Westchester Coin and Stamp Show , April 7 2018 Report
1TwoBits
Posts: 454 ✭✭✭✭
Here's a short review.....I stopped by the Westchester Coin and Stamp Show at the Westchester Marriot in Tarrytown NY on Saturday after getting through a little back-up from an attempted march by a group over the nearby Mario Cuomo Bridge (Tappan Zee Bridge). The group didn't have a permit and there is no pedestrian walkway on the bridge. I eventually arrived and stopped by the front desk, dropped of some numismatic publications on the table for others to sample, and then went in.
its not a huge room, so it was nice to see all of the tables fully manned, good attendance, and a wide variety of material. The usual dealers were there Mark Simon, Ed Doran Coins, Fairchester Numismatics, Dart Coins, and a number of others. There was early US to modern, ancients, Canadian & foreign, one strictly metals dealer, and one large stamp dealer.
I was looking mainly for early quarters, counterstamps, and tokens. There were some quarters on the floor, probably 75% raw and 25% encapsulated. They were mostly lower grade pieces, as I think the highest graded coin I saw was a reduced size PCGS AU53. I didn't find anything for me, but thought this 1821 looked somewhat attractive for the grade. It did have a few marks on the reverse, which I think limited the grade.
For @Ricko, the bullion dealer had a couple cases of silver bars in all sorts of sizes big and small, as well as some platinum and other items. I'm not sure how he was doing at the show, but he did mention that he had some customers he would be selling thousands of dollars worth of material to on Sunday upstate.
Unfortunately Jon from Scarsdale Coins was not set up, so I did not get to see any of his recent newps. Someone did mention he was there earlier walking around, but he must have left before I got there. A couple dealers mentioned doing decent business, one a little better on Friday. It's always good to get out and see what's new at the local show, as well as talking to dealers and collectors.
1TwoBits
Comments
Thanks for the report. Glad you had a nice time.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Wonder how the stamp dealer did considering the soft market with stamps. Was there any error coinage?
I always find out about shows after they get done. Maybe someday I will know with enough time to actually attend.
@1TwoBits... Thanks for the report and information on bullion....Cheers, RickO
@1TwoBits Good report. But. "Fully manned"? Did you run this report past the PC Police? Don't you know all those female coin dealers wearing mustard-stained Hawaiian shirts are going to be coming after you with torches and pitchforks? Don't you know that "fully staffed" is the ONLY appropriate terminology these days?
Seriously, I'm just kidding and I hope I don't offend anyone here. I'm just noodling around on a Sunday morning before I get cleaned up and go to church. I do wish we had more young dealers and more female dealers!
Thanks; I figure that many of these long running shows are largely social activities, this one at $375 a table to start is a lot more many of them. I guess the old county center is now a thing of the past for this show? https://i.imgur.com/vDgNczp.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tKZ1KEp.jpg https://i.imgur.com/zTSOMFl.jpg
@BLUEJAYWAY, there were dealers with error coins, just depended on what you were looking for. The stamp dealer had several customers sitting at his table, and seemed pretty busy.
You got me @giorgio11, darned figures of speech, fully staffed would have been better. There were some dealers that had their spouses behind the tables with them, and there is one female dealer who almost always sets up at this show and was there yesterday.
@logger7, I think the County Center is no longer viable for the show. The number of dealers has been getting smaller, which I think necessitated the venue change. Most County Center shows over the last number of years were held in the downstairs room, with the November Thanksgiving show in the upper main room. I really liked it when it was in the main room, and that Thanksgiving show used to bring in a LOT of dealers and attendees (& meant spending more time there). I wish they could still have the November show there, which would also be nice since its less than a mile from my house. I don't know why dealer attendance dropped off, but they used to get a number of national dealers there. Even Colonel Steve Ellsworth from Butternut used to do the November show.
1TwoBits
@1TwoBits I was just joshing with you, as they say. Seriously, $375 does seem a bit steep unless it was a two-day show. And the Westchester demographic is a lot tonier than most of the shows I hang out at. Would you say the average buyer there has a pretty healthy disposable income level? Anyway thanks for a great report.
Kind regards,
George
Yes, it is a two day show and yes, $375 still sounds steep.
Westchester does have money, but I think that the benefit here may be in the material that walks in from the public, too.
I attended the show on Friday and bought a couple of currency items. There were two currency-only dealers there, Carl Bombera and Gary Paretti and about half a dozen other dealers with some currency.
Forty to fifty years ago was when this show was at it's peak. I was mentored and worked for a name that some will remember-Murray Altman. He had the best table location in the show-just inside the entrance. At times, there were probably 500-1000 customers in the room and it became very difficult to get through the aisles.
My first solo table there cost $35 for the three days. Earl Pelton was the chairman/owner. No problem covering expenses with that overhead. I lived half an hour away and had no food or hotel costs. I set up regularly at WESPNEX for several years but that was about 20-25 years ago. By then, business was off more than half from it's peak in the 1970s. I attended the show every now and then as a customer over the past 20 years. The decline has been pretty steady. They haven't been selling out the tables in the County Center for quite a while and many times the floor was half empty. Unfortunately, this show is now a shadow of it's forerunner.
But the real question remains this: What ever happened to the Treasure Chest? Maybe Mark Simon knows.
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Back 20 years ago there were many dealers who would set up there who were on the national circuit; New World Rarities had its auction at night; there were many big dealers who would come to their bigger shows. Brinks trucks would load inventory onto the bourse floor. There was probably a way to keep it at the same level of some other trendy shows on the West coast, FL, or do a mini-Baltimore, but that takes a lot of energy, planning, and intelligence. Coinplex in Stamford, that Scarsdale and Legend promoted did not survive the realities of the marketplace.
Glad to hear this show was active. Last one I attended was a super dud. I guess I will have to give it another shot
Somehow I managed to file these. Here they are for posterity.
My three cents. Sorry to miss ya. I had engagement on Friday and did walknthe show Sat. Had another show on Sun and it doesn’t make sense to set up 2 x in one weekend. It was Coinfest not Coinplex and it did fine for Five years with over 1,000 people attending the final year. It survived the marketplace however we only did it for fun and we both have a lot on our plate to continue that show. Anyway hope to see everyone this weekend at BayState where we will be set up with Newps and Bowls of super fresh candy. Till then Ciao. PS a shoutout to the WCCC banquet on Wed nite which I’ll be stopping bye as well