Charmy's IMEX Coin Show and Nashville Adventure Report w/lots of Pics!
ThePennyLady
Posts: 4,481 ✭✭✭✭✭
Let me first say that Nashville is a great city with lots of history and a ton of fun things to do and see! And the Music City Center is a beautiful venue for a coin show. I knew when I signed up to participate in the IMEX coin show that there would be some "growing pains" but, as has been mentioned in various threads on this forum, this show had a few more bumps than usual. Even so, I think with some tweaks and twists, this show has the potential for being a very good show.
I've read several of the show reports already posted here and agree with most of the comments about the issues faced by both collectors and dealers which can be, and I believe will be, addressed for the next show. Gary and Steve are professionals and they really want this show to be a success, so I am confident they will figure out what works and what doesn't and address the concerns that have been expressed by both dealers and collectors. So let me take a few minutes to discuss some of the "new show" issues first and then I'll get into the fun and usual photo part of my show report!
SIGNAGE/MARKETING: There were not enough signs directing dealers to the dealer trading room and the security room, and even the Music City Center personnel weren't aware of these locations and had to make several phone calls before they figured it out. It didn't help that the security room location changed at the last minute (however, it was changed from one of the hotels to the convention center which was more convenient). Obviously, even using discrete signage for security purposes, this can easily be fixed by giving the dealers more clear location instructions/map, security phone number, and making sure the convention personnel have information on where the room is. Also, many dealers mentioned that they didn't see a lot of marketing, especially around the city (billboards, local ads, etc.) Even preshow marketing, social media, magazine ads, etc. was either scarce or not consistent early enough which is so important, especially for shows.
REGISTRATION: These days, requiring ID's from the public entering the show is common place at most large shows for security purposes, so this is a "necessary evil" that will NOT be going away. I understand they also had some mechanical issues with printing badges which slowed the process. All this can be cured and streamlined with a little more preshow preparation/training, earlier registrataion times, and sufficient personnel.
ENTRY FEE: Some large shows charge a fee, some do not. The main "pro" in charging an entry fee is (1) the ability to collect ID's on who is attending a show that is housing hundreds of millions of dollars in numismatics, and (2) it tends to keep out non-serious collectors and street people just wandering in for something to do. The "con" is that collectors prefer to spend their money on coins and not on door fees - understandable - and they don't want to wait in a registration line just to get into a show. However, personally, a $10 door fee would not deter me from entering a trade show if it was something I was seriously interested in. I think a compromise would make most folks happy: make the fee good for the entire show, and do not charge for YNs.
LOCATION: Having a show in the downtown area of any large city has its drawbacks and positive features. Yes it may be more difficult/expensive to find parking and may also be an inconvenient block or two away from the convention center. That is an issue to be considered by both dealers and collectors, and planning ahead, locating the closest/least expensive parking lot, and mapping out the most direct route can ease this somewhat. The positive is that city convention centers are near restaurants, hotels, attractions, easier transportation, and often the airport. For these reasons, deciding whether to attend/participate in downtown conventions usually ends up being a personal preference.
DEALER TABLE NUMBERS LISTED ON WEBSITE: I understand the dealer tables were still being set and changed even just before the show began. This caused the posting of the website dealer list to be delayed which frustrated both dealers and collectors trying to make plans for which dealers they wanted to visit. However, I think the website listing can be posted much earlier and updated as the tables change - an seemingly easy fix.
DEALER TRADING ROOM (Thursday 8:00am-4:00pm, extra fee for table): For the dealers, the pre-show trading room is a very positive and a popular aspect of any coin show, and this one was no different. However, the dealers I spoke with would have preferred that the trading room be in the main bourse floor (like Dealer Day at the ANA shows) rather than a separate room, and that a half day would have been sufficient with the second half of the day open to the public. Dealers I spoke with would have preferred the show open to the public at least part of the day on Thursday. This was an expensive show and we would have liked to have more time for public/retail like the typical Thursday-Saturday (or at least half of Thursday). As mentioned above, signage and more specific directions/maps if the trading room is separate from the bourse floor would have also been very helpful.
