Charmy's 2023 ANA PITTSBURGH WORLD'S FAIR OF MONEY SHOW REPORT w/Tons of Pics!
ThePennyLady
Posts: 4,485 ✭✭✭✭✭
WOW! What a week it was! This was one of the busiest shows I've attended, both coin-wise and social activities. That's one of the great things about attending an ANA WFM show - there is no shortage of events, banquets, classes, meetings, and activities in addition to buying and selling coins. I had something pre-planned each night I was there, and enjoyed every minute (well, maybe not so much the rain during the ballgame!). I also found a lot of new Pretty Pennies for my inventory, much more than I thought I would. I also didn't hear any grumbling as far as how business was for other dealers. The only hard part is that by Friday or so, everyone is usually tired from being there since Sunday, all the activities and, not to mention, staying out too late every night!
Even though I had an almost comical set of events on my trek back home from the show (my adventures are outlined in this separate thread I posted a couple days ago https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1094478/i-made-it-back-from-pittsburgh-but-my-bag-took-a-detour-to-england#latest, I was also very grateful that the issues I had with my flight/luggage occurred on the way BACK from the show, rather than on the way TO the show!
So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine, or a cocktail as this will be a lengthy report with lots of photos!
I am always excited to be able to participate in an ANA WFM show, and having not been to Pittsburgh in several years, was looking forward to visiting this beautiful city again. I even saw an ad for the show on CBS Sunday Morning's Calendar of the week's events.
This is me very happy to be headed to the ANA WFM Show!
I left OC on Sunday so I could be sure to get there in time for Dealer Day on Monday morning - that's when I usually do most of my buying throughout a show. This is me so happy to be headed to the show!
Leaving OC
Landing in Pittsburgh
There was this sign above the moving walkway in Pittsburgh that cracked me up! It reminded me of the Walking Dead Walkers and the song "Stuck in the Middle With you" combined...
"Walkers to the left of me, Standees to the right, Here I am stuck in the middle with you....."
Ok, I digress... back to the show report. On my way to baggage claim, there was a really cool huge dinosaur skeleton at the bottom of the escalator that I was surprised to see at an airport.
View of the city from the taxi on my way to the hotel
I like staying at the host hotels since it's usually closest to the convention center, and makes it easy to meet up with my coin dealer friends. This was the beautiful view of Pittsburgh from my room.
Even though it was late, I hadn't had any dinner so I went down to the bar to grab a bite. I was surprised to see it was quite crowded with dealers who had also flown in that day. I ran into Alan Rowe (of Northern Nevada Coin) and Greg Allen and joined them for a drink and a bite to eat at the bar.
Got up early the next morning and took the walkway to the convention center to set up for Dealer Day. At one part of the walkway, it goes directly over the middle of the bourse floor and you get an awesome view of how huge the show was! This is a photo I took of just half of the bourse floor.
These are ANA photos of both sides of the bourse floor
Beautiful views of the river
The ANA folks still working hard putting the bourse floor and museum exhibits together
There was quite a group of dealers waiting to set up for Dealer Day!
Dealers streaming in heading to their tables for set up
AS I walked around hunting for coins, I checked out this amazing collection of Don Kelly's "Transit Set" of Flying Eagle and Indian cent Patterns that Rick Snow had for sale
This is the group of coins I bought during Dealer Day and throughout the show
I also bought and sold this beautiful scarce key date 1877 Indian cent PCGS MS64 RB - I haven't seen one in a rattler holder with a CAC sticker on it before!
I also found a very cool and interesting error that I hadn't seen before. It's an 1862 Copper Nickel Indian cent with a planchet rolling error. When the planchet sheet was created rollers were used to smooth it out, but on this particular sheet, it wasn't rolled out smoothly and left raised lines on the planchet sheet, which created several interesting lines on this coin (I used different lighting to try and better capture the lines on the coin).
