Options
Chicago ANA Report (pics included!)
daOnlyBG
Posts: 1,060 ✭✭
Needless to say, my first ANA show was indeed an overwhelming one.
I liked how board member "golden" included a "report card," so I copied and pasted his version of the report card and gave my own grades:
Report Card
Weather: A+ (considering Chicago's usual weather)
Choice of Convention City: B
Convention Facility: A- (big, accessible, nearby fun stuff, etc)
Parking: F/A+ (convention center's parking vs. nearby parking)
Concession Food: F (considering that Chicago is an international food mecca, planners could have done much better)
Number of Dealers: B+
Diversity of Material: B (material became very predictable)
"Fun" factor: B+
Overall: B-
I arrived on Monday at 11 am, just when the public showing had been happening for approximately an hour.
The $4 non-member fee was pretty reasonable IMO, and couple that with free parking at the Rosemont
Fashion Outlet mall (just a free shuttle ride away), I pretty much saved time+money getting in. Upon entering,
I was greeted by the upscale, elite dealers who certainly defended their statuses with high end gold from the
late 1700s and early 1800s. I recall seeing several jaw-dropping 1795 Small Eagles in AU-MS condition, and the
only other really old coinage that surpassed that condition was the display of Nova Constellatio in the 60 range
(I think it was NGC who had them out...?)
^There was no shortage of supplies. The show had Capitol holders priced really decently.
Heritage had, on display, one of the 1913 Liberty V-nickels which I believe will be auctioned off at a later date.
It was nice to observe, I guess... nicer than the previous Liberty nickel auctioned off at CSNS
(no offense to the buyer/seller of that nickel).
^I guess you can't really make out the nickel, except that it's slabbed in an NGC holder with a sticker.
APMEX had a 419.999 oz (roughly 26.25 lbs!) bar of 99.999+ pure gold; market price was approximated
around $568,000. The bar was placed in a glass case with a small opening on top, and people were allowed
to hold it up. Here's a picture of yours truly holding it quite awkwardly...
Speaking of bullion, the owners of that cube San Francisco silver ingot were there, Cybercoins.net.
They were cool, unlike the silver ingot's $50,000 price tag.
I looked around the bourse and met up with another friend from the Forum (who wishes to remain anonymous).
Luckily, I brought a home made sandwich with me, which was a wise decision, based on the reviews of the on-site
food provided. In the future, if you have the opportunity to bring your own food, you may want to try that out.
^by the way, that wasn't cool, ANA. I eagerly walked across the bourse when I saw this sign up high.
Set up in the back, around the supply booths, were J.T. Stanton and Ken Potter, the former being the coauthor of
Cherrypicker's Guide and the latter being the editor of the same book. They were really friendly and
answered some of the questions I had about CONECA.
I made it a point to go meet as many Forum members as I could, and was happy to meet Andrew Lustig
(who has a pretty awesome collection of errors), Todd Pollock (a.k.a. blu62vette), Charmy Harker
(a.k.a. the Penny Lady), the Reeded Edge's Rob Jenkins (a.k.a., Shortgapbob), Winston Rock (a.k.a. Stone), and
David Greenstein (a.k.a. Greeniejr). Todd's father also attended, and made me a really nice deal on this coin
which I purchased from him:
The show had some cool coin exhibits that the dealers set up, and lo and behold, set up was this impressive,
creative display of penny exonumia. Sure enough, it was Charmy's exhibit, and I was very pleased to hear
that it won the contest. Another really cool exhibit was this Fugio cent collection:
I enjoyed meeting a lot of dealers, and many of them were quite polite and inviting. They seemed more
interested in advancing and sharing the hobby of numismatics instead of simply looking to make a quick sale-
it wasn't surprising that these dealers got my business. I recall glancing through one dealer's showcases,
just to hear him say, "What, they're allowing LOOKERS now?" I'm not really sure if he was kidding or not
(I don't recall hearing a small laugh) but I remember thinking what a turn off it must be to the general
public if you rush them or guilt trip them into making a purchase. Anyway, there were many really cool dealers,
but a few who stood out were Rare Coins of New Hampshire (RCNH), the Reeded Edge, and Sabel Rarities.
Paul Battaglia at RCNH sold me a toned commemorative, and here it is:
He gave me a really competitive bargain, and I'd highly recommend doing business with him to anyone.