DEALER BOURSE SET UP DAY (Thursday 5:00-8:00pm): There were a lot of issues with dealer set up which can be fixed with better managing (maybe having a bourse manager specifically in charge of set up), more decorator time and clearer instructions to the decorators. Not having sufficient time to properly set up the bourse floor led to a host of other problems throughout the short set up time: show cases and even tables were not placed in several booths, not enough lamps and clamps, NO chairs were distributed, the carpet was still being laid as the dealers were trying to set up, and the curtains were not only unattractive and a nuisance but a definite security issue. Many dealers had their tables changed at the last minute with no notice - this was probably the most serious of the issues for the dealers. These problems made set up very stressful and awkward for many folks. However, I personally spoke to Gary Adkins (one of the show partners) about a couple issues I was having and he was listening and making notes from each of the dealers who had issues and was trying to correct them as quickly as he could. Considering how many problems there were, he was very kind and patient and was doing his best to make each of the dealers happy. I only spoke to Steve Ellswoth briefly about the lack of chairs as he walked by my table and he looked like he was running around trying to get issues resolved, and just said we'd have them by morning. However, many of the dealers discovered there was a huge stack of chairs in the back of the room so we just went and retrieved the chairs ourselves. By morning, luckily most of the issues had been addressed and fixed but many dealers felt they lost valuable time to buy and sell coins during set up time just trying to obtain the items they needed to set up.
BOURSE TABLE LAYOUT: I agree that it is much more convenient and easier to navigate straight aisles with straight cross-aisles rather than maze-like aisles (the newer bourse floor at Long Beach show has maze-like cross aisles). I believe the reason depends on the shape of the bourse floor, collumns that may be in the way, how many corner tables are needed, and trying to "squeeze" in as many tables as possible with sufficient/fire code/handicap compliant aisle space. However, I don't know the reasoning behind why this particular show isn't more t-like/square in its layout but hopefully the show owners will keep this concern in mind when laying out their next show.
SUNDAY DEALER DAY (extra fee for table): I left on Saturday and don't know many dealers who had planned to participate in this so I have no information whether it was a success and worth the expense to the participants and/or show promoters.
Hopefully Gary and Steve will see this (and the other show reports) and take note of the issues to help make this new show a GREAT show next time.
So now onto the fun part of my show report!
I'd never been to Nashville before so when I signed up to do this show I asked my hubby Lou if he'd like to go to Nashville with the caveat that he'd need to help me a little at the coin show. FYI Lou has never been to a coin show in all the years I've been doing shows so when he said he'd like to go, I almost fell off my chair!
While I made all the plans, hotel, flight, etc., Lou did a little research on the fun things to do in Nashville. We planned to get to Nashville a day early so we would have more time to see the city sites and visit some of their honky tonks! And since my birthday fell right in the middle of our trip, my kids gave me an early birthday present so I could feel like I fit in with the Nashville look!
So we packed our bags and headed to the airport together. It was super nice having my own personal "body guard" and baggage handler for a change as well!
We also decided to fly first class - again, another first for Lou!
We left sunny OC, flew through Dallas, and landed in Nashville late Tuesday night
We stayed at the Westin which was right across the street from the Music Center. When we arrived at our room, I was amused to see that the tv actually personally greeted me!
When the hotel noticed it was my birthday during our stay, they gave us free breakfasts and drink tickets to use throughout the week. So we had a nice leisurely breakfast on Wednesday morning, then took my coin bags to security and registered for the show. After we looked at a map of the city, we started out on our trek to see the sites of Nashville.
The weather in Nashville was amazingly warm in the mid-70's - just like Southern California! We walked over to the infamous Broadway Street where all the main honkytonks are, and was surprised at how crowded the street was for a Wednesday at 11am. We went into the first one we saw (Rippy's Honky Tonk) for some Nashville music and Bloody Mary's.
Then we just walked around, looked into some boot stores and shops, took some photos, and just acted like the tourists we were!
There were bars and bands playing everywhere on both sides of the street, on every floor of 3-story bars. It was fun, noisy and amazing - a true party atmosphere! There are no cover charges and I understand most of the bands don't get paid except for tips, so since I love music and the bands we heard were really good, I made sure to tip them generously.
We then stopped at Honky Tonk Central and went up to the second floor that looked out over the street so we could "people watch."
There were several folks on the street who carried various handmade signs asking for help/donations, and this one was one of the more creative, yet honest, signs we saw!
