My day off at Santa Clara.
SanctionII
Posts: 12,624 ✭✭✭✭✭
I stopped by the Santa Clara show today, as I have done for 7-8 years now.
It continues to be much less attended by dealers and the public than it was 4+ years ago. Still a great place to spend an afternoon.
For the past couple of years I attend Santa Clara more for the opportunity to see people [dealers and collectors] I have met over the years and simply spend time with them. Looking at coins, buying and selling have become less of a focus.
Arrived at about 12:30 p.m. Got a late start this morning. I had spoken with Skyman on the way to the show and we decided to meet at the food tables at 12:30 p.m. Met Skyman, Crazyhoundog and Ikeigwin at the food tables. Spent quite abit of time there talking and doing show and tell. I mostly looked. As I had hoped, Crazyhoundog stampeded my with some of his toned buffalos. Amazing coins. In hand his toned buffalos are even more beautiful than the pictures of them that he posts to the forums. Skyman showed off the USSR Space Program banner he posted a few days ago that has the signature of Russian cosmonauts on it, including Yuri Gagarin. Really a neat item of space memoribilia [I wonder what the 1950's and 1960's Politboro members would think of Cold War ear USSR space items being sold at auction in the "West" for big bucks????]. Skyman also brought his 1938 Cameo proof Walker and I was able to look at it and drool once again.
I showed Skyman a 1952 Cameo proof quarter I cherrypicked in Colorado in February [it was in a Capital Holder and I removed the cameo quarter and replaced it with a brilliant quarter]. I also showed a splint planchet Jefferson nickel that I have [my most dramatic error coin].
Later I strolled through the bourse, stopping to talk to various dealers and collectors along the way. I sold the 1952 proof set I had picked up in Colorado.
I stopped by to say hello to Charmy. We spoke, I had wanted to pick up a nicely toned raw MS 1912 P Lincoln for my Lincoln Dansco, but unfortunately she did not have one that has the same eye appeal and nice toning that are present on other early toned MS Lincolns that she has sold me (I have to match the quality of the prior coins that she sold me when I buy new ones from her; thats a pretty good concept for her to use on her customers but she then has the burden of finding suitable coins to feed to her customers).
I forgot to tell Charmy that Andy of Angel Dee's suggested that I tell her to take a few minutes and stroll over to his display cases to see his toned Buffalo nickel collection. Charmy likes toned copper, but I suspect that if she looks at Andy's buffalos, she might start liking toned nickels. Crazyhoundog told me to stop by to see Andy and look at his herd. I did. All I can say is
. What an amazing collection he has. I will also suggest to Charmy that she stop by to see Andy's herd. I also showed Andy my raw Cameo proof and SMS sets from 1950-1967. He liked the look of the sets from the 1950's.
I ran into Skyman a little later in the show at Todd's table and at Andy's table. I said hello to Todd but did not have him photograph any coins. Skyman said he had success in selling off a Battlecreek Morgan or two that he brought with him to the show, but that a couple of coins he had been interested in and wanted to buy had mysteriously disappeared. He also was looking at two 1938 Cameo cents in Andy's case [a 66RD and a 65RD]. Skyman was looking at them and thinking about how nice one would look as a bookend to his half. I acted as cheerleader and encouraged him to buy one of the cents [hey its not my money] and then try to find a cameo nickel, dime and quarter to finish off the set.
I snooped a little and found a 1965 SMS set with a possible DCAM nickel in it. I asked the dealer how much for the set. He took a long time and told me $14.00. I was expecting $6.00 or $7.00. I passed, and the dealer got upset. He took the set back and said that his asking price was right around melt for the Kennedy half. Even at a spot price of $42+ for silver, I do not think melt on a 40% 1965 half is much more than $5.00. So either my math abilities are way off, or the dealer's math abilities are way off.
Later I found at the MacIntosh table a 1966 SMS set with a gorgeous CAM, possibly DCAM SMS half. So I bought it for $8.00 [I knew that $14.00 for a 1965 SMS set was way too high]. I also stopped at another table and saw a 1962 proof set in an unusal Capital Holder. The holder is square, is black, has "1962 Proof Set" embossed in gold lettering on the black inner plastic layer and also has a brown horseshoe embossed on the black inner plastic layer. The five coins are located on the inside of the horseshoe. A cool "Western Motif". The best thing is that the 1962 half is a black and white DCAM and the 1962 quarter is a Cameo.
Left the show at about 4:30 p.m. and headed home. Will be comparing the 1966 SMS half and the 1962 half and quarter I picked up today with my best examples of these coins to see if any of the new acquisitions will upgrade my sets.
All in all a nice way to spend an afternoon. Thanks to all who spent a little time with me today.
P.S. I missed seeing 19lyds and obiwancanoli today. Sorry we did not see each other.
It continues to be much less attended by dealers and the public than it was 4+ years ago. Still a great place to spend an afternoon.
For the past couple of years I attend Santa Clara more for the opportunity to see people [dealers and collectors] I have met over the years and simply spend time with them. Looking at coins, buying and selling have become less of a focus.
