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Florence, OR Show Report (No Charmy PIx -- but funny)
DRUNNER
Posts: 3,946 ✭✭✭✭✭
My 4th year. I head up from SLC, UT to do the show with local Portland, OR dealer Bob White of Bradley's Coins. Great guy, and a friend since the early days of the Sunnyside Avenue shows here in SLC. About 38 tables, 25 dealers, and lots of locals from the Oregon coastal areas and tables run by local shop owners up and down the coast and inland. Dealer set up Friday night, then public 9-5 on Sat and 9 to 3 or so on Sunday.
I did something different this year. I set up in OR and once or twice a year and once here in SLC but am generally a 'collector guy'. This time, since I was at the end of a (schoolteaching) summer, I had time to prepare a 'dealer price list' for every coin I took up. I usually get hit like a Mack truck at set-up since I am 'fresh meat', so this was easy. Just hand out the list and the sharks could just look and decide as I set the coins out. I made 15 4 page copies in 10 point font, but only needed three of them. Worked out like a champ. The dealer I actually made it for showed up, and liked the idea. It is just easier to do it that first night like that, then also have a 'dealer price list' for later at hand when collectors show up. Just lets you know your bottom line in a frenzy . . .
Worked for me . .
OK . . Bob dumped a HUGE amount of silver (circ dollars) to an east-coast dealer by the time we got the lights set up. Of course silver went up every day and still keeps going. Silver was moving but gold seemed to stay in cases as dealers (like me) were afraid of what might happen (like today's $45 rise!!!) I sold one PCGS $5 Lib in MS63 to the same guy Bob sold the silver to, but he was working close and didn't buy a lot unless it was obvious he could get it to the telemarketers at a profit. Dealer action at set-up was typical . . .my classy coins flew out of the case yet anything less obvious just sat there. Raw didn't get looked at muich. I had some KILLER 'test' coins in my 'raw tray' (original type at ridiculous 1/2 bid price) and no one pays any attention. Slabbed is the way to go. I sold a bunch of slabbed type, and the toned rainbow dollars I had (8 new ones) ALL were gone in the first 30 minutes!! If you have decently toned dollars and price them just a bit over ask, they will vanish, and then sit in the next guy's case for 3x what you charged (of course they'll still be there 9 months later, but who's counting?). Toned Type just blew out of the case, but 'white' type languished, even at high grade. I really (honestly) think that many dealers at this level just look at the slab and never even test themselves on raw coins./ I tried the test and had a couple that were just awesome. Collectors got them the next day, but dealers . . .well, if it ain't slabbed, these guys tend to look at it as worthless.
A couple Commems sold at Gray bid (Oregons, Bay Bridge, Elgin) but they were all old holders (Ratts and one was (sorry oreville) a 2.5 that I was using as a market tester. Speaking of testers . . I put two Doily Morgans front and center of my main case. No one looked at them or even asked about them in the entire three days. Not good (for me and my Doily passion) . . . . but I DID buy an Arkansas MS64 (1936) in a Doily -- fun!
Saturday had good foot traffic for a local show in the middle of a forest (good place to bury a body though -- I'm gonna remember this place). Collector transactions were a bit different, Almost every sale I had resulted in a guy (what, you think women collect coins???) walking up, checking out the piece, asking the bottom line, then coming back after he had searched the floor. I think the economy has made collectors a bit more picky on price points. Guys would walk the floor for an hour trying to shave $5 off a $120 coin. Worked well for me, but I imagine a few other dealers were getting peeved at the tire kickers. The aisles were full up until about 2:00pm, then it slowed down. Sunday was steady but slow. It isn't like Utah where you may not even GET a Sunday show. A few sales . . . and now time to get out to the floor and look around. Picked up a couple things. You could get BTW and WC Commems for melt if you wanted them . . . picked up a handful of 1950-D nicks for $9.50 ea. . . . and gold coins were still in strong hands. No one really wanted to try to sell one below about $2k as they just KNEW gold would make them look foolish by Monday morning. Not talking 1921 Saints here . .just common MS62s. Typical of a lot of the local-yokel shows, many guys are seemingly very happy to travel back here year after year with the same old cracked leatherette books of circ Jeffs and yellowed plastic trays of those musty old holdered AG cleaned 3c. silvers that smell like the Civil War. But they are GREAT guys . . . this show has some of the nicest people around.
Stay at the Three Rivers Casino . . . they do a room deal for dealers and also have a 24-Hour 'Meal Pass' that you can work for TWO buffets ($24). Good steak and shrimp. If you want a run/jog in the morning, it is misty, eerie, and the 'river road' out to the golf course is fun but I kept getting that "Deliverance" feeling (see the body comment above), but FUN! Hey . . . you can eat blackberries all the way out and back! No joke! Wild ones grow right down to the road!
So . . good coins sell. Old stuff stays old. Fresh coins or toned that is 'real' will fly out of your case. Bob White is a super guy. The Oregon Coast is pretty and the people rock.
Anything else is probably irrelevant.
