A Few Observations From The Long Beach Show ...

Fletcher

- The isles were fairly empty leaving dealers plenty of time to provide excellent customer service ... whether they actually did, I found, was typical for each individual dealer. The exception to the "crowd" rule ... McIntosh Coins. It doesn't matter if they are at a shoulder to shoulder tiny show in No. Cal. or an uber-show with empty isles in Long Beach ... they are ALWAYS stacked three or four deep with buyers and sellers, countless coins flying back and forth, and you always get excellent customer service and a fair price whether you are buying or selling. I had to wait over an hour before my number was called, but, as always, it was well worth it. And, if you are within 12 feet of the McIntosh compound at a show, people are laughing and you are having a good time. And, he took two nice type quarters off my hands for a fair price. Unfortunately, I missed a gorgeous totally original XF40 Gregg & Norris $5 Cal. territorial that he had just sold to a dealer and had sitting upside down in his case ...

- Given the current state of the market, I expected a certain amount of panic to be permeating the bourse ... it wasn't. Although, while silently observing, it seemed that many of the dealers appeared to be more adverse to laying out dough for new inventory. The collectors, however, certainly were not and were buying up quality material as fast as they could. It is an interesting time ...

- It was nice to finally meet a few dealers that I have done business with: Laura and Jose of Legend and Dave of CRO ... all class acts with great insight in to the market. Also, it was great to see Brandon back in the trenches and building a name for his new company Polaris Coins ... I am sure that he will do very well.

- Finally, don't eat the hot dogs ... they are not good!

NHSBaseball

Man, if I spent 80 grand with a dealer I would expect to have him provide a better lunch than a hot dog- maybe a muffaletta or oyster po-boy- and Simonize my car to boot!

Rich Uhrich sent me a Christmas card and I think I had spent about 57 cents that year!

MidLifeCrisis

Thanks for the report Fletcher. Did you buy anything?

Fletcher

<< <i>Did you buy anything? >>



There were only two things that I saw today that really moved me ... the aforementioned territorial and a Clubbed Rays Fugio that the dealer and I could not come to a meeting of the minds on. So, unfortunately, no

Coxe

Mac is one of the best. I've bought and sold with him for years and he has always been very fair and honest with me. I don't play his game of "flipping for it" but he's cool with that too. Did more business with him when I collected gold (quarter eagles mainly). Wish I could find more stuff up my alley at his table, but I still always stop at every show.

bidask

nice report

jom

No surprise about Mac. I've been to local shows here for years and it is always the same at Mac's table. Some things never change....

jom

Broadstruck

I keep hearing about McIntosh Coins, but don't know em... do they have a website

COALPORTER

Quote from Broadcom:
' keep hearing about McIntosh Coins, but don't know em... do they have a website "

Yes, but it has not been updated in so long that some of the coins are now on other dealers web site. He only stays on the west coast because he does not like to fly.

MCINTOSH

MCINTOSH TO LEDGEND ? That's spaning a big gap

EagleEye

John is a great guy and always friendly. He got his sons woking with him now. It is a fast paced coin-o-ram-a at his table!

HighRelief

Nice report Fletcher

Hows that DMPL collection of yours going?

BECOKA

It's been a while since I have been to a bustling show.

I am not a buyer now as I would imagine many others that used to draw comfort of having the stock market as a backup.

I will have to force myself not to goto the next show to avoid temptation.

robkool

I'll have to check out the dealers table...

Thanks for the info...

WTCG

The guys (and gal) at Albanese Rare Coins are generally very cordial people and I'm sure that they'll grant you their complete attention if you stop by their table again. A negative attitude is never good and chances are they regret any negativity that may have arisen from the situation.

Considering how much effort John McIntosh and company use to advertise their presence at any show they attend they deserve the crowds of followers they generate.

illini420

Another for McIntosh. Bought a coin from them and also sold some moderns to them at a smaller local show. They seemed willing to buy everything offered and gave me a decent price as I was trading on some of their slabbed coins.

They also sent me a nice inventory list via mail afterwards which was sort of cool. Will likely check their table out tomorrow.

ArizonaJack

1st chance to post in a cpl days.
I had the lucky stars to run into Brandon Kelly 1st thing while lot viewing and picked up a nice SVDB from him, my 1st LB coin purchase the show. Great start !! Had a "bidding accident "in the Heritage auction, long comedic story, ask Rick Snow about my bidding "mishap". Beer and hotwings later with the Eagle Eye gang ( Karen, Rick and Brian Wagner) at Rock Bottom Grill. 4 lots won in session 1, including the 14-D I wanted for my personal set.

Breakfast this morning was spent talking with vette62 and MustangGT ( sorry guys if I got the nic's wrong, but I know who you are ), then a great show. "The real coin cop "initials M.F. ( so as to not sound like a name dropper ) hooked me up with another nice PCGS 64RB SVDB, ran into a bunch of CU members, bought and sold, traded, submitted a boat load, spent some more money and ended the night with a great dinner of Mahi Mahi.

On the house puter at the hotel and some ugly person is breathing down my neck right now. I'll check in later. He is bigger than me and uglier than all get out. I better get off.

