Charmy's 2024 GREAT AMERICAN (TAMPA) COIN SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!
ThePennyLady
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First, let me just comment that the Tampa Convention Center area is in a beautiful area of Tampa, right on the bay.
Now of course I've read some of the other show reports, including Abby's excellent (albeit disappointing) adventure, so I will try not to "beat a dead horse" as they say. However, there are some things I would like to express my opinion about this show. First, here are some of the positive aspects I personally observed (in no particular order of importance):
- I believe Larry and Coin World worked hard and had a heavy wide-spread marketing campaign (contrary to what a couple other folks have mentioned), including social media, in person announcements a year in advance, email and print ads, signage and even a television promo. They even enlisted marketing assistance from all the sponsors who signed up through their own dealer social media and email contacts.
- Their crew put on several educational talks throughout the show, featuring well known industry leaders.
- The bourse floor was well organized and set up with very few hitches (as far as I could tell, nor did I hear much grumbling from other dealers, except for a couple last-minute table changes).
- They had several show helpers who would stop by and ask the dealers if we needed anything, even retrieving lunch for us from the snack bar.
- There was a special room set up for all of the sponsors where the sponsors could have a few minutes to relax, grab some beverages and snacks (although it was difficult for someone like me who had no assistants to watch the table - not to mention that we really weren't overwhelmed with business that we needed a break ;-) ).
- The show was centrally located within an easy walk among several major hotels and restaurants.
- Registration was organized and quick, at least for me and from what I could see also for the public (yes, not having an onslaught of public lined up to register probably helped things go more smoothly!).
- I think having the low-end "dealer annex" in the back of the room on the same bourse floor was better than having it in separate rooms on a different floor.
- Even though the hotels were pricey, I did like having them within walking distance of the convention center in what seemed like a relatively nice and "safe-looking" location.
Next, here is a list of some of the issues I feel didn't work well or need improvement:
- Of course as everyone has already mentioned, the public attendance was very low, probably one of the lowest attendance I have seen (except for Nashville) at a large show. Perhaps Larry "over-hyped" this show and raised expectations too high, but I personally feel (as do other dealers I spoke with) that it had more to do with the location of the venue being downtown in a large city (rather than in a suburb like Rosemont or Schaumburg) and collectors having to pay $15 admission fee, "high" parking fees, dealing with downtown traffic, and having to walk the distance to/from the venue depending on which parking structure was used.
- Most dealers who signed up and paid for "Dealer Day" thought it would be similar to Central States and the ANA where they could set up at their actual table on the bourse floor. Instead, it was in a "Trading Room" on a separate floor and all that was included was a "naked" table. (There were a few cases and lights you could rent but most dealers just sat behind the table and showed boxes of coins to other dealers.) The problem for someone like me is that I couldn't leave boxes of coins unguarded on a table and also walk around to other dealer's tables. Also, I didn't see anyone checking to see which dealers actually paid to be behind the table, so there were dealers who hadn't paid the dealer day fee who just walked in, sat at a table, and began conducting business. Besides not having the public attendance, this was the most frustrating thing for me personally. I ended up just putting my coins in Security and viewing other dealers' coins, basically wasting the "Dealer Day" fee I paid.
- There was no printed program, it could only be accessed on line - the Long Beach show tried this and it failed miserably, and they immediately went back to the printed program (also, anyone who did choose to view the online program would by-pass any of the advertisements that were paid for by the dealers). The show personnel did hand out a one-page list of the dealers with table numbers to the dealers, but not to the public.
- The bourse table fee and hotels were more expensive than typical large coin shows.
- Even though some of the adult show helpers tried to assist the dealers, it would have been nice to have pages walking around in their red aprons to pass out flyers, get food/beverages, clean cases, retrieve replacement lamps and bulbs, etc.
- There was very limited food choice items at the snack bar.
- There was no onsite shipping like FedEx or UPS.
- No one could understand the speakers making announcements on the intercom system unless you were right in front of the stage - all we heard was a muffled echo. They also had the educational speakers use the intercom (rather than just a localized microphone) so the whole bourse floor supposedly could hear the speakers, but again, most people couldn't understand a thing they were saying. That was very annoying and most of the dealers didn't feel it was necessary to have the speakers' programs blasted throughout the show.
