A fun time at my first ANA show...
cmerlo1
Posts: 7,960 ✭✭✭✭✭
After all these years of coin collecting, I finally made it to an ANA convention, and had a lot of fun there.
I headed up to Ft. Worth from Austin with my good friend, Harry Cabluck. Harry is a great guy and good friend. He was a photographer for the associated press for over 40 years, and just recently retired. He has a lot of great stories, having photographed just about every famous person during that time, and was in the Kennedy motorcade in Dallas in 1963. He is also an avid silver dollar collector, so between his stories and our discussions about VAMs, the 3 hour trip flew by.
When we got there, we headed straight to the bourse. My first stop was the ANA museum section, where I finally got to see an 1804 dollar (2 of them, actually) and a 1913 Liberty nickel. They also had a 1933 double eagle, and the 1849 double eagle. I also went by the BEP booth and watched them restoring currency.
Finally, it was time to start looking for cherrypicks. As I made my way around the show, I was awed at what I was seeing in the cases. After some time, it became apparent to me that this might be a problem- I had brought $300 with me, and the majority of the stuff I was seeing was either complete junk, or was way more expensive than what I had to spend. There were some inexpensive coins, but not the kind I look at for varieties. I enjoy looking through boxes and books of 2 X 2's, and not a lot of dealers had them, that I could see. While I was at one of the tables that did have them, my friend James Arnold tapped me on the shoulder. He'd gotten there Thursday, and had spent the day VAMming. He showed me a few of his coins, and pointed out that Tracy Poole was working the Wizard Coin supply booth. James and Tracy both worked at ANACS while they were here in Austin, so I went by Wizard to say hello. While there, I looked at several Eschenbach loupes, and fell in love with a 12x, which I ended up buying. New loupe in hand, it was time to return to the hunt.
I made my first coin purchase, finally. It's a Mel Wacs 1971-S Proof Ike, with his counterstamp commemorating the 1984 Olympics:
I bumped into another friend of mine from the coin club. He asked what I was looking for, and I told him varieties, mainly VAMs. He pulled out a list of coins he'd brought to sell, saying he'd make a deal if there was anything I wanted. The first coin there was a 1878 8TF Morgan dollar, PCGS AU-58. I asked to see it, and was surprised at how nice it looked- the coin was prooflike on both sides, with light cameo contrast on the obverse. I asked for a price, and bought it on the spot:
I try to buy nice 8TF's when I can find them at good prices. I'm still not entirely up to speed on 8TF VAMs, but I had my laptop with me and I figured I'd attribute it via VAMWorld when I got to the hotel.
I received a call from James, asking me to come to the ANACS booth. He was there with Harry, and they were discussing the 1971-S FS-501 RPM Ike that I had attributed and Harry had submitted a few months ago. It had come back with no attribution, and a note saying it wasnt the requested variety. I argued my attribution to judge JP Martin. They were unaware of the additional obverse die markers for the variety, and once I showed them to JP, he agreed to take the coin back for another look.
Finally, at another table, I made a nice cherrypick (and properly broke in my new loupe!), this 1900 DDR Liberty nickel:
My next stop was Fred Weinberg's table. He had some absolutely amazing mint errors. He's also an incredibly nice guy. I had recently cherrypicked 2 off-center 2000 wide-AM Lincoln cents, and asked him if he thought they'd be worth the $50 mint error fees to get them into PCGS plastic. He said they were, and offered to write up the submission and sign off on the attribution so PCGS wouldn't have to send them to him to look at- this would save 2-3 weeks of grading time. I didn't have them on me, but told him I'd bring them by the next day.
At the end of the day, I'd bought 3 coins and a loupe. I met up with Harry, who'd bought some nice 1878 Morgans, and we headed for dinner at Angelo's BBQ. James came along with us as well. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, and fired up the computer so we could start attributing. My 1878 8TF, ended up being common, a VAM-1 spear point. Harry had a nice, uncirculated 7/8TF that ended up being a VAM-36. He also had a really nice 1878-S in an OGH that turned out to be a VAM-5, and another in an NGC slab that ended up being a VAM-100-1.
The next day (Saturday) we went back for a few hours. None of us bought anything, but I did get my coins submitted to PCGS, and got the errors attributed and signed off on by Mr. Weinberg. I finally saw a couple of coins in the new PCGS + slabs, and must say that I do like the label- the shield glitters.
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded tale- just thought I'd provide a slice of what things were like there...
I headed up to Ft. Worth from Austin with my good friend, Harry Cabluck. Harry is a great guy and good friend. He was a photographer for the associated press for over 40 years, and just recently retired. He has a lot of great stories, having photographed just about every famous person during that time, and was in the Kennedy motorcade in Dallas in 1963. He is also an avid silver dollar collector, so between his stories and our discussions about VAMs, the 3 hour trip flew by.
When we got there, we headed straight to the bourse. My first stop was the ANA museum section, where I finally got to see an 1804 dollar (2 of them, actually) and a 1913 Liberty nickel. They also had a 1933 double eagle, and the 1849 double eagle. I also went by the BEP booth and watched them restoring currency.
