FUN Dealer Day Report

Desert Moon

Hi Folks,
Dealer Day at FUN. I had my EB so I could attend this day. I got into the convention center about 9 am. My hotel is right next to the OCCC, but, to get to where the FUN show is about a 35 minute walk – that gives you some idea of the size of this place. I walked through the south halls on my way to Hall NB where FUN is held on the other side of International Drive. Nothing going on there except some workers setting up for a show. From their website:

“This convention center is the second largest in the U.S., offering 7,000,000 sq. ft. of space.”

Yup, it’s big………. And us coinees have a huge space in there, but, really we are pretty small. Surf Expo starts tomorrow, and I suspect that is what they were setting up for. The surfer dudes will probably take up that whole south part of the CC, which is why I bet FUN was moved to the north building.

On to the Dealer Day happenings. I spent the morning at the HA auction lots room. I went through about 800 lots. Out of those 800, I found 16 I really liked and need to do research on them for potential bidding. One lot I had put on my watch list from auction preview on their website I did not like in hand at all. This is why it is so important to have eyes on a coin before shelling out big money at an auction. If you can’t be there, have someone look for you. Folks at HA are very good at looking for you if you need it.

After lot viewing, I went to lunch at McDonald’s just down the street. I had not been to a fast food restaurant in at least 5 years. Holy smokes how prices have soared! The food had not changed, same McD’s I used to eat before I went to a better diet. Then I went back to OCCC and hung around until the 2 pm bourse opening. Dealers and EB’s started to accumulate in the hallway. I had some nice chats including one with Charmy prior to the doors opening.

Once the doors opened my first stop was at CRO, John had a coin for me in a CACG slab. I was happy to see that it was even better in hand than the images on the CRO website. John’s team takes excellent images and you can always be confident in what you are buying from him as he has THE eye. But nevertheless, even more gratifying when one gets the coin in hand. I’ll post an image of the CROnewp after I get home.

I also spent a lot of time at the Paradime and Dave Perkins tables. At Dave’s table he had a group of half dimes that he was doing a silent auction on. I put in my bid for one of these and we had a nice discussion on various aspects of numismatics. At the Paradime table, I spent a good amount of time discussing pricing with the owner Shannon. We share in interest in uber pq coins, which can be a challenge to price. During that discussion, I brought out some of which I brought to sell. We reached a deal for 2 of these, prices that were good for both of us. It was great to touch base with him and get to know Shannon better. I am thinking we will be doing more business in the future. I also showed Shannon my new images of a gold coin I have spent the past year trying to get the perfect image of. I finally nailed it, a few weeks ago I had PM’s with Robec about his set up (he is one of the best coin photographers out there), and from this I gained some insights that steered me in the right direction for gold (Thanks Bob!!!!). So Shannon had to ‘put up’ with me showing these images and discussing the nuances of taking images of gold coins. But he was happy to see them and said ‘oh so you are spacehayduke…….’. I guess my images get around then?

One of the nice things about Dealer Day is that everyone has more time to talk. The first couple hours tables are being set up. Then things calm down to dealer to dealer trading, and the EB’s like me can wander around and get into discussions. At some point for about 30 minutes I had the CACG staff all to myself. They were not taking submissions until today when the ‘public’ is let in so they were there to talk. I had a nice conversation with the Customer Service Director of CACG, as well as some of the other staff. The gist of what came out of this was how happy everyone was at CAC/CACG to work there and how committed they were. The CS Director was very clear that they are fully committed to providing the best customer support possible, which is exactly what I have got from the past decade with CAC. This is good to see for sure and gives me even more confidence than I already had in the company.

During DD, I also had a chance to go by Fortin’s coins and get eyes on a coin for one of our posters here on these boards. It was a great coin, he picked well and I gave him my 2c worth on what I saw in hand.

Today will be super busy, I have a ton of tables to go to, want to try find some great coins, drop off submission to CACG, meet with fellow posters here, etc. etc. I will have a report on this in the following days.

Best, SH

Walkerguy21D

Great report!
I’ll be heading over there in about an hour.

Shamika

Man do I wish a major show was near were I lived.

Kliao

Thanks for the great report. Which I could attend.

