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Coin show moments that make you shake your head
airplanenut
Posts: 21,995 ✭✭✭✭✭
We’ve all seen something humorous at a show. Let’s share.
I don’t remember if this was the Baltimore ANA in 2003 or a Baltimore show within the next few years, but it always makes me laugh. The Brinks guy had a cart stacked with sealed sacks and was leaving the Heritage table. He didn’t have a partner and was pulling the cart with his left hand. I also noticed that his gun was on his left hip. And his right arm was sticking out in the wind, immobilized by a cast. He was literally a disarmed armed security guard.
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After 8 years of repping ANACS at shows, I have too many stories. Maybe someday I'll do something like this guy did:
http://www.actsofgord.com/Annoy/
I'll be nicer, though.
I was at one of the large shows at Baltimore and found a check book laying in the middle of one of the aisles that appeared to belonged to a coin dealer. I turned it in at the information desk.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
The guy with a booth at the 2019 FUN show selling steam cleaners for your coins I found pretty humorous. He was next door to the gentleman selling a two volume set of reference guides for Stone Mountain counter stamps.
Watched a dealer set up, then sit with his arms folded in the middle of his corner table area ,then complain about he had no sales!
So my question is why bother? If you aren't going to interact with customers, his body language stating dont talk to me, why would you even go through with showing up?
And why in hell would you be in a business that is all about communication,and knowlege of your products?
Working in retail food for 38 years.... I could write a book on human behaviour in a retail store.....just when you believe you have seen it all.....the next crazy walks in the store.
To those of you who have never worked in a retail situiation ..... it is a education one could never learn in any text book!
"That's why I wander and follow La Vie Dansante"
When a customer or dealer ask where's the premium shit with a smile. Or when a dealer stays after hours at the show with no partner and then wonder why they get robbed etc
The guy who accidentally fired off a shot at the Parsippany show a few years back.... I saw him getting perp walked out of the show by police wearing a black polo shirt with a well known logo on it.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Several years ago a well known dealer left a less than competent "associate" in charge of his table. I inquired about a $30K coin and was quoted $9K. For fun, I promptly wrote a check and no more than 5 minutes later was paged overhead to come back to the table, where we unwound the purchase.
Legally, you were under no requirement to go back to that table, yeah? I am just wondering out loud.
Professional Numismatist. "It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
A sale's a sale!
That time they ran out of mustard...
Good for you Lakes!
Integrity runs deep. And far. And only once.
Several years ago at a PNNA show, I remember seeing gold $20's being tossed back and forth across the aisle between two dealers. One dealer had a live one, and he didn't want to let a sale get away.
That was one of the craziest moment's i remember at that show!! I think i was a couple tables down from when it happened and was just in shock.
The FUN show, about 1985.
Two shifty guys come in the main door. One was carrying a large paper shopping bag full of, what were once, water-logged C notes. The other guy carrying an attache case. The shopping bag guy points at the rolls of twenties in the case at the first table, nods his head, and pulls out some ratty bundles of C notes and hands them over. The dealer pulls out the rolls and the attache case guy starts tucking the rolls in there. Next table, same thing. And on until the C notes were gone.
By the end of the day, everyone had some of those scruffy notes in their pocket.
Successful transactions with : MICHAELDIXON, Manorcourtman, Bochiman, bolivarshagnasty, AUandAG, onlyroosies, chumley, Weiss, jdimmick, BAJJERFAN, gene1978, TJM965, Smittys, GRANDAM, JTHawaii, mainejoe, softparade, derryb
Bad transactions with : nobody to date
Ever hear a glass display case shatter due to the customer leaning on it? It’s about like that misfire going off, closest I’ve ever seen to a fight at a coin show.
You break it you bought it?
that sign is pointing to the ditch where I ritualistically burn my money
Who was wearing the shirt?
The guy or the cops?
BHNC #203
You should have told the dealer that you already sold it to some guy who was getting ready to leave the show.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
At a Long Beach show many years ago, I had a raw 24 S Nickel and wanted to know if it would grade F 15, VF 20, of VF 25. These are mushy strikes, and I wanted to see some slabbed examples, and compare strikes for the same graded 1924 S and 1924 P. A dealer showed me one he marked as a 24 P. It had a full horn. Except it was a 24 S. I quietly informed him of this and went on my way.
"Seu cabra da peste,
"Sou Mangueira......."
I had bought a raw 1909-S VDB a few days before a Long Beach show. I showed it to three different dealers at the show. One said details, one said fake, and the final one said it will straight grade. The coin today sits in a PCGS 30 holder with a green sticker.
This one time in Philadelphia....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ3QAjuX83A
I went to a gun show the other day. A dealer had a case of silver dollars / rounds / eagles/ etc for $31 each. I picked out nine, he looked at them and started with this ones $33, this ones $35, and I simply said I will pass and walked away. I am not a fan of people who can’t honor their stated price.
I watched a guy trying to load a bunch of silver bars onto a cart for someone. It was at Long Beach IIRC. They were huge! Probably a dozen 1000 oz bars. It looked like more of an industrial workplace than a typical coin show transaction. I’m not sure I’d just casually trot 12,000 ounces of silver out the lobby and to my car. That’s over 800 pounds!
I used to walk up to every table systematically and ask politely if they brought any Trade Dollars with them. I walked up to a table once and asked the dealer my question who had a (somewhat special) collector trying to sell him a bunch of low grade silver and Trade dollars (think cleaned/tooled VF 77s and 81s stuff in PVC binder sleeves) at the same time. The dealer put 2 & B together and assumed we were a pair of hustlers and were working him and got aggressive. I simply sized up the two of them up and informed them I had no desire to get in the middle of two short bus junk peddlers and to quit the fake tough guy crap while walking away. An isle later, security approached me talking about a complaint form a "dealer", after wasting 5mins of my time I simply had to ask WTF they were talking about and they conceded they didn't know either and left. It was very strange.