Fletcher

Ahhh ... I saw Rick Snow and wanted to go meet him since he is THE MAN in FE cents but didn't have anything to say besides "Hey ... you're Rick Snow!" However, if I was still doing copper I could definitely have dropped large dollars at his table

TwoSides2aCoin

Super report Fletcher. I like the "dress down" idea. That's a brilliant "low key" move.

notwilight

<< <i>Super report Fletcher. I like the "dress down" idea. That's a brilliant "low key" move. >>



Duh. I have a nice leather briefcase but an old ratty walmart one for coin shows. It's packed up now with I won't say what inside it but I couldn't get away to go to LB today.

--Jerry

mustanggt

Just back from my first Long Beach show so I have no history to compare to. Met some great forum members, bought a couple coins and had a great time. It was certainly worth the trip and the Island Burgers across the street are great.

TwoSides2aCoin

Hotfootspin

<< <i>Ahhh ... I saw Rick Snow and wanted to go meet him since he is THE MAN in FE cents but didn't have anything to say besides "Hey ... you're Rick Snow!" >>



How to politely break the ice: "I appreciate your posts on the forum!"

I only said it because it is true.

However, even that didn't cause him to like any of my cr*ppy coins or
make offers on any of them.

Rick's assistant Karen was very nice!

Thanks,
Mark

Hotfootspin

McIntosh has an interesting setup and I think it works well.

He has a case with all the expensive stuff, and he sits behind that case
all day long wheeling and dealing. It's hard to even get a look at that
case unless you wait in line for a long time or come at an uncharacteristically
opportune moment.

There are other cases off to the side with less expensive stuff, lots of
raw coins, etc. It's pretty easy to take a look at those cases. His sons will
help you. They can interrupt their dad at any time to ask a question. His
sons will also help if you want to sell less expensive stuff. There is hardly
ever a wait to see the side cases. As for buying, they know how to use a
Greysheet.

A couple shows back, I bought a nice half cent from one of the sons' own
collections for my type set.

One of my first experiences with him, when I didn't know him nor he I:
I bought a type coin from him at a local show. Found a nicer one at another
table just a few minutes later. Told him I'd found a nicer one ... he allowed
me to return it without questions. Been a fan ever since.

Thanks,
Mark

ArizonaJack

<< <i>

<< <i>Ahhh ... I saw Rick Snow and wanted to go meet him since he is THE MAN in FE cents but didn't have anything to say besides "Hey ... you're Rick Snow!" >>



How to politely break the ice: "I appreciate your posts on the forum!"

I only said it because it is true.

However, even that didn't cause him to like any of my cr*ppy coins or
make offers on any of them.

Rick's assistant Karen was very nice!

Thanks,
Mark >>



Me and a CoinTalk buddy sat with Rick and Karen at Rock Bottom ( the Long Beach official watering hole ), along with Brian Wagner. Great folks and Karen is awesome, always has a smile.
Rick has a primo 1922 No D in a PCGS AU-50 holder that I was drooling over ( still am ), but at that point I was all spent out of cash.

illini420

Just to add, McIntosh is a really fun table to visit and deal at. I was selling a coin that I knew I'd be taking a little bit of a loss on (early mistake purchase )

The boys took a quick look and then interrupted dad for a final price as previously mentioned. While their price was pretty fair (highest I was offered to that point) we were still about $100 under what I had paid so I was a little hesitant. The dad quickly said "ok, let's flip for it" so if he won the flip, his price held, if I won, he'd add another $25 to the price. Well, I lost the flip, so he got the coin at his original offering price. But it was fun for me and the rest of the crowd too

I also peeked into Rick Snow's cases several times, just didn't pull the trigger this time. He has some great ones in there though!!! That Hunting Dogs token he has is amazing. Also has a monster 1908-S IHC!!!!! Almost made the drive back to Long Beach today to see them again

BobGreene

At Long Beach on Thursday I managed to finally finish off my EF/AU Dansco of FE and Indian cents with the help of Charmy Harker of Coincents. A very nice and trustworthy lady to deal with. She even took the time to track me down on the boarse floor to show me a coin she had just purchased. It was the last one I needed to complete my set. Thank you Charmy!

Other than that, I purchased some currency. I picked up an 1891 Martha $1 note, a 1928 LT, a 1935 SC, and a North Africa $1. All in all I had a very good day and I even left with money to spare!

SkyMan

Thank you for the report.

Hotfootspin

<< <i>At Long Beach on Thursday I managed to finally finish off my EF/AU Dansco of FE and Indian cents with the help of Charmy Harker of Coincents. A very nice and trustworthy lady to deal with. >>



Another wonderful dealer to work with. I bought a couple upgrades to early Indian dates from
her at this show. She's also good about showing you what to look for in an Indian Cent and
what to avoid.

Thanks,
Mark

Fletcher

I like the name "Charmy"

Coxe

I read a dealer report the other day that said they thought the show was one of the best attended ones in recent memory. Wow, was that at a completely opposing variance to my observation for the show on Friday. Maybe all those retail customers ducked and hid everytime I turned around. Oh well, I had fun anyway.