Arrived in Rosemont, the Big Show is about to begin + Day 1, 2, 3
Desert Moon
Posts: 5,792 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hi Folks,
I normally try to do a day by day write up for the shows I attend and post them here. It is 5:30 am and I am in Rosemont for the ANA and this will be my pre-show posting. This is my first ANA behind the table rather than on the floor. I have transitioned from dedicated collector selling my dupes to dealers, to focusing on running a real online coin shop LOL. Hey something to do in retirement after 40 years of 60 hour weeks figuring out what the Solar System is made of...... This will be my second show doing this. My first was CSNS in May, which was mostly a 'dealer' show. There were some serious collectors on the floor, but not what I remember from ANA or FUN in terms of numbers. So this will be my first where I think alot of collectors wanting to buy great coins will be on the floor.
I will start with the travel. @DeplorableDan already posted about his difficulties bc of a hurricane in Florida. Chicago, and in particular O'Hare, is an airport that seems to crumble with any kind of weather. I recall back when I had an interview in the area in 1999, it was snowing on my departure day, and had to sit at the gate at O'Hare for several hours of delay, but hey at least my flight was not cancelled and eventually I got home. Then 2 years later, when I was on that job, my wife and I had a trip to Iceland. That was a summer trip. I checked the weather reports and it was a thunderstorm day. We were connecting from O'Hare to Minneapolis where we would get our Iceland Air flight. Early on you could tell it was going to be one of those days at O'Hare. Given how important it was to make our flight in Minnie, we made the call to just drive to the Minneapolis airport and skip our flight from O'Hare. It was the right call, as we were boarding the Iceland Air flight in Minnie, I looked at the Arrival board one more time, our flight from O'Hare that had been 'delayed', had just flipped to 'cancelled'. Right call to drive.
So the flight yesterday I thought would be okay. It left around noon arriving at O'Hare around 4. I saw they had an early morning thunderstorm pass through so thought 'hey this will be all gone by the time I board'. LOL. We starting driving to the airport at 9:30 for my flight and all indications from the airline website were it was 'on time'. By the time we arrived at our home airport 75 minutes later, there was an hour flight delay. At the gate, and I then started getting text messages from the airline about the flight. And, of course, the flight delay started getting bigger, with a note saying 'O'Hare is experiencing 30 minute to 7 hour flight delays'. Ah O'Hare how I love you. In the end, I arrived 5 hours late in Chicagoland. And trust me these satellite airports like ours is not the place to be stuck for 5 hours waiting for a flight, it is not like a hub where there are alot shops, bars, and restaurants in the terminal to keep one occupied. So that is it, one thunderstorm passing through and O'Hare crumbles. 25 years after my first O'Hare experience. Hey but at least I am here!!!!
I spent last week pretty much going through the PCGS and CACG price guides, and auction records for the coins I have here at the show. I am not a mass dealer, so every coin I have to offer I want to know what the value is. For almost all of them, rarely do I find auction records within the last 2 years for roughly equivalent coins. So when pricing them, I have to use the guides and comparisons to what other dealers are asking for similar examples. For a few dozen coins, it really takes me a week to fully price the coins.
So the Big Show starts today. I will be there, walking the floor looking for great coins for most of dealer set up, then getting my table ready before folks start coming in. If you are here, please stop by to say hello at table 528.
Best, SH
A couple cool pics to keep this numismatic. These are from my own collection.
Comments
Really cool SH. I know you have been wanting this for some time. Knowing the work and study you put into everything, you will do well.
I will make sure to stop by your table. I. Like the type of coins you sell. Hope you have a great show.
Willy
Best wishes SHD!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Figuring out what the solar system is made of may be the one job that sounds more appealing to me than being a numismatist. Look how much has been learned during your career. (I love being a professional numismatist.)
The body of knowledge has increased in both areas but, really, which do you find more profound? One deals with how coins were made the other with how our worlds and the universe were made. Both interest me, too, but one is more significant than the other, I believe.
Back to Earth, I hope that you have a great time in Chicago and accomplish more than you intended to. Thanks for keeping us not there up to date.
Thanks for the write up, SH! That was an enjoyable read so far. Wishing you the best at the show.
