DD’s CSNS Report with newps (now complete)
DeplorableDan
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As I post from my flight, I can confidently say that that this was unequivocally my best show, by several orders of magnitude. Not only did I walk out with a hell of a haul, but we all had a blast every single day and the bourse floor is starting to feel very familiar to me. I established some new connections and I continue to learn from the specialists in my area of focus.
I landed in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon and caught the tail end of dealer day. First order of business was to pick up a new purchase that I actually paid for a month ago but I had opted for hand delivery since this one is precious to me. Very likely a lifetime hold for this coin as there aren’t many better, especially taking eye appeal annd the virgin originality into consideration. This is the best AU Mountain 10 I’ve ever seen, and it could very well be the best AU in existence. There are a handful of Uncs, but most are dippy and there might be between 1-3 coins I could upgrade to, at most?
Edit: Forgot to mention this coin is CAC stickered. I had it reholdered at the show because pCGS has gotten into this goofy habit of holdering pioneer gold with the wrong side facing front, likely because the people encapsulating coins are not coin people and they see the date on the reverse. I hope someone sees this and can give them some direction not to do that, the mountain is the moneyshot on this issue.
After that, I perused the floor and found some very nice coins, nothing that screamed at me so I decided I’d get a good nights sleep and regroup in the morning. I sold a really nice 64cac ogh saint to another dealer at a pretty strong price, considering the current market for common date saints He recognized that it was a 4+++ too. Later that evening, I had dinner with @lermish at Perry’s. Great food, mediocre service.
I slept well the first night and made sure to get to the bourse at 8am as I wanted to cover some ground before the public came in. Unfortunately, as per usual, I get caught up talking to everyone and I was moving at a snails pace. No worries, that’s what it’s all about.
Of course I stopped by @Regulated’s table for several HOURS as we went down several numismatic rabbit holes. He had an A bechtler $1 that I absolutely fell in love with. I think the coin is UNC but PCGS thought otherwise. I grade it 62, and it has some of the most gorgeous toning Ive seen. Gives my N reversed $1 a run for its money. That coin got sent out to sticker factory so I don’t have a slab pic, but the washed out (Shocker, I know) TV at least shows the color pretty accurately.
I was also able to procure a very cool want list item for a forum member at the right number, if he wishes to reveal himself he will. I didn’t get away from Dave’s table until 2pm, and scurried to keep covering ground. I think I missed some good material that was bought up and put away early on while I was BS’ing. I walked a bit with @Lermish to try to locate a large (by size, and by $) coin that he’s been on the hunt for, but unfortunately none of them called his name. I sold a VERY nice 58cac 92cc $10 to a collector at a very reasonable margin, possibly too reasonable, but I paid strong for the coin when I bought it and it was fulfilling to see it go to a good home. Unfortunately, I can’t keep everything and my focus is on pioneer and early gold.
We all had Dinner at Chicago prime, and this was undoubtedly the worst steakhouse dinner I’ve ever head. My crab cake was 90% breading, my steak was bland, and the potatoes au gratin were awful, I recall eating here last year and I remembered it being decent, but never again. Perry’s or nothing from now on with regard to central states steakhouses.
I only got about 5 hours sleep thursday night, I have a hard time sleeping in hotels and that usually happens at coin shows, but I was still bright eyed, bushy tailed, and ready to rock and roll. I managed to find a stellar 56-s $10 in 55cac. Coin's all there and a bag of chips, I was happy to add it to the stable and get it out of the rain for a while. I much prefer a no motto S to a with motto CC, so it eased the pain of letting the CC go. More affordable too.
Around mid day on Friday, some dealers had started clearing out and packing up already. I Still wanted to buy more so I kept hunting, but my next newp actually found me, completely by accident too 
. While it’s not a particularly rare issue, the 1853 Assay $20 in .900 is by all intents and purposes a US issue that should, in theory, be required in type sets. It's an important coin and this one was virgin original with a nice rosy pink tinge in the right light. Into my box it went, she will stay with me a while but eventually I could see myself upgrading to a nice 3 when one shows up.
I also had to get @messydesk to get a couple good pictures of a few coins for me, I’ll update the thread when he sends them over. I had submissions to at PCGS and I actually had a decent score on two coins, but I will note that I used the regrade service for that. All of my recon submissions ended with squat, so I will no longer be using reconsideration for any coins. Regrade or crack out only. It seems like they’re shy to make grades with reconsideration. Sent a few more coins to the sticker factory as well. No CACG submissions this show, but I think I’ll have a couple for the next one.
We ate at Foxtail by the Lake Friday night. Its about 20 minutes from the convention center but its worth the trip. Its a converted church restaurant, sounds bizarre but it was actually really neat. Food was out of this world. Highly recommend. I only got 3 hours of sleep that night as I had coins on my mind and I was obsessing over one of the most amazing pieces I had ever seen. It was offered privately so I cant tell you all what it was, but its the kind of coin that burns an image into your brain. I was pondering and trying to make it work, but in the end I couldn't reconcile the price and I had to pass.