After the end of a very busy day, it was time to open a bottle of wine. I brought two bottles of my go-to favorites, a Caymus and a Rombauer Zinfandel. I started with the Caymus which was delicious, and didn't last past Tuesday since I shared it with several friends and dealers.
After the show closed on Monday, I participated in the ANA's Pirates vs. Braves baseball game event on the rooftop of the PNC Stadium.
The ANA had arranged for a couple buses to take us to the event.
View of the river from the bus on our way to the stadium
Statue of Honus Wagner in front of the stadium
It was a beautiful evening for a ball game....
until it began to rain and the wind started blowing the rain into the covered rooftop patio!
The game was stopped after the 5th inning for the rain, the Pirates were ahead 7-5, so the ANA arranged for one of the buses to take those who wanted to leave back to the convention center, including me! Another busload of folks stayed to watch the game which started up again after the rain let up. The game went until after 10pm and the Pirates ended up winning 7-6.
Back at my hotel I was just going to head back to my room but I ran into Billie (from the Grey Sheet), Matt Dinger and several other coin friends, and I couldn't resist having a nightcap with them, even in my drenched state!
I arrived at the bourse early Tuesday morning, did some paperwork, and decided to take some photos around the bourse while it was relatively quiet and before the public was let in that afternoon.
The fun Grey Sheet folks were only one table away from me
They were giving away these cute glass shot glasses to celebrate their 60th anniversary
Andy is amazing and works really hard at GreatCollections
GreatCollections had the fabulous Elite Collection on display
The beautiful two 1921 St.-Gaudens were on display
The Battle Creek Rainbow Collection at Bob Campbell's (All About Coins) table
The U.S. Mint was still setting up
eBay's table
Roundtable Trading/Coin Dealers Helping Coin Dealers table
Stack's Bowers displayed the Sydney F. Martin Part V Collection
PCGS was busy as usual!
Kevin Lipton Rare Coins had a beautiful statue of Miss Liberty on display at their booth
Acclaimed US Mint Artist Emily Damstra was on hand at the ANA 2023 Pittsburgh World’s Fair of Money to sign her new print inspired by Augustus Saint-Gaudens statue of Victory. The image of Lady Liberty on the Saint-Gaudens Gold Double Eagle shares the same muse as this statue, Harriette Eugenia Anderson. Damstra's art displays a likeness of Anderson along with her trademark touches of nature.
Daniel Sedwick and Connor Faulk at Daniel Frank Sedwick Auctioneers - they deal in colonial coinage of Spanish America, shipwreck coins and artifacts of all nations
This is a very cool and scarce celluloid encased 1901 Indian cent I bought at the show for my personal encased collection. It's in pristine condition with vibrant color.
The ANA members were let in at 1:30 and the non-members were let in at 2:00. There was a long line of folks who streamed into the show.
Tuesday was also very busy and flew by. I don't think I ever even left my booth after the public was let in. It was a really great day. I didn't even open the bottle of Rombauer until late in the day!
Tuesday evening we had tickets to the PAN dinner at LeMont Restaurant which is a 5-star restaurant on top of Mt. Washington. They also had a bus to take us to the restaurant.
LeMont has a stunning view of downtown Pittsburgh.
There were about 200 people who attended this event!
There was even an orchestra!
Abe, George and Ben also made an appearance
Kim Kiick, ANA Executive Director, and me
Dr. Ralph Ross, Past ANA President
This beautiful St. George and the Dragon artwork and coins were being auctioned off that evening
This young lady, a future American Idol contestant, sang a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner
Stunning view of the city from LeMont at night
Some souvenirs from the evening's event
After dinner, we went back to the Westin where the bar was going strong with many dealers! This is me and Dave from Alhambra Coin Center
Eric Roth (Coin World) and Curtis Mease (PCGS)
Wednesday morning came early (as all mornings do with the 3-hour time change)! Good morning Pittsburgh!
From the walkway again, showing all the tables set up - my red sign and table stand out a bit in this sea of dealer tables!