We met this couple who told us that there was a live webcam across the street that faced directly toward us. So I logged into their website and sure enough, we were right there live on that website - here are a couple screen shots I captured of us looking toward the camera!
The last honky tonk we went to that day was The Lucky Bastard Saloon. The music was good, I especially enjoyed the rock and roll songs they played. It was very spacious and "warehouse" like and they also had a neat old motorcycle and a lot of signs posted all around.
The last place we visited that day was the Marathon Motor Works complex. Lou being a "motorhead" especially enjoyed seeing the Marathon museum. There are only a handful of complete cars remaining, and word has it that Jay Leno tried to buy one but Marathon wouldn't let go of any of them.
From Wikipedia: "Marathon Motor Works was a brass era automobile manufacturer based in Tennessee. Southern Engine and Boiler Works founded in 1889 . . . established the factory in 1907. From 1909 to 1914, the company manufactured the Marathon automobile in Nashville, Tennessee, . . . and developed a gasoline engine and prototype automobile in 1906. Southern Engine decided to engineer and build every part of its automobile in-house. The vehicles had been marketed as Southerns at first, but another firm was using that name. In 1910, Marathon Motor Works was created to produce the Marathon automobile, named out of the enthusiasm for things Greek which had grown out of the 1904 Olympics.1909 saw a two-model lineup, roadster and touring car, powered by 35 HP 4-cylinder engines. Both were open bodies (tops were optional) and sold for about $1,500. By 1912 production reached 200 cars monthly."
The Antiques Archeology store (owned by American Pickers) is also housed in the Marathon Motor Works complex. They had some amazing and interesting antiques for sale, but they were quite expensive yet fun to see.
Then we headed back to the hotel where we met some friends for dinner. The Westin has the highest rooftop bar/restaurant in the city with a beautiful view of the Nashville.
Thursday was dealer day until 4pm, not to mention it was also my birthday! So I opted out of going to dealer day but I heard that business was brisk and active. Several dealers had purchased tables while many more were trading out of their bags - it was similar to what you would see at a PCGS Members Only Show. Some of the dealers reported that they did much more business during the Dealer Day than they did at the show.
After breakfast, Lou and I took a different route towards Broadway. We were surprised once again to see how busy downtown was so early on a weekday! These are pics we took along the way - the beautiful old buildings were especially neat to see!
We made our way to Printers Alley to listen to some Blues music - when we were dating, we often went to The Belly Up in San Diego to listen to Blues music, so it is always nostalgic for us when we get the chance to go to a Blues bar. The Bourbon Street Blues bar was highly recommended to us and definitely didn't disappoint!
We went back to the hotel and changed for dealer set up - I decided to wear my birthday hat for the evening!
We were warned that the decorators were still setting up the floor, but we didn't expect to see that several tables, cases, signs, lamps and chairs were missing from many tables, the unuual green curtains behind the tables, etc. However, many dealers ended up taking care of their own issues by finding chairs, lamps, cases, and tables from unassigned tables with no signs, and chairs stacked up in the back of the room as mentioned above. They were out of clamps for several of the remaining lamps, so someone got creative and handed out boards that you could slide under the cases that had holes drilled in to stick the lamps in!
On top of all the set up issues, we had early dinner reservations for 6:30pm (since a few of our friends had to travel an hour or so back to where they were staying), so we only had 45 minutes to set up and then search for coins - for me it was a whirlwind and a bit stressful, but I made the best of it. All in all, most folks got squared away, set up, and more dealer trading got underway. I was very pleased to find a beautiful group of Pretty Pennies from several of my favorite dealers, including this gorgeous 1914-D in CAC Cert MS64 RB!
After set up, we headed out to dinner (and to celebrate my birthday) with friends/dealers at The Stillery in Midtown. I was so excited that I was finally going to see my very awesome and sorely missed BFF Cindi Snow who used to work the shows for ANACS and who I haven't seen in several years since she moved to Nashville - YAY!
Lou, James Sego, Steve Cummings and Cindi Snow (not pictured were Dave and Deanne Floyd and their son Carter)
They had a great band playing country and rock and roll music. Cindi had secretly told the band that it was my birthday, so the band and entire restaurant/bar sang happy birthday to me!