Rob Jenkins at the Reeded Edge purchased one of my coins that I'd been trying to sell, and per usual,
I only have great dealings with him. I didn't b/s/t anything with Bonnie Sabel at Sabel Rarities, but she
gladly showed me her fianceé's impressive commemorative collection, featuring dozens of jaw-dropping
toned monsters. Incidentally, she taught me about "tab toning."
Now, enough about what I did. Here are the notes I took:
ABUNDANCE OF...
1. $1-premium silver bars. Kedzie Koins particularly had loads of them out for sale.
2. Modern bullion. Yes, I understand this probably had to do with the Mint being right there, selling proof
gold and PCGS grading them on the spot... but I was surprised with just how popular the reverse proof
coins were selling. My friend (who came with me on Saturday) purchased two NGC PR69 ASE's for $62/each.
3. 3¢ silver pieces. Many tables had them in either blast white or circulated condition. There were a couple
toned with those electric blues and greens, but in my opinion, there weren't enough of them.
The "blast white" condition was a common theme to the show, actually.
4. Foreign notes.
5. NGC slabs and new PCGS slabs. I'm wondering just how many collectors/dealers are submitting for
crossovers...? Sets that dealers were selling were almost always selling in NGC slabs (I assume to get the
highest grade possible..)
6. Blast white commemoratives. Most of the commemoratives I saw were blast white, with little to no personality
whatsoever. In some ways this was good, for it helped me quickly scan dealers' tables quickly, and made the
huge bourse a little less overwhelming. The negative side, of course, is that I had a lot less commemoratives
to consider purchasing. Oh, and for those commemorative fans out there: just how rare are toned Texas
commemoratives? I didn't see ANY at the show, besides one that had some pretty ugly brown spots.
7. Colonial coins, esp Fugio's. There weren't too many Vermont coppers, but still, the colonials present
compensated.
8. Buffalo nickels. There were many beautifully toned ones, but the best condition ones were mainly common date.
9. Junk silver (dimes, quarters, old walkers) trading between 17-20x. As you could infer, the 17x ones didn't
stay on the tables long.
NOT MANY OF...
1. DMPL's. There were way more at CSNS. Same goes with...
2. Attractively toned coins which aren't priced at 500% premiums. Don't get me wrong, there
were quite a few- they just flew off the tables very, very quickly.
3. Chatter about the 1804 dollar. I mean, the thing sold for $3.8 million, but you wouldn't have
heard about it unless you went online or you watched the Heritage auction. Maybe people don't
care as much anymore..? (Feel free to add your 2¢ about this matter)
4. Attractive 1921 Peace dollars. I saw one dealer selling one in a very weak AU condition, and I
saw another selling a market-graded MS64. Neither looked very well struck.
5. Junk Franklin halves.
6. Collectible silver bars.
Overall, I found the show to be satisfactory, and I was very pleased with my purchases, and
they made the show worth going to. However, the over abundance of blast white coins with very
few toned beauties left me reminiscing on the CSNS show I went to this past spring, which I
have to admit, I enjoyed slightly more.
Today (Sunday) morning, I decided to hit up my local weekly coin show. I picked these guys up.
No, they're not from ANA I guess, but I thought I'd share them anyway.
Feel free to ask questions/comment. Feedback always welcome!
I liked how board member "golden" included a "report card," so I copied and pasted his version of the report card and gave my own grades:
Report Card
Weather: A+ (considering Chicago's usual weather)
Choice of Convention City: B
Convention Facility: A- (big, accessible, nearby fun stuff, etc)
Parking: F/A+ (convention center's parking vs. nearby parking)
Concession Food: F (considering that Chicago is an international food mecca, planners could have done much better)
Number of Dealers: B+
Diversity of Material: B (material became very predictable)
"Fun" factor: B+
Overall: B-
I arrived on Monday at 11 am, just when the public showing had been happening for approximately an hour.
The $4 non-member fee was pretty reasonable IMO, and couple that with free parking at the Rosemont
Fashion Outlet mall (just a free shuttle ride away), I pretty much saved time+money getting in. Upon entering,
I was greeted by the upscale, elite dealers who certainly defended their statuses with high end gold from the
late 1700s and early 1800s. I recall seeing several jaw-dropping 1795 Small Eagles in AU-MS condition, and the
only other really old coinage that surpassed that condition was the display of Nova Constellatio in the 60 range
(I think it was NGC who had them out...?)
^There was no shortage of supplies. The show had Capitol holders priced really decently.
Heritage had, on display, one of the 1913 Liberty V-nickels which I believe will be auctioned off at a later date.
