My first show report (Central States)
MorganMan94
Posts: 1,331 ✭✭✭✭✭
Wow! What a show to report on. I thought about doing previous show reports when I thought I had a good show but those were nothing compared to this. Easily the best show I have ever been to, much larger than I expected. I tried to report it to the best of my ability but I still feel like I left a lot out (mostly stuff that wouldn't interest others). I was wearing a grey vest with a pattern shirt underneath it incase anyone saw me. I did not meet any forum members.
Thursday:
I left my house at 5AM Thursday morning, it was an easy drive for me going up to highway 20 and taking that the entire way. I arrived around 9:15 and got some breakfast, making it to the convention center by 9:45. There were a good amount of people already there and a line of about 20 people waiting to register. Once the show opened up I didn't even know where to start! I decided to make my way left to right and write down coins I was interested in along with the price, table, dealer, and grade and then after making an entire round picking out the ones I wanted most and going back to purchase them. Well that lasted about 15 minutes when I ran across a dealer who had a space labeled "melt". I looked at what he had and there were 9 art bars which I quickly picked up. Continuing on through the day I made the entire round in about 7 hours (there were quite a few tables not set up yet and some I skipped over) I looked at my list and determined my must-haves. I currently have a weakness for Columbian halves, especially with the PL designation. I recently had picked up two, but a dealer there had one that was MS66+ CAC which was a real stunner. Nice toning on both sides and a true PL. I decided I would go see it again and at that point decided it was the coin I needed to have at the show. The dealer was willing to negotiate a bit on the price and I thought it was fair so I pulled the trigger. I am very happy I did! It might be my favorite coin in my collection (at least at this time). It is also a population of 1 in 66+ with one finer at 67. With the + and CAC I figure I have got to be pretty close to even with the 67. I decided that was enough purchasing today and I would be back tomorrow.
I apologize for the poor quality photos, I really am going the coin a major injustice as it is much better in hand.
Friday:
Friday morning I checked out and headed back arriving 30 minutes early again. The previous night I updated my list and narrowed it down to three Barber PR64 halves and decided I would get one of those and look for other cheaper coins to fill the day. I stopped at the first dealer to find out the Barber had sold, it was my third choice of the bunch though so it was okay. My top two options were quite a dilemma, one was a little bit more but a date I really wanted (1914) while the other was a little higher mintage (1907) but absolutely stunning. I ended up going for the 1907 since the dealer was from NJ and I knew I wouldn't see him again while the other was Brian Greer who said he would be going to the Iowa state show next month so I figured I could always get that one there. I wrote a check so I didn't get to take it home with me but I am looking forward to getting it in the mail. It is very solid for the grade and has some nice color which was the main reason I bought it.
I then decided to get a few low dollar coins. I visited a dealer in the far corner that I didn't see Thursday and found a common date 1881-S star. Boy that coin is hammered!! If it was a little bigger I could use it as a mirror. It was already priced fairly but I asked the dealer what he had to get for it and to my amazement he took off another $25! Absolute bargain, I got quite a thrill out of that and bought it. I walked around a bit and picked up some cull peace dollars and some Binion Peace dollars that were priced very cheap, I didn't want them but at the price I couldn't pass them up. I also made my way back to the dealer with the silver art bars and saw he had some 90% sitting there so I bought a bit of that. Franklins at spot was a good deal so I bought them all and a dollar worth of quarters to round out the amount.
I walked around and looked a bit more but figured I had spent enough so I called it a day and headed back to Iowa. I don't have a Denny's within 2 hours of me so I had a good meal there before leaving, probably the best strawberry lemonade I ever had so I figured that was the perfect ending to that trip. It couldn't have went better!
Comments
Great report.
Fun report!
My family is from Ida Grove and Villisca . . . .
Drunner
My last trip through Ida Grove got me a speeding ticket.
It's also on or close to IIRC the same highway 20.
Nice report - thanks for taking the time to write it all up for us!
Great report and congratulations on the pickups! The 63* Morgan looks very nice and I'm sure the Columbian Comments is fantastic in hand!
The nicest commem I saw at the show was a Lincoln in NGC MS 67 STAR. The toning was incredible. I looked at it for a while but didn't even ask for a price.
Great report and so glad you enjoyed it! Big Shows are the best, aren't they? Esp. in such a nice environment, as to what the Renaissance Hotel brings! Good stuff you purchased also. Pretty cool.
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.Thanks for the report. Nice work.
Your enthusiasm comes through clear as a bell.
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
thanks for sharing
Great report, sounds like it went very well for you.
Thanks for a great report.... You obviously enjoyed the show and came away with some nice coins/bars. Are you silver stacking? Or just collecting.... Soon you can swap some of your silver pile for gold...
Cheers, RickO
awesome report.......can't wait to see you do another one. Love the accompanying pics too
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
Thanks all! It was a great show, couldn't have gone much better. The Columbian is beautiful in hand, it is currently my favorite coin in my collection. I will probably send it to Justin Lee for photographs once the Barber arrives. I can't wait to see images of it that I can share, I just feel I can't do the coin justice.
As far as silver I am casually stacking, I only buy when presented a great deal. Even though he said it was melt it ended up only costing me 12.3x when coinflation said 12.55x so I am thrilled about that. The art bars was just a good buy I couldn't pass up, I will probably hold them since they were so cheap.