Drunner
I did something different this year. I set up in OR and once or twice a year and once here in SLC but am generally a 'collector guy'. This time, since I was at the end of a (schoolteaching) summer, I had time to prepare a 'dealer price list' for every coin I took up. I usually get hit like a Mack truck at set-up since I am 'fresh meat', so this was easy. Just hand out the list and the sharks could just look and decide as I set the coins out. I made 15 4 page copies in 10 point font, but only needed three of them. Worked out like a champ. The dealer I actually made it for showed up, and liked the idea. It is just easier to do it that first night like that, then also have a 'dealer price list' for later at hand when collectors show up. Just lets you know your bottom line in a frenzy . . .
Worked for me . .
OK . . Bob dumped a HUGE amount of silver (circ dollars) to an east-coast dealer by the time we got the lights set up. Of course silver went up every day and still keeps going. Silver was moving but gold seemed to stay in cases as dealers (like me) were afraid of what might happen (like today's $45 rise!!!) I sold one PCGS $5 Lib in MS63 to the same guy Bob sold the silver to, but he was working close and didn't buy a lot unless it was obvious he could get it to the telemarketers at a profit. Dealer action at set-up was typical . . .my classy coins flew out of the case yet anything less obvious just sat there. Raw didn't get looked at muich. I had some KILLER 'test' coins in my 'raw tray' (original type at ridiculous 1/2 bid price) and no one pays any attention. Slabbed is the way to go. I sold a bunch of slabbed type, and the toned rainbow dollars I had (8 new ones) ALL were gone in the first 30 minutes!! If you have decently toned dollars and price them just a bit over ask, they will vanish, and then sit in the next guy's case for 3x what you charged (of course they'll still be there 9 months later, but who's counting?). Toned Type just blew out of the case, but 'white' type languished, even at high grade. I really (honestly) think that many dealers at this level just look at the slab and never even test themselves on raw coins./ I tried the test and had a couple that were just awesome. Collectors got them the next day, but dealers . . .well, if it ain't slabbed, these guys tend to look at it as worthless.
A couple Commems sold at Gray bid (Oregons, Bay Bridge, Elgin) but they were all old holders (Ratts and one was (sorry oreville) a 2.5 that I was using as a market tester. Speaking of testers . . I put two Doily Morgans front and center of my main case. No one looked at them or even asked about them in the entire three days. Not good (for me and my Doily passion) . . . . but I DID buy an Arkansas MS64 (1936) in a Doily -- fun!
Saturday had good foot traffic for a local show in the middle of a forest (good place to bury a body though -- I'm gonna remember this place). Collector transactions were a bit different, Almost every sale I had resulted in a guy (what, you think women collect coins???) walking up, checking out the piece, asking the bottom line, then coming back after he had searched the floor. I think the economy has made collectors a bit more picky on price points. Guys would walk the floor for an hour trying to shave $5 off a $120 coin. Worked well for me, but I imagine a few other dealers were getting peeved at the tire kickers. The aisles were full up until about 2:00pm, then it slowed down. Sunday was steady but slow. It isn't like Utah where you may not even GET a Sunday show. A few sales . . . and now time to get out to the floor and look around. Picked up a couple things. You could get BTW and WC Commems for melt if you wanted them . . . picked up a handful of 1950-D nicks for $9.50 ea. . . . and gold coins were still in strong hands. No one really wanted to try to sell one below about $2k as they just KNEW gold would make them look foolish by Monday morning. Not talking 1921 Saints here . .just common MS62s. Typical of a lot of the local-yokel shows, many guys are seemingly very happy to travel back here year after year with the same old cracked leatherette books of circ Jeffs and yellowed plastic trays of those musty old holdered AG cleaned 3c. silvers that smell like the Civil War. But they are GREAT guys . . . this show has some of the nicest people around.
Stay at the Three Rivers Casino . . . they do a room deal for dealers and also have a 24-Hour 'Meal Pass' that you can work for TWO buffets ($24). Good steak and shrimp. If you want a run/jog in the morning, it is misty, eerie, and the 'river road' out to the golf course is fun but I kept getting that "Deliverance" feeling (see the body comment above), but FUN! Hey . . . you can eat blackberries all the way out and back! No joke! Wild ones grow right down to the road!
So . . good coins sell. Old stuff stays old. Fresh coins or toned that is 'real' will fly out of your case. Bob White is a super guy. The Oregon Coast is pretty and the people rock.
Anything else is probably irrelevant.
Drunner
0
Comments
Aaaaah,
bob
Not really looking for much these days but if I were, it might be a toner.
The Penny Lady®
Would have been there if the ANA wasn't the same weekend. Are those doilies still available??
First show that I have never purchased a darn thing. It was good talking with DRUNNER but I just could not find any good bust or seated material at all. I think this is the first show in my life that I didn't purchase at least some thing.
Always good to see some familiar faces.
Seated Dollar Collection
I love the Oregon Coast.
Bob White is indeed a swell guy, and he runs a very nice shop in Portland.