Las Vegas Plaza Hotel Show Report.....

ThePennyLady

I just returned from the Las Vegas Numismatic Society's 47th Annual Coin Show held at the Plaza Hotel. This show has over 100 tables and is usually a very good show. It's held in the Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas at the end of wonderful Fremont Street. While the show started out pretty slowly, thanks to a view large sales and some great buys, it turned out to be one of my best Las Vega show. Friday was very active, and what was selling the best for me and for what I heard from other dealers was material under $200. Surprisingly, my most popular items were 2009 and 2010 penny rolls and single coins! I only had a dozen or so 2010 penny rolls and I almost sold out of them.

On set up day, a vest pocket dealer showed me one of the most beautiful large cents I've ever seen! It's an 1851 NGC MS66 RB with gorgeous lustrous and sparkling magenta toning. I couldn't resist it and will post pictures after Todd takes photos of it this week in Baltimore. It's truly a stunning piece and is making me want to start collecting large cents (but that's too much of a slippery slope for me since I just got into Conder tokens!) I also picked up a nice 1877 in MS64 BN, and a couple other very pretty toned Lincoln cents - photos to come!

We had dinner last night at Binions Ranch Steakhouse which is at the very top of Binions Casino on Fremont Street. They have excellent steaks and service, not to mention a most beautiful view of Las Vegas. I highly recommend it. And of course, I had a lot of fun playing poker after the show, mostly at Binions.

Today being a Sunday of a 3-day show, I didn't expect to do much business and thought I would just go in for a couple hours then pack up so I could get started on that long drive home. Well, first, I had a nice surprise when Bohiman stopped by and chatted with me for a few minutes. He said he was in town for a wedding and was pleased to find out this show was the same weekend. A couple other board members who mostly "lurk" also stopped by just to say hi, and one even bought some of my 2010 pennies! Then, even more surprisingly, an older gentleman came by my table and bought some nice VF/XF key date pennies. What was even more special for me was that he told me that these coins just about completed his sets. I am always honored to be able to help someone achieve their goal of completing a a set they have been putting together for years.

Any way, the drive home was long, especially since there was an accident on I-15 just outside of Las Vegas which delayed everyone by about 45 minutes. Right now I'm watching the Olympic Closing Ceremony, and will focus on getting everything ready for Baltimore tomorrow!

WTCG

I was there on Friday and it was a decent show. Compared to the other coin shows throughout the year in Las Vegas this is invariably the best attended show by far. It did surprise me, however, that there were a few unsold tables scattered around the floor.

I haven't been to the Binion Ranch Steakhouse myself yet, but the place sure does have its fans.

1intheneck

Thanks for the update Charmy. I'm always interested in seeing how these shows are going and I know others are too.

BTW Go ahead and start your large cent collection Its too hard to resist

curly

I've dined at Binion's Steakhouse and I've also had the pleasure of dining with Charmy, but I've never had the pleasure of combining the two. This old man is gonna put that one on his "to do" list.

ricko

Interesting report, seems most coin shows are running about the same lately. Cheers, RickO

mustanggt

Glad to hear you had a good show...you didn't provide poker results however.

EagleEye

Nice report. I recall having a great steak at Binion's with Charmy during a show at Sam's Old Town. I'm glad this show was well attended. I spent my weekend hiking in the mountains around Tuscon. My legs are so sore today. Also, on Friday I picked up a great collection of Indians, so I was actually glad I didn't go, since I wouldn't have had time to get it ready for Baltimore had I gone to Vegas.

HighRelief

Nice report Charmy, the Vegas Coin Shows are always fun ones to attend. I will be looking forward to seeing you up here in April at the Seattle Coin Show.

ThePennyLady

<< <i>Glad to hear you had a good show...you didn't provide poker results however. >>



I was up and down the whole weekend, but finally on Saturday, I came out a big whopping $40 ahead! I do have a little Black Jack story.... I finished playing poker and was headed back to my hotel when I saw one of the NASCAR guys I played poker with sitting at the Black Jack table so he called me over and I sat down to play a few hands. Well, this guy who is, interestingly enough, a cold case detective from New Mexico, was there with a couple friends for the race, one of whom was sitting to his left (apparently, they are good friends with the owner of the Golden Nugget who had box seats at the race - they even invited me to go to the race but, of course, I was there for the coin show). Well Mr. Moneybags was betting $500 a hand and playing 2 hands at a time! I asked my NASCAR poker friend why his friend was betting so much and he said his friend could well afford to and besides, he had already won over $35,000 the night before. Sadly for Mr. Moneybags, I was getting all the good hands and he was losing like crazy. While I was winning with my measly $15 a hand, Mr. Moneybags was pulling out thousands of dollars letting the cash play. He kept getting terrible cards and the dealer just kept taking away all that money. I hated seeing the house rake in so much money off one guy and even offered to trade seats with him because I felt so bad since apparently his losing streak began as soon as I sat down! While I walked away with a couple hundred dollars, he left down about $10,000 all within about a 1/2 hour! Yikes!

shorecoll

My only good gambling story was...2-3 years ago I walked through Binion's with a gambler friend and dropped a quarter in the first slot I passed and hit for $150. My friend was so miffed we had to stay there for 2 hours while he tried to catch up to me (he never did).

We ate in a basement restaurant that looked right out of Goodfellas. 80-year old waiters talking about Frank and the rat pack. The food and service was wonderful but I can't remember the name of the place.

WTCG

<< <i>My only good gambling story was...2-3 years ago I walked through Binion's with a gambler friend and dropped a quarter in the first slot I passed and hit for $150. My friend was so miffed we had to stay there for 2 hours while he tried to catch up to me (he never did).

We ate in a basement restaurant that looked right out of Goodfellas. 80-year old waiters talking about Frank and the rat pack. The food and service was wonderful but I can't remember the name of the place. >>



That basement restaurant was the old coffee shop. It's no longer there but it was one of the last places in town where you could get a good prime rib dinner for $1.99. The Binions million dollar display used to be directly adjacent.

shorecoll

No the restaurant wasn't in Binion's it was across the street or around the corner and the steaks were $80. Very dark, cool atmosphere and I kept waiting for someone to ask me for the password. For the first course a salad chef came to the table to make the classic Caesar salad.

Leon