Another FUN report - Barbers, Copper, and Forumites
Walkerguy21D
Posts: 11,395 ✭✭✭✭✭
If you aren't tired of FUN reports, here's another.....
With this year's show in Tampa, I was forced to miss Thur and had to settle for Friday only. Parking was kind of a hassle, and by the time I got to the public registration, it was nearly 10:30. Apparently others were in the same boat, as all three lines still had multiple people signing in.
My first 45 min was spent reviewing a 'fresh deal' that a friend of mine had acquired on Mon and was holding specifically for me. There were some nice late date large cents in XF at reasonable prices, and a few type coins I picked up. Unfortunately the early copper was not up to snuff, which was a disappointment. He said they had a good show on Thur, and that they had sold coins in a number of different series.
Next stop was Ed and Lance Hipps table, which is usually my first stop. Lance has been putting a lot of effort into beefing up their stock of better Barber coins, and it showed. They had a number of higher circ halves in holders on display, and indicated they had already sold a number of them. Fortunately for me, the raw coins had just been put out Fri morning, and were more or less in piles, so anyone 'hunting' had to take the time to dig. Knowing their inventory, I figured this would be a worthwhile endeavor. I was rewarded with 99S and 04O halves in nice orginal VF+ condition, and gladly paid over Bid for them. In fact Lance would not discount the 04O half at all, saying he had priced it too cheap to begin with. But he made up for it on my next selection, an 11D quarter in choice original XF, which he sold at Bid. This coin is listed as R5, and in several years of searching, had only seen one damaged VF and none higher, so this was a treat. I showed it to a number of 'Barber guys' later, and everyone congratulated me on a nice find.
I was disappointed in the copper they had. Ed was (is) well known in EAC circles for large cents, but lamented to me that 'nothing new is coming in, all the nice stuff is going to auction, and the prices are crazy these days'. And as always he had some interesting stories share about the good old days, when he sold one of the NC 1794 varieties that he found to Dorothy Paschel back in the early 60's for $1500, and of a monster set he bought in 1966 that Del Bland and others flew in to cherrypick.....Back to the present - Lance said they were having the best show in several years, and that Barbers are red hot, second only to large cents, and that he felt 2011 was going to be a good year for coins. He said they have clients that have made a lot of $$ on their gold and silver holdings, and were moving it into numismatic coins.
General notes - I thought the floor was 'busy', but not crowded. I heard Thur was also very busy - two dealers said they didn't get lunch that day as it was too hectic. The majority of the dealers I talked to said they thought Orlando was a better venue, and thought they would have had a better show if it had been there. Early and better variety copper was scarce, generally poor quality, and high priced when available. I did find a few decent middle date coins to acquire, though nothing for my personal set. Regretfully I did not even get to Tom Reynolds table, but did visit Doug Bird and Steve Ellesworth. Barber coins, on the other hand, appeared relatively abundant compared to recent shows (I'm referring to better dates in middle and higher circ grades - the stuff 'everyone is after'). This is part of why I didn't see as many tables as usual, as I was finding things at many tables. Higher prices and demand may be bringing them into the light of day. I purchased an 02S quarter in VF from Ellesworth, who said they just bought an old collection, and pointed me at the dimes.....there were SIX 03S dimes in VF or so, and FIVE 04S dimes - and that's what was left. Apparently there were multiples of better dates in the collection, and that he had sold many. Another dealer who had better Barbers on display (I picked up a nice 05O quarter there) said I should have come by sooner. He showed me his records - one whole page was strictly Barber sales - and he still had a lot of nice coins on hand. Another dealer friend who primarily sells via his website said it was a great buying show for him - he deals almost strictly in MS PCGS and NGC collector coins - walkers, Morgans, Buffs, etc.
