Musing on ANA WFOM 2021, and Some Newps! My Show Report.

DelawareDoons · August 14, 2021 8:33AM

Won't let me post in the original post, so see my first response...

DelawareDoons · August 14, 2021 8:33AM

Man, that flight situation was a nightmare. I was originally set to fly out of Philadelphia and my flight was cancelled. Switched as quickly as I could to Harrisburg for my departing airport, but United's app wouldn't let me switch my second flight to flying into Harrisburg. I called customer service to change and they asked me why I wanted to change it, to which my frustration started to boil over and my response was a regrettably snide and incredulous "Ok let me fly into Philly and walk to Harrisburg to get my car." C'mon United, you can do better. Let me change my return flight when my departing airport changes.
Big shout out to @2ndCharter for the Crowne Plaza recommendation in this thread. The hotel was fine and right across the street and down maybe 200 yards from the convention center entrance. Walked an extra 1/4 mile each day to save a few hundred bucks. Highly recommend.
It was interesting to observe the "saturation" in the surrounding area of coin people. Basically, Rosemont turned into coin collector land for at least Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening. Not sure about after that as I was gone by Thursday. Lots of familiar faces while I was out and about after the show. I guess thats what happens when you have a well-established show in a specific area at regular interims. It was neat.
I arrived later than I had hoped on Tuesday, but it seemed moderately busy, a nice buzz to the floor, though it was definitely quieter in the back. Made the rounds and found a few pieces I was interested in, but forgot the basics of doing a show like this and writing down table numbers to double back to, and as a result...
I spent half of Wednesday looking for stuff I had seen Thursday. I did manage to find a bunch of it, and made a few newps. I'm very choosy with my coins, looking for a specific junction between older holders, collector-level coins ($100-$500 generally), and what I'd like to call "CAC-ability". I generally prefer buying online for this reason, but this show is an exception, I almost aways walk away with at least one new core piece to my collection. This year was not an exception!
Wednesday was easily the busiest of the 3 days I was there. Dealers I had chatted with seemed to be pretty happy on Wednesday, though I was mostly hanging out in the non-premium area. There was a lot of movement, a lot of people, and yet it didn't feel crowded as it usually does, which brings me to...
I loved how spaced out the floor was. Plenty of room to walk around and my rather large Thursday group (5 of us) had plenty of room to walk together without feeling like we were getting in peoples way. I'd encourage the ANA to continue using this format even if it requires larger floors going forward. Sure, you still end up fighting for space at dealer tables when it is really busy, but that is most decent shows and decent tables.
I've been working on a mixed foreign junk bag of silver, with the specifications being that I'm generally looking for Pre WWI, struck in-collar coinage, and preferably quarter sized or larger. I found one piece that was cheap enough to buy while walking the bourse, that being a Hamburg 5 Mark for $30, until I found "The Educational Coin Company" who had bags and bags of stuff spread out through their large booth. I picked out several crowns, half crowns, florins, various assorted rupees, and other stuff for my bag. A real splurge, but the material was great, and I had a blast going through it.
Prices across the board seemed strong, and I didn't see what looked like a ton of selling to collectors going on. Most of the sales seemed to be people buying groups, so I assume most were dealer-to-dealer transactions. I saw a few members of the public bringing in stuff to sell, but given my hearing loss, wasn't really able to eavesdrop and hear what was being discussed, for the sake of this report. Sorry!
Morgans seem strong, really strong. Especially Carson Cities. Northern Nevada had some solid bids on material (as always) and I sold them a small pile of GSA's for what I considered to be a very fair deal. I love working with that group. Cash in hand immediately! It's always nice to walk out of a show with more cash than you walked into it with, as well as some newps. Side note; Have you seen the eBay presale prices on those CC and O 2021's, especially the CC's? Holy cow!
Probably my favorite table at the show was the "Real American Treasure" guy, Christopher Bryan. Writing this is reminding me I need to email him. I picked up his book after chatting with him for about 20-30 minutes regarding the history of TPG's and old holders. Anybody else who focuses on that junction between old holders and cool coins is a-ok in my book! I'm heading to the beach at Cape May to visit my parents next weekend, and I'll read his book then.
Speaking of old holders, DLRC has a gorgeous '54-D $3, in a PCGS 1.1 Rattler, XF40, that looks like a gold CAC candidate. I chatted with them a bit, and they said it's going to CAC. Will be very interesting to see what happens with it there. In another life, where I don't consistently underachieve my potential and made good money, I would buy this coin.
I spent most of Thursday with a YN that has autism and anxiety and helped him get over his fear of coin shows/coin show crowds, before I had to catch the hotel shuttle to the airport. It's important to make sure the younger generation of collectors is situated to find success in the hobby, and sacrificing a day I would have been browsing piles of stuff I've already seen to do that was more than fine by me. He told me later he really enjoyed himself, and that alone makes Thursday my best day at the show. I also got to chat with the ever-friendly Charmy and show her a pair of Indians I picked up in recent years that I consider core pieces of my collection, to get her two cents. Thanks again, Charmy!
I hate flying by myself with a hearing loss. My gate got switched from E8 to C3 flying out of O'Hare and I had to run all the way there in about 10 minutes to not miss my flight. Sat down in my seat and almost immediately thereafter got the text from United saying my gate had changed. Thanks for the not-so-timely notification, United! Extra salt was rubbed in the wound (and not from my profuse sweating for having to run/jog a mile with a mask on) when they kept holding the flight for "one more passenger" who happened to be another United pilot who slowly waltzed onto the plane 20 minutes after I had sat down, chatted with the pilots for 2 minutes, then finally took his damn seat. Unbelievable conduct on his part to hold our flight up for 20 minutes. I'm very disappointed in United, which is strange, as my past experiences with them have been great. Maybe it's an O'Hare thing.
Turbulence! We had to fly through a storm system on my way home. Things were a little rough, but nothing crazy, until we hit what I am guessing was a major air pocket. You know that feeling when you've just gone down the highest part of a rollercoaster, and you've bottomed out and are starting to come back up, when the g-forces are pushing your body down but the coaster is taking you up, like your stomach is getting pushed into your mouth? Imagine that on a plane for 5-7 seconds. I know the odds of plane crashes are infinitesimally small, but I'd be lying if I said doubts didn't creep into my head for a second there. Pretty sure I wasn't alone, i heard a few expletives shouted by other passengers during those few seconds too. Things really smoothed out after that and the rest of the flight was easy. Fun times!

