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ANA Atlanta Show Report
golden
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Our daughter and I got up very early ( I don't think that I have ever gotten up so early to go to a coin show ) Thursday morning to go to the ANA show. We left the house at dark++++++. After driving for over an hour and a half we saw the sun rise. We were hungry so we went through the drive through at Hardee's and got breakfast. A little later we had to get out at a rest stop to stretch our legs. Our trip went very smoothly until we got to within 10 miles of the show. The traffic came to a stop and it took us 30 minutes to drive those last miles. Finally we were there. There was plenty of free parking at the convention center garage. When we exited the garage there was a cold wind that made it seem like we were in Chicago instead of Atlanta.
Our daughter was signed up to be a page at the show. She quickly got her photo ID badge and headed to the bourse floor to start to work. I on the other hand had two hours to wait before the show opened at 1PM. I am too cheap to buy an early bird badge. About 15 minutes of speeches preceded the ribbon cutting ceremony. A crowd of about two hundred was then unleashed onto the bourse floor. I immediately noticed the lack of a buzz on the floor. Even at this late opening hour there were still several dealers busy setting up their cases. There was a constant line at Kagin's table to get a look at the Saddle Ridge gold coins. They are beautiful. I might have to buy one of them.
I then started at aisle 100 on my first pass of the floor looking for PCGS type coins. My want list only totals 16 coins but I was optimistic that I would find at least one coin. The action on the floor seemed very subdued. As I went around the floor I only saw a few coin that I had to ask to see. I came to David Kahn's table and sold him 4 coins that I had brought along with me. I bought nothing on my first pass of the floor. I met our daughter in the rest area where I had a $4 hot dog and she had nachos and cheese for $3.50. After lunch I started another pass of the floor and she went back to work. I made it half way around the floor by closing time and purchased nothing. We left the show and went to check into our hotel before we had dinner.
We got to the show around 10 AM on Friday. Our daughter started to work and I continued my rounds of the floor. On display at Jess Lipka's table were the first five uncut sheets of 1915 $5 Federal Reserve Bank Notes from the Atlanta district serial numbers 1-20. Incredible!
The ANA had a drawing for a chance to go into a money cube and grab all of the money that you can in 30 seconds. Our daughter won the drawing. She was super excited. She got $37 in 30 seconds.
We went to the rest area and each had a hot dog for lunch. After lunch I went to look at the exhibits. There were not a large number of them at this show. After that I continued around the floor and found nothing. We left the show a little before closing time. We went down to the lower level to a Chinese place for dinner . We had the sesame chicken and fried rice. It was very good. After dinner we headed back to our hotel.
We checked out of our hotel on Saturday morning and got to the convention center at 9:30 AM. Our daughter went to the Girl Scout " Fun With Money " patch workshop. When that was over she went back to work and I walked around the bourse floor.
A large crowd was at the show on Saturday including a number of families with kids. On Saturday the ANA had a free coin appraisal for the public. The line started with about two dozen people in it and grew to about three dozen at one point. There were four dealers and collectors manning the table. ANA Vice President Jeff Garrett took a two hour turn at the appraisal table.
I looked at a Spiked Chin 1804 Half Cent in PCGS AU 58. It had a shallow scratch on the reverse and a very small black spot. I passed on it. I did not make a single purchase at the show.
We left the show around 2 pm. We went back down stairs to eat the sesame chicken and fried rice again before we hit the road. As soon as we got on the interstate I asked our daughter if she had fun. She said yes. I asked her how much fun she had on a 1-10 scale . She shouted out 10.
After a stop for gas, a couple of rest stops and a trip through the drive through for dinner we arrived safely back home at dark. It had been a fun three days.
Our daughter was signed up to be a page at the show. She quickly got her photo ID badge and headed to the bourse floor to start to work. I on the other hand had two hours to wait before the show opened at 1PM. I am too cheap to buy an early bird badge. About 15 minutes of speeches preceded the ribbon cutting ceremony. A crowd of about two hundred was then unleashed onto the bourse floor. I immediately noticed the lack of a buzz on the floor. Even at this late opening hour there were still several dealers busy setting up their cases. There was a constant line at Kagin's table to get a look at the Saddle Ridge gold coins. They are beautiful. I might have to buy one of them.
