Yet Another FUN SHOW Report - It's another long read.
keyman64
Posts: 15,521 ✭✭✭✭✭
I took vacation days for both Thursday and Friday so I could attend both days. I drove there each day from Pinellas County, FL on the west coast. Without traffic it can be 90 minutes but that is typically only in the middle of the night and rare these days...so it took 1:45-2 hours each trip. Fun times. Some people are so desperate to meet new people that they go crashing into other cars on the interstate. I don't get it.
On Thursday, I traveled there with my non-coin-collecting step-father so he could take in the experience. I wanted to get there early so we could go through lot viewing but I had worked until well after midnight and didn't get much sleep. I'm glad I went through my stuff to get organized last weekend to figure out what I wanted to do while at FUN. Anyway, we walked in the building about 9:40AM and were ready to go with the crowd at 10AM.
I immediately met up with a dealer I know from Instagram and had bought a coin from a few months back. We walked over to PCGS so I could start the form for a show walk-through. He also had another coin to show me, It had similar toning characteristics on the obv but was not as vibrant. I passed on it but it was definitely a nice coin. We chatted for a bit and then I went through the half hour process of submitting my coin for cross at any FB grade. Here are my photos of the coin. I messed up the lighting a bit so it didn't show the FBs. Oh well. I wait on the True View now. Before anyone asks if it really looks like this, the answer is absolutely yes...from every possible angle you can imagine. I like it very much and it is among my top three favorites in my collection.
I also submitted three of my toned Mercs for regrade but I slow-boated them. I'll get those results in 2-3 months most likely.
After the submissions, I started methodically going up and down the aisles looking for high grade Mercury Dimes with fantastic toning. I have not been able to find anything worth buying since August so I had high hopes but have expanded into a distraction of high grade Roosevelt Dimes with fantastic toning. Nicely Toned Roosevelts are NOT RARE but finding them in the top grades makes it more difficult. At one table in the morning, I found a really nicely toned Roosevelt with great luster but it was only MS65 with plenty of hits to support the grade. I asked the dealer how much he wanted for it and he said $60. Sold. I walked the next aisle over and sold it for $70 to a dealer I knew. Very quick and easy. I just made my $10 parking fee back, thank you very much! Probably one of my happiest moments of the show since I really do not like paying for parking. Lol. I could have sold it for $80 if I tried but I was not interested in that struggle. The dealer I sold it to said he would sell it for about $85 so good for him.
My step-father and I packed our lunches for the day. I had them in a cooler bag in my backpack. It was nice to save that cash as well, not to mention healthier eating.
Throughout the day, I met and chatted with lots of great people, including MercMadness. I said hi to Charmy. She's a fan favorite on these forums or anywhere she goes. I met up with people from this forum and from Instagram. It was a really good time. Sadly, on day one, I did not find anything close to meeting my criteria of high grade with monster toning on a Merc. I found some really nice toned Roosevelts but most of the time they were not in high enough grade or they were in ATS modern holders and over graded in my opinion.
As for diverse material at the show, I don't think most people would have been disappointed. I saw really great coins...CBHs, errors, a 1794 Dollar in XF45, high end large cents, early proofs from the 1800s. There was really great stuff, just not stuff for me. I saw a really awesome Ike in I think 68+ toned but I saw the same coin last Summer FUN...still sitting around on the market waiting for someone to spend more on it than what it sold for at Legend. It's cool but just not THAT COOL in my mind. I saw another Ike I would not mind having. It was a 1973 Proof error PCGS PR64...wicked cool, you could only see a tiny sliver of the date and barely make out that it was a 1973. The dealer wasn't at his table three times that I went by there. On Friday, I went back to learn that it was $19,000! I do not do errors but I do know a couple of things. To me and my disciplined self, the coin was cool but not $19,000 worth of cool. Maybe it is legitimately worth that much and cool if it is but is not for me. I should have taken a cert number/pic of it. Oh well.
The YN sellers on the floor were quite active but they have been around for a couple of years now. I think they sprint the floor on dealer day and buy up a ton of stuff, frequently at dealer prices. I heard about a dozen times throughout the show that a dealer HAD a nice toned Merc but they already sold it. Sure, they could be telling me a story but when you hear that a dozen times there's probably plenty of truth to it. Just a few years ago, I recall walking the bourse and seeing a few high grade beautifully toned Mercury Dimes. Granted, I did not have the budget for them back then. This show, nothing!
For the bullion market, there seemed to be a little activity but I was not actively participating. I had a few pounds of silver melt with me, just in case I needed more liquid funds for an acquisition but it turns out I did not need it. There were a few bullion dealers trying to create a unique bullion product for the market. To me, it's weird. An ounce of silver is in the $24 realm but there was a seller trying to sell an ounce of silver with an APP so you can scan the coin and have a creature wiggle around on your phone screen for some type of augmented reality thing. It's weird and I can't see myself spending 10x melt for something like that. Where's the protection and secondary market for it? There isn't one that I know of. If you ever wanted to sell it, you would have to sell someone else on the story and how cool the app was so you can just watch some animation on your phone. To each their own. I noticed low unc common date saints trading around the $1900 realm.