It was nice to observe, I guess... nicer than the previous Liberty nickel auctioned off at CSNS
(no offense to the buyer/seller of that nickel).
^I guess you can't really make out the nickel, except that it's slabbed in an NGC holder with a sticker.
APMEX had a 419.999 oz (roughly 26.25 lbs!) bar of 99.999+ pure gold; market price was approximated
around $568,000. The bar was placed in a glass case with a small opening on top, and people were allowed
to hold it up. Here's a picture of yours truly holding it quite awkwardly...
Speaking of bullion, the owners of that cube San Francisco silver ingot were there, Cybercoins.net.
They were cool, unlike the silver ingot's $50,000 price tag.
I looked around the bourse and met up with another friend from the Forum (who wishes to remain anonymous).
Luckily, I brought a home made sandwich with me, which was a wise decision, based on the reviews of the on-site
food provided. In the future, if you have the opportunity to bring your own food, you may want to try that out.
^by the way, that wasn't cool, ANA. I eagerly walked across the bourse when I saw this sign up high.
Set up in the back, around the supply booths, were J.T. Stanton and Ken Potter, the former being the coauthor of
Cherrypicker's Guide and the latter being the editor of the same book. They were really friendly and
answered some of the questions I had about CONECA.
I made it a point to go meet as many Forum members as I could, and was happy to meet Andrew Lustig
(who has a pretty awesome collection of errors), Todd Pollock (a.k.a. blu62vette), Charmy Harker
(a.k.a. the Penny Lady), the Reeded Edge's Rob Jenkins (a.k.a., Shortgapbob), Winston Rock (a.k.a. Stone), and
David Greenstein (a.k.a. Greeniejr). Todd's father also attended, and made me a really nice deal on this coin
which I purchased from him:
The show had some cool coin exhibits that the dealers set up, and lo and behold, set up was this impressive,
creative display of penny exonumia. Sure enough, it was Charmy's exhibit, and I was very pleased to hear
that it won the contest. Another really cool exhibit was this Fugio cent collection:
I enjoyed meeting a lot of dealers, and many of them were quite polite and inviting. They seemed more
interested in advancing and sharing the hobby of numismatics instead of simply looking to make a quick sale-
it wasn't surprising that these dealers got my business. I recall glancing through one dealer's showcases,
just to hear him say, "What, they're allowing LOOKERS now?" I'm not really sure if he was kidding or not
(I don't recall hearing a small laugh) but I remember thinking what a turn off it must be to the general
public if you rush them or guilt trip them into making a purchase. Anyway, there were many really cool dealers,
but a few who stood out were Rare Coins of New Hampshire (RCNH), the Reeded Edge, and Sabel Rarities.
Paul Battaglia at RCNH sold me a toned commemorative, and here it is:
He gave me a really competitive bargain, and I'd highly recommend doing business with him to anyone.
Rob Jenkins at the Reeded Edge purchased one of my coins that I'd been trying to sell, and per usual,
I only have great dealings with him. I didn't b/s/t anything with Bonnie Sabel at Sabel Rarities, but she
gladly showed me her fianceé's impressive commemorative collection, featuring dozens of jaw-dropping
toned monsters. Incidentally, she taught me about "tab toning."
Now, enough about what I did. Here are the notes I took:
ABUNDANCE OF...
1. $1-premium silver bars. Kedzie Koins particularly had loads of them out for sale.
2. Modern bullion. Yes, I understand this probably had to do with the Mint being right there, selling proof
gold and PCGS grading them on the spot... but I was surprised with just how popular the reverse proof
coins were selling. My friend (who came with me on Saturday) purchased two NGC PR69 ASE's for $62/each.
3. 3¢ silver pieces. Many tables had them in either blast white or circulated condition. There were a couple
toned with those electric blues and greens, but in my opinion, there weren't enough of them.
The "blast white" condition was a common theme to the show, actually.
4. Foreign notes.
5. NGC slabs and new PCGS slabs. I'm wondering just how many collectors/dealers are submitting for
crossovers...? Sets that dealers were selling were almost always selling in NGC slabs (I assume to get the
highest grade possible..)
6. Blast white commemoratives. Most of the commemoratives I saw were blast white, with little to no personality
whatsoever. In some ways this was good, for it helped me quickly scan dealers' tables quickly, and made the
huge bourse a little less overwhelming. The negative side, of course, is that I had a lot less commemoratives
to consider purchasing. Oh, and for those commemorative fans out there: just how rare are toned Texas
commemoratives? I didn't see ANY at the show, besides one that had some pretty ugly brown spots.