BLUEJAYWAY

Enjoy your "You are there" type of posts.

logger7

I've never ceased to be amazed at how sharp some of the full time dealers are at major shows.

johnny9434

CRO does good 👍

divecchia

Thanks for the dealer day show report. I may have to do an early bird entrance one day. It's sounds like there is more time to talk and look at stuff before the crowd comes in.

Donato

DMWJR

If you stayed at the Hilton, you have to walk through the parking lot to the right

Glad you had a great day. I spent a little time there this morning. PCGS and CAC submissions! Then dropped of a few screaming IHC’s at Rick Snow’s table on consignment.

pcgscacgold

Thanks for the show report. Glad it went well for you.

I was unable to attend the show, but did make a FUN show purchase via text message this afternoon. Those looking for CBH's make sure to stop in and see Lance Keigwin @lkeigwin He has a number of beauties available.

ParadimeCoins

@spacehayduke a pleasure having you at our table, and thanks for the great coins.

Shannon

Sanddollar

How was the security at this event?

Boosibri

I think the CRO photographer is one other than John himself

winesteven

@Sanddollar said:
How was the security at this event?

I have no details, but there was some police/security activity today at around 4:30 pm at the front of the bourse near the 400 section or so. I believe they arrested someone.

Steve

Sanddollar

@winesteven said:

@Sanddollar said:
How was the security at this event?

I have no details, but there was some police/security activity today at around 4:30 pm at the front of the bourse near the 400 section or so. I believe they arrested someone.

Steve

Thanks.
I heard the same thing but wasn't there.

Barberian

I heard that from a dealer, and she pointed to the crowd in the front of the bourse. I didn't see the arrest.

logger7

CRO's report: https://www.coinraritiesonline.com/road-report/

coinkat

Hopefully you see and are able to buy what you like

BLUEJAYWAY

@logger7 said:
CRO's report: https://www.coinraritiesonline.com/road-report/

Most unfortunate they had to leave early due to the impending snow storm due to hit New England.

PeakRarities

@Barberian said:
I heard that from a dealer, and she pointed to the crowd in the front of the bourse. I didn't see the arrest.

I will include some details in my show report, I was right there, it was great!

Walkerguy21D

Bummer, I missed the action since I left just before 4pm to beat the rush hour traffic.

MFeld

@DeplorableDan said:

@Barberian said:
I heard that from a dealer, and she pointed to the crowd in the front of the bourse. I didn't see the arrest.

I will include some details in my show report, I was right there, it was great!

What a great teaser for your upcoming report.😀

But in all seriousness, I’m very much looking forward to reading it, even without any references to an arrest.

Desert Moon

DD look forward to your eye witness account of the arrest. Howd I miss that?????

Catbert

I know, right? I’d have loved to watch the drama.

Catbert

Great report SHD. Was wonderful to compare notes with you!

PerryHall

@spacehayduke said:
DD look forward to your eye witness account of the arrest. Howd I miss that?????

I hope the cops at least gave him a chance to lock-up his display cases and to secure his inventory before they hauled him away.

winesteven

@PerryHall said:

@spacehayduke said:
DD look forward to your eye witness account of the arrest. How'd I miss that?????

I hope the cops at least gave him a chance to lock-up his display cases and to secure his inventory before they hauled him away.

I just heard it was a husband/wife thief team, NOT a dealer! But let's wait for DD's report to get the accurate details.

Steve

PerryHall

@winesteven said:

@PerryHall said:

@spacehayduke said:
DD look forward to your eye witness account of the arrest. How'd I miss that?????

I hope the cops at least gave him a chance to lock-up his display cases and to secure his inventory before they hauled him away.

I just heard it was a husband/wife thief team, NOT a dealer! But let's wait for DD's report to get the accurate details.

Steve

I was joking. Didn't you see the winky emoji?

JW77

@PerryHall said:

@winesteven said:

@PerryHall said:

@spacehayduke said:
DD look forward to your eye witness account of the arrest. How'd I miss that?????

I hope the cops at least gave him a chance to lock-up his display cases and to secure his inventory before they hauled him away.

I just heard it was a husband/wife thief team, NOT a dealer! But let's wait for DD's report to get the accurate details.

Steve

I was joking. Didn't you see the winky emoji?

It was the ridiculous outrageous prices that some dealers charge that PerryHall must of been referring to. The penal code requires a 3-5 year sentence for repeat offenders.

coinhack

Thank you for another interesting read.