WaterSports FUN Show report
WaterSport
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I drove down from my home outside Charleston, SC and had an easy drive of 404 miles arriving at the Rosen Pointe Inn (yes, the cheaper hotel). Normally I would take my camper Van and camp about 20 miles south of the Convention Center but this time of year its just too hot to do so. I also considered staying in Cocoa Beach and drive into Orlando the next day in order to catch a few waves but the strong southerly’s we are experiencing during this heat wave only make for Victory at Sea conditions. After checking in I went to take a dip in the hotel pool but found the water well over 95 degrees so I only lasted a ½ hour before returning to my room and finished reading 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Well rested I got up and decided to walk to the Convention Center since its only about ½ mile away despite the heat I would experience on my way back. Most of the walkways are tree lined so I was in the shade most of the time. I arrived at the center at 9:30 and registered and then took a seat around the corner from the main entrance and waited till 5 minutes to 10 to return anticipating the show would open at 10 only to discover they opened it a about 10 minutes early. Thus I was able to walk right in to the show with no crowd at all and headed immediately to the PCGS tables to drop off some cents. There was already a dozen folks waiting in line and a PCGS rep making sure you had your paperwork completed before you could even get in the line. I felt this would help move things along quicker but would discover it would take about an hour and 15 minutes to get my submission dropped because while its great to have your paperwork ready – it’s a whole other thing to have your coins or paper in flips and marked accordingly. So the few folks ahead of me dropping off 100 1 dollar notes with no flips (or whatever the heck you put notes in) and others with 50 coins in sealed flips that had to be torn open and reflipped, etc. Took so much time that I now feel obligated to send Christmas cards to those I stood in line with! One other line that remained long the entire time I was at the show was the US mint line.
As soon as that chore was done I headed to the Great Collections table to drop some coins for auction which now meant it was 11:30 before I ever began my coin search. My focus is on finding 1909 DDR cents. If you read Shawn Tew’s book The Rabbit Hole of 1909 Lincoln Wheat Cents you know what I am talking about. If not, you can see them here on Variety Vista: varietyvista.com/01a%20LC%20Doubled%20Dies%20Vol%201/DDR%201909.htm
Unfortunately for me this is not a sought-after cent so most dealers do not drag them out of their inventory and bring then to shows, but it’s still all about the search for me. Half way thru my search I stopped to visit the CONECA table and chatted with John Miller the Public Relations Director and had a nice visit on the above-mentioned cents and was pleasantly surprised when he pulled out an example of the 1910 with the 1909 Doubled Die Reverse. That one I am still searching for. Moving along I did look at several 1909 cents and stumbled upon a 65R&B in a soapbox holder which I regretfully had to pay extra for (although the dealer did knock $5 off) over its current retail value despite it stands a very good chance of being busted out by me for submission to PCGS in the future.
So here is the cent along with some close ups plus a few generic show pics I took.
Comments
Nice report! What is your goal with the DDR 09's? Are you after each variety or are you focused on any certain ones? 75 different varieties for the year is quite an undertaking!!
I have 32 of the 75 which can be seen here:
https://pcgs.com/setregistry/mysetregistry/showcase/16882
The differences are so subtle it must take hours to match up the varieties! You must have some incredible patience to undertake such a huge project. Kudos to you! You are a true variety guy!!!
Or Crazy for trying....
WS
Not crazy!
Nothing is as expensive as free money.