Thursday wrapped up without me finding anything to buy but I had lots of great conversations. I really enjoyed meeting up with folks. Thursday night was no different when I was invited to dinner with about 9 others at Vito's Chop House. Good food and great company, no doubt about it. However, eating at Vito's is not a quick process. We were there for 3 hours and my step-father and I had to escape without dessert. We had about a 1:45 drive to take him home then I had a 40 minute drive home. I got home just after midnight. Since I had fielded some work messages throughout the day, there was not a lot for me to catch up on. I got to sleep after 1am and set my alarm for 7:30...
Fast forward to 9:30AM, I got a phone call asking me if I was at the show yet...and also asking me if they woke me up. HA HA HA! Yes, they woke me up and thank you. No one wants to know that I had to fill up for gas and that I got an apple fritter at the gas station to fuel my morning. It was yummy. After navigating the people that like meeting new people on the interstate, I made it to the show about 12:15. While I was parked on Interstate 4, I saw my show walk through submission grade was in. Not bad but not what I was hoping for. Isn't that almost always the case? Lol. Most people do not cross NGC coins to PCGS for 1.5 Point Upgrades. Granted, this was a Gold CAC Old Fatty Holder.
I made my way down the five aisles I had not gone down the day prior. I saw two high grade Mercury Dimes that had True Views. One was a common date 43-D in PCGS MS68FB. The toning did not meet my standard and I already own three for that date and have much nicer toning. Meh. I saw a common date lowly PCGS MS67 Merc with some nice luster and peripheral yellow/gold toning on the obv and rev. It was nice enough to probably support price guide but not nice enough for my collection. I was bored so after I looked up PCGS Price Guide of $110 and seeing that auction results were in the similar or lower range, I asked how much it was. I was told $220. It was not a stickered coin either, not that it should be at that price level though. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...ummmmm, no. And that my friends is why that dealer still owns that coin on the 3rd day of FUN.
I tried cherrypicking some Mercury Dime varieties but did not locate any of the more valuable ones. I found a 1937-S unattributed DDO in PCGS MS67+. Not bad. I could have made a few hundred dollars on it...after about 3 months of hassle. Meh, I left it with the dealer. He had no idea what he owned. No surprise.
I struck up a conversation with a dealer that seemed to think he had Mercs that meet my criteria and he will be reaching out to me soon. We exchanged phone numbers and we will see soon enough. I picked up my Smurfy coin from PCGS. Now I wait for the True View. I will likely share it when I get it. Due to my rush, I did not pack my lunch this day so I had a BBQ pulled pork sandwich. I had the same at Summer FUN 2022. Not bad.
I stopped by Great Collections to look at a couple of Stewart Blay's incredible Lincolns. I had to look at the 1958 DDO in PCGS MS65 RD. Such an incredible coin and I love the DDO. I also looked at the 1919 in MS69 RD. Yes, it is an incredible coin and the reverse is nearly perfect. The obverse however has a slash on the forehead. I do not know the series and it is certainly above my pay-grade but for MS69 RD, I would not expect to see a staple scratch slash on the forehead. I hope bidders have viewed it in hand. It's still a beaty to behold.
I was invited up to the Heritage member lounge to take a break and I was very happy I accepted. Thank you! I had the pleasure of meeting the Mercury Dime Holman brothers and Mr Hallet of Mercury Dime fame. Combined with MercMadness, those guys and my widget Mercs, we had quite the table of people. It was a great conversation for about an hour. It was an honor to make acquaintance with those gentlemen and enjoy conversation. I even shared some of my favorite Mercs with them and I received their approval. This is what FUN is about. It isn't just a coin show. It is a cool opportunity.
After wandering the bourse floor for a little while longer, I met up with MercMadness and a former grader to look through some of his toys. WOW! When you get the chance to look through a portion of the finest set ever assembled over a ton of years you take the opportunity. Beauty after Beauty, many with fantastic toning.
I had five coins I was selling at the show. I was able to sell two toned Mercs that did not meet the standards of my set for a total loss of about $400. I was thankful to just get rid of them and free up more cash. I lost $120 on one coin and $280 on another. Soooo thankful they are gone. The bourse floor was closing at 7:00 PM. I walked out with a friend that I had been going back and forth on two other coins. It seemed we were not going to come to terms. That's okay, I would like to sell them but I was not desperate to sell them. We chatted for quite a while, wished each other well and parted ways. He was about 50 feet away, turned around and shouted another number to me. We came to terms. He wrote the check and I gave him the coins. They left me with a nice profit, way more than covering the loss on the two toners I sold. So, I was able to walk away with a nice profit and four coins sold. That's a good day. I drove home. More people were meeting each other on the interstate so it took me two hours to get home. I am thankful to have chatted with another friend most of the trip home. His wife was ill and so he cancelled his trip to FUN. Thankfully, his wife is starting to feel better. Hopefully he can make it next year.
