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Fun Show pickups experiences not relevant

I did put together a report but it failed to remain on the board so I will just post what I bought and say I was prepared to spend much more but the experience held that back.
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Bronze Associate member
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And a book of franklins



Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
I think the Franklin Set has some cool toners in it but of course it’s not an MS set but it’s still complete and I can appreciate the work it took to put it together. Might be a good start for my son.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
If you care to GTG on the first 2 they are PCGS holder coins.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
I like the Frankie set! The Libertad too.
Coinfame,Kaelasdad,Type2,UNLVino,MICHAELDIXON
Justacommeman,tydye,78saen,123cents,blue62vette,Segoja,Nibanny
I like the Libertad and the California.. always liked the Bear, and I have panned gold in CA....Not sure what you mean about the 'experience' holding you back... Cheers, RickO
Very nice pick ups
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb, Ricko
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
The grade on the California is clearly indicated in the photo - no need to GTG.
. No guess on the Mexican coin as I have zero experience with these.
I would like to have read your full report. It sounds like the experience maybe wasn’t what you were looking for??
I'll wager a guess on the Libertad: AU 58. I do not own any but have looked at a few before. Care to explain a bit about your experience? It seems as though I'm not the only person who's curiosity is piqued.
I always enjoy looking at coins but when you entered the show and the "Big" guys take off. It makes you think that all the good action is over. I think if Heritage or anyone else is to leave early perhaps they should take a table in the back. After all if they are not interested in selling to the working stiff who cant take a weekday off, perhaps they need to have a table out of the sight of the entrance. I get that most of the show was for dealers and rubbing elbow but the smaller guy wants to sell
coins. I walked up and down, I stood at many tables looking at coins and tried getting folks attention, they did not give me the time of day. The items I did buy required me returning to the table because the one watching the table could not offer a price. I came back about 20 minutes later and did buy them but I am sure many would not have bothered.
Many I would guess had just burned the end of the candles but I did not see many to eager to sell.
Like I said my opinion probable does not matter as from what I hear this has become common at shows.
Next time I wont bother to go unless I can go on the first or 2nd day.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Excellent post that has been discussed so many times before. Many dealers here will explain the economics of it and that they have families and need to be to work on Monday. No matter how much discussion, they still can't seem to see the need to stay longer or be attentive to the "smaller guy" who can't take off during the week.
I have used the example before of a friends family that owned a bait shop. When they sold the bait shop the new owner never stayed open at nights to the posted closing time because no one was there. Needless to say, they went bankrupt for that and many other reasons. I have been told this is different than a coin show on these boards as well.
I have also read about the frustration of the lack of attendance and poor show performance on these boards many times. I hear that the "dealer to dealer" business saved the show for them. I still think the short sighted view of leaving early is detrimental to the hobby as a whole and quite a turn off to many. Kudos to those dealers who stay to the posted closing time not because it is easy or economical, but because it is the right thing to do.
As far as dealers who ignore customers at their tables, the same holds true with my bait shop example. Customer service is the key to successful business. Yes, you can overcome this if you have nice coins but imagine how much more you could sell if you were actually courteous to people.
Word of mouth advertising is the most powerful of all advertising. An experience like the one by the OP is why coin shows are going the way of the dinosaur and stamps.
Flame away
I forgot to add, great pickups at the show
Reading your post just really hit a nerve for me.
I'll second everything you just said without haste...
Never mind complaining about the dealers that left early Saturday. One of the dealers I came to visit had someone at their table around 11 AM Friday, when I came back around 1:30 PM he had already packed up and left.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
I don't believe it should be a dealers responsibility to accept fault for why a collector can't be at a show. that might sound mean spirited but it isn't meant to be. circumstances prevent me from attending shows all the time and working it out so I can attend is entirely my responsibility. I just can't attend.
Your experience and opinion not only matter, but they represent clear defects in how hobby business people view typical collectors. Sadly, the situation is not new, nor is it likely to change until a lot of sellers go belly up.
Keets, I know this has been beaten to death on here, but...
If it's a collectors show, be open convenient hours for collectors. If it's dealer-to-dealer do what you want.
Why do big dealers who don't plan to stay need prominent locations...but them in a section right behind the primary high traffic locations. They have big signs...do they really believe no one will walk two extra rows to get to them?
Yes they pay the freight at lots of conventions, but GM doesn't bail halfway through the Detroit Auto Show.
I know Max Mehl is dead, but someone needs to be building the next generation of collectors. How is a newbie supposed to know whether it's worth losing a days pay to go to a show? If they base their opinion on Saturday, you may never see them again.
