9/19 Nashua, NH Show Report, Sort-Of
mirabela
Posts: 5,012 ✭✭✭✭✭
Took my 14-month-old daughter for her first big day away from Mom today. We drove 3+ hours to go to a small show, my first since I was something like eleven years old. Up here 1/2 hour from Canada, we don't have any, ever. My ambitions there were pretty limited -- in order, a) have a pleasant 10-hour day with my kid with no major meltdowns; b) sell some really low-grade common collector stuff, large cents & IHC's mostly; c) see if the right Barber quarter for my type set was there singing my name; and d) dig around in the proof sets and SAE's for birth year junk for my nieces, nephews, and friends' kids.
We were kinda slow in getting started, so by the time we got to the hotel where it was happening, lots of dealers were eating lunch or packing up. I got sort of an offer on my package of junk (I was saying all or none) but I can do enough better on ebay to make it worth the hassle, so I put it away. My daughter didn't have too much tolerance for the noise and crowd, I found. As long as we walked things were cool, but when I stopped to look at anything she got annoyed. So, my observations are pretty general; we cruised around and saw:
There were oodles of slabbed Morgans in 65, and lots in 66, mostly commons and mostly white, but a few better dates and a few pretty toned ones. Ditto for Walkers. There were plenty of slabbed Saints in lower MS, and a lot of Liberty gold coinage. Plenty of raw XF and AU seated quarters & halves, raw G-VF Barbers, and raw VG-VF standing liberty quarters -- a good fraction of all of this stuff had been cleaned. Lots of raw bust halves and quarters, mostly in the VF range and a discouraging number of those marked as XF's. Plenty of people selling graded moderns and old copper, but I'm not into either thing so I didn't pay much attention.
She started yelling, so we went outside to drink grape juice, eat crackers, and practice walking. We didn't drive that far to leave after half an hour having bought or sold nothing, so after an interval we went back in. I deduced she'd have no patience for the proof set/SAE hunt (sorry kids, maybe next time!) so we began the hunt for my type set Barber quarter.
I viewed half a dozen likely candidates in hand. A couple of 92's were contenders, but didn't speak to me so I didn't buy them. One was an XF, the other an AU58 (I think) marked as a 62 but priced as what it was. There was nothing wrong with them, they just weren't 'it.' Checked out a dark, crusty 1901 half in XF that I considered buying, but didn't. About this time, Izzie got loose and crawled into an aisle, nearly knocking down a dealer with whom we'd had pleasant conversation ten minutes before.
I eyed a 1914 $5 Indian that I kind of liked. Interestingly, it was in an NGC holder labeled as a 1911 (I think) $2.50 with a different grade. Elsewhere in the fellow's case was the quarter eagle, labeled as a 1914 $5. Weird. It didn't yell my name either, though, so I didn't have him get it out.
On the way out the door, we bought a 1909(P) VDB cent in XF for four bucks. It's a type I didn't have.
We split up the ride home by stopping for an hour to visit with some friends and their kids. All in all we had a fun father-daughter day out, but as a coin-trading excursion it was pretty lackluster. Still, I'm glad I went. It was fun listening to the dealers buying and selling to/from one another, and just looking at what they had. Some of the people were very friendly, too. Maybe I'll go down to Manchester next month.
We were kinda slow in getting started, so by the time we got to the hotel where it was happening, lots of dealers were eating lunch or packing up. I got sort of an offer on my package of junk (I was saying all or none) but I can do enough better on ebay to make it worth the hassle, so I put it away. My daughter didn't have too much tolerance for the noise and crowd, I found. As long as we walked things were cool, but when I stopped to look at anything she got annoyed. So, my observations are pretty general; we cruised around and saw:
There were oodles of slabbed Morgans in 65, and lots in 66, mostly commons and mostly white, but a few better dates and a few pretty toned ones. Ditto for Walkers. There were plenty of slabbed Saints in lower MS, and a lot of Liberty gold coinage. Plenty of raw XF and AU seated quarters & halves, raw G-VF Barbers, and raw VG-VF standing liberty quarters -- a good fraction of all of this stuff had been cleaned. Lots of raw bust halves and quarters, mostly in the VF range and a discouraging number of those marked as XF's. Plenty of people selling graded moderns and old copper, but I'm not into either thing so I didn't pay much attention.
She started yelling, so we went outside to drink grape juice, eat crackers, and practice walking. We didn't drive that far to leave after half an hour having bought or sold nothing, so after an interval we went back in. I deduced she'd have no patience for the proof set/SAE hunt (sorry kids, maybe next time!) so we began the hunt for my type set Barber quarter.
I viewed half a dozen likely candidates in hand. A couple of 92's were contenders, but didn't speak to me so I didn't buy them. One was an XF, the other an AU58 (I think) marked as a 62 but priced as what it was. There was nothing wrong with them, they just weren't 'it.' Checked out a dark, crusty 1901 half in XF that I considered buying, but didn't. About this time, Izzie got loose and crawled into an aisle, nearly knocking down a dealer with whom we'd had pleasant conversation ten minutes before.
I eyed a 1914 $5 Indian that I kind of liked. Interestingly, it was in an NGC holder labeled as a 1911 (I think) $2.50 with a different grade. Elsewhere in the fellow's case was the quarter eagle, labeled as a 1914 $5. Weird. It didn't yell my name either, though, so I didn't have him get it out.
On the way out the door, we bought a 1909(P) VDB cent in XF for four bucks. It's a type I didn't have.
We split up the ride home by stopping for an hour to visit with some friends and their kids. All in all we had a fun father-daughter day out, but as a coin-trading excursion it was pretty lackluster. Still, I'm glad I went. It was fun listening to the dealers buying and selling to/from one another, and just looking at what they had. Some of the people were very friendly, too. Maybe I'll go down to Manchester next month.
mirabela
0
Comments
I am sorry that you did not find what you are seeking...here is one on ebay that might interest you...link.
Russ, NCNE
<< <i> Maybe I'll go down to Manchester next month. >>
Is this show worth the trip? It's about 60-90 minutes for me to drive up there, depending on the traffic. I'm thinking of going up on that Friday (taking the day off early) so I don't avoid the dealers fleeing on Saturday and Sunday. Have you been to this show before... would be interested to hear your review of it. I collect paper currency, and I find at these larger local shows there's usually enough paper to be found to make it worth my while.
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