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Coin Show report - Dalton, GA
1970SilverArt
Posts: 482 ✭
Today was the 1st day of the 53rd Annual Blue Ridge Numismatic Association Coin show and I decided to attend it to see what I can find. The show started at 10 AM and I got there at exactly 10 am. Around that time, spot gold was at $1614/oz and spot silver was at $28.20/oz. This is one of the major shows in the Southeast with 200+ tables total. It was crowded as usual but I was able to find a parking space further out as usual. Once I got inside, I said hi to the some of the dealers that I knew and to the BRMA people who were in charge of putting this coin show together and I went to get a name tag. One thing that I noticed this time around from last year is that they did not ask for my photo ID. I guess that they knew me from the past years August BRNA shows that I went to. I went inside the main venue and I started looking around look for.....what else?.....silver art bars.
While I was looking around, I observed prices on certain types of different gold and silver bullion and here are the kind of prices that I found:
SAE's: $32.00. There were some that were selling for higher than $32.00. There might have been some that were selling for much less than that I but I did not pay close attention to them.
Silver Art bars: Starting at $28.75 and going up from there depending on what type you are looking for. Most of the ones that I have seen were common but there were some Coca-Cola ones as well as a silver art bar dealer that was selling some for typical ebay prices. Somewhat of a disappointment here for me with a good ending. You will see later in another thread.
.999 generic silver (rounds and bars) = lowest price for 1-oz size was $28.75. I did not see any lower than that.
10-oz silver bars: $296 was the lowest price that I saw. They had Silvertowne, Engelhard and A-Mark brand bars
1-oz GAE: $75 over spot
1-oz Kruggerand: I saw some priced at $1665 each.
100-oz silver bars: I saw an Engelhard and the dealer mentioned that he was selling it for $2900. There was also a JM bar of that same size there but I do not know what it was priced for.
Silver Dollars (Peace and Morgan) = $27 was the lowest price that I saw there. $40 was the highest that I saw!!!!!!!!!
1-oz Engelhard Prospectors: $32.00 was the lowest price that I saw. The ones that I saw appear to be legit based on another thread that I saw but I did not pick them up to take a closer look at them.
1/20-oz gold: Prices ranged from as low as $85 (my snag) to as much as $105.00 based on what I saw today.
I also saw plenty of 1/10-oz GAEs there but I got busy looking around that I did not get any prices at all for the ones that I saw. There was also some junk silver as well as some copper rounds there with $2 being the lowest price that I saw there. Of course they also had the slabbed Morgan and Peace dollars there.
Overall, the first day was somewhat of a disappointment for me until the last hour or so that I was there. I did see several silver art bars there that I wanted but there were a few tables that had some that were selling for between $29-$31 each. This show is very significant one for me because the IASAC (International Association of Silver Art Collectors) will hold its convention there tomorrow and this will be my first IASAC convention that I will attend since I became a member in Summer 2009. They did set up a table there and I did meet several IASAC members (including the president Nancy Yee and Vice President Doug Jennings) and I cannot wait to see more of them tomorrow at the convention. I was able to talk to several of those members and they have stories to tell of their past experiences of collecting. I expect that tomorrow will be a very fun day for me. I left the show at 3:20 PM and headed back home for the day since I was tired from walking around looking for deals.
I ended up not finding much today that I wanted on this first day of the show but here is what I bought so far:
It is a King Kanehameha - sovereign Hawaii that was minted in 1993. It is a 1/20th oz gold coin that I paid $85.00 for it (spot gold closed today at $1615.80/oz). I wanted to take advantage of this price for a gold coin of this size because most of the 1/20th oz gold coin prices that I saw at the show today ranged from $95 to $105.
I usually do not buy gold since I am a silver art bar collector and speaking of silver art bars, I bought 4 silver art bars but with a twist that brings them all together with creativity.....................
This is what I will call the "Silver Art Bar belt buckle". This is a very unique silver piece because whoever made this somehow welded these 4 together to make a nice belt buckle. The 4 silver art bars include 1.) A "cancelled" version of the 1973 Colonial Mint "Secretariat", 2.) A "cancelled" version of the 1973 Ceeco Mint "Labor Day", 3.) A 1973 Ceeco Mint "Go-Go Dancer", and 4.) A 1973 Mother Lode Mint "Father's Day" bar. I paid $125 for this Silver Art Bar Belt Buckle (spot silver closed today at $28.09/oz). Generally speaking, "Cancelled" versions of a silver art bar are very hard to find due to the fact that the mintages on them are very low. The fact that there were two "cancelled" bars on this belt buckle convinced me to buy it. During 4 years that I have been seriously collecting silver art bars, I have never seen anything like this and it is unique in a way that I would have never thought possible.
