Willimantic, CT show report

roadrunner

In the sleepy old mill town of Willimantic quite a few people came to attend the show. The attendance was brisk but overall buying seemed subdued. I talked to half a dozen dealers and they reported making only a few hundred dollars at best. Cheap paper money and common proof sets and special sets sold fairly well.
Junk was selling. Real nice coins were not really here this time. I did manage to find a nice NGC MS64 old holdered 1857 flying eagle and bought it for $975. It was the first decent (non-scuffy and non-rubbed) one I had run across in a year in my local area. I showed it to BigD5 before I bought just to make sure there wasn't something funky with the color. Too many holdered copper coins just aren't right.

I was able to sell some PQ NGC gold coins for all the money to once again show that a nice coin brings good money. A very PQ 1901-s $10 Lib was sold for $1550. I think average ones are lucky to fetch around $1300 now. An average PCGS coin will not bring $1550. A crackout dealer purchased it along with an ebay MS64 Saint (PCGS first gen PQ64++) for $790 that I just got in. Decided not to resubmit it and just make something on it now. Also sold a nice 1911 $10 Indian in NGC63 for $855.

There wasn't a ton to do at this show so I showed some of my better personal pieces that I happened to have with me to BigD5.

Would have liked to have bought some MS64 and 65 Saints but no one was selling them cheap. They are soft right now but at the same time no one seems to be bailing on them. MS65 Saints were quoted at $1100 and some were buyers at $1060. I'll take some at that price too!

Some young man got me wrapped up with some modern proofs sets and I stupidly gave him a pair of sets for $33 (at bid) and didn't even get money from him. He was happy to take them and walk without paying. It happens. I just wasn't keeping track. I think I even thanked the man as he left too! Sheesh!

I saw a pretty nice 1901-0 barber quarter in PCGS XF45 with lots of luster and orig color. Would grade it XF45++. Ask for this was $400+ and though I felt it had value it was basically AU money. If someone on the forum has interest in such a piece I could direct you to the selling dealer here in CT.

Lots of bullion, bars, rounds, circ saints, and lower grade circ type.
Not much in key dates. I was hounded by 3 dealers as soon as I walked in if I had key dates, CC Morgans, gold, new coins, early copper, etc. Obviously the interest is still there as long as the price is fair. Also saw a really nice AU58 bust half PCGS that was listed for $410. It had around 75% orig luster and was darn nice. It was not there the 2nd trip around. I kick myself for selling 3 totally original pieces nicer than that for $195-210 each only a year ago. And one of those was an MS60. Still, this was a nice bust half and worth the $400+.

No key date gold and certainly nothing early was here. Seemed like all the nice coins were kept home this time.


roadrunner

roadrunner

A friend of mine showed me a 78cc Morgan in NGC MS65 for $1100 and though I was impressed with the obverse color I just wasn't all that confident in the NGC holder to pay nearly full CDN bid for such a coin. So I passed. It didn't help that these have been strongly run up over the past year too. But, I'll probably kick myself for passing.
Yes, this is a case where the holder will not sell the coin unless it was solidly 65 or 65+. Holder bias lives.

roadrunner

merz2

Great report.We need more of these.

mercurynut

Thanks for the update!

TONEDDOLLARS

Roadrunner, Just how nice was the color?????

roadrunner

TD,

The toning on the 78-cc (obv only) was nice enough for me to consider buying it. There was a remainder of a light print in the right obv field at 3:00 but it was not obvious. Would consider it a B+ coin on color. Worth a premium normally and helped to balance
out a few light chatter marks. It will likely be at the next Auburn show if you want to look up a certain collector. PM me.

roadrunner

EarlyHalfBoobu

I was there from 10-11am... Not much in the way of early halves - a couple damaged, overpriced 1795's and just a few (I saw a total of four) Draped busts. Very disappointing.

Stuart

Roadrunner: Thanks for the fine Willimantic, CT Show Report. I've got a couple of good freinds (Chuck & April Brenker) who live in Widham out in the country up on Bass Road outside of Willmantic -- Chuck works for N.U.S.C. in Groton and his wife works as a social worker for the state...

seanq

When I was a student at UConn I belonged to the club which hosts that show. One of these years I have to get back up there. Thanks for the report.

Sean Reynolds

P.S.: Have you attended any of the S.N.E.C.C. shows in Hartford recently? In your opinion are they worth the drive up from the Bridgeport area to attend?

BigD5

Roadrunner summed up the show rather nicely.

I did a decent amount of sales, not outstanding, but better than I thought. I attended this show last year, and walked the floor buying. I ended up selling a ton that way, and bought quite a bit too. This year I was furniture behind the table in full bore selling mode. I ended up winning a few lots in the recent Bowers sale, and because of a delay in the email notifications from them (I should have checked my lots, but have become reliant on the post auction notifications) my "spending" money for Willimantic is headed to Bowers.

So, I bought very little, but the people I talked with that were trying to do some serious buying weren't all that impressed with what they found, so that made me feel a bit better.

"There wasn't a ton to do at this show so I showed some of my better personal pieces that I happened to have with me to BigD5."

Better personal pieces is the understatement of the year for me. These coins were outstanding! It was my pleasure to have a look at them.

I hooked up with RNCHSN, and he was busy, busy, busy...........

Overall the show was good. Busy, but not crazy. I sold every DMPL in my case, and there seemed to be a strange run on Barber Quarters, more so than I have found in the past.

I'll be back next year.

Tsimmerdown

I didn't make it to the Willimantic show.. my job and full time grad school are taking up way too much of my time these days. I would have loved to pop up there on Sunday morning, but I know I'd end up spending way too much money. Thanks for the report, though.

I went to the last show in Hartford, and in my opinion, it's worth the drive from Bridgeport. But then again, I'm a paper money guy and I did well at the show, finding a key note for my collection. Also, only living 10 minutes away is a big plus, which means I'll definetly go to the next Hartford show. I drove down to a show closer to you.. it was in West Haven I believe. Much smaller than the show in Hartford.

The Hartford show needs more parking.. I had to park pretty far down in the street. Also, the area the venue is located in isn't horrible, but it isn't the greatest. As far as the selection goes, coinwise.. I'm not the one to tell you if it's worthwhile or not. My guess is there were 15-20 dealers.

Still, with that papermoney find, I was quite impressed with the show, because the particular rarity I purchased only comes up for auction maybe 7-15 times a year. Finding one at a local show was quite a coincidence.