My Denver ANA report - no supplies, dealer trapped in elevator, and SQUIRREL ARMAGEDDON !
dcarr
Posts: 8,523 ✭✭✭✭✭
I usually only go to one or two big shows a year, if that. So my comparisons to other shows are thin.
Since this one was somewhat local to me, I decided a while ago to get a corner table.
Arriving at the Colorado Convention Center on Thursday AM to set up before the show opened, I was not too happy to see that across the isle from my $1,150 "select" table was nothing but a big empty space. When I originally picked my table while looking at a layout of the show floor, that space (an entire "island") was shown as to be occupied by a major coin supplies dealer. There was nothing there but empty concrete floor. There were no supplies to be had at the show. You couldn't even buy a plastic flip if you needed one. Not good.
My time available to look around was quite limited. I saw some really nice coins, but nothing jumped out to me as a "deal" or a bargain.
Public attendence seemed a little on the light side. But I did sell a fair amount more at this show than I did when I had a table at FUN in January. However, much of that could be attributed to the fact that my FUN table location was about the worst possible, and I am more well-known in the Denver area. So the majority of my sales were to previous customers who are aware of my mint and what I produce.
About the only thing I did purchase were some bank checks for my "wall". I bought this one, which is perhaps my favorite thing I've found at a coin show in a long time. Note the date, the amount, what it was for, and how the payee endorsed it on the back:
After packing up to close the show, I exited the bourse room and headed to the elevator, pushing my 4-wheel cart. But I found that the elevator doors were stuck three inches from being fully closed, and there were people trapped inside ! One of them may have been Coleman Foster, but I'm not sure. I alerted security (they were already aware of the situation). The ONLY way down to street level and my vehicle was the escalator. Fortunately my 4-wheel cart is convertible into a 2-wheel dolly. So I had to do a careful balancing act to get my heavy rig down to the street level. Upon driving away from the convention center, a fire engine was arriving (elevator rescue ?) and there was an unrelated traffic accident with three cop cars right outside the convention center.
Since this one was somewhat local to me, I decided a while ago to get a corner table.
Arriving at the Colorado Convention Center on Thursday AM to set up before the show opened, I was not too happy to see that across the isle from my $1,150 "select" table was nothing but a big empty space. When I originally picked my table while looking at a layout of the show floor, that space (an entire "island") was shown as to be occupied by a major coin supplies dealer. There was nothing there but empty concrete floor. There were no supplies to be had at the show. You couldn't even buy a plastic flip if you needed one. Not good.
My time available to look around was quite limited. I saw some really nice coins, but nothing jumped out to me as a "deal" or a bargain.
Public attendence seemed a little on the light side. But I did sell a fair amount more at this show than I did when I had a table at FUN in January. However, much of that could be attributed to the fact that my FUN table location was about the worst possible, and I am more well-known in the Denver area. So the majority of my sales were to previous customers who are aware of my mint and what I produce.
About the only thing I did purchase were some bank checks for my "wall". I bought this one, which is perhaps my favorite thing I've found at a coin show in a long time. Note the date, the amount, what it was for, and how the payee endorsed it on the back:
After packing up to close the show, I exited the bourse room and headed to the elevator, pushing my 4-wheel cart. But I found that the elevator doors were stuck three inches from being fully closed, and there were people trapped inside ! One of them may have been Coleman Foster, but I'm not sure. I alerted security (they were already aware of the situation). The ONLY way down to street level and my vehicle was the escalator. Fortunately my 4-wheel cart is convertible into a 2-wheel dolly. So I had to do a careful balancing act to get my heavy rig down to the street level. Upon driving away from the convention center, a fire engine was arriving (elevator rescue ?) and there was an unrelated traffic accident with three cop cars right outside the convention center.
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Comments
neat item!
good thing we stay on top of the squirrel threat.
with all the cute internet videos of them it is really hurting the human race by not getting out and getting exercise.
a masterful plan by the squirrels indeed!
maybe we need more backyard swimming pools. they seem to lack the skills to get out of them ><
.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
<< <i>A nickel a squirrel. Ah, those were the days. >>
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Cheers, RickO
Squirrels must have been big business in those parts.
My guy only got 55 though.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
<< <i>Took'em pertner two whole months to git to the National Bank in Bozeman, so they paid the feller .04¢ interest! >>
Yes, that is another amazing aspect of the item. And note that the payee had to sign as an "X", with a witness.
I guess if you have an armed illiterate on your hands, you need to give them something to do.
<< <i>Great check. The show was very slow and lacking in onsite grading, auctions and supplies. I was amazed that there were no supplies there. >>
Absolutely. ANA, you have to do better than that.
Gotta question, I saw the new Titanic HTT in silver, brass & copper but no price,
are the ready for sale? and how much? Thanx
Steve
(25-50 tables)and one could bet that the supply seller did as well as half of the dealers .
<< <i>I guess if you have an armed illiterate on your hands, you need to give them something to do. >>
may as well, they're gonna be out there torturing and killing them there squirrels anyhow, may as well pay em for it ><
.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
<< <i>Nice check Dan,
Gotta question, I saw the new Titanic HTT in silver, brass & copper but no price,
are the ready for sale? and how much? Thanx
Steve >>
Oded Paz already has some up for sale on eBay.