I have seen the extraordinary Tyrant collection at other shows in the past, but I never get tired of viewing this amazing exhibit which was set up in the ANA's museum area, so I took some time while the show was still quiet to take photos
Flags of various countries in the World Mint area
More folks set up at the show!
The wonderful, friendly and also hardworking folks at NGC
PWCC Marketplace
Peter Treglia (Stacks Bowers) - Peter is a fellow classic car lover!
Todd Pollock (BluCCPhotos) has been my coin photographer for over 15 years and used to take coin photos on site at coin shows but with a young daughter at home and other endeavors, he no longer attends coin shows. However, since he is involved with Ian Russell/GreatCollections' very popular new MyCollect.com https://mycollect.com/, he attended this show to answer questions and help promote this project. Todd also brought me (and several other friends) this delicious peach cobbler he found at a bakery not far from the convention center!
The GreatCollections crew!
Soon it was time once again for the public to come in
I picked up this neat Indian cent cut out for me exonumia collection
Tom Warner (Tom147) stopped by and picked up a few raw Lincoln cents for his collection!
Todd (PursuitOfLiberty) stopped by to say hi
In the late afternoon, the PNG hosted a really nice and much appreciated full bar on the bourse floor for the dealers
After the show ended, I was invited to a reception at the opening of a new coin store in town, Olevian Numismatic Rarities. They are just finishing up construction on a beautiful coin shop and had a wonderful array of hors' devours and beverages.
After dinner, I went over to the Rivers casino (only a few miles away) and enjoyed playing my favorite game, Ultimate Texas Hold-up (a table game in the black jack area where you play against the dealer with a lot of bonus/side bets). I also played my favorite slot games, Buffalo Stampede and Dragon Link. Then it was back to the hotel where I once again found the bar full of my coin dealer friends!
This is Alan from Northern Nevada Coins photo bombing me and Wade (PWCC) , along with Tony also from Northern Nevada Coins
Thursday was slower than the previous days but still quite busy. Here are some photos of the bourse taken from my booth area
More coin dealer friends - here is my favorite penny exonumia finder, John Kraljevich, who often has an envelope of penny surprises he puts aside for me!
A group of fellow copper lovers, mostly British copper - includes Jeff Rock (the president of the CTCC), Gary Groll (specializes in Condor Tokens), Merfyn Williams and Jerry Bobbe (copper specialist)
Always cheerful and amazing Paul at ANACS
Larry Sekulich and his wonderful wife Linda - Larry was my exhibit instructor several years ago at the ANA Summer Seminar and he and Linda have since become my good friends. They collect ancients and Larry had just bought this fascinating piece depicting Elizabeth I for Linda's birthday
The CAC table was not far behind me and they were giving away sample slabs. My friend Chris Simpson who works for them, brought over a few for me. They stack very well and are very nice looking slabs. I understand are a bear to break open and don't fit in any of the current TPG boxes, but that they are developing their own box that will fit all three different TPG coins.
I put together a Power Point presentation on Indian Cent Errors and Varieties from my personal collection and gave my presentation at the Fly-In Club meeting.
I even brought several of the pieces in the presentation so people could examine them in hand. Here are pics of a few of them
We videotaped the presentation and it is posted on YouTube here (it's 36 min. long): https://youtu.be/B6u1iQLopxc Thank you to Rick Snow for videotaping my presentation and Greg Bennick for editing and cleaning it up for me. I apologize that I keep looking to the right (instead of into the camera) as the audience was mostly to my right so I was trying to speak to them. Anyway, if you watch it, I hope you may learn a little something about errors and varieties!
Since we had consumed the two bottles of wine I had brought with me, Rick's son Kenny had volunteered to go to the wine store near the hotel and pick me up a bottle of wine. He Face-Timed me while at the store and I chose this 2017 Rodney Strong Reserve Cab, which I opened Thursday afternoon and turned out to be really nice.