I think 15 bullet points is enough rambling, here's a quick snap of my new purchases. I've had my eye on a Seated Quarter for my fatty type set for a while, and finally decided to step up and pull the trigger after I made some good money on the aforementioned sales to NN. That is definitely the headliner of the group, and I paid up for it. But now I don't have to worry about buying another Seated Quarter for as long as I collect, so I am fine with that.

And I'll wrap this up with a little gif of the foreign junk silver I bought going into its new home. Thanks for reading my little report!

Bob13 · August 14, 2021 8:44AM

Nice report and newps. Thanks for taking the time!

Enjoy the Jersey shore.

pcgscacgold · August 14, 2021 9:48AM

Thanks for taking the time to write up a detailed report of the show. I was there on Wednesday and agree it was mainly dealer-to-dealer business with the public mainly viewing items in display cases. One thing that affected my buying was not wanting to touch slabs that so many others may have touched. Maybe others were in that same mind frame.

Enjoy the newps.

pmh1nic · August 14, 2021 9:53AM

Great report DD. It looks like you had some fun and picked up some nice pieces. Congrats!

coinbuf · August 14, 2021 10:12AM

Nice report, did you by chance pick up any of the seated coins from Gerry Fortin? One of those looks very similar to one that I saw on his site recently.

DelawareDoons · August 14, 2021 10:17AM

@coinbuf said:
Nice report, did you by chance pick up any of the seated coins from Gerry Fortin? One of those looks very similar to one that I saw on his site recently.

Not directly. Which one looks familiar?

Yorkshireman · August 14, 2021 10:19AM

Loved you report. Wish I could have gone. Congrats on the NEWPS.

coinbuf · August 14, 2021 10:27AM

@DelawareDoons said:

@coinbuf said:
Nice report, did you by chance pick up any of the seated coins from Gerry Fortin? One of those looks very similar to one that I saw on his site recently.

Not directly. Which one looks familiar?

The half dime, that color and pattern are what I remember, however I did not look at his site to see if it's still there or if the date/mm matched.

