FUN Show Thursday and Friday

Desert Moon

Hi Folks,
I am at MCO waiting for the plane. So here is my report on Thursday and Friday at FUN. The Buzz was there. At 10 am on Thursday, there was a long line at registration that lasted until at least noon. Walking the bourse was an obstacle course because of the numbers of people. At every table I was interested in, there was ongoing activity until late in the day. I roamed the bourse a full 8 hours each day, trying to find great coins. And still I missed some. For example, there was one bust dime @EastonCollection pulled me over to see that I must have walked by multiple times and missed. @UltraHighRelief had found it earlier and suggested to Easton to have a look. Gorgeous bullseye-colored toning in an N63+ holder. We had a nice conversation about why it was graded at that number because the surfaces were largely hit free and the toning was spectacular – these are very hard to find. I felt it was undergraded and should be in a 64 holder at least. Easton pulled the trigger and added another incredible bust dime to his collection.

I had a great conversation with @messydesk on Friday am. Sir messy sets up to take photos at the show and we talked about his set up and lighting, and of course, his silver dollar research which is pretty cool. We then got into a great conversation about science happenings. Many times I was at the Eye Appealings table talking to the Hinklemans. They had a full collection of bust coinage to offer that even came with a catalog with many coins in the mid-5 figures on up and all amazing and carefully chosen by the owner. I had a coin on memo with Phil where we were trying to connect with an interested buyer half way across Earth. At one point Chuck Link was there, we showed him the coin, a very rare large bust quarter die marriage, 3rd finest known, and Chuck reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the finest known of that die marriage. That was crazy and we all had a great laugh about it. I mean, there are <20 of these known, they just don’t grow from trees, and here were 2 of the 3 best in existence in AU55 and AU58 and why did Chuck have that one in his pocket versus all of his many other amazing early US coins? And there is big gap down to the next one at 45, although I was told yesterday that there might be a 53 as well. Chuck has one of the finest collections ever put together for early US coins and pretty much aims for the finest known of everything. Always good when show and tell with Chuck happens……. The bust quarter community at these shows is pretty tight, we are starting to know each other, and we reminisce just how hard it is to find nice ones. I saw 3 or 4 amazing ones during sharing on the aisles of the bourse that were already held by collectors, but only a very few for sale at all of the 100s of tables, none of which had the kinds of nice colors with the show and tell in the aisles.

For me the show was a great success. I sold a few coins, bought a few coins. I was particularly interested in buying 19th century gold coins, and got a ‘36 quarter eagle and a ‘60-S double eagle. I picked up an O-mint half dime for my burgeoning New Orleans half dime set in a CACG holder. I won another capped bust half dime in a Perkins Numismatics silent auction at his table that has colorful toning as good as I have ever seen with bursting luster in 58/CAC, and no I did not pay anywhere near as low as price guide retail price for it – these types of coins don’t exist down at those pricing levels. Two other great coins were obtained. I will post these when I get them imaged. I connected with a lot of dealers in my areas of interest and had opportunities to discuss pricing, collecting, and doing deals with them – Eye Appealing, CRO, Laibstain, Paradime, Perkins and others. At some tables where I spotted potential coins of interest, I never got a chance to discuss or get a price from them with their dealers because of the activity, and then never had the time to get back. I am thinking if I stayed over today (Saturday) maybe less activity and chances, but no worries, I had done enough buying anyway and it was good to stop even though I could have filled my backpack with many more nice coins.

I also got to talk to and hang out with a lot of great PCGS Board members - Catbert, ldhair, BillJones, scubafuel, keigwin, winesteven, in addition to the above mentioned and even more. I had to opt out of going to the bar to meet more last nite (my apologies to the attendees), because I woke up with a headache on Friday am that did not get better over the day of bourse activities, alas.

Observations
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Great Collections had a lot of their upcoming auction offerings on display. Some of the coins I was bidding on included, this kind of in hand evaluation was extremely valuable. Top that with Great Photos, and one can place well-informed bids. Awesome.

On Thursday, John Albanese was in the building – at the CACG table. Lot’s of folks wanting to talk to him. All 3 grading TPG’s were full of submitters throughout both days. I am not sure which was the most busy, but to me it looked like NGC….. I got in the first submission of the show to CACG at 8:30 am sharp on Thursday. I did express and should have them back no later than the end of January.

A lot of bullion coins and moderns and I was seeing a lot of transactions at these tables. All of the TPG holders were represented and the new mint products look very nice and they are very affordable. I was tempted to buy a few of those flashy ASE’s in 69 holders which seemed low cost to me. One dealer that I met outside of the show told me he believed silver was going to keep going up this year so prices now were good.

I was searching for a nice DMPL Morgan for learning how to image them. Prices seemed steep, I found one in an OGH with a green sticker and the dealer wanted 1.8 times CACG retail for it. Before I buy one I will have to do more research on what it should cost.....

CACG holdered coins were starting to populate the bourse. These holders have great optics, and it is only a matter of time until I believe they will be more common.

I went to Bill Jones educational lecture on counterfeit holders. It was well attended, informative, well-spoken and presented, and there were a lot of folks asking questions to Bill. Made me think I was back at one of my scientific conferences and Bill did a fantastic job, and I learned.

