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Baltimore Show Report (Very Late) and Poor Coin Images
TomB
Posts: 23,082 ✭✭✭✭✭
It appears that there are a number of reports on the Baltimore show up already so this material may simply be a repeat of other observations. However, few of those reports will be able to match the poor images of my new coins. I arrived in Baltimore Thursday night, but did not attend the show until about 9:30 AM Friday. EVP was already there and we caught up on many things. The public registration booths had a steady stream of folks going through them, but the bourse itself seemed to have plenty of room to navigate, even well after the public opening of the show at 10:00 AM.
There are some folks that I always make it a point to see as quickly as possible and these included Julian Leidman, njcoincrank, FinallyHere (Mike Printz at Whitlow), Larry Shepherd and Dave and John (the boys at CRO; ColonialCoinUnion and CoinRaritiesOnline). Everyone was upbeat and even Larry Whitlow was downright chatty. I met up with BigMoose and we had a fantastic conversation with some pleasant time shared with cohodk/chinook and Michael. The next two days would hold 14-hours of walking the bourse looking for cool coins.
The 1893-S Morgan dollar in grades from VG8-VF35 is a coin that is always available, yet commands a hefty price. There have been shows where I have seen perhaps two-dozen of these pieces, but this show was different and I only noticed eight of these coins on the floor. The 1916 SLQ and 1909-S VDB Lincoln, however, were present in nearly every nook and cranny. There was one 1901-S Barber quarter in an NGC VG8 slab that was accurately graded, original and attractive as all get out. I asked for a price and was surprised it was as little as quoted, though still far from a trivial sum. If I were in the market for a 1901-S Barber quarter then this would be a serious contender for acquisition even considering its relatively low grade since it had the eye appeal that few of this issue can hope to match. Coins that surprised me for their abundance included cherry red, proof IHCs that were primarily in PCGS holders. There had to have been at least eight of these coins spread throughout the floor. High grade, circulated Bust dollars were also available, but the few Gobrecht dollars that I have seen in previous shows had seen their available numbers shrink considerably. Curiously, mid-grade Seated quarters and Barber dimes, which looked dark and original, were more plentiful than at any time that I can recall. As might be expected, the show was swimming in blast white Morgans, WLHs and classic commems. Truly special toned coins were scarcer at this show than at any other in the last ten years, perhaps, and I spoke with Larry Shepherd about this. His observation was consistent with mine and while I assumed that all the special coins were in the hands of dealers like Larry, he hypothesized that these coins were actually in the strong hands of collectors who are in no hurry to sell. I believe he is correct.
I had carried with me a few coins for sale and the truly neat pieces were easy sales at what might be considered highly aggressive prices, while the coins that were nice, but not outstanding, either went unsold or had to be sold for softer money. The chorus that I heard from many dealers was that they were choking on below average-to-average coins and that even the nice coins were not selling with a frequency that would encourage buying more stock. This seemed to be especially true for high grade Washington quarters. The Omaha Bank Hoard (OBH) has put a dent in the market for high grade Roosevelts and Washingtons and this glut of generic material has not only suppressed the liquidity of nicer coins, but might take some time to be absorbed by the community. I was expecting to feel more of a buzz for bullion, but this did not occur. Additionally, there were fewer folks selling modern Mint products and those that were selling had large inventories. Only two dealers had any CAC stickers on coins, but this should not be too surprising given the recent start up of the process. There was no buzz about this service, either, as far as I could discern. PCGS and NGC both had a steady stream of folks at the tables, but neither looked to be overwhelmed at any point.
Tootawl stopped by and we chatted for a bit. He was gracious enough to pull out his newly acquired PCGS EF45 Seated dollar and the coin is outstanding. He also had with him his Dansco 7070 and we went through that set as well. Wayne Herndon was set up with his lovely wife, but the poor soul must be suffering from special disorientation by this time since she was not accustomed to looking at or reading slabs upside-down. All was not lost for the Herndon household, however, since I purchased a wonderful 1839 No Drapery Seated half dime in a dot matrix, OGH where the pigment of the insert had changed to a light canary. The coin is fantastic with complete hair and facial details as well as full star radials; the strike is truly hammered. The coin is predominantly a grey and pink mix with grey and navy near the rims. I was also able to buy a fantastic, original 1909 matte proof Lincoln in the same generation dot matrix, OGH where the pigment of the insert had also changed to a light canary. This is very odd since these holders are becoming tough to find, yet I was able to pick up two very nice type coins at one show. The Lincoln is original, which is something few matte proofs can boast, and has a warm, faded, brick red glow about the surfaces. While buying the Lincoln cent I was able to meet yellowjacket for the first time and had a great conversation. Aside from these two coins, I purchased an EF copper-nickel IHC and an EF Barber dime for my Dansco 7070.