As to your flight issues you are not alone and it is not just one airline, post covid many of the airlines are having lots of issues with late and canceled flights. We recently flew to Denver to visit our daughter and Southwest could not have made the flight portion of that trip worse if they tried.

DelawareDoons · August 14, 2021 10:30AM

@coinbuf said:

@DelawareDoons said:

@coinbuf said:
Nice report, did you by chance pick up any of the seated coins from Gerry Fortin? One of those looks very similar to one that I saw on his site recently.

Not directly. Which one looks familiar?

The half dime, that color and pattern are what I remember, however I did not look at his site to see if it's still there or if the date/mm matched.

As to your flight issues you are not alone and it is not just one airline, post covid many of the airlines are having lots of issues with late and canceled flights. We recently flew to Denver to visit our daughter and Southwest could not have made the flight portion of that trip worse if they tried.

The half dime came from Liz Coggan. So did the V Nick.

Yeah the bad weather on Monday night really screwed a lot of stuff up. A few of my friends had it worse than I did. Ones Monday night flight was diverted and he spent the night in North Carolina rather than Chicago. Another had his return flight out of Denver (connecting to Kansas City) substantially delayed and he didn't get home until noon the next day rather than 11 the night he left. Oof. I guess I shouldn't complain about what happened to me too much. I just don't fly a lot so when things go sideways, it's really jolting.

pointfivezero · August 14, 2021 10:32AM

Great report @DelawareDoons! Traveling is always a hassle during summer but this summer seems to be out of control.

Thanks for the heads up on the 1.1 rattler. Will keep an eye out for it on the DLRC website, if it doesn't get snatched up first.

Question - are you planning to attend the Long Beach show?

Tim

pcgscacgold · August 14, 2021 10:35AM

@coinbuf said:
Nice report, did you by chance pick up any of the seated coins from Gerry Fortin? One of those looks very similar to one that I saw on his site recently.

Jerry did not attend the show (per his Blog). I have noticed Liz does pick up some inventory from Jerry and maybe the other way around as well. There was a Classic Head Half Eagle I was looking at on Jerry's site. A few weeks later I was viewing it on Liz's site. Maybe these coins made the same journey.

DelawareDoons · August 14, 2021 11:18AM

@pointfivezero said:
Great report @DelawareDoons! Traveling is always a hassle during summer but this summer seems to be out of control.

Thanks for the heads up on the 1.1 rattler. Will keep an eye out for it on the DLRC website, if it doesn't get snatched up first.

Question - are you planning to attend the Long Beach show?

Tim

No, I don't usually fly out for shows, hard to justify the cost on my budget. I tend to stay close to home and do the Philly area shows, as well as Whitman in Baltimore. One of these years I will make the trip to Winter FUN and Long Beach... That 1.1 Rattler is ridiculous, I just love it.

Walkerguy21D · August 14, 2021 12:21PM

Great report and newps! Love those old holders.

RichieURich · August 14, 2021 12:51PM

Great report, thanks for posting it, and nice newps, congratulations on acquiring them!

2ndCharter · August 14, 2021 1:07PM

Big shout out to @2ndCharter for the Crowne Plaza recommendation in this thread.

Glad to hear it. They put me on the 4th floor and, that way, it was always a short elevator ride, too. Also, all day long, they had the police officers controlling the traffic so crossing River Road to get to the Convention Center was a piece of cake. I'll definitely be staying there again next year.

shish · August 14, 2021 1:32PM

Thanks for the detailed report. It was great meeting you and I hope to see you in January at the FUN show.

golden · August 14, 2021 2:15PM

Thank you for your report.

Yorkshireman · August 14, 2021 2:16PM

Loved your report. Wish I could have gone. Congrats on the NEWPS.

koynekwest · August 14, 2021 2:21PM

Note that the 1909 cent has "fingerprint" toning that's not a fingerprint at all.

yosclimber · August 14, 2021 2:36PM

Your 1857-O half dime is a nice example of the V-2 die marriage.
From your excellent photos, I can see the die markers:

vertical "spike" from forehead
vertical die line in base under rock
low mint mark

V-1 has the same obverse as V-2, but with the mint mark not as low.

amwldcoin · August 14, 2021 2:41PM

LOL on United. I assume you read my recent experience with them. Warning to all here...it's worth the extra money to avoid United!

bolivarshagnasty · August 14, 2021 3:00PM

@koynekwest said:
Note that the 1909 cent has "fingerprint" toning that's not a fingerprint at all.