I plan to go back to the show tomorrow because I plan to attend the IASAC convention.
While I was looking around, I observed prices on certain types of different gold and silver bullion and here are the kind of prices that I found:
SAE's: $32.00. There were some that were selling for higher than $32.00. There might have been some that were selling for much less than that I but I did not pay close attention to them.
Silver Art bars: Starting at $28.75 and going up from there depending on what type you are looking for. Most of the ones that I have seen were common but there were some Coca-Cola ones as well as a silver art bar dealer that was selling some for typical ebay prices. Somewhat of a disappointment here for me with a good ending. You will see later in another thread.
.999 generic silver (rounds and bars) = lowest price for 1-oz size was $28.75. I did not see any lower than that.
10-oz silver bars: $296 was the lowest price that I saw. They had Silvertowne, Engelhard and A-Mark brand bars
1-oz GAE: $75 over spot
1-oz Kruggerand: I saw some priced at $1665 each.
100-oz silver bars: I saw an Engelhard and the dealer mentioned that he was selling it for $2900. There was also a JM bar of that same size there but I do not know what it was priced for.
Silver Dollars (Peace and Morgan) = $27 was the lowest price that I saw there. $40 was the highest that I saw!!!!!!!!!
1-oz Engelhard Prospectors: $32.00 was the lowest price that I saw. The ones that I saw appear to be legit based on another thread that I saw but I did not pick them up to take a closer look at them.
1/20-oz gold: Prices ranged from as low as $85 (my snag) to as much as $105.00 based on what I saw today.
I also saw plenty of 1/10-oz GAEs there but I got busy looking around that I did not get any prices at all for the ones that I saw. There was also some junk silver as well as some copper rounds there with $2 being the lowest price that I saw there. Of course they also had the slabbed Morgan and Peace dollars there.
Overall, the first day was somewhat of a disappointment for me until the last hour or so that I was there. I did see several silver art bars there that I wanted but there were a few tables that had some that were selling for between $29-$31 each. This show is very significant one for me because the IASAC (International Association of Silver Art Collectors) will hold its convention there tomorrow and this will be my first IASAC convention that I will attend since I became a member in Summer 2009. They did set up a table there and I did meet several IASAC members (including the president Nancy Yee and Vice President Doug Jennings) and I cannot wait to see more of them tomorrow at the convention. I was able to talk to several of those members and they have stories to tell of their past experiences of collecting. I expect that tomorrow will be a very fun day for me. I left the show at 3:20 PM and headed back home for the day since I was tired from walking around looking for deals.
I ended up not finding much today that I wanted on this first day of the show but here is what I bought so far:
It is a King Kanehameha - sovereign Hawaii that was minted in 1993. It is a 1/20th oz gold coin that I paid $85.00 for it (spot gold closed today at $1615.80/oz). I wanted to take advantage of this price for a gold coin of this size because most of the 1/20th oz gold coin prices that I saw at the show today ranged from $95 to $105.
I usually do not buy gold since I am a silver art bar collector and speaking of silver art bars, I bought 4 silver art bars but with a twist that brings them all together with creativity.....................
This is what I will call the "Silver Art Bar belt buckle". This is a very unique silver piece because whoever made this somehow welded these 4 together to make a nice belt buckle. The 4 silver art bars include 1.) A "cancelled" version of the 1973 Colonial Mint "Secretariat", 2.) A "cancelled" version of the 1973 Ceeco Mint "Labor Day", 3.) A 1973 Ceeco Mint "Go-Go Dancer", and 4.) A 1973 Mother Lode Mint "Father's Day" bar. I paid $125 for this Silver Art Bar Belt Buckle (spot silver closed today at $28.09/oz). Generally speaking, "Cancelled" versions of a silver art bar are very hard to find due to the fact that the mintages on them are very low. The fact that there were two "cancelled" bars on this belt buckle convinced me to buy it. During 4 years that I have been seriously collecting silver art bars, I have never seen anything like this and it is unique in a way that I would have never thought possible.
I plan to go back to the show tomorrow because I plan to attend the IASAC convention.
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a '70's silver art bar expert but I try my best to play one on the Internet.
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Comments
Cool buckle!
I really liked that belt buckle when you showed it to me. It's a real one of a kind!
<< <i>Man you showed me that belt buckle several times I never did see the bars. I love Secretariat!!! The Go Go bar fits my taste too
Sorry about that. I meant to show you the bars in that belt buckle. I am glad that you came to the show and that I got a chance to talk to you.
<< <i>Good PM show report Chris.
I really liked that belt buckle when you showed it to me. It's a real one of a kind!
Thank you. Yeah it was definitely one of a kind silver piece. I am glad that I got it.
