DLRC FUN show report (concise)
DavidLawrence
Posts: 277 ✭✭
I've read a couple threads about the lack of FUN show reports (so far) so I thought I'd pitch in. I'm one of the lucky ones with a great staff so I had the luxury of coming home Friday from the show.
This year, The FUN started Wednesday afternoon for dealers with a 2pm setup. Because of the timing there was no "pre-FUN" show this year as we've seen in years past, and also no time for any other auction companies to run a sale prior to the major Heritage event. From that perspective alone the show was quite different than in years past. John Brush and I started on Tuesday morning -- he had first shot at some great deals and I went to work on the massive Heritage auction lot viewing. JB was able to buy a lot of great coins in private deals on Tuesday and Wednesday before the show even started.
On Wednesday the show opened around 2pm with a pile-up of dealers anxiously awaiting entry. You'd think there was free food in the room the way people were crowding around (actually there was later, thanks to a PNG spread). But the show opened very quietly as most dealers seemed content to set up and sniff around to see who was going to be aggressive first. From my observations, most of the major dealers were quiet and a lot of folks were anxious about the first Heritage Platinum session that night, which was still seeing lack-luster online bids. Uneventful was the word of the day. ALthough I did not attend, the Platinum session that night went well and coins went for what they were worth. Yes, there were some deals, but there were also some very good results. The sum of which...the market was healthy.
On Thursday the mood of the show steadily grew better as collectors attended in strong numbers. I have no idea what the stats are but I can say the (very large) room was full of people all day and the action never waned. For us we seemed to always have 1-3 different people at the table looking to buy, sell or trade and we were really lucky to meet a lot of the folks we do business with on the internet. Thursday night was Platinum night 2 (gold coins) and again, while I didn't attend, the word to me was that the sale went well -- not incredible but the good stuff was strong.
Friday continued Thursday's momentum and I was replaced at the show with Jason Smith. Jason and JB told me the action was constant all day with as many collectors as they've ever seen at a FUN show. This morning they gave me the same report. So, I'd say that this year's FUN show shows a strong start of encouragement to the new year. I think levels have stabilized overall and we're likely to see modest price increases across the board for collector coins as levels on many items have gotten a little too cheap (i.e. proof type coins, better date Morgans, etc).
This year, The FUN started Wednesday afternoon for dealers with a 2pm setup. Because of the timing there was no "pre-FUN" show this year as we've seen in years past, and also no time for any other auction companies to run a sale prior to the major Heritage event. From that perspective alone the show was quite different than in years past. John Brush and I started on Tuesday morning -- he had first shot at some great deals and I went to work on the massive Heritage auction lot viewing. JB was able to buy a lot of great coins in private deals on Tuesday and Wednesday before the show even started.
On Wednesday the show opened around 2pm with a pile-up of dealers anxiously awaiting entry. You'd think there was free food in the room the way people were crowding around (actually there was later, thanks to a PNG spread). But the show opened very quietly as most dealers seemed content to set up and sniff around to see who was going to be aggressive first. From my observations, most of the major dealers were quiet and a lot of folks were anxious about the first Heritage Platinum session that night, which was still seeing lack-luster online bids. Uneventful was the word of the day. ALthough I did not attend, the Platinum session that night went well and coins went for what they were worth. Yes, there were some deals, but there were also some very good results. The sum of which...the market was healthy.
On Thursday the mood of the show steadily grew better as collectors attended in strong numbers. I have no idea what the stats are but I can say the (very large) room was full of people all day and the action never waned. For us we seemed to always have 1-3 different people at the table looking to buy, sell or trade and we were really lucky to meet a lot of the folks we do business with on the internet. Thursday night was Platinum night 2 (gold coins) and again, while I didn't attend, the word to me was that the sale went well -- not incredible but the good stuff was strong.
Friday continued Thursday's momentum and I was replaced at the show with Jason Smith. Jason and JB told me the action was constant all day with as many collectors as they've ever seen at a FUN show. This morning they gave me the same report. So, I'd say that this year's FUN show shows a strong start of encouragement to the new year. I think levels have stabilized overall and we're likely to see modest price increases across the board for collector coins as levels on many items have gotten a little too cheap (i.e. proof type coins, better date Morgans, etc).
John Feigenbaum
0
Comments
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.