That’s precisely what happens when a fingerprinted coin tones.

DelawareDoons · August 14, 2021 3:37PM

Thanks for all the compliments on my report, newps and plastic.

@2ndCharter said:
Big shout out to @2ndCharter for the Crowne Plaza recommendation in this thread.

Glad to hear it. They put me on the 4th floor and, that way, it was always a short elevator ride, too. Also, all day long, they had the police officers controlling the traffic so crossing River Road to get to the Convention Center was a piece of cake. I'll definitely be staying there again next year.

They put me on the 13th. I always feel awkward on elevators with strangers waiting to get off on my floor. I'm just glad they had 5 elevators so there was never more than 3 people in there with me at once. It was nice having the police there for crossing too, not sure if they usually do that or not but it made things a breeze to cross the admittedly busy street.

@shish said:
Thanks for the detailed report. It was great meeting you and I hope to see you in January at the FUN show.

It was a pleasure to meet you too. Thanks for the kind words RE the dollar.

@koynekwest said:
Note that the 1909 cent has "fingerprint" toning that's not a fingerprint at all.

I'm pretty confident it's fingerprint toning actually. Kind of a funkadelic coin, and cheap too.

@yosclimber said:
Your 1857-O half dime is a nice example of the V-2 die marriage.
From your excellent photos, I can see the die markers:

vertical "spike" from forehead

vertical die line in base under rock

low mint mark

V-1 has the same obverse as V-2, but with the mint mark not as low.

Thanks for saving me the work, I was going to go look it up later tonight. And thanks for the compliments on my imaging. Tough coin to image!

@amwldcoin said:
LOL on United. I assume you read my recent experience with them. Warning to all here...it's worth the extra money to avoid United!

I did not. But like I've said, I've flown United a dozen times before without issues, so not sure whats up with them lately. I hope they get it together, I've got to fly out to San Fran next month with them.

DelawareDoons · August 14, 2021 3:39PM

A couple extra thoughts now that my mind has settled more.

Tyrant! The nicest thing about The Tyrant's US Type Collection was they had a convenient trash can 20 yards away from it to dump your collection in to after checking out his coins. Holy cow, man. Beyond comparison. I spent an hour perusing the exhibit and thought it was really nice, my only complaint would be that I could not see the reverses. I really hope the individual behind these coins is working on establishing a museum for their collection, it's just mindblowing. A museum established by them would become some kind of coin collecting mecca.

I brought some stuff for show and tell, almost all in old holders, partly in an effort to establish myself as somebody who will buy collector-level US Type stuff in old holders if they are looking for an out. I doubt any of them will have to reach out, based on the looks I was getting, and the comments I was hearing. Every dealer I showed 'em to had the same question, or some derivative of it; "Are these for sale?" On the one hand, I am guessing I'll have to start paying up more frequently to get the kind of material I'd like if this is how things are looking going forward, but on the other hand, maybe dealers and collectors alike will gain a bit more reverence for the old non-barcode fatties, and will treat them a bit better. I'll tell you there aren't many things like seeing 50+ of those slabs laid out together.

SeattleSlammer · August 14, 2021 5:56PM

@DelawareDoons said:

Tyrant! The nicest thing about The Tyrant's US Type Collection was they had a convenient trash can 20 yards away from it to dump your collection in to after checking out his coins.

Don’t do it man!! One man’s trash …. 🤓

joeykoins · August 14, 2021 6:06PM

Good report, dude.

Beautiful choice in those classic NGC holders. Beautiful coins as well.
Your living up to your reputation in the toners! Very cool.

Kccoin · August 15, 2021 10:09AM

Cool report and nice work Thursday! I love your new 25c

291fifth · August 15, 2021 10:36AM

@joeykoins said:
Good report, dude.

Beautiful choice in those classic NGC holders. Beautiful coins as well.
Your living up to your reputation in the toners! Very cool.

Did you check out that trash can 20 yards away?

Smudge · August 15, 2021 10:48AM

Thanks for your report.

