ANA Day 3 - Tales From the Bourse

Thursday started out pretty relaxed before the EBs and Public were let in. I had the chance to walk over to the CAC table for submissions which is always enjoyable. We were able to take our time getting the cases out and arranged, all 3 of us were able to do things on the floor. As noted in the previous post, I was not sure how things would go on Thursday - which direction the activity would take, up or down.
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But when the public arrived, the buzz level and numbers of people on the floor was strong and sustained from Wednesday. We were busy at the table, folks looking at coins in all 3 cases, some buying, only time for a few sips of water with no extended breaks. And a steady stream of invoices. @kliao completed selling his whole box of coins on the floor, @usararecoins, sold a couple incredible coins, then went off and bought some more, I bought and sold steadily all day. So all good.
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So some of the Tales. First, I like the idea of of using such a title for Day 3 because of the interesting connection, well at least to me from a nerdy scientist/coinee perspective. Here we are in the David Lawrence Convention Center. Way back in the day, Oceanographer turned Coin Dealer, David Lawrence Feigenbaum (founder of David Lawrence Coin Company), wrote a small book called 'Tales From the Bourse: Short Stories From My Life as a Coin Dealer'. Here is a link about it by his son (John Feigenbaum, Whitman CEO who posts here):
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https://coinweek.com/story-tales-bourse/
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This book resonated with me. Not only was it a fun read about what happens on the bourse, but senior Feigenbaum was an oceanographer before coin dealing, so as an Earth Scientist myself, I felt a connection there (even if there was not). But I thought it was pretty cool that a scientist became a coin dealer and I thought, hey maybe I can do that someday.................
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But nevertheless it is an enjoyable read and it influences me to write in tales that exemplify activities on the bourse when I can in show reports. So......................
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Cool Tale 1. At some point on Thursday, @pursuitofliberty came by and dropped off a box of bust halves he was selling and asked me to have a look, took off and said he would get back later. So I went through his nice selection, and picked out the one that would work best for me. While he was away, an advanced collector of early bust (we will call him JR) came by and he saw I was holding that bust half in my hand. He asked 'whatcha got there', I showed him @pursuitofliberty 's (we will call him PL) coin, he said, I like it I wonder if I need that die marriage. He brought out his printed Bust Half Nutter die marriage template (all these guys have it, can't even count how my times I have seen it at the show), and said, I don't have it and I like it, what are you asking for it? I said it was not mine but was going to offer X to the seller and I could flip to him for a small (we usually do this for 5-7%) amount if I agree to the sale with PL. So we talked price and JR said he would want to get it for Z which was lower than the ask price of PL even without my fee attached. So when PL got back, I said I could offer Z but PL said he was in it for more and could not do it for that price. So PL had to go off again and and left his box of bust halves with me to pick up later. While PL was off, JR was there listening in and said DM how about if I pay abit more, and it came to almost what PL needed, very very close. But no PL to be found to discuss round 2 yet. So I told JR to hang around and let's wait for PL to come back. But just about then @drddm stops by, another Bust Half Nutter (as we all know LOL). I said hey DRDDM, have you seen PL, he said 'no' but I can call him. So he gets on the phone and calls PL and I say 'tell PL I can come up in price and I will offer him X for it'. So PL comes from the far reaches of the bourse in a few minutes, I invoice him and write the check, he is happy bc we got pretty close to his price, I then invoice the same bust half to JR and take his check for just a touch more. JR keeps saying DM I need to pay more as you need to get more for the work you just did, I say nah I was just a facilitator between you two and that is fine. So it works out for everyone. These kinds of deals are fun to be involved in.
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Cool Tale 2. Just before the public was let in a dealer came by and was looking at my gold coins. He was asking for prices for alot of them, most of which would not work for him (like the early branch mint examples). But he then focused on 2 Indian Half Eagles that were nice coins (one CACG, one PCGS-CAC) but not uber pq for the grade, and he really liked a nice Classic Head Quarter Eagle in NGC MS62 (did not CAC). All of these were coins I wanted to move, they were not really the kinds of coins that in retrospect fit what I want to sell and had lingered for too long in my inventory. But they were the kinds of coins the other dealer focused on and sold through his network. 2 of these were the remaining coins that @kliao was going to walk the floor with, with his box later in the day. So because of this, I had room to bring the prices down to where they were acceptable to the dealer and we agreed to do the deal. Great for me, great for him. This was about 9 am. So I said I will invoice them and he said okay I will bring my check book back and get them before noon. Now, sometimes dealers do this and never come back to get the coins. Sometimes they get too busy, or maybe they change their mind, or perhaps just forget when doing alot of deals and er, not writing them down or paying right away. Who knows? But it happens more than one would think. So suffice to say I have learned to put a time limit on these agreements just in case and told this dealer I would hold them until noon (but I really, really, really, wanted to move them so was just hoping he'd came back sometime). So in great anticipation of closing the deal, about every hour I would look around and say to @kliao where is he as I really wanted to get this one done. So by noon (of course, LOL), said dealer had not come back. I decided to give him abit more time - like, no one else was going to come by my case and buy them after all (LOL again). And then sometime just after noon, he comes rushing up and said, sorry I am later but I have been standing in line for a new release over there at the US Mint but I will get back as soon as I can. Which was nice and good to see he was going to consummate the deal. So I asked @Kliao what that was all about and he told me there was a huge line of people in the back of the bourse for some new and hot gold coin release for the US Mint. Ah, I see. So 3 pm rolls around and still no dealer to buy the coins. Finally @Kliao says, DM I can take them and the invoice over to the dealers table and get the check. I said sure and thanks. Fifteen minutes later @Kliao hands me the check and my copy of the invoice. A big Whew! moment. Sometimes ya just want to move some coins and get those funds back into play. Sometimes dealers just get distracted. The litmus test is if they finally do the deal and sometimes ya have to be patient. But one tends to remember the dealers that don't follow through, in not so positive terms. This dealer is a good guy and honored his commitment, even when things were going south in his day. All worked for everyone.
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So those are a couple examples of how things work on my side of the table. I will issue a final ANA report of today's activities and a summary probably tomorrow at the airport. Fridays are always hit or miss at these shows, so we will just have to see.........

Thanks for reading and Best, DM