I did not drive back to the show on Saturday. I mostly rested. 
I'm looking forward to the next shows already!
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Comments
So what did the MERC cross as?
I guess I wasn’t super clear. I just said 1.5 points higher. The blue one went 67+FB.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
After going back, you were clear, I just read way to fast......and missed it.... Thanks!!
Great report and killer merc.
Wow, great score!!!! And a super FUN report...
@keyman64 ... Thanks for a great report.... very interesting. Cheers, RickO
You had a great show and report. Wish we could have met. 🙂
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Nice blue Merc. I would have left it in the fattie thou.
Probably worth more that way, but a decent upgrade.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
If you knew how much I paid, you would fully understand why I was going for a 68FB. With it at 67+FB, I’m fine though. I’ve had the Merc since August and there are plenty of people that told me to leave it in the Gold CAC Fatty so you are definitely not alone. My entire collection resides in PCGS plastic with True Views so that was the destiny.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Thanks for a great report. One of these years I will make it to F.U.N. but until then I do appreciate your effort in making the report for us to enjoy on a Sunday morning!
Great report and awesome Merc, iridescent blue toning is always very attractive.
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Next one for sure. I’ll be at Summer FUN too, just in case you make it to that one.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
I've never been to the FUN show. One of these years maybe.
Successful BST with ad4400, Kccoin, lablover, pointfivezero, koynekwest, jwitten, coin22lover, HalfDimeDude, erwindoc, jyzskowsi, COINS MAKE CENTS, AlanSki, BryceM
Great report!
Small world though. My dealer friend from Colorado that I mention in my FUN report gave me the backstory on that. Mostly from the perspective of kicking himself.
He was at a show last year when someone walked up and asked if pays “over sheet” for nice Mercs. He said that depends, but sure….out pops the most stunning electric blue dime in an old fatty 66 FB holder he’d ever seen. My friend doesn’t know that market, but knows nice coins, so he he offered $400, and it was his. The guy said he was glad to finally find someone willing to pay up for nice coins.
So my friend showed it to his biz partner, who was also at this FUN show and corroborated the story. Biz partner says do you want to double your money? I’ll give you $800 for it. Sold! Biz partner later sells it for $1200, at which point they lost track of it, but later heard it went gold CAC, and was trading north of $2k, which is why they were both kicking themselves.
Fast forward to this show, and they had heard “their” coin made 67+ at PCGS. They liked it in the old holder too, but assumed someone was hoping it made 68 and was taking a shot.
Great report, sounds like we had similar driving experiences on I-4. That electric blue Merc is wild!
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
Yup, I talked to that dealer as well.
After $1200, it changed hands with a bunch of YN sellers, going up in price each time. I had a shot at it around the $2250 realm but passed because there were no good photos of it. These YN sellers just do the quick cell phone wiggle video stuff and swear it is a Min State 76 all day long. At Summer FUN, the dealer that had it was supposed to show it to me but ghosted me at the show. More YN seller antic stuff. Ugh. After it traded hands a few more times, going up significantly in price each time I finally told the guy that had it to just ship it to me and I paid wayyyyyy up above the $2250 realm. Stupid money but it isn't exactly a white common date Merc. Just try to find another one. HA HA HA HA HA HA! I am content with the grade but still might try for higher one day. The price guide says $1750 for a 67+FB example. Based on what I paid for the toning premium, I am fine and if I wanted to sell it today, I probably could still sell it for a profit, although not a huge profit.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Excellent show review. I totally agree about the social aspect of this hobby at FUN shows and regret that I didn't stay overnight so I could relax and enjoy another day viewing coins and chatting with collectors and dealers.
Oh, and I totally agree that blue toning is attractive. Here's another that's not quite as vibrant as yours, though the photo doesn't show its full color, particularly on the reverse. It's one of my favorite toned coins in my collection.
I’ve only been once and it was a blast. 👍
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Great show report. 👍
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Thanks for your show report.
Thank you for your report! One of these years I will make it to FUN.
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I hope your sister is doing better.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
You realize you could have done the crossover with pcgs and set the min grade at ms68fb, right? This way you could’ve saved the old holder with the gold cac sticker if it didn’t make the grade.
Tuition perhaps
Stunning Merc. I like it very much.
I am fully aware. No tuition in this case. I wanted it crossed.
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
An enjoyable read @keyman64.
Thanks for sharing.
Glad you had a good time and success in both buying and selling.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...