Desert Moon · August 15, 2021 11:15AM

One of the best show reports in quite a long time...........

Thanks!

Soldi · August 15, 2021 11:33AM

Great Show Report "GSR" !

I can't stand O'hare airport. You have courage.

This past week.

I flew to Newark from South Carolina and took a rental car to Albany, NY to visit my mother (90) years young. Headed back on Wednesday and got a text "YOUR FLIGHT IS Cancelled" with no other way for days to get to Surfside Beach MYR Airport.
I had to keep the rental car and drive home. 660 miles. $883. for the car rental.

What's causing all the flight cancellations ?

Along · August 15, 2021 11:51AM

Reduced capacity.

hchcoin · August 15, 2021 3:12PM

Thanks for the report. Love the foreign silver.

I had the same kind of hassle with American Airlines in Dallas a few months ago. They told me no one wants to come in to work anymore and they just don't have enough people working at all levels (baggage, front desk, flight attendants, etc.). I was amazed to see hardly anyone from American in the Dallas airport when I flew through considering it is their main hub. I ended up having to cancel my flight home and buy tickets while in the airport to fly home on Sun Country.

ricko · August 16, 2021 6:43AM

@DelawareDoons .... Thanks for a great, detailed report. Seems like you had a great show. Air travel is quite a hassle lately - for many people. Have been wanting to visit my buddy in Scottsdale, but have been delaying in hopes the airlines get back to normal. Cheers, RickO

ShadyDave · August 16, 2021 7:53AM

@amwldcoin said:
LOL on United. I assume you read my recent experience with them. Warning to all here...it's worth the extra money to avoid United!

I've been told this is due to the fact that United is requiring all US employees to be vaccinated and a LOT of pilots have walked off the job. https://apnews.com/article/united-airlines-vaccine-mandate-employees-frontier-e8eef8e8f11d4924b81768484e5401a1

@DelawareDoons- Nice report. I haven't been to a show since the Philly WFOM, hopefully the Mansfield Numismatic Society holds their annual show next year!

Aercus · August 16, 2021 8:02AM

Nice report, I like your '75! Also, much respect for helping out a YN. I remember my days back then and the help I'm sure was appreciated.

Catbert · August 16, 2021 8:16AM

Great report! Especially liked your generous time spent with an anxious YN. I also liked the comment about having more cash than when you walked in. Unfortunately, like with casino winnings, it usually hard to keep the cash when there is more fun to be had. Also nice to learn of your collecting strategy. Thanks for taking the time to detail your experience.

Kccoin · August 16, 2021 8:48AM

@Soldi said:

What's causing all the flight cancellations ?

One pilot at the hotel was talking about labor shortage. The actual boots on the airstrip. (Baggage, fuel, etc etc).

amwldcoin · August 16, 2021 9:13AM

Well....that was well after my experience!

@ShadyDave said:

@amwldcoin said:
LOL on United. I assume you read my recent experience with them. Warning to all here...it's worth the extra money to avoid United!

I've been told this is due to the fact that United is requiring all US employees to be vaccinated and a LOT of pilots have walked off the job. https://apnews.com/article/united-airlines-vaccine-mandate-employees-frontier-e8eef8e8f11d4924b81768484e5401a1

@DelawareDoons- Nice report. I haven't been to a show since the Philly WFOM, hopefully the Mansfield Numismatic Society holds their annual show next year!

BryceM · August 16, 2021 9:23AM

Great report. Air travel sucks these days. I'm glad you had fun, which is the whole point, really.

2ndCharter · August 16, 2021 9:34AM

Guess I was the lucky one - two hours each way on American between South Carolina and Chicago. No problems either flight and, in fact, they each arrived a few minutes early!

messydesk · August 16, 2021 9:47AM

@DelawareDoons said:
...

I spent most of Thursday with a YN that has autism and anxiety and helped him get over his fear of coin shows/coin show crowds, before I had to catch the hotel shuttle to the airport. It's important to make sure the younger generation of collectors is situated to find success in the hobby, and sacrificing a day I would have been browsing piles of stuff I've already seen to do that was more than fine by me. He told me later he really enjoyed himself, and that alone makes Thursday my best day at the show.

Bravo!

Musing on ANA WFOM 2021, and Some Newps! My Show Report.

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