Good food, not priced to the Moon, is difficult to find at Hall NB at OCCC. The vendors charge crazily, the only thing I bought was a good muffin at $8(!). So your other choice is to walk about 30 minutes up International Drive where there are a bunch of good restaurants. So I skipped lunch both days, no worries, good to cut calorie content. I think OCCC should improve that situation.

Surf Expo took up 2/3 of the space in the South Building at OCCC. 4 rooms the size of the one FUN room. So what does that mean? First, that explains why FUN has been sent to the north building and the farthest from anywhere except a parking lot. Second, which is more lucrative, coins, or surf boards? You decide, I am thinking…………………

Finally, loved to see the YN’s and families with kids in attendance, and they were buying and some of them selling. It was impressive to see the numismatic knowledge that they clearly had while they perused the tables. I remarked on this to one very famous and very senior gold dealer, who quipped back – ‘they need to go to college first before they start dealing’, which I think is a good idea. Nevertheless, the future of numismatics is strong and getting stronger.

Best, SH

Project Numismatics

Excellent report - thanks for posting!

divecchia

Great show report. I felt like I was there.

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

Donato

MFeld

Thanks for an excellent report. It sounds like you get the most possible out of your show attendances and experiences.

robec

One of the best reports on a show experience I’ve ever read.

jom

I swear I've got to get off my butt and go to this show someday. With Long Beach losing it's "luster" (so to speak) I need to get out to one of these!

Thanks for the report!

jom

coinhack

Thank you for taking the time to post this most excellent report.

breakdown

Great report! It sounds like you had a productive week.

I was there Thursday, as I often try to go first day to big shows if possible. But many tables were overcrowded, as were many aisles - not a good environment for in-depth conversations with dealers (although there are always a few oblivious table blockers that are a bit naive about how dealers need to be all-business on the first public day of a big show).

It is interesting that you thought NGC was the busiest for submissions. My impression was different - PCGS was packed in the morning, CACG was steady (not surprising since they don't grade at shows) and there was no crowd at NGC. I walked by NGC later in the day though so maybe they were busier early (NGC was on the opposite side of the hall from PCGS and CACG).

bidask

fantastic report thank you

Desert Moon

@breakdown said:
Great report! It sounds like you had a productive week.

I was there Thursday, as I often try to go first day to big shows if possible. But many tables were overcrowded, as were many aisles - not a good environment for in-depth conversations with dealers (although there are always a few oblivious table blockers that are a bit naive about how dealers need to be all-business on the first public day of a big show).

It is interesting that you thought NGC was the busiest for submissions. My impression was different - PCGS was packed in the morning, CACG was steady (not surprising since they don't grade at shows) and there was no crowd at NGC. I walked by NGC later in the day though so maybe they were busier early (NGC was on the opposite side of the hall from PCGS and CACG).

There was never a line at NGC, but always 6-10 customers sitting down doing paperwork when I walked by. To me, at those times, NGC seemed busier. I confess that I never went by PCGS when it might have been like the old days with a line, but it does not mean it did not happen............ But since NGC is always bashed on these boards, I am sticking to my observations. Keep in mind they lead the pack in ancients and world grading so there is a lot of reasons why it is as busy as it was..........................

ldhair

Great report. Good seeing you SH.
I had a great time at the show.

DisneyFan

@spacehayduke said:

Walking the bourse was an obstacle course because of the numbers of people. At every table I was interested in, there was ongoing activity until late in the day. I roamed the bourse a full 8 hours each day, trying to find great coins.

Surf Expo took up 2/3 of the space in the South Building at OCCC. 4 rooms the size of the one FUN room. So what does that mean? First, that explains why FUN has been sent to the north building and the farthest from anywhere except a parking lot.

@breakdown said:

I was there Thursday, as I often try to go first day to big shows if possible. But many tables were overcrowded, as were many aisles - not a good environment for in-depth conversations with dealers (although there are always a few oblivious table blockers that are a bit naive about how dealers need to be all-business on the first public day of a big show).

I noticed this too and now I wonder if FUN is being squeezed into a smaller space. It sure would be easier for us old timers if we didn't need to crisscross the floor to find the dealers who most likely would have the material we are interest in buying (or selling).

P.S. A big thank you to the FUN organizers for the cloth bags they hand out at the registration desks. We do a lot of road trips and my wife loves having coffee in her hotel room from her Kreurig coffee machine. The bags are the perfect size for transporting the machine from hotel to hotel. : )

alaura22

Great report, thanks SH

marcmoish

What a great read, wow.
I'd love to see that BD in N63+, will feel like we are all in on this seemingly cool purchase.
These threads are so much better than X

EastonCollection

Good seeing you at the show and yeah - enjoyed the show alot. Alof of collectors and dealers in attendance. I thought that I heard that it had the most dealer tables ever for FUN. Alot of nice coins, if you searched hard from them.

golden

Thanks for your report.

alohagary

great report

BLUEJAYWAY

Thank you for your time in the recap. Wonder what the YN's at the show were selling/buying. What their interests are. Classic coinage, modern,bullion?

PeakRarities

@BLUEJAYWAY said:
Thank you for your time in the recap. Wonder what the YN's at the show were selling/buying. What their interests are. Classic coinage, modern,bullion?

All of the above, depends on which one you ask. A lot of world coins too.

Desert Moon

Thanks for the nice comments folks...........

RichieURich

Great report. I also attended Bill Jones’s lecture on counterfeits and found it to br very informative and interesting.