I then started at aisle 100 on my first pass of the floor looking for PCGS type coins. My want list only totals 16 coins but I was optimistic that I would find at least one coin. The action on the floor seemed very subdued. As I went around the floor I only saw a few coin that I had to ask to see. I came to David Kahn's table and sold him 4 coins that I had brought along with me. I bought nothing on my first pass of the floor. I met our daughter in the rest area where I had a $4 hot dog and she had nachos and cheese for $3.50. After lunch I started another pass of the floor and she went back to work. I made it half way around the floor by closing time and purchased nothing. We left the show and went to check into our hotel before we had dinner.
We got to the show around 10 AM on Friday. Our daughter started to work and I continued my rounds of the floor. On display at Jess Lipka's table were the first five uncut sheets of 1915 $5 Federal Reserve Bank Notes from the Atlanta district serial numbers 1-20. Incredible!
The ANA had a drawing for a chance to go into a money cube and grab all of the money that you can in 30 seconds. Our daughter won the drawing. She was super excited. She got $37 in 30 seconds.
We went to the rest area and each had a hot dog for lunch. After lunch I went to look at the exhibits. There were not a large number of them at this show. After that I continued around the floor and found nothing. We left the show a little before closing time. We went down to the lower level to a Chinese place for dinner . We had the sesame chicken and fried rice. It was very good. After dinner we headed back to our hotel.
We checked out of our hotel on Saturday morning and got to the convention center at 9:30 AM. Our daughter went to the Girl Scout " Fun With Money " patch workshop. When that was over she went back to work and I walked around the bourse floor.
A large crowd was at the show on Saturday including a number of families with kids. On Saturday the ANA had a free coin appraisal for the public. The line started with about two dozen people in it and grew to about three dozen at one point. There were four dealers and collectors manning the table. ANA Vice President Jeff Garrett took a two hour turn at the appraisal table.
I looked at a Spiked Chin 1804 Half Cent in PCGS AU 58. It had a shallow scratch on the reverse and a very small black spot. I passed on it. I did not make a single purchase at the show.
We left the show around 2 pm. We went back down stairs to eat the sesame chicken and fried rice again before we hit the road. As soon as we got on the interstate I asked our daughter if she had fun. She said yes. I asked her how much fun she had on a 1-10 scale . She shouted out 10.
After a stop for gas, a couple of rest stops and a trip through the drive through for dinner we arrived safely back home at dark. It had been a fun three days.
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Comments
You are being very wise to be very picky.
Nice report...sometimes the best purchase is none at all.
I saw quite a few dealers eating the chinese food from downstairs and I was polite enough to not tell them they had soy sauce on their shirts. Soy just doesn't say the same thing that hot dog mustard does.
I bought quite a few coins but they were all set fill in things. Didn't buy anything that wasn't already graded even though I saw a lot of really expensive coins in 2x2s and can't for the life of me understand why someone would flop out a 700 or 800 dollar coin that not in a holder. I'm not buying it. My eyes are good enough to see anymore and a stroke a few years back took away my sense of smell so my sniffer is not going to work (not that you can smell anything through the mylar anyway. I did notice, at one dealer table on the far side of the room, opposite the exhibits side, they had a huge pile of US paper money and the lady that was with me, who has a very astute sense of smell, was saying, that smells just like a party I went to years ago where everyone was rolling those bills into little tubes and can you smell that smell. My answer is "duh, I haven't smelled anything in the last 5 years" but she swore there was an odor of cocaine around the money. Just every odd to me (I do remember some dealers being heavy in to cocaine during the late 70's during the Hunt brother silver take off where every coin went along for the ride and people were making money hand over fist and there was a lot of cocaine sniffing going on just so some of the big boys could stay awake to go to all the shows and buy and sell. Seems like a lot of the big guys wore sun glasses all the time inside and out then too). Dang, off track again, that's what happens when a squirrel runs by the window....
And no, I won't ever ride my Shriner's motorcycle into the show and toss candy to the dealers and solicit donations to the children's hospitals because it's just not that type of social event.
So. sorry, no food pictures from me but doesn't change the fact that I have a lot of fun at the shows and if the dealer is alone and is a grumpy old bear then I just shop on, no harm, no foul.