Finally, it was time to start looking for cherrypicks. As I made my way around the show, I was awed at what I was seeing in the cases. After some time, it became apparent to me that this might be a problem- I had brought $300 with me, and the majority of the stuff I was seeing was either complete junk, or was way more expensive than what I had to spend. There were some inexpensive coins, but not the kind I look at for varieties. I enjoy looking through boxes and books of 2 X 2's, and not a lot of dealers had them, that I could see. While I was at one of the tables that did have them, my friend James Arnold tapped me on the shoulder. He'd gotten there Thursday, and had spent the day VAMming. He showed me a few of his coins, and pointed out that Tracy Poole was working the Wizard Coin supply booth. James and Tracy both worked at ANACS while they were here in Austin, so I went by Wizard to say hello. While there, I looked at several Eschenbach loupes, and fell in love with a 12x, which I ended up buying. New loupe in hand, it was time to return to the hunt.
I made my first coin purchase, finally. It's a Mel Wacs 1971-S Proof Ike, with his counterstamp commemorating the 1984 Olympics:
I bumped into another friend of mine from the coin club. He asked what I was looking for, and I told him varieties, mainly VAMs. He pulled out a list of coins he'd brought to sell, saying he'd make a deal if there was anything I wanted. The first coin there was a 1878 8TF Morgan dollar, PCGS AU-58. I asked to see it, and was surprised at how nice it looked- the coin was prooflike on both sides, with light cameo contrast on the obverse. I asked for a price, and bought it on the spot:
I try to buy nice 8TF's when I can find them at good prices. I'm still not entirely up to speed on 8TF VAMs, but I had my laptop with me and I figured I'd attribute it via VAMWorld when I got to the hotel.
I received a call from James, asking me to come to the ANACS booth. He was there with Harry, and they were discussing the 1971-S FS-501 RPM Ike that I had attributed and Harry had submitted a few months ago. It had come back with no attribution, and a note saying it wasnt the requested variety. I argued my attribution to judge JP Martin. They were unaware of the additional obverse die markers for the variety, and once I showed them to JP, he agreed to take the coin back for another look.
Finally, at another table, I made a nice cherrypick (and properly broke in my new loupe!), this 1900 DDR Liberty nickel:
My next stop was Fred Weinberg's table. He had some absolutely amazing mint errors. He's also an incredibly nice guy. I had recently cherrypicked 2 off-center 2000 wide-AM Lincoln cents, and asked him if he thought they'd be worth the $50 mint error fees to get them into PCGS plastic. He said they were, and offered to write up the submission and sign off on the attribution so PCGS wouldn't have to send them to him to look at- this would save 2-3 weeks of grading time. I didn't have them on me, but told him I'd bring them by the next day.
At the end of the day, I'd bought 3 coins and a loupe. I met up with Harry, who'd bought some nice 1878 Morgans, and we headed for dinner at Angelo's BBQ. James came along with us as well. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, and fired up the computer so we could start attributing. My 1878 8TF, ended up being common, a VAM-1 spear point. Harry had a nice, uncirculated 7/8TF that ended up being a VAM-36. He also had a really nice 1878-S in an OGH that turned out to be a VAM-5, and another in an NGC slab that ended up being a VAM-100-1.
The next day (Saturday) we went back for a few hours. None of us bought anything, but I did get my coins submitted to PCGS, and got the errors attributed and signed off on by Mr. Weinberg. I finally saw a couple of coins in the new PCGS + slabs, and must say that I do like the label- the shield glitters.
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded tale- just thought I'd provide a slice of what things were like there...
You Suck! Awarded 6/2008- 1901-O Micro O Morgan, 8/2008- 1878 VAM-123 Morgan, 9/2022 1888-O VAM-1B3 H8 Morgan | Senior Regional Representative- ANACS Coin Grading. Posted opinions on coins are my own, and are not an official ANACS opinion.
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Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
I think that the Big One announcement has overshadowed the coin show.
I really like to read show reports like this one.
Looks like you had a fun outing!!
~
"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
I wonder, the people who go for the first time.... How do you know how much money to bring? Too much would make me nervous, too little would be potentially disappointing. Or do most of the dealers take credit cards?
WTB: Barber Quarters XF
K
This is the type of post that makes this forum what it is
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
<< <i>terrific post- great read and all I can say is I would have liked to be there too
This is the type of post that makes this forum what it is >>
I agree! Great post. Sounds like you had fun!
-Paul
<< <i>Thanks, everybody- it was definitely a fun couple of days! The Liberty nickel shows notching and separation, particularly on the 'E' and 'T' of 'CENTS'. It also exactly matches the pic in the CPG... >>
You may want to try an acetone bath on that nickel. I think you will be impressed with the results. Great reporting and thank you.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
<< <i>I love the counterstamp..... do you have others? >>
Wow! I sold a Harry Truman anniversary '71-S proof Ike last year... that's the only other one I've seen in-hand...
<< <i>How do you know how much money to bring? Too much would make me nervous, too little would be potentially disappointing. Or do most of the dealers take credit cards? >>
You can never bring too much cash to a coin show....
Seriously, many dealers will take a personal check. Leave the credit cards for the hotel bill.
U.S. Type Set