

On a separate note I was looking at a few coins at a dealer table and a collector was buying a mid four figure coin. He asked the dealer what the little green stickers are on some of the dealers coins.

alefzero

Saturday also had a little incident. A guy, in a wheel chair no less, was first in the queue in the lobby to enter the bourse when it opened. He was taken for $1000 for three counterfeit silver dollars by two individuals while waiting. I seem to recall they were a 1797-CC Trade dollar, a fake Gobrecht, and an 1803 Bust dollar (usual fake with the fat nose and remarkably underweight) - with unmatched diameters even. A real heart-breaking thing. There were a couple other off-site incidents at the show. The only on-premise one that I know of was an 1888-O raw Morgan taken from my backup table (before the dealer behind me had arrived). It was not worth a fuss, because much worse could have been lifted and it was just a coin I reserved for a sacrificial Daniel Carr overstrike, well under $100 in value.

U1chicago

It seems like at a minimum it should be free admission on the last day of these bigger shows since one doesn’t get as much value (unless they can figure out a way to fill up the tables with Saturday only dealers -which could give locals a chance to get a table at a reduced rate).

coinbuf

Coin shows are now setup to cater to the rich not to the average working joe.

lermish

@coinbuf said:
Coin shows are now setup to cater to the rich not to the average working joe.

I'm not sure how you define rich but I disagree. I went to LB with a healthy budget and looking for coins in the $3-6k range and couldn't find a thing I wanted to buy. But I saw an unlimited amount of perfectly nice collectible coins from nearly all series priced under $100.

Most dealers do not charge sales tax and there is no shipping so the average working joe buying a $100 Morgan would save $8 in tax(in CA at the LB show) and ~$5 in shipping not to mention prices that are lower than eBay because of no seller fees. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

2ndCharter

Coin shows are now setup to cater to the rich not to the average working joe.

I don't understand this comment at all. I was at a small show in Columbia, SC yesterday - not that I normally go to a show like this but I had to attend a SCNA Board of Governors meeting that was held in conjunction with the show. Anyway, I saw plenty of kids (and adults) pawing through bargain bins and flipping through notebooks of 2x2s. They certainly wouldn't qualify as rich and they were having a ball.

coinbuf

@lermish said:

@coinbuf said:
Coin shows are now setup to cater to the rich not to the average working joe.

I'm not sure how you define rich but I disagree. I went to LB with a healthy budget and looking for coins in the $3-6k range and couldn't find a thing I wanted to buy. But I saw an unlimited amount of perfectly nice collectible coins from nearly all series priced under $100.

Most dealers do not charge sales tax and there is no shipping so the average working joe buying a $100 Morgan would save $8 in tax(in CA at the LB show) and ~$5 in shipping not to mention prices that are lower than eBay because of no seller fees. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, perhaps my point wasn't clear, I'm not talking about the number of sub $100 items at a major show, but that the action at these shows happens during the week, all the dealers pack up are gone and the weekends are a ghost town. This is not a new thing or something that happens because of covid, this has been the norm for years and years. Sure people that are wealthy (or retired) can simply call out or take a personal leave day and go during the weekday to a show, but most people that have to work and small business owners don't always have that luxury.

@2ndCharter said:
Coin shows are now setup to cater to the rich not to the average working joe.

I don't understand this comment at all. I was at a small show in Columbia, SC yesterday - not that I normally go to a show like this but I had to attend a SCNA Board of Governors meeting that was held in conjunction with the show. Anyway, I saw plenty of kids (and adults) pawing through bargain bins and flipping through notebooks of 2x2s. They certainly wouldn't qualify as rich and they were having a ball.

This thread is about the LB show so my comment is directed toward the large national level shows not your local twenty dealers setup at the Elks lodge. I would have thought that was clear but I guess not.

Elcontador

Saturdays at Long Beach have always been of questionable value. You used to be able to drive there, not pay for parking if you were willing to walk 600 yards, and admission was free.

But most dealers are gone, and there's not much to see / do on Saturday. If you were there Thursday, had a cash / check only deal and were short, and didn't want to pay shipping / sales tax, I could see arranging a Saturday pickup, if that was doable for the dealer.