Welcome to my Hometown!
Hope your endeavors go well.
Congrats on your retirement, I too, will be there (retirement) in a couple of weeks!
GL
"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.Have a great time! I will be joining you there tomorrow (assuming Ohare behaves)
Great writeup, and wishing you good luck at the show.
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
Good luck and have fun!
jom
Best of luck at the show!
Have fun… take moment to visit Wrigley Field if you get the chance
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Been there done that when I lived in Chicago. Saw Sosa knock 2 out of the park the day I was there..........
Yes and no. I spent 42 years thinking about Earth, the Moon, Mars, and the solar system. It was a fun ride. I left with a profound result that will probably lead to the next generation of discoveries and nice to go out on top. But you have to know when it is time to move on. I am having a total blast doing the dealer gig and am really finding out how cool the numismatic community is and connecting with collectors who are trying to get great coins. Reminds of when my job was to help students. Just pure fun.
Best, SH
Have a great show SH, hope you do well
Mike
My Indians
Danco Set
Cool man! Share some pics!
Wish you the best. Enjoy!
WTB: Barber Quarters XF
Good Luck!!
I don't plan on doing any shows any time soon.
I will watch it from the comfort of my favorite chair and live it, vicariously, through y'all on these boards!!
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Best of luck with your new venture. Seeing the quality of your coins and knowing how you treat people, I know you will do well AND that you and I will do business with each other!
Have a good show, and safe and uneventful travels home!
Steve
My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set:
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
I think I will continue with this thread for show reports. So here is Day 1.
I wanted to get to the show right at 7 am for dealer registration to beat the crowd. Between my hotel and the Convention Center is a mega parking structure. On the Google, there was a walkway that went through the parking structure and ended up connecting with a bridge over the main road in front of the CC. I figured 15 minutes tops. Well 20 minutes in, lost in the depths of this endless mass of concrete and after walking around lost on the backside, I finally found the bridge. So turned out to be 30 minutes and did not get there until 7:15. Good news was there was no one else in line so got my badge and ran into a member of the host club who turned out to be a PhD chemist. We ended up chatting about science, MIT, Caltech, and Northwestern until the doors opened to the bourse at 8 am. What great fun.
Once in my goal was to spend the morning connecting with dealer friends until the show officially opened at 1 pm. I did just that for 4 hours. This process is interesting. You go to a table with your inventory, and we sit down going through each others boxes and buy/sell coins from each other. Margins are always super super tight so there is deep discussion on pricing. We all need to make a small margin and there has to be room on each side so everyone benefits and the buyer gets value. So showing say, 30 to 50 coins on each side of the table takes quite a while. Generally each of us knows what we are looking for and typically a few of those coins are pulled and and discussed in depth. This is a fun process and really helps me to understand values and pricing. So I did this at several tables. I had also given each of these dealers a preview of my website which will go live on Monday next. I received tremendous feedback and so I will be able to make some key improvements time allows.
By noonish I went to set up my table. First thing I noticed is that one of my display cases was missing a key. So that meant going to the convention supply table to get an exchange. Turns out it was way way on the other side of the bourse. It literally was a 10 minute walk to get there and it just indicates how massive this show is. Wow. They quickly delivered me a new case and I got set up.
Then folks start dropping buy. I had new purchases to price and put in the cases, but it was so busy, anywhere from 1 to a few folks at at the table virtually non-stop, that it took me until closing to price most of them and I will have a couple to work on today. The buzz on the floor was on, wow. Had a lot of great chats with collectors and dealers and sold some nice coins.!
The tables next to me were David Kahn, Brian Greer and David Finklestein sharing a space and loaded with multiple coins and cases. David K came over to talk and look at my offerings. We had a nice chat and he told me they were going to put out a newly acquired collection on liberty seated quarters in the afternoon. Suddenly when they did, there were untold numbers of folks at their table. Some of these people then came to my table and showed me some of their purchases from that collection. Every single coin they showed me was CAC in varying grades and all were totally stunning. One of them showed me a VF20/CAC he got and it was an immediate reaction of wow! This had to be the nicest VF20 LSQ I had ever seen. That was followed up with some colorfully toned examples in higher grades. Whomever the collector was that put together this set, holy smokes did they know what they were doing.