The Penny Lady®
<< <i>Squirrels must have been big business in those parts.
My guy only got 55 though.
Those territorial warrants are cool I've seen one with a 129 squirrels before... Yet the real money payout was for bears at $8.00 a head.
Gary
<< <i>
<< <i>Nice check Dan,
Gotta question, I saw the new Titanic HTT in silver, brass & copper but no price,
are the ready for sale? and how much? Thanx
Steve >>
Oded Paz already has some up for sale on eBay. >>
That was fast.
I minted the first ones just before the show, and sold some there. I have them listed on my site now.
<< <i>I find myself wondering about the terms of being issued the warrant. Would there have been a standing bounty of 5c/squirrel, or would Mr. Todd have applied to receive such a bounty? Does the June 8 date at the top and the July 14 at the bottom indicate it took 5 weeks for the 70 squirrels to be killed and the count certified? If so, that comes out to one squirrel for breakfast and one for dinner each day for 5 weeks. I assume all he had to produce for a body count was their hides. Also, I doubt he was shooting many of the squirrels, rather trapping them, as ammunition spent on a 5c per head bounty was probably not a terribly good investment. I also wonder what else the "BOUNTY FOR KILLING" rubber stamp was used for. >>
The following article refers to these warrants and the circumstances that resulted in their issue. A bit lengthy, but fascinating and well worth the read.
1887 NY Times Article: "THE THIEVES OF MONTANA; RODENTS THAT INFEST THE TERRITORY. A PROFITABLE INDUSTRY IN HUNTING THE SQUIRRELS DOWN"
(The above link is to the NY Times site, where there is a further link to a PDF of the full article.)
Link to PDF of the article (You will need Adobe reader)
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
<< <i>
<< <i>I find myself wondering about the terms of being issued the warrant. Would there have been a standing bounty of 5c/squirrel, or would Mr. Todd have applied to receive such a bounty? Does the June 8 date at the top and the July 14 at the bottom indicate it took 5 weeks for the 70 squirrels to be killed and the count certified? If so, that comes out to one squirrel for breakfast and one for dinner each day for 5 weeks. I assume all he had to produce for a body count was their hides. Also, I doubt he was shooting many of the squirrels, rather trapping them, as ammunition spent on a 5c per head bounty was probably not a terribly good investment. I also wonder what else the "BOUNTY FOR KILLING" rubber stamp was used for. >>
The following article refers to these warrants and the circumstances that resulted in their issue. A bit lengthy, but fascinating and well worth the read.
1887 NY Times Article: "THE THIEVES OF MONTANA; RODENTS THAT INFEST THE TERRITORY. A PROFITABLE INDUSTRY IN HUNTING THE SQUIRRELS DOWN"
(The above link is to the NY Times site, where there is a further link to a PDF of the full article.)
Link to PDF of the article (You will need Adobe reader) >>
That was interesting. So, apparently, the "squirrels" were probably actually prairie dogs. And they were most likely poisoned or bludgeoned, not shot. The article mentions the use of "rhodium oil". Searching the internet it appears that rhodium oil is some sort of fish and animal attractant. But I couldn't find any information on what it actually is made of or how it is made.
<< <i>That was interesting. So, apparently, the "squirrels" were probably actually prairie dogs. And they were most likely poisoned or bludgeoned, not shot. The article mentions the use of "rhodium oil". Searching the internet it appears that rhodium oil is some sort of fish and animal attractant. But I couldn't find any information on what it actually is made of or how it is made. >>
I had never heard of "Oil of Rhodium" either. According to this site, it is "an essential odoriferous oil from the wood of a species of aspalathus, or African broom, discovered on the island of Rhodes, thus the name rhodium."
Must be foul-smelling stuff. Interesting that they had a significant supply of it in 1887 Montana Territory.
(Just think of city streets clogged with a hundred thousand horses each generating 15 lbs of manure every day...)
<< <i>Great collectible, that check. Though I do wonder where those extra 4 cents came from. Interest? >>
Yes, that is what was stamped on the back (4 cents interest). It is unlear if H.W. Todd collected that extra four cents,
or if the Helena bank paid the interest to the Bozeman bank because the Helena bank was holding the funds for a few
months before the Bozeman bank collected them.
<< <i>
<< <i>Great collectible, that check. Though I do wonder where those extra 4 cents came from. Interest? >>
Yes, that is what was stamped on the back (4 cents interest). It is unlear if H.W. Todd collected that extra four cents,
or if the Helena bank paid the interest to the Bozeman bank because the Helena bank was holding the funds for a few
months before the Bozeman bank collected them. >>
"You can have the four cents, or 80% of a squirrel."
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>Great collectible, that check. Though I do wonder where those extra 4 cents came from. Interest? >>
Yes, that is what was stamped on the back (4 cents interest). It is unlear if H.W. Todd collected that extra four cents,
or if the Helena bank paid the interest to the Bozeman bank because the Helena bank was holding the funds for a few
months before the Bozeman bank collected them. >>
"You can have the four cents, or 80% of a squirrel." >>
That's just nuts. {cue rimshot}