Should be standard procedure if you pack up and leave early, next time around you get the back of the room. Scumbags
I used to hit shows on Saturday and basically came to the same conclusion..... go early, or just don't go. That means taking time away from work which truthfully is more expensive than the money I spend on coins. The system isn't likely to change.
The other thing that I only understood gradually is that not everyone is there to sell to collectors. Some guys pay for a table only so they can buy. Others, just to do wholesale business. Others just to wander around and cherry-pick. This is industry-driven..... those who pay the freight for the tables should get some say in how a show works. At the same time, I'd remind those who work in the industry that their very livelihood is built on the backs of collectors. Alienate too many of them, and it simply isn't good for business.
It might be nice if there was a more obvious distinction between those who are open for retail business and those who really aren't that interested.
Finally, I eventually forget everything dealers say to me, but I never forget how they make me feel. Collecting is an emotion-driven activity. None of us NEED this stuff. A bit of kindness goes a LONG way!
Some shows are like this. I recall a Central States show a few years ago where the attendance police drove up and down the aisles on a golf cart with a video camera to see who was and wasn't there on Saturday afternoon. They got a lot of strange looks, and next year, those that left early had other people spread into their booths to make them look occupied.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
AU55 on the peso? Nice pick ups!
My YouTube Channel
its a AU58 in PCGS holder so I am sticking to it LOL
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
There's never an excuse for this. I get a feeling that the stick-on name tag has invisibility powers at certain shows.
Don't write off Saturdays yet. While a show the size of FUN can look deserted on Saturday, there are still a couple hundred dealers there that would rather take home cash than inventory. Sunday is probably a different story.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Should be standard procedure if you pack up and leave early, next time around you get the back of the room. Scumbags
nice. if you're expecting sympathy from dealers this isn't the way to go about it.
as a general rule, most shows don't charge a fee for a collector to attend, the show is free for them.
as a general rule, shows charge dealers to attend.
understanding that, it's easy to realize that the Promoter works for the dealers and meets their needs. it has been tried from time to time and at different venues to penalize dealers for leaving early. the end result tends to be less dealers, followed by less attendees.
I have been on all sides of this equation, I have helped promote/organize shows and acted as a Bourse Chairman, attended shows with a dealer and attended shows as a collector. it isn't the fault of the dealers or the show when collector schedules prevent them from attending. it hardly makes sense to penalize dealers and the overwhelming bulk of collectors to suit a few that can't clear their personal schedule to attend when all the dealers are still present.
I'm a Democratic liberal but that kind of thinking is ridiculous. just plan better next year and stop blaming other people. sounds harsh, I know, but the truth usually hurts before it sets you free.
I really like the classic look of the Library of Coins Franklin set.
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
I suppose you close up at the B&M early when no one is around also then. I just don't think it is good business to promote certain hours and then to leave early unless it is an emergency. I have heard the argument that a coin show is not a B&M so please don't even bother with that one again
I rarely make any shows, but Dan Carr did visit me in the shop a few weeks ago. I had no clue who he was. It wasn't until I asked what he did, that he identified himself. Took a "selfie" with him. Man, he makes me look like an old man. What am I saying ? I am an old man.
That's as close to a show report as you'll get from me.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Dealers should either stay for the posted hours of the show or don't bother coming at all.
@basetsb_coins on Instagram
_ I get a feeling that the stick-on name tag has invisibility powers at certain shows._
So, volunteer to help out at a club table at the show and/or be an exhibitor. That way, you get to wear a photo-ID badge and a ribbon around your neck just like the dealers. You also get into the show during the 8:30-10:00 am time period before the public can come in at 10:00. It works for me every year.
Member ANA, SPMC, SCNA, FUN, CONECA
I suppose you close up at the B&M early when no one is around also then
I don't know how you make the stretch to that but it's pretty lame. to be sure, we're a Pawn Shop and our hours are regulated by the state.
next.
also, you guys are mistaken in thinking I believe that the dealers should just leave when they want to. I don't, but it's for them to make that decision. maybe I just understand the dynamics involved and work around it.
Now I certainly am not going to single out just this one statement, for the sake of time I just chose the concept of this one that prevails pretty abundantly in this thread.
I own my own food service business and from both experience and observations and can tell you exactly what happens when I or others don't adhere to posted hours. The 1st time guests come in and you're not open when they show up, they stop coming in at that time. It really won't take much time at all before there are no customers willing to see if you are still open that last hour.
It would be very easy to come to the conclusion then that it just isn't worth it to stay open that last hour. But soon I guarantee that you, or your employees will continue the offense all over again....resulting in closing another hour sooner.
You see it as "there are no customers so why should I stay" - where I see it as you (all who left early) choose not to stay, so there are no customers.