Had a nice chat with the past President of PCGS Brent Charville who is now running his own coin shop who stopped to looked at my offerings. What a nice guy and exactly as he was when he was running the show here. Just confirmed to me why PCGS had such a great run during his time.
I going to have to stop here as I am going to the JRCS club meeting prior to bourse opening. Someone mentioned they would like to see pictures of the bourse but alas, I still don't know how to transfer pics from my phone to my computer - I am smart phone challenged. I just switched from a an old flipper to the smart phone this year as one can't do this dealer thing without one. So until I get that figured out, here is some nice coins I acquired at previous ANA's below. Some of my faves.
Best, SH
First glimpse from the hotel walkway:
View from near the entrance:
There 17 aisles with, I'm guessing, 2 dozen dealers on each side, plus booths around the edges plus the exhibits. It feels at least a third larger than last year in Pittsburgh.
I’m leaving soon and couldn’t be less excited. I know I will see a bunch of beautiful coins that will be priced beyond my wildest imagination. I am not one to shy away from paying premium price for quality however you have to let common sense sink in at some point.
SH, It was good meeting you yesterday. Your inventory is really nice but will be tough to replace. The XF45 CAC 1838 Bust quarter I bought is a nice addition to my collection.
Willy
Looking forward to seeing you again. I made a mental note to stop by your table. Hopefully, I remember where I put it.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
@spacehayduke
I was at Wrigley Field 51 years ago- met Ernie Banks and got his autograph and saw some unknown Phillies third baseman youngster hit 2 home runs. And he went on and really amounted to something…. Sadly I have not been to a game there since then even though I have been by multiple times. I suppose my point is simply this… go when the opportunity presents itself as one never knows when the chance will arise again
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Excellent report! Felt like I was there. Love to see a picture of your set up since you spent so much time and effort on it. Sounds like you learned tons of knowledge.
I’m glad you had good traffic and sales. But, I can’t imagine buying and replacing quality inventory for the future!
You go man!
WTB: Barber Quarters XF
@spacehayduke You could have just walked in on your first day, said "Baryons!" and then switched over to being a coin dealer. Or is that too reductive?
So here is my Day 2 show report. Good news on the mega garage trek. I went through it twice yesterday, back and forth from the CC. I am getting the lay of the concrete and am finding an efficient pathway to the overhead walkway to the CC. Today I should nail it down.
First off yesterday was the JRCS club meeting at 8 am. After club buisness was taken care of Chris Pilliod gave a presentation on the plugged hole early silver dollars. It literally had everyone on the edge of their seats because a) Chris knows how to address a problem and come up with interesting data to examine it and present it well, b) Some of the things the early mint did are frankly, strange, and remain a mystery, and c) he showed how he was able to eliminate some of the hypotheses on the issue. A perfect scientific presentation woven in such a way that everyone could understand. Wow.
After the meeting I first went to the Great Collections table. Sunday nite I had sent them a message saying 'hey folks, if it is possible, can you bring my lots I won in tonite's auction to ANA for me?'. LOL, I figured no chance. So as I did a big arc around Ian and the film crew interviewing him and went to the back of their area to ask about the hopeful delivery, I thought 'hmm...., give them last microsecond message at 10 pm on a Sunday nite just before they have to be here on a Monday, zero chance'. So I asked the consignment director about it, he walked over to their safe, and to my total shock handed me my lots. I literally almost fell over. Have you ever heard me say before that Great Collections is just totally awesome? If not, this is about the 1000th time I have repeated that and will keep doing so.
Then off to my table. The next time I had a pause was 5:30 pm, no chance to even grab a snack. But it was not a protest hunger strike but instead a healthy super busy one. There were times when I had 3 or more customers lined up across my table handing people coins to look at. I prefer 1 at a time where we can dig into it in more detail but glad for the interest.
So here are some of my observations for the day. Again this is all a learning experience that will help me for future shows.