Thursday night I had dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto up on Washington Hill with my foreign coin dealer friends, Karl and Joanne Stephens, and Wolfgand Meirer, Don Chinick and Al Boulanger
This was one of the BEST restaurants I have eaten at, and I highly recommend it! The food was over the top good, the wine was excellent, the service was exquisite, and the view was amazing! I had the Lobster Romano which was two egg batter crusted lobster tails with a lemon butter sauce - it was excellent!
This is the beautiful view from the restaurant taken at night before we left
I very highly recommend dining at Monterey if you're ever in Pittsburgh!
Friday was pretty slow for the most part, which is pretty usual for a show this long. I had a little more time to see if I could find more coins and take more photos around the bourse. Here are a few of my favorite fellow female coin show ladies!
Cindy Wibker (former FUN Convention Show Coordinator)
Lisa Koromvokis (Ace of Coins/Dino's wife)
Katie Williams (current FUN Convention Show Coordinator)
Kathy Freeland (fellow ex-WIN board member) - Kathy also has her hands in several other clubs, too many to list!
I came across this interesting box on display - it's the only known U.S. Mint Die box which was used to carry dies in
A new female numismatic group as been formed called "Women OF Numismatics" and I'm sure will have fresh ideas in helping to promote women in the field of numismatics
Ben and George were making their rounds and stopped by to say hi!
My friend Matt was up on the walkway on his way to catch his flight, so he phoned me to say good-bye and took a picture of me waiving to him!
Well, once again, I had no wine as the bottle of Rodney Strong I had bought was readily consumed by many folks! So my friend when I had dinner Thursday night with my foreign coin dealer friends, Al said he had brought an extra bottle of wine, so I bought that one from him. It was a 2014 Immortal Cab that I hadn't tried before, and it was delicious!
Friday night was the ANA's big bash banquet held at the Westin where they give out special awards and swear-in the new ANA board. It was a really nice event, and a more relaxed atmosphere to mingle and talk with more folks.
My friends Neil Ulrich and Bob Campbell proudly displayed the friendly hello kisses I gave them on their cheeks!
For a "rubber chicken" banquet meal, food was pretty good too!
Ian Russell received the Dealer of the Year Award so his whole group was there to help honor him, including Todd and his dad Roger - I think this is the ONLY ANA banquet Todd has ever attended - doesn't Todd look thrilled to be there!!
Saturday was a slow as usual, and a lot of folks were packing up to catch flights and try and beat the storm that was coming that afternoon. I sold a few coins, most notably at the last minute while I was packing up, I sold this beautiful 1955/55 Double Die that had provenance as being found in an original vending machine cigarette pack from the mid 1950's! I was sad to see it go, but it was going to a very appreciative collector!
Before I left for my flight I was notified that it was delayed and that I would miss my connecting flight to Dallas, so I got on the phone to reschedule but was put on hold for over 45 minutes. So at the same time I was on hold I searched for a new flight myself and found one last seat on a flight to OC and snatched it up. So long Pittsburgh, till next time....
As we were taxi-ing out of Pittsburgh, I noticed a bug on my window and thought about the old saying, "I'd hate to be a fly on that wall" he he he!
So, since I booked my connecting flight from Dallas to OC separately from my original flight, I had to retrieve my bag at baggage claim once I got to Dallas, recheck it in at the ticket counter, then go through security again! Such a hassle but still worth getting on a flight that would take me home that same day. I heard that many coin dealers either got stuck overnight in Pittsburgh or their connecting city, so I felt lucky to be on a flight home.
However, when I arrived in OC and went to retrieve my bag, I discovered it never made it - I have an Apple Airtag in my bag and discovered my bag was stuck in Dallas for quite a while. As mentioned above, I posted on another thread the saga of my bag's separate travels across "the pond" and back, then getting stuck back in Dallas again missing two more flights to OC.