I'm a conservative Republican and neither has anything to do with this being part of a tragic epidemic of increasingly poor service standards in this country. In my industry the results can be clearly seen in all of the businesses who no longer exist, or will soon go out of business. In Coin, stamps, comics, antiques, whatever....weekends always were the busiest days.
Customers ALWAYS come first. Or face the consequences. JMO, not preaching at anyone in particular.
For large shows the 1st and 2nd day are the best. For smaller shows go the 1st of the 2-3 days.
Both can have something to offer. Neither will change soon.
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
My point is that if you don't do it in your B&M because it is considered bad business, then why would you do it at a coin show? If you tell me a brick and mortar is different, then you are missing the point. It is your business and it doesn't matter where you are doing it. I guess I was just raised old school when it comes to doing business a certain way. To each their own.
I love the earlier example about the food service industry. My son works at Culver's. All the young kids including him always want to leave early so they beg to go home before 10PM because it is dead. They can go weeks like this but every once in a while they get a bus of high schoolers showing up after a sporting event at 9:55 PM. In my little town, if you don't stay till the posted hours, you won't be in business for long.
I've lived in small towns most of my life, all with dead downtown areas...the business all moved to the "mall". Downtown closed at 5 on Friday and 2 or 3 on Saturday. The mall is open until 10, closing somewhat earlier on Sunday. Growing up my mother owned a small retail shop, I can't imagine not being open late Friday or Saturday, and expecting customers to meet my schedule. I guess that's just me.
you never know,maybe if they stayed until the end of the show they might sell a coin to an end user instead of flipping their wares to each other week after week
When people read threads like this I don't think it makes them want to take time off work and fly across the country to stay in a hotel only to find out half the dealers didn't find it necessary to stay till the end.
I don't ever remember this as a young kid going to coin shows but maybe I just didn't realize it was happening. Did this occur in the 60's and 70's as well to the extent it happens today?
Business must be really good if they don't feel the need to stay. I guess that is good news for the hobby in some disconnected way.
I will post a shout out to the following who did not know who I was and talked to me anyway



Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Agree, those folks don't get my buisness. Curiously, the tables where the dealers are standing or sitting at the front and greeting folks looking at their wares seem to do the best at these shows.....
Best, SH
Just like in any business there are good and bad...personally I am one of the guys that #hchcoins refers to who can't justify leaving work and family to fly across the country to attend a coin show...
I enjoy reading the show reports of others...but I'm content to let DW, CRO et al work hard to find the good coins and buy one or two from them...
@BillDugan1959
8 disagrees in one day. That is a record for me
Well done!
I don't understand how people think it is ok for dealers to pack up and leave early. This is part of the reason I don't bother going to shows like this. If I am taking time out of my life to go to a coin show, I would sure hope the dealers would decide to be there during the whole published duration of the show. And I agree it is comparable to a restaurant who decides to close before closing time. I've had that happen to me before. My wife and I went to have dinner, and it was 30 minutes before closing time, and the door was locked, and the employees just kind of looked at us though the door and shrugged. Think we ever went back?
I think I got it now, you disagree. LOL
I like your selection of pick ups. Looks like you had some fun at the fun show. Good for you.
The B&M comparison is a bit off point. The entire show wasn't closed early - unlike the B&M. Unless you went to see a specific dealer, you still got to attend the show, just a slightly smaller show than you thought.
Dealers probably should stay the whole time, but they also have to travel, sometimes long distances.
I haven't been to the last 3 shows that I would have otherwise been at. For me, if it's not important to them, it's not important to me. Same thing when somebody calls my home phone and doesn't leave a message.
I knew it would happen.
Thank you for sharing your succesful buying experiences at FUN with us. I understand totally your frustation with the show on Saturday. I have yet to attend a FUN show but hope maybe next year might be the year. BUT, I will need to set aside a Thursday and Friday and make appointments before time with dealers that I deal with. That way I can spend Saturday and Sunday in Florida and enjoy the warm weather doing other things I love, like blue water fishing in the Keys. And I had not success at the FUN auction this year, but may have been more aggressive had I viewed the coins in hand. But your comments about Saturday ring true to me and I find it good to know I am not the only one to find Saturday's boring, and really only good for picking up show submissions with PCGS.
OINK
you guys can complain about this till the cows come home.
dealers are not going to stay for a dead show on Sunday and don't hold your breath waiting for them to be punished by the promoter. instead, just get over it and make a better plan next year. geez, you know you better go Thurs-Sat, why complain??
@hchcoin I think he's delivering some belated Christmas Gifts!
If you're extra nice, next year you'll get twice as many!
@Kkathyl focus on the positives. You found some nice coins and ran into some good people too! Build up relationships with the worthy sellers and hopefully next time your show experience will be better!
But how do they know it is dead on Sunday?