ANA Day 2
Desert Moon
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I apologize for the redundancy but thought it best to make daily reports. On Wednesday I was at the OKC CC by 7:30 am. I went right to Heritage lot viewing at 8 am, picked up my lots from a previous auction, and then to the bourse. Before going to my table, I did the rounds to get some buis and chatting done. I had a nice chat with Doug and Irma Winter and ordered his new edition of Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint. I already have every edition, and actually 2 copies of the last edition, but the updates are important. Doug and I discussed the current challenges of obtaining cool gold coins for inventory, and it was nice to hear that we are all having the same issues with this, even the leader in the field with more networks is facing this issue. Doug and I discussed my 1837 half dime in MS65 I won from Heritage. Doug liked it and believed if could go 65+ if I wanted to try a regrade. I won’t but always nice to hear what the true legends think of my offerings. We also discussed our beloved Trail Blazers and the weather in PDX, about the only person on the planet I get to have such conversations with. Always a pleasure.
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Then to Great Collections to talk to Andy about my next submission, and chatted with Ian about how things were going and how happy I was with the results of my last submission, and how I can’t say enough about Phil and his teams images (Great Photos). We talked alot about the imaging and what their challenges are going forward to sustain this as GC continues to grow. But suffice to say Ian and GC are on it and always good to chat with them.
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The next stop was the CAC booth to discuss shipping on my next CACG submission. My timing for receiving them back is bad bc of more travel. But of course with their best in the buis Customer Service, we worked it out and they told me to just to put notes about when to ship on the submission form and they will follow through. Hey when the folks that run shipping and submission are right there to talk to you at the show, things can get done. Earlier they also brought to my table a sample slab with the OK quarter and a new CAC slab box (thanks). I noted to them that these boxes are great, but PCGS slabs are slightly larger and make it hard to open the boxes when they are in them. They said ‘ah but we already fixed that issue on the first version, so this new box will be okay with that’. Love these guys.
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Then to my table, and from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM I had one 30 second break to PM my wife. I never had a chance to eat, I think I took one or two sips of water from my bottle all day. Even at 5:30 when I left for dinner with a friend, things we still going at my table. Can’t complain, great coins were walking up and I bought some, great coins were leaving my table with some happy customers. I am lucky to be on the row with some of big guys in early US coins - CRO, Eye Appealing, Dave Wnuck, Perkins to name a few. My table is in line with CRO and Wnuck, and Dave and I had some nice conversations at the edge of our tables when we both had brief pauses.
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I will end here with one fun story. About 11-ish, one of my friends and a fine numismatist showed me what he had left to sell. He was selling alot of his core collection and they were all uber coins. He showed me a coin I always wanted to have in my bust quarter collection. Not just a date and type, but that coin, the one and only. Is it an 1820 Medium O, B3, Bust Quarter, in MS64 with a stunning and vibrant color palette. In the bust quarter community, we all know that coin. My first exposure to it was in the legendary Newman sale that Heritage had abit more than a decade ago. In that sale it was in an NGC 64 holder with the special labels for the Newman collection. I don’t recall whether it was CACed or not at that time. It went for around $29K which was way beyond my means, but I at least enjoyed viewing it. But it is a well-known example in the bust quarter community bc of its extraordinary eye appeal. Then about 2 years ago, it popped up for sale on a major dealers website. A friend on these boards and I had lengthy PM’s about what its value was and what an offer should be if he were to go for it with this dealer. I think at the time we came to a reasonable value. He then asked me to view it for him at the dealers table at Winter FUN the next week to verify again the colors I saw back in the day etc. I reported back that yes it is everything we see in the new images. However, it sold before that friend could buy it. So here I am at my table yesterday and my other friend pops it out and says he is selling it. I thought ‘oh so your were the one who bought it from XXX dealer’ which he said yes. It is now in a CACG MS64 holder:
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So I looked at his ask and thought - ‘I should buy it for my BQ collection, what the heck’. So asked him if he would take a check for slightly less than his ask, and he said yes. So this amazing coin was mine and was going to be one of the major highlights of my collection, yippee!
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Ah but wait. One of the major die marriage and PQ bust quarter collectors was standing there while this went on. He asked me if I would sell it to him. I said I really wanted it for my collection, but I also recognized what he was building and it was a hard thing for me to do. He persisted, and alas, flipped it to him for a 3% fee over what I paid. Since I am a dealer now, it was the right thing to do even though it was very very hard. But hey, I owned it for 30 minutes!!!!@!@! And now it is placed into a lifelong and growing collection that could end up being one of the, if not the best full bust quarter die marriage collections ever. So I did a good thing there I think.
So FUN things can happen at ANA. Thanks for reading.
Best, DM
Comments
Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for taking the time!
Nice write up. That quarter is stunning.
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Thanks for the great show report. The 1820 quarter is phenomenal! I was able to view the Newman coins at Heritage with Doug Winter and it was quite a treat.
Tremendous report, Al. "Since I'm a dealer now...." comment was compelling. While I'm a collector, gosh I can imagine that was a very difficult decision you made. Good for you! Looking forward to giving you breaks at winter FUN!
"Got a flaming heart, can't get my fill"
Awesome story. Its not always about the money.
I know you guys have to lay out some good money to just set up at these shows. But if things are going well, helping out a serious collector is a very positive thing to do
Student of numismatics and collector of Morgan dollars
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Thanks for the report. Sounds like great things are happening for you! Congratulations!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
Al, I’m glad to hear you had such a good day!
Now go buy that gorgeous 1820 quarter back and flip it again.😉
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Such a pleasant write-up, what a win for this collector, wow, I am so impressed.
Hahaha.......
That reminds me of a pair of twenties I bought over the counter back during "the boom". A Saint and a Liberty. They were lovely coins, and housed in 2x2 Capital holders. Of course, there was no grading with encapsulation at that time. Anyway, later that day a friend comes in and sees the coins. "How much are the twenties ?"....I quote a price and he buys them. He's out the door and sellers remorse immediately sets in. He stops in the following week, the twenties still in his briefcase. He pulls them out and I know I want them back.....He adds a hundred and they're mine again. This happens a couple more times, adding a hundred each time. Then, I finally sell them to a different customer. My friend stops in and says, "OK, let me see those twenties". "I sold them", I say........"WHAT, we were making so much money on those things!".....
That is about the prettiest quarter that I've ever seen, by the way....!
I remember seeing that quarter at lot viewing 2020 FUN, being completely mesmerized and ultimately being a very regretful underbidder. The CACG image is nice, but it does not do justice to how phenomenal the coin is in hand.
Great story about its sale of the quarter. I remember that quarter well.....
jom
Nice report Al! It was great meeting you today. Thanks for making this hobby fun!
USAF (Ret.) 1985 - 2005. E-4B Aircraft Maintenance Crew Chief and Contracting Officer.
My current Registry sets:
✓ Everyman Mint State Carson City Morgan Dollars (1878 – 1893)
✓ Everyman Mint State Lincoln Cents (1909 – 1958)
✓ Morgan Dollar GSA Hoard (1878 – 1891)