Arrived at about 12:30 p.m. Got a late start this morning. I had spoken with Skyman on the way to the show and we decided to meet at the food tables at 12:30 p.m. Met Skyman, Crazyhoundog and Ikeigwin at the food tables. Spent quite abit of time there talking and doing show and tell. I mostly looked. As I had hoped, Crazyhoundog stampeded my with some of his toned buffalos. Amazing coins. In hand his toned buffalos are even more beautiful than the pictures of them that he posts to the forums. Skyman showed off the USSR Space Program banner he posted a few days ago that has the signature of Russian cosmonauts on it, including Yuri Gagarin. Really a neat item of space memoribilia [I wonder what the 1950's and 1960's Politboro members would think of Cold War ear USSR space items being sold at auction in the "West" for big bucks????]. Skyman also brought his 1938 Cameo proof Walker and I was able to look at it and drool once again.
I showed Skyman a 1952 Cameo proof quarter I cherrypicked in Colorado in February [it was in a Capital Holder and I removed the cameo quarter and replaced it with a brilliant quarter]. I also showed a splint planchet Jefferson nickel that I have [my most dramatic error coin].
Later I strolled through the bourse, stopping to talk to various dealers and collectors along the way. I sold the 1952 proof set I had picked up in Colorado.
I stopped by to say hello to Charmy. We spoke, I had wanted to pick up a nicely toned raw MS 1912 P Lincoln for my Lincoln Dansco, but unfortunately she did not have one that has the same eye appeal and nice toning that are present on other early toned MS Lincolns that she has sold me (I have to match the quality of the prior coins that she sold me when I buy new ones from her; thats a pretty good concept for her to use on her customers but she then has the burden of finding suitable coins to feed to her customers).
I forgot to tell Charmy that Andy of Angel Dee's suggested that I tell her to take a few minutes and stroll over to his display cases to see his toned Buffalo nickel collection. Charmy likes toned copper, but I suspect that if she looks at Andy's buffalos, she might start liking toned nickels. Crazyhoundog told me to stop by to see Andy and look at his herd. I did. All I can say is
. What an amazing collection he has. I will also suggest to Charmy that she stop by to see Andy's herd. I also showed Andy my raw Cameo proof and SMS sets from 1950-1967. He liked the look of the sets from the 1950's.I ran into Skyman a little later in the show at Todd's table and at Andy's table. I said hello to Todd but did not have him photograph any coins. Skyman said he had success in selling off a Battlecreek Morgan or two that he brought with him to the show, but that a couple of coins he had been interested in and wanted to buy had mysteriously disappeared. He also was looking at two 1938 Cameo cents in Andy's case [a 66RD and a 65RD]. Skyman was looking at them and thinking about how nice one would look as a bookend to his half. I acted as cheerleader and encouraged him to buy one of the cents [hey its not my money] and then try to find a cameo nickel, dime and quarter to finish off the set.
I snooped a little and found a 1965 SMS set with a possible DCAM nickel in it. I asked the dealer how much for the set. He took a long time and told me $14.00. I was expecting $6.00 or $7.00. I passed, and the dealer got upset. He took the set back and said that his asking price was right around melt for the Kennedy half. Even at a spot price of $42+ for silver, I do not think melt on a 40% 1965 half is much more than $5.00. So either my math abilities are way off, or the dealer's math abilities are way off.
Later I found at the MacIntosh table a 1966 SMS set with a gorgeous CAM, possibly DCAM SMS half. So I bought it for $8.00 [I knew that $14.00 for a 1965 SMS set was way too high]. I also stopped at another table and saw a 1962 proof set in an unusal Capital Holder. The holder is square, is black, has "1962 Proof Set" embossed in gold lettering on the black inner plastic layer and also has a brown horseshoe embossed on the black inner plastic layer. The five coins are located on the inside of the horseshoe. A cool "Western Motif". The best thing is that the 1962 half is a black and white DCAM and the 1962 quarter is a Cameo.
Left the show at about 4:30 p.m. and headed home. Will be comparing the 1966 SMS half and the 1962 half and quarter I picked up today with my best examples of these coins to see if any of the new acquisitions will upgrade my sets.
All in all a nice way to spend an afternoon. Thanks to all who spent a little time with me today.
P.S. I missed seeing 19lyds and obiwancanoli today. Sorry we did not see each other.
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Comments
Steve
1965 Half @ melt is $6.37.
BTW, a 1964 Half is @ $15.57.
you weren't upside down in an airplane later in the day???
The show was fun and can't wait till the next one....Joe
Ricko, I got home from the show at about 6:45 p.m., dead tired. Skipped the poker and spent a quiet evening at home with my youngest son. He had a swim meet and decided to skip going to the school play "Annie Get Your Gun" last night. Instead he came home and spent the evening on his XBox playing vidoe games where he was "kickin some alien arse and taking no prisoners".
For me I looked at some of my collection and found that the 1962 DCAM half I picked up yesterday is better than my prior best. It is always a treat to find an upgrade coin.