Brief FUN Show Report

Decided for the first time ever to skip the opening day on Thur, needing to save some
vacation for later on this year.
I attended the show on Fri and Saturday.
I did not attend any auctions or viewings, seminars, or visit the displays, pan for
gold, visit with Abe Lincoln, or submit any coins for grading. All available time was spent
on the bourse, looking at coins and talking with dealers. Lunch both days was an apple and a bottle of water on the run. I did not buy anything specific that I was hunting for my own sets, though I did purchase two unexpected upgrades to my large cents, an 1811 and an 1812, both from the late Rod Burress collection, solid coins at reasonable prices. I found a few coins
on customer want lists, so that was good. I brought very little to sell, and the one coin that I actually offered for sale went to the second dealer I showed it to (original golden toned 1853O half in an NGC 55 holder), to the fellow working at Dick Osborne's table. I thought I priced it strong and had wiggle room, but he did not haggle.

Commentary and observations - pretty good show, great venue, though a longer drive for me, and a lot of Tampa traffic to deal with. Lots of security everywhere. The bourse looked pretty busy both days, and there were fairly long lines waiting to get in at the 10am opening time.
I heard Thursday was a mad house. Most dealers were pretty upbeat and reported having a good show, Wed (dealer day), Thur, and Fri. One comment from a national dealer said Thur he was swamped all day until 6pm, and said 'it felt like a REAL coin show, for a change!'....I repeated that to several other dealers, and they said that summed it up quite well.
No one was blowing out anything or giving it away, at least on the stuff I was seeking. As Laura said, it was a rare time when the auctions had lower prices than the bourse, in general.

No one specific series seemed to be selling.....I saw 'holes' in cases in just about any series, raw and slabbed. One fellow with a nice date run of choice walkers said he sold $30k of early dates on Wed to other dealers. Someone else said colonials were active, another said Buffalo nickels. Todd reported very good business selling CC dollars in GSA holders. I was with a couple forum members at Harlan Berk's table when one fellow, a Barber specialist, bought a number of very nice early large cents.