Funny part is I am not sure what hustle he thought was being worked. But I sure cash heavy operations draw out all the hucksters and angles.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
True Story
Friday Morning a dealer comes in late whose table was next to me. I turn around just as the idiot gave my table a big shove trying to slide it down so he could wheel his handtruck between the tables. KABOOM The legs on my table gave way. Never in my life have I every done this before but it just came out very loud....You Stupid M**** F****** idiot! What H were you thinking. The room went quiet and you could hear a pin drop. I don't know who was more embarrassed...him or me. How no slabs or cases were broken is beyond me. Some of you have seen how much material I cram in my cases. Needless to say it took me several hours to get set back up.
I felt bad but geeze....he did buy me dinner.
The guy. Hint: It was not an NGC shirt.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Similar thing happened to me at a Atlanta show years ago, just not to that extent. I bought a 2 piece set of 1946 10 and 20 Franken Liechtenstein gold coins from someone watching a dealers table and was charged as if the were common French or Swiss 10 and 20 Franc pieces. The assistant actually tracked me down on the bourse floor and said it was a mistake. I'm still lacking anything from Liechtenstein in my world gold collection.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
Unquestionably the most frightful observation ever at a major coin show. Watching a premier coin dealer eating Chinese takeout with a serving size spoon. Shoveling it in like it was a final meal. Just have not been able to unsee that.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.americanlegacycoins.com
Have never seen that CAC video before - very interesting .....
I was at a coin show in Phoenix and came across this table that had exactly what I was looking for, but there was nobody attending the table. I asked the guy next door, he just shrugged. I just stood there for about 10 minutes, nobody showed up. since I have COPD and can't stand for very long, I finally reached around the end of the table, grabbed a folding chair and sat down in the aisle between the tables. I mean there were hundreds if not thousands of Dollars on the table in coins and I ended up waiting for 35 minutes before someone finally came back to the table. The guy had left his 17 YO grandson at the table and gone to get something to eat and about that time his Grandson showed up and said that he had had to go to the bathroom real bad and figured the adjoining tables would watch it for him, but he didn't ask anyone to watch it, Just took off.
I got my coin and left before the lid blew off.
I too like the CAC video. Makes me laugh.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
I have a confession. I was the CAC guy in the video.
.
.
Wow, that feels really good to finally get off my conscience.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
This is pretty typical. These days they usually leave a cell phone number in the case if they'll be absent for a bit.
LMAO. Nicely done
My coin show shake my head moments are nothing that would be noticed.
They consist of 4 separate times when I saw raw coins that were fantastic and that would have been conversation pieces. Each of these 4 times I passed on purchasing the coins. My reasoning for not buying the coins seemed valid at the time.
However the next day I had extreme remorse and realized that my reasoning for passing on each coin was crazy stupid.
...
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
People walking up with a spreadsheet asking you to price their entire collection for an offer from it.
the guy who buys a coin from you, then 2 hours later after wandering around and forgetting who he bought it from, attempts to flip it to you for +25% SMH
At a show there was a dealer not selling coins but supplies, folders,2X2's. books and so forth. He had some older Red Books and I picked up one to add to my library. Down the isle I stopped at another dealer to look at some Carson City Silver Dollars as I wanted to add another one to my collection. To better look at some coins I set my note book and the Red Book down to free up my hands. Just as the dealer started to hand me two coins he saw the Red Book and quickly grabbed the coins back. In a loud voice that everyone could hear he said "No you don't ! You collectors are all alike! You come with an old Red Book and think you can buy coins at those prices. Not my coins you don't !" I politely tried to tell him I wasn't using the Red Book as a price guide and that I just bought it to add to my collection. I even pointed to the dealer I bought it from but nothing doing so I just moved a long. On the other side of the room I stopped at another dealer again to look at some Carson City Silver Dollars. As he handed me a coin he said with a smile. "You're the collector with the old Red Book." I did buy that coin from him.
We all need to put our mouths in neutral until we really understand what is to transpire.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
@PhillyJoe
Given that it was Philadelphia, the CAC imposter was lucky he wasn't hit with a snowball...
or taken apart by cops.
U.S. Type Set
There are a few dealers that basically start yelling at me when they see a 10x/20x combo loupe. I’ve been told, “Get out of here, I don’t sell to cherrypickers. No one cherrypicks me!”
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
It was St Louis in the 1990’s. Went to the show with a number of friends and we all split up searching for treasures. I was by a table 3 or 4 times with no one home. Finally, just before we were leaving, I gave it another try. Dealer was sitting there complaining to his neighbor about how bad sales were at the show. I stood there for what seemed like forever while he ranted about everything. Finally he asked if I needed something. I responded that I wanted to see his three bust halves. He flipped them on the top of the table and continued his conversation. I took a quick look and decided on one for $50. I handed him the two other coins and a fifty putting the coin in my shirt pocket. He looked at me strangely and said he needed his code off the coin. I promptly popped the coin out of the 2X2 put it back in my pocket and gave him the empty holder and quickly walked away.
Oh, I had just cherried an 1830 Large Letters!
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
I have the original version that was compiled by Adna Wilde. Nice to hear that someone is continuing his work.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
Yeah-I've run into a few of those. I've learned to use a 5X, non-intimidating lens. If you can't see it with that then it probably isn't worth fooling with anyway.
The last time a guy said that to me, I politely handed him the $5 he was asking for the unattributed 1945-P DDR and walked away. I think this one had added "besides, you're wasting your time, I already went through them all."
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
Did anyone here see when the late Mr. Hendrickson of "Silvertowne" got perp walked out of the Baltimore Show? That must have created quite a buzz.