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At least 10 persons or 'teams' of persons scanned my 30 bust quarters and went straight to it. I had one gentleman come by 3 times to look at it, ponder it, hem and haw and walk away with shrugging his shoulders. He loved it, but said it was just a touch too much of a stretch of his budget (I can understand that). On trip 3, he brought another well known early bust aficionado with him to have a look (this person had already perused it himself when he bought a bust dime from me). He finally then said, okay we said this price right? I said yes, and he said okay I am going to do it. I was so happy for him. I found a nice home for this lovely quarter that he could then enjoy. Folks this is why I am switching to dealing. This is fun trust me.
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This is getting long so I will leave additional observations for tomorrow. To sum, things are going very well and I am having a blast. Stop by my table if you are here and thanks.
Best, SH
You were right SH. I should have came to the show.
Really enjoying your observations, SH, it’s almost like I’m there!
Excellent write up! Love the detailed observations.
Your show write-ups are a joy to read - thanks for taking the time to do this!
“The thrill of the hunt never gets old”
PCGS Registry: Screaming Eagles
Copperindian
Retired sets: Soaring Eagles
Copperindian
Excellent sharing of perspective and info. Thanks SH!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
outstanding share and congrats on your multiple successes !!
Top 10 Cal Fractional Type Set
successful BST with Ankurj, BigAl, Bullsitter, CommemKing, DCW(7), Downtown1974, Elmerfusterpuck, Joelewis, Mach1ne, Minuteman810430, Modcrewman, Nankraut, Nederveit2, Philographer(5), Realgator, Silverpop, SurfinxHI, TomB and Yorkshireman(3)
Continued success and appreciate your time in these reports.
I really appreciate attending the show vicariously whilst one reads your reports. And boy, do I wish that a pursual of your inventory in hand was possible from my chair. Like most here on the boards, I wish you continued success on your new endeavor. Please continue with more Tales from the Bourse. Didn't David Lawrence write a book on his experiences?
He did, I have it, and it is a blast to read.............
Ah..... Day 3 came and went. The good news is I nailed down efficiency in the mega garage trek thruway to the Convention Center. Only one 30 foot detour in the morning, and straight on coming back!
So how is the show going? From my view it is holy smokes! I came in with 30 capped bust quarters all CAC (1/3 of the presented inventory), and as of this morning have 11 left. I think some of the nicest are in that 11. I am going to have to vastly update my website before going live on Monday.
Dealers have told me that their shows have been blistering hot, one said 30% above normal in sales at ANA. Said dealer told me not to expect it to be this way going forward but who knows - is this the new norm? And keep in mind this happened right after a huge stock market drop. I also sold some of every type of coin I brought including a couple ANA newps that won't get back to post on the website. So I would say most dealers that have cool inventory are having a great show and collectors are out in force. The biggest issue being pondered amongst the dealers is how are we gonna replenish our inventories? Good thing?
I was so busy I just got out from my table once for a nature break. Did alot of in depth discussion at my table with various collectors in between sales. For me now being on the other side this is important for my education. As noted before, I pretty much only knew what I liked and wanted and now I am seeing what other collectors are doing and their approaches.
Observations continued:
Looking around the bourse, those with cool inventories, their tables were always super busy but some tables were not as much.......
I had a chance to look at the Great Collection displays for their upcoming auctions. There are some truly spectacular things coming up and plenty of them ranging from all types of US coins to currency. I closely inspected alot of coins at their table, including a set of early silver about half CAC. Even the non-CAC coins were extremely nice testifying to the point that not all great coins are CACed. But one has to do a close inspection of any coin to assess quality and value.
Back to collectors. Some come by many times and hem and haw, and some of these end up buying and some don't. Some come by and know what the want and just buy it. I sold some great gold coins to a gentleman where I probably could have just kept at the price on the back of my slabs and not come down. He told me his hobby is to pan for placer gold, he sells it, and then he buys cool old gold coins with the proceeds. And he selected 2 great ones from my inventory that I will be searching hard to get similar examples now. Another came and saw my 1909-S vdb in MS63 and said he wanted to upgrade his. He pulled out the nicest XF 45 lincoln cent I have ever seen - not CACed but I think it should be. When I looked at the True View online it confirmed what I seeing in hand so we made the trade and the happy gentleman walked away with my gorgeous 63 and I got his check and his wonderful 45.