- There were inconsistent bourse hours - the show didn't open to the public until 11am on Wednesday (even though it was originally announced as opening at 10am). Then it closed to the public at 2:30 on Saturday (but yes, there was not much going on any way that day as there were probably only about 1/4 of the dealers left on Saturday and an even more sparse public in attendance).
- There was only one bank consisting of two elevators at the very end of the convention center so many dealers had to wait in line to use the elevators (if there were other dealers with carts and bags) to get to Registration on the 2nd floor, the Security and Trading rooms on the 4th floor, then back down to the bourse floor on the 3rd floor which was at the opposite end of the convention center from where the elevators were located. This doesn't even take into account those who started at the loading dock and had to use the same two elevators. It may not sound like much, but if you're hauling heavy coin bags (like I do), that's a lot of maneuvering, pushing carts, dragging bags, part of it on carpet which makes it more difficult to push/pull heavy bags and carts.
Okay, now that that is out of the way, I'll continue with my usual report of my experiences before, during and after this new Tampa show. However, although I bought quite a few coins (the majority of which was at the dealer trading room), this report will probably be more entertainment heavy than usual since, as mentioned, there wasn't as much going on during the show, but I had a great time at some of Tampa's amazing restaurants as you will see!
As I wrote in my Long Beach show report, I had ONE day to" wind down" the Long Beach show (paperwork, update inventory, process new coins, update website, do show report, etc.), then catch my flight on Monday morning to Tampa, luckily with NO issues! I was very happy to be in my seat and headed to what I had anticipated as being a great new show.
Here are some of my usual shots leaving OC, flying over the coast before turning back east headed to Houston.
After connecting in Houston, I headed onto Tampa - the bay looked beautiful flying over it at night!
Unfortunately, after I landed I discovered I had a "SIM card not working" issue on my phone and couldn't get phone, internet, text, email, etc. so I just grabbed a taxi to my hotel. This is a view from my hotel window (taken the next morning).
As soon as I got to my room, I called AT&T on my room phone to try and get my phone fixed; however, I was in a Catch 22 since they had to verify my account by texting me a verification code through their computer system, and even though I could use the hotel wifi and get regular texts while in the hotel, I couldn't receive their computer texts so they couldn't help me over the phone. They said I needed to go to a store to get it fixed, which I ended up doing the next day.
On Tuesday, since I was signed up for "Dealer Day," I headed to the convention center where I had hoped to set up my booth on the bourse floor, do some wholesale business and shop for new coins.
As I mentioned above, i found out that it was actually a "Trading Room," so I simply checked my bags into Security, and shopped for new coins in the Trading Room.
Among other coins, I found a large group of very popular nice quality PCGS AU58 Indian (including a beautiful 1877) and Lincoln cents, several of which were CAC'd and also included quite a few neat varieties. I bought just about every one of them!
These are some of the other coins I found at the Trading Room and throughout the show
After I was finished "shopping," I headed to the AT&T store and got my phone fixed - yay! Then I decided to head to the Hard Rock Casino for the evening. Luckily I had some success there!
The next morning (Wednesday) I walked over to the convention for dealer set up. I was at the Westin which was just over the bridge from the convention center and it was a very pretty short walk.
We had until 11am before the public arrived, so after setting up my booth (since I signed up very early to do this show, I was able to choose table 901 which was in a great location right near the front of the room!), I walked around, found a few more coins, and took some photos. All the grading services were lined up against the left wall, as was GreatCollections.
Gwen and Rob from Roundtable Trading along with one of their assistants stopped by to say hi
My buddy Matt Chapman came by and Andy Skrabalak (whose table was right across from me) came over for the photo op!
When 11am came, we (the dealers) anticipated there would be a decent crowd of early bird coin collectors hoping to get first shot at our coins - but, sadly, we barely noticed the bourse floor had opened to the public - and that's how it pretty much stayed for the entire afternoon. I did do a fair amount of business with a few collectors and I was relatively happy with my sales so far, considering how low the attendance was. I also had a customer who was upgrading his Indian cent set sell me some of his duplicates which were actually very nice pieces.