Forumites - I met JMW at the show - we have corresponded frequently in the past, and it was good to meet him in person. And he was glad to get a break from the weather in Colorado. I met Todd (Bluvette2) and had him image my 'cameo' 16S walker - I'm looking forward to seeing it, knowing I could never capture the beauty and contrast of that coin with my poor skills. I visited with MFH for a while - always a pleasure, and he showed some of his personal high end halves that he is going to have photo'd. OMG, they were incredible coins to behold. PonyExpress made a brief appearance (at his own table) - he seemed quite busy and I believe he was having a good show. Dennis88 and Stone were there also. Surprisingly I did not see Coinkid there - I always run into him at the FL shows - he must have been cherrypicking more toner Morgans somewhere. I saw Rick Snow at his table on my way down to pick up my coin from Todd at the end of the day, but didn't get a chance to stop - I had another dealer waiting for me and had to hurry on by.
Overall it was a good show for me. Although I was there from 10:30 until lights out at 6:30, and lunch was a tangerine and bottle of water on the go, I probably saw less than half the tables. I wished I had more time to see more tables and that I had met more members of the forum - it sounds like a lot of us were over there!
With this year's show in Tampa, I was forced to miss Thur and had to settle for Friday only. Parking was kind of a hassle, and by the time I got to the public registration, it was nearly 10:30. Apparently others were in the same boat, as all three lines still had multiple people signing in.
My first 45 min was spent reviewing a 'fresh deal' that a friend of mine had acquired on Mon and was holding specifically for me. There were some nice late date large cents in XF at reasonable prices, and a few type coins I picked up. Unfortunately the early copper was not up to snuff, which was a disappointment. He said they had a good show on Thur, and that they had sold coins in a number of different series.
Next stop was Ed and Lance Hipps table, which is usually my first stop. Lance has been putting a lot of effort into beefing up their stock of better Barber coins, and it showed. They had a number of higher circ halves in holders on display, and indicated they had already sold a number of them. Fortunately for me, the raw coins had just been put out Fri morning, and were more or less in piles, so anyone 'hunting' had to take the time to dig. Knowing their inventory, I figured this would be a worthwhile endeavor. I was rewarded with 99S and 04O halves in nice orginal VF+ condition, and gladly paid over Bid for them. In fact Lance would not discount the 04O half at all, saying he had priced it too cheap to begin with. But he made up for it on my next selection, an 11D quarter in choice original XF, which he sold at Bid. This coin is listed as R5, and in several years of searching, had only seen one damaged VF and none higher, so this was a treat. I showed it to a number of 'Barber guys' later, and everyone congratulated me on a nice find.
I was disappointed in the copper they had. Ed was (is) well known in EAC circles for large cents, but lamented to me that 'nothing new is coming in, all the nice stuff is going to auction, and the prices are crazy these days'. And as always he had some interesting stories share about the good old days, when he sold one of the NC 1794 varieties that he found to Dorothy Paschel back in the early 60's for $1500, and of a monster set he bought in 1966 that Del Bland and others flew in to cherrypick.....Back to the present - Lance said they were having the best show in several years, and that Barbers are red hot, second only to large cents, and that he felt 2011 was going to be a good year for coins. He said they have clients that have made a lot of $$ on their gold and silver holdings, and were moving it into numismatic coins.
General notes - I thought the floor was 'busy', but not crowded. I heard Thur was also very busy - two dealers said they didn't get lunch that day as it was too hectic. The majority of the dealers I talked to said they thought Orlando was a better venue, and thought they would have had a better show if it had been there. Early and better variety copper was scarce, generally poor quality, and high priced when available. I did find a few decent middle date coins to acquire, though nothing for my personal set. Regretfully I did not even get to Tom Reynolds table, but did visit Doug Bird and Steve Ellesworth. Barber coins, on the other hand, appeared relatively abundant compared to recent shows (I'm referring to better dates in middle and higher circ grades - the stuff 'everyone is after'). This is part of why I didn't see as many tables as usual, as I was finding things at many tables. Higher prices and demand may be bringing them into the light of day. I purchased an 02S quarter in VF from Ellesworth, who said they just bought an old collection, and pointed me at the dimes.....there were SIX 03S dimes in VF or so, and FIVE 04S dimes - and that's what was left. Apparently there were multiples of better dates in the collection, and that he had sold many. Another dealer who had better Barbers on display (I picked up a nice 05O quarter there) said I should have come by sooner. He showed me his records - one whole page was strictly Barber sales - and he still had a lot of nice coins on hand. Another dealer friend who primarily sells via his website said it was a great buying show for him - he deals almost strictly in MS PCGS and NGC collector coins - walkers, Morgans, Buffs, etc.