Saturday, Noah bought one of the coolest notes I've ever seen. Essentially, the pioneer gold of currency. I fell in love immediately and told him that It needs to be mine, but he really wanted one for his new website coming up. As luck would have it, he found another one and the same grade and cert and bought that one too. I got to pick between them and while mine looked stronger for the grade, it has a few small pinholes and a some minor creases in the wrong location. The other one was very wholesome but more worn and the ink wasn’t as vivid. This one had better centering and color, It was tough quantifying the defects on a note when I have no idea about currency, but Noah and I both contemplated for about a half hour trying to decide which was better. It was very close, but phoned a friend and made a decision for this one. This is the most fascinating piece of currency I've seen, and the reverse image really brings it all together for my collection.
By 11 o'clock it was a ghost town. I really feel bad about how the public has to pay for Saturday attendance and 3/4 of the dealers are already gone. I was fizzled out from searching, so we were mostly hanging out by the booth and wandering around to chat here and there. The bourse was fairly empty by the early afternoon and the show was about to close when a wlk up at Noahs table brought some HEAT. A very nice original freshly graded 1839-c charlotte quarter eagle in AU. Noah was mulling it over and contemplating the numbers but i told him that he must buy the coin, and so he did. Collector got his full ask but when coins like that show up you cant hesitate. Had there been more dealers in the room, the coin might not have ever made it to our table.
In the end, this was a fantastic show for by every metric. Collector attendance was a bit light, but dealers were hungry to buy and nice material was moving fast. Semi numismatic gold is on life support, but it seems like the market has began to adjust to the new gold levels. All in all, I think we’re going to continue to see the gap widen between the great coins and the not so great coins. Once again, I gained a ton of dealer insight from Noah and it’s great that our group has a lot of diversity with respect to specialties. Noah handles just about everything, David H is a shipwreck Spanish coin specialist and also very good with world coins, Eric L is a young prodigy with flying eagle and Indian cents, Trey is a tech genius who works his butt off, and then I have my niche of course. I hope to be branching out into more seated, bust, and early federal coinage in the near future but I’m going to ease into it. 
Noah, Ashley (his lovely assistant), and my flights out were all around the same time and in the same terminal so we were grabbing a drink at the bar. I decided to place a couple bets on “mystic Dan” obviously because of the namesake. My betting account hasn’t been used for a while and my limits were very low so I was maxed out at $130 risk, but the horse won by a nostril so I won $1000. I could not think of a better ending for this seamlessly perfect coin show.
Comments
Posted too early inadvertantly, please refrain from comments until I update with the second half.
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Don't hate me as I am going to comment anyway. Gorgeous coins!
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Nice report. Assay $20 is one of the few US coins I'd consider buying eventually if I ever buy a coin in this price range.
Great trip report and coins!
Here's the TV for your Clark Gruber. Very nice to hear that it's likely a lifetime hold!
Pretty!
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Really nice pickups. Always nice to find premium material at shows!
Collector of Capped Bust Halves, SLQ's, Commems, and random cool stuff! @davidv_numismatics on Instagram
Ok, now I’m finished!
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Those are some super pioneer gold coins. Good to see you again.
You're truly in your element at these shows. It's a pleasure to walk the floor with you.
Noah told me the story about the duplicate notes after he had been looking for one for quite some time. It's such a cool note and such a good compliment to your set, nice pickup! You know that I love no motto San Francisco gold also so I don't mean to leave that out, that's another beauty!
I think that I won the ordering at Prime with the filet trio; drown each medallion in sauce and they were actually edible. The less said about my potato the better. Perry's is definitely the win, especially next door to the hotel so I could waddle back to my room after a gluttonous dinner.
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Thanks, great to see you too Charles!
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Nice report Dan! Thanks for the texts, and glad I could help a little.
“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
Great report. Beautiful coins and note. Congrats!
Great show report, great coins (and great Kentucky Derby Pick)!
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Many thanks Dan for finding that very cool US Assay piece for me. It had eluded me for some time. A great part of San Francisco history and an addition to my SF mint type set. Congratulations on the Clark Gruber. Part of Denver mint history and a wonderful example. Pioneer gold has it all.
Great report DD!
Out of curiosity do you have any idea why they would have so prominently placed an 1871 dated coin front and center on the reverse of an 1870 note? Seems incongruent to me.
Great report Dan! And awesome new pickups. Sorry we missed, I was able to talk with Noah a couple times but I believe you were out shopping when I did.
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Thanks for writing up a detailed report Dan. Much appreciated. Great additions to your set.
Successful BST with BustDMs , Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino (CBH's - 35 Die Marriage's)
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
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Sounds like a fantastic show and trip, congrats on the incredible new purchases.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
Thanks, Dan, for a wonderful show report.
It seems to me that the shows are now getting more great reviews instead of the dreaded waste of time ones.
You really have picked up some astonishing coins and currency.
I am quite impressed with the Clark Gruber.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
Great report and coins.
Nice show report, Dan!!!
You had some amazing pickups and I really like the currency also.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Donato
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That Clark Gruber is tremendous. Congratulations!
"Look up, old boy, and see what you get." -William Bonney.