One of my customers Cory who is getting into Conder tokens stopped by to check out the ones I had brought with me to sell from my personal collection (I have about 130 left but couldn't bring all of them with me). He ended up buying 4 very interesting pieces from me.
Cory had noticed in my case that I was selling my beautiful First Steam Coinage medal that I also had in my personal collection for over 10 years. it's an absolutely gorgeous piece, graded PCGS PF65 BN with gorgeous blue and magenta toning, but it just really didn't fit in my collection so I decided to part with it. He couldn't get it off his mind so he ended up coming back and purchasing it from me. I'm really glad it went to a good home!
Also, forum member K.Novak stopped by and picked out a beautiful 1909-S vdb PCGS MS64 RB for his collection.
With the show being so slow, I opened my usual bottle of wine a little early on Tuesday and shared it with a couple other dealer friends. This Del Dotto Zinfandel is one of my better high end wines and it didn't last very long!
That evening, Coin Dealers Helping Coin Dealers/Roundtable Trading held a very fun and well-attended dealer reception at the American Social restaurant just across the bridge.
This is the beautiful view of the bay from my room at night
Thursday morning I stopped at the GreatCollections booth to see the famous trio of coins - the 1943 copper, the 1913 nickel and of course the 1975 No S dime!
I took some more photos along the grading services aisle
After the show opened to the public, sadly once again, there was no "whoosh" of bodies hurriedly entering the bourse as everyone had hoped. Here are some more photos I took around the floor of Stacks, Heritage, Bean Town, etc., including a display of some beautiful coins up for auction at the Heritage table.
One of my dealer friends Brian Alty who was leaving the show early had some Rombauer cab left and "willed" it to me, which I gladly accepted and enjoyed!
That evening Larry held a special dinner at Bern's Steakhouse for all the show sponsors. They had arranged for a limo bus to take us to the restaurant - thank you Larry and Coin World for putting on this wonderful dinner event!
Andy Wedding of GreatCollections
This was the menu choices for the sponsor dinner
We were served some great wines as well!
Unfortunately, I had already made dinner plans with James Sego (JMS Coins), Dave and Deanne Floyd (DJ's Coins), and John Dannreuther for dinner also at Bern's that same night (it takes weeks to months to get dinner reservations at Bern's so I didn't want to just bail). So I sort of split it up by doing appetizers and soup with the sponsor group, then the main course with my group.
The sommelier suggested this bottle of wine which was delicious and went very well with everyone's steak.
Chris Seuntjens stopped by to say hi
Since I had never had Wagyu steak, much less A5 Japanese Wagyu, James and I decided to split their 6 oz. portion (Bern's meals came with all the sides - salad, vegetable, potato), plus James ordered a separate piece of steak.
After dinner, they gave us a tour of the kitchen and their extensive wine cellar (I was definitely in my happy place there!)
Then it was up to the private dessert rooms where they had quite an extensive dessert menu!
James had a shot of Sazerac Rye Whisky for his dessert!
The entire experience at Bern's Steakhouse was for me the highlight of the entire week (ok, acquiring all those PCGS AU58 Indian/Lincoln cents was pretty awesome too!). The food and atmosphere were amazing, as was the company. I loved every minute of that evening!
Friday, some of us had held out hopes that more public would somehow magically appear but sadly our hopes were not only dashed, but slammed to the floor and stomped on! Friday was close to a ghost town, though again, I was lucky to have a few decent sales and bought some neat pieces as well so it wasn't a total wash.
One of the dealers, Rodney Levingston, offered me a very cool 1856 Flying Eagle cent that was graded by ANACS when they used the old photo card and included the original shipping envelope and flip. It was very cool to see it but alas it was a bit too pricey for me.
He also showed me this very interesting Indian cent which had raised lines that made it look like it was struck with a cancelled die. I couldn't really explain the reason for the raised lines, but it was a fascinating piece.
That night James and I went to a very famous old restaurant called Columbia Restaurant. I heard it's the oldest family-owned restaurant in the country!