Forumites - I met JMW at the show - we have corresponded frequently in the past, and it was good to meet him in person. And he was glad to get a break from the weather in Colorado. I met Todd (Bluvette2) and had him image my 'cameo' 16S walker - I'm looking forward to seeing it, knowing I could never capture the beauty and contrast of that coin with my poor skills. I visited with MFH for a while - always a pleasure, and he showed some of his personal high end halves that he is going to have photo'd. OMG, they were incredible coins to behold. PonyExpress made a brief appearance (at his own table) - he seemed quite busy and I believe he was having a good show. Dennis88 and Stone were there also. Surprisingly I did not see Coinkid there - I always run into him at the FL shows - he must have been cherrypicking more toner Morgans somewhere. I saw Rick Snow at his table on my way down to pick up my coin from Todd at the end of the day, but didn't get a chance to stop - I had another dealer waiting for me and had to hurry on by.
Overall it was a good show for me. Although I was there from 10:30 until lights out at 6:30, and lunch was a tangerine and bottle of water on the go, I probably saw less than half the tables. I wished I had more time to see more tables and that I had met more members of the forum - it sounds like a lot of us were over there!
Successful BST transactions with 171 members. Ebeneezer, Tonedeaf, Shane6596, Piano1, Ikenefic, RG, PCGSPhoto, stman, Don'tTelltheWife, Boosibri, Ron1968, snowequities, VTchaser, jrt103, SurfinxHI, 78saen, bp777, FHC, RYK, JTHawaii, Opportunity, Kliao, bigtime36, skanderbeg, split37, thebigeng, acloco, Toninginthblood, OKCC, braddick, Coinflip, robcool, fastfreddie, tightbudget, DBSTrader2, nickelsciolist, relaxn, Eagle eye, soldi, silverman68, ElKevvo, sawyerjosh, Schmitz7, talkingwalnut2, konsole, sharkman987, sniocsu, comma, jesbroken, David1234, biosolar, Sullykerry, Moldnut, erwindoc, MichaelDixon, GotTheBug
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Comments
<< <i>I think I left the bourse floor about fifteen minutes after your arrival. One of these years... >>
Seems like I'm always just missing you, Richard - yes, one of these years, I'll call Lance in advance and tell him to chain you at his table until I get there
Mark
Discover all unpredictable errors before they occur.
Greg,
Always nice to see you too.
Glad you liked the Halves - I'll be
posting new images soon.
The Quarters are about to be imaged
and I should have those in hand in two
weeks.
I finally met so many PCGS friends here
which made the trip very worthwhile.
I won a few nice coins at different auctions:
1905-P Quarter in PCGS 64 OGH - First Gen Holder.
Also, some nice 1921 coins - Pilgrim & Missouri PCGS [ 65 & 64 ]
1921 Nickel in PCGS 61 - 7% Off Center .
Some nice SLQ's for my 19th Hundred set...lol.
Working with Glenn and Dennis88 has been great;
seeing Stone and Dimeman has been very good too,
especially seeing all of Stone's newps: Discovery die combos
for Bust Dimes... and seeing his 1829 - curly 2 - POP 1 - POP - TOP
and he's thrilled !!! So would I be !!! $75,000 coin !!!
Ok... "the Boss is back" ... so ... gotta run...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
So jealous.
Thanks for taking the time to post a good one.
Mike
<< <i>Piles of raw mid-grade Barbers!
So jealous. >>
I just checked my NEWP halves, Dogwood - a 96O, 00O, 01S, 03O, and 04O, among others, but no 01O
Nice solid rake up.
Thanks for looking!!