For dinner we shared fried pickles, jalapeno-bacon rangoons, mac and cheese with fried chicken pieces, and batter catfish and chips - I could feel my arteries clogging up just looking at those dishes!
After dinner, we walked down the street to an ice cream shop for dessert. Cindi had also secretly told the ice cream servers it was my birthday so they also sang to me!
I am so thankful to all my friends (and family), my hubby and especially Cindi who really made me feel special for my birthday (including all my Facebook friends who posted on my timeline) - I had a blast! Next day it was time to get down to business!
Friday I headed over to the show early so I could do a little more shopping and take photos of the show, while the hubby took off to do more site seeing via the hop on/hop off bus. Here are some photos I took around the bourse.
The US Mint
The CAC table
ANACS
Amanda and Billie, the beautiful Greysheet Gals
PCGS
The public in line at the registration table waiting to get in
Steve Forbes officially opened the show at 10am, though there were still many folks in the registration line so there wasn't the usual "rush" of people flowing into the show at the same time.
A few pics from around the bourse on Friday afternoon
One of the stops on Lou's bus tour was the Music City Center so he popped in briefly and of course I put him to work!
My friend George Huber/VDB Coins stopped by to say hi and chat but didn't want his face show so he let me take this pic of his shoes!
Abe and me
Tom Sparks is a Short Snorter expert and had an AMAZING display of Short Snorters at the back of the room. 
Short Snorters are historic and a very fascinating and fun (and usually not too expensive) part of numismatics! A short snorter is "a banknote which was signed by various persons traveling together or meeting up at different events and records who was met. The tradition was started by bush pilots in Alaska in the 1920's and subsequently spread through the growth of military and commercial aviation. If you signed a short snorter and that person could not produce it upon request, they owed you a dollar or a drink (a “short snort”)." Short Snorters were usually signed on whatever type of banknote was available at the time, including foreign notes from whatever country they were in at the time. Many were taped together, and rolled up with some rolls consisting of 20, 100, or more notes. There are many Short Snorters signed by famous people such as Bob Hope, John Wayne, and famous WWII generals, etc. I had one signed by John Wayne on an Australian note when he was on tour with the USO in Australia in 1942, and one with Jack Benny's signature. I eventually sold them to Tom a while back. Check out Tom's website here - it really is interesting and very fascinating! https://shortsnorter.org/
Tom also had on display a Short Snorter that consisted of I believe he said over 120 notes taped together with many famous dignataries from WWII (borrowed from Jeff Garrett).
I came across a few of unusual and very cool coins
Amanda/Grey Sheet stopped by and we shared some of my Rombauer Zinfandel.
The attendance on Friday was on the low side for this size of a show, and many dealer reported very low to less than average sales. As I mentioned earlier, several dealers said they did more business on Thursday during Dealer Day. On Friday, I had very low sales; however, I had already anticipated this show being more 80% vacation and 20% business, so although I was hopeful, I was not that upset by the low volume of sales - but I partially made up for it by purchasing some great coins.
Lou was off to dinner with an cousin he hadn't seen in many years, so I had drinks right across the street from the Music Center with Billie and Amanda, and Rick and Kenny Snow while we waited for our dinner reservation. Again, we really enjoyed some great music that was playing at that bar!
It had been difficult getting dinner reservations for parties of 6 or more in Nashville on a Friday night before 8pm, but I managed to find a very good restaurant that could accommodate us at 7:30pm. There were six of us and we ended up getting reservations at the Southern Steak and Oyster restaurant in downtown. We were sitting at the bar waiting for the rest of our group. This was the lady that was sitting next to us - she was a hoot!
There was a guy behind the bar who's only job it seemed was shucking clams and wow, did he know how to do it very quickly!
Along with Rick and Kenny, I had dinner withRyan Delane of Interfanatic (he created and maintains my website) and his beautiful wife Edenia.
Lou was going to join us but he and his cousin ended up going to a honky tonk where his cousin's friend was playing. The food at Southern Steak and Oyster was really good, as was the atmosphere They had photographs of famous people hanging up all over the restaurant.
Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the show. We originally had a 5pm flight but unfortunately the airline moved our flight home to leaving Nashville at 1:30pm. I was very frustrated because we basically had to go to the show, pack up around 10:30, and leave for the airport by 11:30am, so that meant I didn't have much time to sell coins in that short time. However, based on sales on Friday, I really didn't expect that I would have done much more business on Saturday.
So off to the airport we went. TSA wanted to see in one of my bags, so off to private screening we went. Luckily all they did was open each of the coin boxes, took a cursory view of their contents, closed them up and released my bag to me. Then we grabbed a quick drink and bit to eat, and waited for our flight. Whenever I leave a large show, I usually run into a coin dealer or two, or some of the crew from PCGS going back to Orange County, or Heritage going back to Dallas since that is my usualy connection on American Airlines. This time I ran into Dave Hall of Alhambra Coin, so we waited for our flight together. Interestingly, he was seated directly behind me on the plane and made sure I knew he was there with a kick or two of my seat!
Lou really enjoys looking out the window of the plane so he always got the window seat!
Our son picked us up at the airport and we arrived home safe and sound. Our kitties were super glad to see us (wink, wink), as you can see by Penny's excited expression!
We really had a great time in Nashville, and I look forward to giving the show another try next year.
Next up: Sacramento Coin Show this weekend, then the Las Vegas Palace Station in December (sorry, won't be attending the Baltimore show).
Comments
Very nice as normal........
Phenomenal report. Thank you for sharing. Clams and ice cream included.
Well done Charmy! Always enjoy reading your show reports!
Charmy, not your usual report with lots of coins, we got to meet Lou. He seems to be your perfect "other" even though he may not be too helpful in your booth. But for you I would grade him an MS70. Very nice to meet him.
OINK
Great report as always, thanks for sharing.
Philippians 4:4-7
So nice to see Lou in your report! Hope to see him at a Long Beach show! And Happy Birthday!
Ron Guth, Chief Investigator
The Numismatic Detective Agency
Great report, Charmy! Love Nashville, and it's 'Vegas feel'.
I can't prove it, but I believe you broke the record for the most number of pics in a show report. Awesome!
Dave
What a great report on the show and Nashville along with the outstanding photos. Thank you for taking the time out for putting it together.
Brian G.
Awesome Report/Photos, as usual!
Thanks Penny Lady.
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.Really enjoyed the tour. Looks like Nashville has retained it's old amongst the new. Liked seeing inside the Pickers shop. Happy Birthday.
Great write up as usual and your photos. At least your husband made the trip more bearable.
Interesting to see the Pickers shop. I watch it regularly. I am not surprised by the prices. I wonder how much of the "picks" really sell. Some of the stuff shown was on the show, years ago.
Love the mirror brockage.
Another great show report. Each time I walked by your table you were very busy. I hope it was a good show for you. I will have this one on my calendar for next year hoping they figure a few things out.
Successful BST with drddm, BustDMs, Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
CBH Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/everyman-collections/everyman-half-dollars/everyman-capped-bust-half-dollars-1807-1839/album/345572
Great report as usual.
I like the picture of Abe with his new hot girlfriend!!
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
@ThePennyLady Loved your report Charmy, and so great to see you and Lou! (And Ryan and Edenia too!) If I didn't look so much like Elephant Man I might have let you include the head! Glad you both had such a wonderful time. I did as well!
Kindest regards,
George
Thanks for the tour! I'd love to see Nashville tour all the live music... maybe next year!
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
Is just me or does anyone else feel Charmy’s reports single-handedly reduce coin show attendance?
After reading her posts, I feel like I never miss a show.
Tim
Love the 14-d.
Going to Kid Rocks Honky Tonk tonight.
Great report!
My YouTube Channel
Thank you for the great show report and views of Nashville, Charmy. No one does a show report as unique and as well done as yours.
Well done Charmy!
I’m not much for errors but that 51-D mirror brockage is beyond cool.
Great report as always.
MY GOLD TYPE SET https://pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/complete-type-sets/gold-type-set-12-piece-circulation-strikes-1839-1933/publishedset/321940
Thanks for another excellent report!
Great report as usual. Although I'm usually hungrier after reading your posts.
Great show report Charmy, it did not disappoint. Thanks for all your viewpoints on how the show was run and pointing out some of the issues that they had. This is a show I could attend with my wife as she has always wanted to go to Nashville, but I may have to see how it goes next year before I commit to flying down. Hopefully the show promoters will resolve the issues that came up this year and have a much more successful show next year.
