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Florida/Arizona fun, anyone?

nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
in World & Ancient Coins Forum
Hi all! I am traveling to Florida on business in a few weeks and I was wondering if there was anybody or anything of note to check out in the Orlando/Daytona area? If there are any reputable dealers or organizations I should visit, it would be nice to have a coin stop on my trip.

I am going to Arizona in March for vacation and will be in the Phoenix area. Same question, different locale: anything/anyone worth seeing?

Feel free to PM me if you would like to make recommendations in private.

Cheers!
My Collection

Comments

  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    One bump because I will be leaving on Monday and haven't gotten any suggestions. Thanks!
    My Collection
  • spoonspoon Posts: 2,798 ✭✭✭
    I never spent much time looking for coins in PHX, from what I could tell it was pretty desolate as far as good coin shops go. I did hit one store there that claimed to have world coins, but the selection was thin and pawnshop-like (don't recall the name of it). I know there are a couple forum members in that neck of the woods, Doogy (who's no longer on this forum), I believe is.

    I lived south of Tucson for a few years, though, in Sierra Vista (don't bother!). There are(were?) a handful of decent stores in Tucson. The Mini Mint of Tucson had probably the most darkside. Some nice stuff, but mostly basic (ie, not thalers and such, more <$20). Old Pueblo Coins on Speedway was fairly popular, more an average American coin store as far as darkside is concerned (which is to say not much of it) - I can't comment on their US material.. I never paid attention to it (which goes for all of these places!). There was another decent one like Pueblo up on N Oracle, don't recall the name. As for US coins, which, again, I never paid attention to, there was a guy who is supposedly one of the premier experts on I think it was Flying Eagle cents? I don't remember. He had a small store in a fancy plaza full of doctors on the NW side of town somewhere. Also, not sure if the guy is still alive, but the fella that runs Glass Shoppe Coins on Broadway (which was rarely open! and otherwise not worth the trouble) wrote the book on Arizona tokens and scrip, had copies for sale cheap if you're interested in that stuff. Tucson seems to have had more coin stores than many larger cities I've been to. The ones mentioned here are the ones I found to be better, but my memory is fading - I left AZ in 2007!

    If you find yourself going down to Bisbee, a nice little town, there was a nice store there on Main St just before the bend, across from the Grand. That guy had a ton of nice darkside stuff, really eclectic, though pricing was kind of stiff. I'm not sure if he's still there and if he is, he's often on the road so call ahead. Oh, and since we're talking about Bisbee - eat at Santiago's next to the Copper Queen. They had a nationally recognized chef and was hands down best Mexican food I had anywhere the whole time I lived in AZ!

    Of course, all of this info is dated - I left and haven't been back since 2007 - so check ahead if you're going to these areas.

    My wantlist & references

  • nicholasz219nicholasz219 Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭
    Well Spoon,

    I appreciate the time and effort you put into this response. As for finding dealers of Darkside material in the "real world", it appears that I am just as unlucky in Arizona as I am in Indiana. The only good news is that I can still go on Ebay while I am out there! Lol!

    A few notes:

    There is nothing more depressing than being told by an friend that "oh, there is this store that has coins you should check out!" and being an excitable coin collector, running over there to find a "pawnshop sort of situation." My memory of Dante's Inferno is rusty, but whatever of the rings of hell was the lowest, the pawnshop coin exists there.

    I am hoping my gf, kids and I will be able to make it down towards Tuscon from Phoenix. It will be another stop on a week of driving in circles I am sure. We anticipate visiting the Grand Canyon and a ton of other places, and I would like to poke around some coin shops while out there. This all may be just a fantasy as we are taking our three children under 8 with us. But my 8 year old daughter loves coins and just started working through the collection I gave her. So maybe there is hope for this vacation after all.

    I found Santiago's on Urbanspoon! Looks like it is open and doing well! I hope that I can get out there to eat if I make it up that way. It looks delicious!

    Santiago's

    Nick
    My Collection
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