Pricing. All of the dealers are in the same boat here. Finding good coins does not come with prices at greysheet. They come at retail and then to make your small amount, one has to put them up even higher. Many collectors want to buy those great coins below retail. This is a huge conundrum and it holds some collectors back on their purchases. For example, I had a 1836 quarter eagle in MS62 that on Wednesday 4 collectors each spent a good 10-15 minutes examining and all told me it was pricey but they liked it alot and had to think long about it. Well duh, it is a great coin as I saw when I bought it at FUN. Doug Winter did a good examination on Tuesday and said it was a 62+ and clearly stood heads above the majority of 62's out there. So with the pauses I was getting from said collectors I was prepared to put it in my CACG submission today with a minimum cross of 62+. But alas, one of the collectors came buy first thing yesterday and scooped it up. One of the others came by later only to ask where it went. So folks the story here is, if you find a really cool coin and you are worried about paying say 50, or even a few hundred too much, you are gonna miss some of the truly best ones you can acquire. I learned that early on for building my bust quarters, bust dimes and early gold so I did not hesitate with the right coin even paying 20% too high. It has paid off in the long run by just pulling the trigger, it is only money after all and acquiring a stunning piece with all of its history and artistic beauty............
I'll stop here, I will have a conclusion thread sometime this weekend.
Best, SH
Gone baby gone:
outstanding !! congratulations !!
Top 10 Cal Fractional Type Set
successful BST with Ankurj, BigAl, Bullsitter, CommemKing, DCW(7), Downtown1974, Elmerfusterpuck, Joelewis, Mach1ne, Minuteman810430, Modcrewman, Nankraut, Nederveit2, Philographer(5), Realgator, Silverpop, SurfinxHI, TomB and Yorkshireman(3)
Yes, I learned long ago that highly desirable coins, especially those with great eye appeal and also merit a CAC sticker, are NOT commodities. If you want one that is nicer than most others in that grade, you have to pay up for it!!!!!!!
Congratulations!!!!!!
Steve
My collecting “Pride & Joy” is my PCGS Registry Dansco 7070 Set:
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/type-sets/design-type-sets/complete-dansco-7070-modified-type-set-1796-date/publishedset/213996
I wonder if you ended up with an 1835 B7 quarter in PCGS AU50? A coin I've regretted selling... but someday wish to make her acquaintance again?
Best show reports I have ever read, by far. Thanks for taking the time to put them together for us.
Coinlearner, Ahrensdad, Nolawyer, RG, coinlieutenant, Yorkshireman, lordmarcovan, Soldi, masscrew, JimTyler, Relaxn, jclovescoins
Now listen boy, I'm tryin' to teach you sumthin' . . . . that ain't an optical illusion, it only looks like an optical illusion.
My mind reader refuses to charge me....
Great report....can't wait for the next update!
jom
Thanks for the report. Has anyone here stopped by Coin Rarities online? https://www.coinraritiesonline.com/road-report/
Excellent reports! Looking forward to the conclusion.
Thanks for your report.
I was the "gentleman" in the post up above. Not really sure if that term is accurate! 😄
I'll eventually post a report, but I truly love the 1806/5 bust quarter!
And yes, the show could be described as white hot.
Nice meeting you in person too!
10-4,
My Instagram picturesErik
My registry sets
Great report. Thank you for taking the time to post every day when you clearly have much else to do.
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
5 am wake up..............
Glad you are having a great show! Seems to me that good shows can be hard to find....but with your specialties, me thinks you will do fine!
surf
Hey @spacehayduke I didn't stop by to say adios and I regret that! I was over in your neck of the woods a couple of times spending time with my dear friends Dave Kahn and Melissa Kahn, including two somewhat harried visits on Friday morning as I was trying to escape and hit the road. But in my tunnel vision to try and say farewell to my valued old dealer friends, I forgot about my valued NEW dealer friend! Appreciate the show reports. I may have one to write up in a few weeks but right now, in the absence of a slew of photos (and with my small number of new acquisitions off for grading) I don't have a very cohesive story to tell. Anyway, you set the bar pretty high here. But I wanted to issue a mea culpa!
New website: Groovycoins.com Capped Bust Half Dime registry set: Bikergeek CBHD LM Set
Thanks for an excellent report, made me feel like I was there!