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience in Nashville.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
@pruebas , based on your rude comment to me in a pm about my prior post on this show, I'm not that inclined to respond to you, nor do I think my finances are any of your business.
The Penny Lady®
Happy Birthday, Charmy! So glad Lou got to experience the full coin show Monty for the first time. After gaining first hand insight, I wonder what he thinks about what you do?
Edit to include another “what”
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Thanks for another great show report.
Your tours of the town makes me want to just go and see the night life.
Again, happy birthday.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
Great report and awesome pics, Charmy. Nashville was already on our “to do” list, and your downtown pics have sealed the deal… it’s a must now.
>
Just proves she's a very smart lady.
Years back I would apply for jobs on every vacation I took and then could write them off completely.
Just smart business.
I was fortunate to hold this coin in my hand.
It wasn't for sale.
As always, a fine report. I've always wanted to visit Nashville (on my bucket list)
This report moved it up a notch or two. Maybe I can tie it in with the show next
fall (if it doesn't fall victim to all the negative comments). Before anybody jumps
down my throat since I wasn't there, let's see how the promoters do addressing the
problems that dealers who were there reported. Have never met Col. Ellsworth, but
Gary Adkins has always been a good guy based on my interactions with him.
Do yourself a favor and check out the IMEX threads on the ATS forum before you think the promoters think they had any problems to address, aside from a missing lamp clamp or two.
Based on the posts made by one of their insider volunteers, they have nothing but utter contempt for the masses, and the show was designed by dealers exclusively for dealers. As a result, things those of us on the outside looking in viewed as problems, oversights or bad planning were, in fact, by design.
The admission fee was apparently meant to subsidize an appearance fee paid to a multimillionaire selling a book. They didn't care about any impact it might have on attendance, because they didn't really care about public attendance in the first place.
Maybe the dealers paying good money to be there would feel differently. If so, they apparently were not consulted. Still want to go?
As for me, I was shocked that people running a show would actually feel that way about the public, and mortified that anyone connected with the show would be tone deaf enough to not only put it in writing, but then post it on a public forum.
I said before I wouldn't know the promoters if I bumped into them. Now that I not only know who they are, but how they feel about people like me, the end users who make their business possible, I not only wouldn't go to one of their shows if it was free and held in my backyard, I also would never deal with them, since wholesale seems to be everything to them anyway.
If they are successful in creating a southeastern wholesale show for dealers to trade among themselves between the majors, more power to them, and I still wish them nothing but success. But being viewed as an afterthought, to come if I dare and wait for an hour for the opportunity to contribute to Steve Forbes' honorarium holds absolutely no attraction to me. Nothing anyone can say or do would remove the bad taste in my mouth from the posts ATS.
@NJCoin does your axe ever sharpen? Must be down to a nub by now!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Just reacting to what I saw. I was shocked and, as a customer, offended. I'd be livid if I had actually allowed myself to be lured into making the trip.
And, given my thick NJ skin, it actually takes a lot to offend me. By way of comparison, @jmlanzaf still has not. 😀
Great report thanks for sharing!!! Really makes us feel we are there ourselves!!!
NFL: Buffalo Bills & Green Bay Packers
I don't want to hijack Charmy's thread, but I just went and read the show report ATS. I wouldn't know Colonel Ellsworth or Gary Adkins from Adam (except by name), and I don't know if the OP ATS actually speaks for them, but wow. The contempt for actual collectors was shocking.
I understand that the wholesale trade is important to the industry, but without actual collectors, dealers trading coins amongst themselves wouldn't be a very profitable venture. What little desire I may have had to attend this show in the future (Nashvegas is great I can't believe no one has mentioned Tootsies or The Wildhorse) is gone now or any other show put on by these promoters for that matter.
Philippians 4:4-7
I've had dealings with both, but it this was several years ago - people, businesses, and focuses change.
I reached out to Gary's business on a coin that I just wasn't comfortable with the grade from the photographs. The sales associate reported that "I talked with Gary and the grade is good, but he wouldn't want you to buy a coin you weren't comfortable with." I've also spent a couple of half hours talking to Steve at slow periods during ANA shows.