FFL, good question to be honest I haven’t really done much research on it yet but I plan to at some point and I’ll let you know what I find. It was just one of those things where you see something awesome and say “ooohh I’ll take it!” lol.
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You are so welcome, it’s a great looking coin for the grade and looks almost like an 62! Allow me to post it for you.
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Here’s a nice write up on Heritage, it doesn’t explain why they used 1871 though.
https://currency.ha.com/itm/national-bank-notes/california/san-francisco-ca-5-1870-original-fr-1136-the-first-national-gold-bank-of-san-francisco-ch-1741-pmg-choice-very/a/3575-25244.s
“The National Gold Bank Notes were a western phenomenon and staple of the Gold Rush-era currency. It was a hard money economy, and other United States paper money (such as Legal Tender notes) was not payable in specie on demand. These issues were created by their own act of July 12, 1870, authorizing nine chartered California banks (and one Boston bank that did not circulate notes) to issue them. Like all national banks created by the initial National Banking Act of 1863, their circulation was backed by bank deposits made to the Treasury Department in U. S. bonds. Their distinctive appearance and obligation "Will Pay to Bearer on Demand FIVE DOLLARS IN GOLD COIN" at the bottom sets them apart from other National Bank Notes. The face designs of all denominations were identical to their respective Original Series National Bank Note types (the special act date is in the bottom border of the $5 notes, although not on the higher denominations), but were printed on special golden-yellow paper. This distinctive paper would easily differentiate them from other large size notes not payable in gold coin. The common back design was unique to the series. Within a brown frame, a montage of assorted United States gold coin obverses and reverses (engraved in black ink) is contained within the central cartouche. The special coin vignette was engraved with a "trompe l'oeil" effect. Curiously, there is an 1871-dated Liberty double eagle at the center, though the initial notes were issued in 1870.”
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Wow D Dan that's quite the haul! I particularly like that MS62 $20 Assay. Just lovely, and the surfaces on that $1 are awesome!
Coin Photographer.
Thanks for posting a detailed report and sharing your finds. The note is beautiful and a true work of art. It must have been something to have in one's hand right off the press. Your Assay coin is really neat too. I wouldn't mind having one of them.
Food in the area has gone downhill. For many years we always dined at a well know crab house. Food was terrible, overpriced and the service was ridiculously slow. They also add a 3% surcharge on your bill to offset the added costs of running the place and paying the staff.... it's true of all places owned by Lettuce Entertain You. I complained about all of this and said I would never eat at another Lettuce Entertain You restaurant again. No one is giving me three percent to run my household due to rising costs. They need to suck it up like the rest us. Looks like you had a lot of fun at the show and that's a huge win- win.
Amazing coins! Original gold….love it!
Hi Dan, Thanks for your great show report. Awesome coins and very cool note.
Great report and wonderful newps! Congratulations!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
Great report, and all the newps are amazing!
Those are some awesome coins, DD! wonderful write-up as well.
Tom
Great report! Maybe I'll put Foxtail on the list for the ANA show this summer. I would imagine that the 1871-dated coin smack in the center was chosen to project forward-thinking in 1870 and to be current in case the notes weren't issued by the end of 1870. Good to see you again, and you should have received a Dropbox notification for your pictures.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
You really outdid yourself of the Mountain, John. All of them are spectacular. Ill include the new photo of my 1799 $10 here as well.
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Wonderful coins and I appreciate your perspective and insight on the market. I don't own any paper currency but I can certainly see why you picked that one. Thanks for the great report, Dan
Great report and coins.
Great Report!
Sorry about the bad experience you had at that Steakhouse. Yeah, I agree, for the prices they charge. It should be close to top notch!
I'm from Chicago, I feel guilty from my town's treatment to you. 😆
Hey, are you the one, early on Thursday, Seated at "Ben The Coin Geek's" table? I was the one standing while dealing with Ben and talking to you at the same time?
You had the colored flowerish cap on, right?
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.Great coins & banknote and report thanks for sharing!!!
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I was hanging out around Ben’s table for a period of time on Saturday but Thursday. You’re thinking of my friend Noah, his trademark is that floral hat lol.
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Oh OK.
😉
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.Hey!
Didn't "Mystic Dan" win the Derby?
Congratulations
"Jesus died for you and for me, Thank you,Jesus"!!!
--- If it should happen I die and leave this world and you want to remember me. Please only remember my opening Sig Line.Congrats, sounds like the show as a big success for you. Enjoy the newps!
My Collection of Old Holders
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That was a very educational report.
Alot of details and knowledge shared.
Wow just WOW on the pickups!
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DD: You are my hero. Such a good show report and love how everything worked out/came together for you.
Informative recap and display of coinage. Nice score on your Derby play.
A nice view of the 56-s…
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6py2uVuWcD/?igsh=MXVrZXVid2s1OGxkcg==
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Great report - thanks!
I too must say wonderful report and even more wonderful gold pickups
Great review and report DD, thanks for taking the time to share. Always love to see anything you've acquired or had your hands on. That '53 Assay is superb!!! And the Mystik Dan winner to boot!
Bravo
Quite the haul.
Love the photos.