<< <i>
<< <i>Man you showed me that belt buckle several times I never did see the bars. I love Secretariat!!! The Go Go bar fits my taste too
Sorry about that. I meant to show you the bars in that belt buckle. I am glad that you came to the show and that I got a chance to talk to you. >>
You tried to Chris, I was not looking enough
I did get a good price on a 25th anniversary set with a PCGS PF70 Reverse Proof and the remainder were 69's. I was glad to get 1k for this mixed set.
Beware of fake 1 ounce Sunshine Mint bars in little mini plastic holders that have popped up lately. They weigh in at 31.7 grams and are VERY good fakes. They have fooled a lot of collectors, dealers and silver buyers. I saw these myself and was amazed how good they are. The xray gun shows that they are less than 1% silver and the rest is copper and nickel. There were reports that a guy tried to sell 100 of these yesterday at the show and he headed straight for the door when he was told they were fake.
I went to a program entitled "How to be a Dealer" by Henry Bergos. This hour long program convinced me I will stick to collecting and leave the dealing to the professionals !!
I missed the "Silver Art Bar" program unfortunately. By the way, that Go Go bar girl looks like she has a mustache.....that's definitely NOT my taste ! LOL...
I did observe some more prices and this time I paid attention to what the 1/10th oz GAE's were selling for. Most of the 1/10th oz GAE's were selling for $180 with a few of them selling for $185 at other dealer tables. The few other 1/10th oz gold coins (non-GAE's) that I saw were selling for $175. I also did some some raw Morgan dollars selling for $35.00.
I did not see many sellers today and one of the sellers that I saw was selling Morgans to a dealer. I also did see some more 1/20th oz gold coins but I did not buy any gold today since I did not see anything interesting at the time. Most of those 1/20th oz gold coins were selling for prices ranging from $95 to as high as $105 which that did not change from yesterday.
During my time at the show, I also spent a lot of time at the IASAC table talking to several of the IASAC members and discussing certain rare bars that some either are looking for or already have. This was my favorite part of the show and I felt great talking to other people who share the same interest that I do in this hobby. I also noticed that the dealers and coin show participants were older people but I did seem some young people at the show but not all of them were buying bullion. A lot of them were interested collecting coins based on what they were buying and looking at. Later in the day, I went a silver art bar seminar and after that, I went to the IASAC convention and I was happy that I went.
I left the show at 5:00 PM and headed back home.
Overall, this show ended up being a very good show for me for 3 reasons and they are 1.) I was able to add another gold coin to my world fractional "gold art" coin collection and paying only $4 over melt for it. and 2.) Meeting other IASAC members and being able to go to my 1st IASAC convention, and 3.) Buying a "Silver Art Bar belt buckle" that consists of 4 silver art bars with two of them being hard-to-find cancelled bars.
The last day of the show is tomorrow but I do not plan to go back tomorrow since I am satisfied overall with how it went for me during the 2 days that I attended. This is my 11th coin show that I attended this year. I enjoy going to coin shows and buying what I like and talking to other collectors that enjoy the same thing that I do.
<< <i>Just came back from the Dalton show and had a great time as usual. Silver buying prices were pretty weak @ 19.75 x face for 90%. I found buyers aplenty for what I wanted to sell but everyone seems offer 20% back of bid. It feels as if the spreads are growing as the price of metals stabilized somewhat.
I did get a good price on a 25th anniversary set with a PCGS PF70 Reverse Proof and the remainder were 69's. I was glad to get 1k for this mixed set.
Beware of fake 1 ounce Sunshine Mint bars in little mini plastic holders that have popped up lately. They weigh in at 31.7 grams and are VERY good fakes. They have fooled a lot of collectors, dealers and silver buyers. I saw these myself and was amazed how good they are. The xray gun shows that they are less than 1% silver and the rest is copper and nickel. There were reports that a guy tried to sell 100 of these yesterday at the show and he headed straight for the door when he was told they were fake.
I went to a program entitled "How to be a Dealer" by Henry Bergos. This hour long program convinced me I will stick to collecting and leave the dealing to the professionals !!
I missed the "Silver Art Bar" program unfortunately. By the way, that Go Go bar girl looks like she has a mustache.....that's definitely NOT my taste ! LOL... >>
Hahahahaha. Nope. As far as I know, it is not a mustache the she has but I think that is part of the strike mark and not part of the striking die but I am guessing about it. I looked at it again and I am convinced that it is a some sort of strike mark.
As for the fake Sunshine Mint bars, I missed that incident but I wonder if they caught that person. I guess they did catch him. However, I did see some Engelhard Prospectors there yesterday but they appeared to be ok but I was not sure because I did not take a close look at them since I was not planning to buy them.
Also thanks for mentioning 90% silver prices because I did not mention that since I was not well versed on that.