The atmosphere and food were wonderful!, and the Spanish wine that was recommended to us was delicious!
Everyone took their time arriving at the show on Saturday since by then, no one had any hopes of doing much business, and in that, we weren't disappointed. As I mentioned above, there were only about 1/4 of the dealers left and half of them were packed up and gone by noon. I had one more decent sale, but that was about it. Although Bean Town had some folks checking out their inventory and there were some die-hard dealers still at their tables who had later flights (including me) - the show basically looked like a ghost town.
Here I am at the airport exhausted and soooooo happy to be heading home after traveling to and participating in two back-to-back large shows.
Bye beautiful Tampa.....
Hello good-ole OC!
Even though I was so happy to finally be home, you can see how much Penny missed me!
As I mentioned, even though this show was quite disappointing, I did have some decent sales and found several Pretty Pennies, and I had a great time trying out some of Tampa's amazing restaurants. Next up is the PNNA Tukwila/Seattle show the first week in October!
Comments
Wonderful report, Charmy. I just wish the public had actually shown up. Love that ‘raw’ 1856 FE. Wow!
Dave
I miss your wooden classic coin cases.
Are they now gone?
peacockcoins
Yes, although I loved those beautiful solid oak show cases and had them for over 15 years, they were very heavy to lift in/out of my car and onto tables. I sold them and bought the much lighter but still very pretty gold-toned aluminum cases that I posted in my Long Beach show report. But when I fly to shows, I have to rent the standard (not so attractive) silver cases as you see in this report.
The Penny Lady®
Thanks for your show report. I never thought that this show would be a success. Attendance looks far worse than the 2009 ANA in Los Angeles.
As usual a pleasant,enjoyable report. I enjoy the reports and opinions from actual attendees at the shows the most. The "You Are There" aspect.
Must of been a treat to view all those vintage wines.
Interesting return postage on that 1856 cent. $4.10.
Wonderful recap Charmy. It was great to meet you and chat about coins with you. My stepdaughter (the pilot) and her fiancé are excited to know they will be getting a gorgeous 1909S VDB in the future. Looking forward to our next meeting. Happy travels. Cheers, karl
Wow! I think you even outdid yourself with this one, Charmy. Thanks for taking us with you to the show
Tim
Thank you for your show report!
great pictures, thanks for the report, it feels like i was there
Always look forward to your reports. This one had some great do’s and don’ts for coin show operators, very interesting.
Excellent show report, as always. You hit a couple of Tampa staples—Bern’s especially is quite an experience. Glad to hear the positive remarks about Tampa’s very nice and safe downtown, even though the show itself didn’t meet expectations.
One small correction to #7 on your list of issues (no shipping options): there is a UPS Store in the lobby of the convention center.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
What a great adventure. Thank you for sharing it with us, Charmy.
Another great report. You have a way with words that can even make a bad show sound like a good one and I'm sure all the wine, food and friends didn't hurt any.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
As usual a joy to read. " slammed to the floor and stomped on....." Very eloquent!
From a collector perspective, the bourse floor sounds ideal! Wish I could have attended.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Thanks for your extensive report.
The pics taken at night are way awesome and nice report
great report as always, I come for the food and stay for the coins
Thanks for the show report. Hopefully the show promoters will address some the issues you observed and/or experienced.
Great write up thanks for sharing with us!!!
Always love the reports and Pics, thanks for sharing!
It's all about what the people want...
Thank you everyone, I sincerely appreciate your kind comments. I did have a great time in Tampa, it's a beautiful city with some amazing restaurants. I have confidence that Larry and the Coin World folks will figure out how to beef up attendance and fix some of the glitches at their upcoming shows.
The Penny Lady®
A Very nice food and wine vacation / location., and a dealer trading day show too.
Glad I did no go not much for a poor collector with limited resources. I bough all I could afford at Long Beach and Buena Park Shows.
Great report Charmy,
We have friends in Tampa so on our next visit we may have to try one or two of the restaurants.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
I always enjoy your show reports and the many many great pics that you include with each report.
Thanks for the great report! Sounds like it was a buyer’s Paradise.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/