Brief SLNA coin show report, 2/10/24
RYK
Posts: 35,797 ✭✭✭✭✭
Once again, I visited the SLNA coin show, at the Hilton Hotel near the St. Louis airport this year. I had a very long multiyear streak of attendance and show reports in the past, but I have been an intermittent attendee in recent years.
I arrived on Saturday morning at about 11 AM. The entry fee had doubled since last year and previous years, doubled, I say, from $1 to $2. Inflation! It includes parking and free coffee. There was a line to get in which I believe was only because one of the dealers was trying to make change with the woman selling entry tickets to the masses, and it was a long, complicated transaction over changing about $25. The five or six of us in line were noticeably annoyed by the whole thing.
Once in, I beelined to the Scotsman table to sell some gold, to take advantage of near-record gold spot, and lighten up just a little bit on my generic gold holdings. I also had a box of odds and ends to sell - 7 toned/circulated Morgan dollars bought at a FUN show many years ago, a VF bust half, a classic head half cent, a proof Franklin with ugly toning in NGC Proof-65, a couple junky Morgan dollars, a raw Boone commem, all of which were sold to a dealer in one transaction to a willing buyer, and then a group of 5 Civil War tokens in another transaction to a more reluctant buyer. I accomplished what I came to do.
(As an aside, I cannot remember the thinking behind the acquisition of all of that bric-a-brac, but every time I saw the stuff in one box or another - "how the heck am I ever going to get rid of that" would run through my head. Suffice to say, I probably got a decent price for very little effort.)
During the Scotsman transaction, in which one of the pieces I was selling was one of those 49er Horseman restrike coins (below), the dealer asked my how much I wanted for it. I had the original case and papers and had no idea, but I said $1200. There was a man sitting with his laptop at the table and, right in front of me, looked it up on Heritage and thinking that I was a complete moron, not-so-subtlely jotted a quick note on a Post It and handed it to the dealer trying to find the pricing information. "Oh, I see you looked it up on Heritage. Was I close?" The third party was a bit startled, and then he started negotiating the price with me, in front of the dealer. Quite annoying to have interference from the peanut gallery, but I got what I wanted for the overall transaction and was happy to be done with it all.
By and large, the show was busy enough, especially for a Saturday. There are always more young people than I expect to see (and more females!), and it seems like the coin market is pretty healthy. I saw lots of transactions going down before my eyes, but it appeared to be mostly wholesale (or "I need one of these for a customer..."), but IOUs, cash, checks, and, increasingly, electronic payments were changing hands. There is always a nice mix of dealers of expensive/slabbed material, inexpensive/raw material, national dealers, local-regional dealers, exonumia, foreign coins, bullion specialists, supplies, etc. at this show, which had long been considered a "pre-Long Beach coin show", whatever exactly that means, but apparently no longer.
I spoke with forum member David Johnson (I forget his screen name), who is a full time dealer, who had an excellent selection of mostly PCGS CAC better date gold. I looked at his 3 $3's closely, as I am looking to add one to my collection, and while all were very nice, I could not pull the trigger. He also had some Fairmont gold coins, territorial gold, and other nice stuff.
I did not see anyone else that I knew and did not purchase anything. Nonetheless, it was an excellent opportunity to be around coins and coin peeps and time well spent.
Comments
I saw your username as the OP and thought someone brought up a zombie post! It's good to see you again here and I am glad things went well.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Good to see you back RYK! Is your Southern Gold and DOG collection still intact?
Great great report, thanks for posting.
Re: **I spoke with forum member David Johnson (I forget his screen name), who is a full time dealer, who had an excellent selection of mostly PCGS CAC better date gold. **
His forum name is 1798Collector, and I’ve known him a long time, through our mutual interest in large cents. He usually sets up adjacent to Tom Reynolds, at least when I see him. But he has somewhat transitioned away from copper, and as you mentioned, carries a lot of other coins now.
I have been less active in collecting over the last 5-10 years, but still have some southern gold and DOGs and DOGs that are southern gold and such.
Great to see you back @RYK, and an added bonus to have you share more of your DOG!
Fun reading- Terrific 1848-D- This is what No Motto Gold is all about.
I stopped collecting it years ago based on the enhancement/processing/slaughtering of so much of the original surviving population in an effort to maximize the grade.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
David Johnson is one of the good guys !
Glad you had a good show RYK!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Solid report. Always a good show when you accomplish your set out goals. Free coffee is always a plus.
Welcome back, RYK!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
Thanks for the nice report.
Good to see a post from you, and thanks for sharing that gorgeous ‘48-D.
I have wanted to go to that show for a number of years, but just have not gotten there yet.
I miss the February show so much.
On the web: http://www.earlyus.com
I miss seeing you there!