Knoxville Smoky Mountain-Ft. Loudon Coin Show Report
giorgio11
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We stayed, as usual, at a nice Hilton property nearby, to be fresh and get there bright and early for wholesale trading. Although we were on the lookout especially for toned Wheat cents, there were few to be seen. Fortunately, we did find a couple of nicely toned Indian cents. The show started with a bang on Friday, the biggest crowd I have ever seen here. (Someone told me the generous parking lot was full.) Our full case of early Wheat cents (including, right now, two nice 1909-S VDBs) never fails to draw attention, although there are a lot of curious types who "just want to know how much that [SVDB] is worth." Hey, that's OK, some of those folks will remember us when they need one.
We have a pretty extensive selection of PCGS-certified Conder tokens, and several people stopped and wanted to know more or look at a few pieces. (I see @snizzle has posted some nice photos of some of them.)
The show was blessed to have several numismatic luminaries in attendance, including John Frost and Dennis Fortier of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club; Larry Briggs of SEGS and Liberty Seated quarter reference-book fame; and Dr. Glenn Peterson, noted expert on Bust halves and quarters (and probably other series). John Frost gave an informative talk on Barber dime grading, varieties, keys/semikeys and the "solution" to the 1894-S dime. Dr. Peterson on Saturday presented "John Reich: The Early Years" which unfortunately I did not get to hear much of. In the LSCC display cases I got to see the VVEDS (very very early die state) 1849/6 half dime, which I took one look at and said "Wow!" That is the example that completely lays (laid) to rest the discussion over whether this curious issue was an 1849/6 or 1849/8. They also had (and @snizzle has posted photos of) the two different "transitional" die pairings for the Judd-267 Transitional (aka "Coin Without a Country") half dimes.
Sales picked up on Saturday over Friday's moderate level, and we sold a couple of nice gold type coins in high grade and some raw complete sets, and we added to our Carson City Morgan dollar holdings.I met several new and old members of this forum there, including @Tibor , who showed me photos of some of his wonderful and extensive collection of earliest-dated European silver coins (I think the earliest was 1373 or 1374, from Aachen); @TurtleCat , with whom we had a nice long, fun chat before he bought a nice Gem two cent piece; @snizzle / Tom who was one of the show organizers (and those guys always do an excellent job); and unfortunately @erwindoc had a conflict that came up (hey, life happens).
Another plus to this fun and profitable show is always the good food. It is held in a combination catering business/banquet hall facility, so the folks are used to feeding a lot of people at once. Dealers like me who are sometimes alone at the show (Mrs. VDB is taking care of Saturn and Neptune, increasingly needy but very loving cats) appreciate the Rothchild Catering folks coming around and taking orders for wraps, sandwiches, and pulled pork.
This is a two-day show which makes it worthwhile to come down, but it bears mentioning that a lot of the same dealers also participate in the one-day shows which are held in the same location monthly.
And thus endeth my tale.
Kind regards,
George
Comments
Now this is a coin show write up I just provide photos. Thanks George for the great report
Tom
Thanks for posting your show report @giorgio11.
It was great meeting you George! I had a blast talking with you. My wife loves the 2c I got from you.
When funds refill, I’ll have to see if you still have that 1877 25c 
I really enjoyed meeting you too, @TurtleCat ! Glad y'all like your coin.
Kind regards,
George
Enjoyed reading the report! Thanks and glad you had a rewarding show, George.
@giorgio11 ....Thank you for a very nice show report...and it certainly sounds like the food was great....Certainly not something one finds at most coin shows. Cheers, RickO
Thanks for posting; sounds like a good show!