However, I also know - from several boards - the individual making the reports ATS (Including here before he was banned), and if he reported he was on fire, I would want to check that he was really on fire before I put it out.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Fair enough. I don't know any of the people involved, and maybe he's full of it. I was merely going by the fact that he was an insider, albeit a very tone deaf one, with an apparent desire to defend what they did, so I am taking him at his word. Plus, it is consistent with what many observed, AND explains how people with so many years of experience had so many misses.
Because they were misses from my perspective, not from the perspective of catering to insiders. It looks like the show was a bust financially, as well it should have been if half of what the person posting says is true.
Dealers with relationships with the promoters focused on things beyond their control -- carpeting, curtains and clamps. Everyone else focused on things that make a great show that was lacking -- pretty much everything from public attendance to the front end experience, etc.
Someone thought it would be a good idea to actually pay Steve Forbes to attend a private reception, at least partially funded by public admission fees when the public was not welcome at the reception, and to sell books, when he has nothing to do with numismatics. Other than advocating for a gold standard, because that served the country so well in the 1930s. Not to mention that a 76 year old son of a financial publishing magnate needing to travel to Nashville, at this stage of his life, to collect an appearance fee from coin dealers and members of the public, while selling books, probably isn't qualified to express an opinion worth paying to hear on anything.
What else is there to say? These guys knew what they were doing, and got exactly what they bargained for. There is a reason shows like IMEX don't exist all over the country.
As I said before, we all get one chance to make a first impression. It will be very interesting to see whether they pack it in or go back for seconds after receiving all the negative feedback, given how they apparently know better than everyone else.
Given how they apparently set out to create a very high end, exclusive experience for a select few, and how their guy thinks the trend is away from free, maybe all they need to do to make it a success is charge a lot more, both to dealers and the public, in order to really drive that point home.
Happy belated, Charmy. Looks like a fun city.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
I guess I'm a little stupid, because it wasn't obvious to me. The promotional materials indicated that his appearance was courtesy of two specific dealers, and I thought he was there selling books.
Authors on book tours don't get paid to do book signings. It never occurred to me that the promoters were having dealers and the public pay to bring him in, since it wasn't obvious to me that his presence would add anything to the show worth paying for. Especially not at a dealers only reception.
At the ANA, for example, dinners or lunches with speakers (who, to my knowledge, aren't paid to appear) usually cost extra, and aren't financed by table fees or public admission fees. I just thought he would be there signing books and shaking hands.
It also never occurred to me that someone like him would need to be paid to make an appearance. Or that coin show promoters would agree to do so, given the economics of a coin show, and how an author's appearance would not in any way add to the promoter's bottom line.
After all, it's not like anyone would go out of their way to pay to go to coin show to meet Steve Forbes. And, it turns out they didn't.
I remember a few years ago, I think at a FUN show, the Pawn Stars guy was at the MCM table. But I'm sure he was paid by MCM, not FUN, because they were selling Pawn Stars slabs. Same with John Mercanti.
I just figured Forbes was selling books, and whatever expenses were involved were being paid by whatever sponsoring dealers brought him in. Not by the public, at $10 a pop, plus all dealers through table fees. Crazy!
I don’t know how to have fun, I see that now.
SORRY Charmy.................
Sorry, Burton, I hate to burst your bubble, but I am not now and never have been banned here. I just don’t prefer this board.
Two facts:
1) The lamps and setups issues were screwups by the Music City Center, not Adkins or Ellsworth.
2) Forbes was not “selling books”, per se. All the books were already owned by the IMEX show.
Alas, hopes dashed. Thanks for clarifying, however.
ANA 50 year/Life Member (now "Emeritus")
Kurt, the clarity around the organizers intent is helpful and makes sense given how things played out. I am a little lost as to why dealers would be interested in hearing Steve Forbes speak. How is that an efficient use of table / admission fees for a show aimed at dealer trading? I usually associate famous guest speakers as a play to attract collectors or the general public.
Charmy, I hope you will not let the hijacking of your thread dissuade you from making your future reports. Understand that we all appreciate your threads about the shows, which most of us are unable to attend. Stay well.
I’ve given up hope of understanding why people believe the things they do. They just do.
deleted to prevent further dead horse abuse.
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