It finally arrived late Monday night and I was there at the airport waiting for it to slide down the baggage shute onto the carousal where I quickly grabbed it - I was never so happy to see a piece of luggage before!
As usual, my hubby and chunky kitty Penny were waiting for me when I got home - you can see how excited Penny was to see me!
So that's it for this show - next up is the Palace Station Show in Las Vegas next week, followed by the Long Beach and Buena Park shows in September!
Comments
Yay, she's back from London.
I need 60 minutes to really read this amazing post, well done at first glance, wow!
Always enjoy your posts, another great one!
If I submitted that 1862 it would come back details vice job
Best of luck, nice report
Thanks again for a fabulous show report. I always feel that you do not miss much and that you personally make sure that I see what were the highlights. You need to get an anchor post on a local tv news show.
Thanks again for taking the time to share.
I was glad to see that your luggage returned safely. Did not notice an umbrella accompanying it’s return. Lol
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
Excellent read, as always.
Enjoy your luggage :-)
Always the best reports ... good to see you and glad O got a chance to say hi, no matter how brief this year.
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
All your reports are amazing, but this may be the culmination of them all.
So many moments you've captured that the numismatic press could only dream of.
On a family note....I love that Todd has his dad by his side.
This is really incredible and much appreciated. You created an amazing show report. Thanks for all that you do for this hobby.
Successful BST with drddm, BustDMs, Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
CBH Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/everyman-collections/everyman-half-dollars/everyman-capped-bust-half-dollars-1807-1839/album/345572
Absolutely wonderful show report. Glad you got to visit The Commonwealth and the great city of Blitzburgh. RGDS!
Every time I looked over when I wasn't running around, you were busy, or I would have swung by and chatted. Maybe next time! Also, glad to hear you had a good show. Several dealers told me their market felt "soft" and they weren't having a great show. I know I only bought about half as much as I was hoping.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Good read and thanks for that as a lot of us can't or aren't able to do these things anymore. Fun to see!
bob
I enjoyed your report and felt like I was there! Would like to raise a glass with you someday at a show, Charmy.
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Super, super report! I think this is your best report ever. I also greatly enjoyed the ANA show in Pittsburgh.
Charmy,
Question re your clam shell Indian Head Cent, how rare is it?
I'd say they're pretty scarce but it's hard to say. I don't see Indian cent clamshells very often.
The Penny Lady®
Unbelievable report! I almost feel like I was there. Awesome! What a show. Love all the IHC errors. Dang cool stuff.
Dave
Excellent report! I love Pittsburgh. Nice to see the view from restaurants that I never ate at in Pgh (poor grad student). I hope yins (that's y'all for you southerners) had a great show.
I wish I'd been there. After the show, wallet lightened, I'd have headed to Primanti's on the Strip near the Convention Center for a "#2 best seller" and a "pound of Iron" (Iron City Beer).
Several years ago, Iron City asked their customers to come up with ideas for ads and then appear in them. This was the first ad they ran. A classic! I had two of my cats, Ernie and Smudge in my lap while watching it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Hezlz56mf2c
"It's a 'burgh thing."
What Dave99B said. Thank you!!!
Awesome report! Thank you Charmy!
Can I go with you next time?
Lets be honest here. Charmy always has the best show reports. Only problem is, after I read them I'm suddenly hungry.
Great report and glad you had a good show aside from the return trip.
Thank you everyone for all the kind comments. It was a really busy show, with lots of activities, and I was very glad to be a part of it, in spite of the wayward baggage issue on the way home! The ANA does a great job putting on this event- and education-filled show, and I look forward to next year's show back in Chicago!
The Penny Lady®
Glad you loved my home . Pittsburgh is a special place
Thank you Charmy! Always appreciate your reports
TBD
A most full recap. And with all the posted food dishes, a full stomach as well. Particularly liked seeing the Indian Cent error pictures. The lemon yellow 94/94 is a stunner. Great color. The 55/55 another gem. Thanks for all your work presenting this coverage.