Richmond, Va coin show report May 2018

kaz

I attended the show on Saturday, May 5, at the Shriner's Acca Temple on Hermitage Rd (which changes name 3 times, from Boulevard, to Hermitage, to Lakeside Ave, which really helps with the GPS navigation!). But I don't need no stinkin' GPS, since I can literally walk to the venue. Previously, the show had been held at the Clarion Hotel, strategically located right next to (in fact, under) I95, but with limited parking and a "cozy" second floor meeting space. The new location has immense, free parking, and an expansive ballroom where the show was held, with wide aisles and plenty of room at the tables. And all that parking came in handy, as the show was pretty busy the entire morning I was there.

I am attempting to fill an old Library of Coins album with vf-ef SLQ's, (minus the 2 uber keys), which gives me plenty of reason to browse at a lot of dealers' tables.  I'm glad to say I was able to find several nice coins to fill some holes. Dealers were able to work with me so I could buy them at a bit back of retail, which is always nice.

Forum members Rob and Casey Catron (Coins Make Cents) had some nicely toned AU Roosie dimes for me ( probably a future album project) and a pretty album toned Franklin half I could not refuse. I will definitely check out their new website.
The Boy Scouts were out in force working on their merit badge and lent some extra energy to the venue. One youngster and his mother were at Rob and Casey's table, and he wound up purchasing his first coin, a nice brown large cent. He was really excited.

As a conversation starter, at a few tables, I asked the seller "What do you have that really excites you, that is really cool?"   One dealer showed me a double denom coin , a Lincoln cent over a Roosie clad dime. This particular coin had the 2 strikes lined up in such a way that FDR's face was in Lincoln's hair, so that the 32nd president appeared to have a full beard and a Snidely Whiplash mustache.  Very cool indeed but at a price beyond my budget.  Another dealer in currency (about which I know nada) educated me as to collectible serial numbers on modern notes, such as repeating digits and palindromic numbers (they use a different name for those, I think).  

I didn't see a lot of choice bust and seated coinage in dealers' cases.  The one small eagle DBD I spotted was graded fine in a lower tier slab, on closer inspection I could see it had been polished.   A dealer with some higher-grade bust halves was having an extended session with a very focused Overton collector.  This fellow had made a spread sheet of all of the varieties to use at shows.     I don't think I could ever be a Bust Half Nut, I'm just not that well organized!   

The Richmond Coin Club puts on this show twice a year, fall and spring, and they do a very good job, from my perspective. At this time of year, the city is a beautiful place in full bloom.  There are gorgeous parks at each end of the Boulevard/Hermitage/Lakeside avenue, and in between a first rate art museum and historical society museum.  Richmond is also full of really good restaurants and brewerys/brewpubs, at prices much better than in major cities.   So if you live within a 2-3 hour drive, you and yours could have a very pleasant weekend along with the show. 

Sorry for the report being 3 weeks late, work, as usual, intervened with my writing.
Everyone have a safe Memorial Day Weekend, and remember our veterans and the fallen.
Kaz

coinkat

Nice write up. There is something to be said for the library of Coins Albums and a SLQ set sounds like a terrific project

Smudge

Thanks for the report. Good info. Love show reports. Wish I could make it to more.

Catbert

I would love to attend this show someday since I was raised in a suburb of Richmond; Bon Air.

SimpleCollector

Really like your conversation starter. MAy try to steal it when I visit my local lcs’s next time... I never have a set buying agenda, so that seems like a way to get surprised and maybe find unique items.

Thanks for the report and insight.

Jimnight

Thanks.

golden

Thanks for the show report.

kalshacon

Thanks for a great report.

kaz

Not sure what happened to the format of my report, when I posted it my paragraph indents had disappeared, so I edited it to insert blank lines between paragraphs and ended up with the blue blocks of text.