7. Colonial coins, esp Fugio's. There weren't too many Vermont coppers, but still, the colonials present
compensated.
8. Buffalo nickels. There were many beautifully toned ones, but the best condition ones were mainly common date.
9. Junk silver (dimes, quarters, old walkers) trading between 17-20x. As you could infer, the 17x ones didn't
stay on the tables long.
NOT MANY OF...
1. DMPL's. There were way more at CSNS. Same goes with...
2. Attractively toned coins which aren't priced at 500% premiums. Don't get me wrong, there
were quite a few- they just flew off the tables very, very quickly.
3. Chatter about the 1804 dollar. I mean, the thing sold for $3.8 million, but you wouldn't have
heard about it unless you went online or you watched the Heritage auction. Maybe people don't
care as much anymore..? (Feel free to add your 2¢ about this matter)
4. Attractive 1921 Peace dollars. I saw one dealer selling one in a very weak AU condition, and I
saw another selling a market-graded MS64. Neither looked very well struck.
5. Junk Franklin halves.
6. Collectible silver bars.
Overall, I found the show to be satisfactory, and I was very pleased with my purchases, and
they made the show worth going to. However, the over abundance of blast white coins with very
few toned beauties left me reminiscing on the CSNS show I went to this past spring, which I
have to admit, I enjoyed slightly more.
Today (Sunday) morning, I decided to hit up my local weekly coin show. I picked these guys up.
No, they're not from ANA I guess, but I thought I'd share them anyway.
Feel free to ask questions/comment. Feedback always welcome!
Successful BST transactions with: blu62vette, Shortgapbob, Dolan, valente151, cucamongacoin, ajaan
Interests:
Pre-Jump Grade Project
Toned Commemoratives
Interests:
Pre-Jump Grade Project
Toned Commemoratives
0
Comments
Rob
Successful Trades with: Coincast, MICHAELDIXON
Successful Purchases from: Manorcourtman, Meltdown
I asked how to enter the giveaway for it ......... blank stares. (It worked with the painting!)
Not really looking for much these days but if I were, it might be a toner.
I always take a PBJ sandwich with me when I go to Rosemont. Or else hit Gene & Judes hotdogs down river road a cpl miles.
AB
For those of us who appreciate richly (dark) toned coins, that '44-D is killer ! ! !
Congrats on your purchases . . .
HH
1947-P & D; 1948-D; 1949-P & S; 1950-D & S; and 1952-S.
Any help locating any of these OBW rolls would be gratefully appreciated!
tradedollarnut, was it the same nickel that was sold at CSNS?
keyman64, I'll check it out in a few minutes to see if it indeed is an RPM.
BryceM: that's pretty funny lol.
Interests:
Pre-Jump Grade Project
Toned Commemoratives
They should have covered up that ice cream sign, haha!
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 700
I really like the part where the dealer said, "What they're allowing lookers, now ?" It would have been the opportunity to wink, blow him a kiss and say, "awwww shucks, I didn't even wear deodorant or after shave, or put my make-up on "
On the flip-side, that 44 D Merc is fantastic.
https://acoinshop.com/ —-> https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
Looks like a couple of very nice commems ya' picked up.
Mike
The 1944-D dime looks a lot nicer in person, by the way- my picture definitely does not do it justice. Also, it's for sale
mdwoods, you're absolutely right- most people wouldn't get the chance to hold a gold bar even half that size. It was really nice of APMEX to bring one out and display it.
etexmike, thanks- I looked long and hard, but I did find really nice commems.
Interests:
Pre-Jump Grade Project
Toned Commemoratives
zap
102 capped bust half dollars - 100 die marriages
BHNC #198
This one looks awesome
<< <i>
Speaking of bullion, the owners of that cube San Francisco silver ingot were there, Cybercoins.net.
They were cool, unlike the silver ingot's $50,000 price tag.
5$ bills are WOW with the numbers - wanted:
02121809
04151865
Wanted - Flipper notes with the numbers 6-9 or 0-6-9 ON 1$ 2$ 5$ 10$ 20$
Wanted - 10$ Sereis 2013 - fancy Serial Numbers
But I have to disagree on two grades:
City: C since it was no where near the city.
Food: F- the food was REALLY mediocre at best, and only if you were starving. Also, there was nothing around for miles to have an option
BHNC #203