I went to dinner Friday with a crew that included BigMoose, caitlin, cape and AACoinCo. This has become a Friday night Baltimore tradition for me and is always quite enjoyable, even if it makes walking the floor bright and early on Saturday a bit more challenging. For those interested in the history of the certification services and who look for older slabs, Julian had three NGC holders with the plain white insert while the boys at CRO had the only PCGS doily holder that I saw on the floor. Both Friday and Saturday I ate lunch within the convention center and the good folks working for food services must have thought I looked pretty hungry or fairly pathetic. Friday afternoon I had the carved turkey sandwich and while other folks received an inch or so of turkey, the server gave me a six-inch heaping mound of steaming turkey on my plate. This was the same server whom I had at the last Baltimore show and who looks eerily like Evander Holyfield. Saturday afternoon I had the pasta primavera and the server on that afternoon gave me almost an entire third of the six-inch by eighteen-inch serving tray for my lunch. Needless to say, I was full both afternoons. The women at the cash registers had the new Presidential dollars in their trays, but no one that I saw was either given any in change or asked to receive them. In fact, I told them each day that I didn’t want any.
Saturday night was dinner with supertooth and family at his home. Folks, if you want to see a tour-de-force in WLH collecting, you must catch up with supertooth. We talked well into the night, but I don’t think my new matte proof Lincoln was a hit in the supertooth home. Sunday morning was more coin talk and then the long drive home though MD-DE-NJ-NY-CT and mostly light rain. I had a great time, thought the bourse was slower than typical, thought it was difficult to sell nice coins but easy to sell really nice coins at aggressive prices and was delighted to find the two major purchases that I brought home. Below are the two main purchases with the slab inserts to show how the color of the inserts had faded to nearly the same hue over the years. These slabs were issued in the early 1990s and all the inserts started life as dark green.
There are some folks that I always make it a point to see as quickly as possible and these included Julian Leidman, njcoincrank, FinallyHere (Mike Printz at Whitlow), Larry Shepherd and Dave and John (the boys at CRO; ColonialCoinUnion and CoinRaritiesOnline). Everyone was upbeat and even Larry Whitlow was downright chatty. I met up with BigMoose and we had a fantastic conversation with some pleasant time shared with cohodk/chinook and Michael. The next two days would hold 14-hours of walking the bourse looking for cool coins.
The 1893-S Morgan dollar in grades from VG8-VF35 is a coin that is always available, yet commands a hefty price. There have been shows where I have seen perhaps two-dozen of these pieces, but this show was different and I only noticed eight of these coins on the floor. The 1916 SLQ and 1909-S VDB Lincoln, however, were present in nearly every nook and cranny. There was one 1901-S Barber quarter in an NGC VG8 slab that was accurately graded, original and attractive as all get out. I asked for a price and was surprised it was as little as quoted, though still far from a trivial sum. If I were in the market for a 1901-S Barber quarter then this would be a serious contender for acquisition even considering its relatively low grade since it had the eye appeal that few of this issue can hope to match. Coins that surprised me for their abundance included cherry red, proof IHCs that were primarily in PCGS holders. There had to have been at least eight of these coins spread throughout the floor. High grade, circulated Bust dollars were also available, but the few Gobrecht dollars that I have seen in previous shows had seen their available numbers shrink considerably. Curiously, mid-grade Seated quarters and Barber dimes, which looked dark and original, were more plentiful than at any time that I can recall. As might be expected, the show was swimming in blast white Morgans, WLHs and classic commems. Truly special toned coins were scarcer at this show than at any other in the last ten years, perhaps, and I spoke with Larry Shepherd about this. His observation was consistent with mine and while I assumed that all the special coins were in the hands of dealers like Larry, he hypothesized that these coins were actually in the strong hands of collectors who are in no hurry to sell. I believe he is correct.
I had carried with me a few coins for sale and the truly neat pieces were easy sales at what might be considered highly aggressive prices, while the coins that were nice, but not outstanding, either went unsold or had to be sold for softer money. The chorus that I heard from many dealers was that they were choking on below average-to-average coins and that even the nice coins were not selling with a frequency that would encourage buying more stock. This seemed to be especially true for high grade Washington quarters. The Omaha Bank Hoard (OBH) has put a dent in the market for high grade Roosevelts and Washingtons and this glut of generic material has not only suppressed the liquidity of nicer coins, but might take some time to be absorbed by the community. I was expecting to feel more of a buzz for bullion, but this did not occur. Additionally, there were fewer folks selling modern Mint products and those that were selling had large inventories. Only two dealers had any CAC stickers on coins, but this should not be too surprising given the recent start up of the process. There was no buzz about this service, either, as far as I could discern. PCGS and NGC both had a steady stream of folks at the tables, but neither looked to be overwhelmed at any point.
Tootawl stopped by and we chatted for a bit. He was gracious enough to pull out his newly acquired PCGS EF45 Seated dollar and the coin is outstanding. He also had with him his Dansco 7070 and we went through that set as well. Wayne Herndon was set up with his lovely wife, but the poor soul must be suffering from special disorientation by this time since she was not accustomed to looking at or reading slabs upside-down. All was not lost for the Herndon household, however, since I purchased a wonderful 1839 No Drapery Seated half dime in a dot matrix, OGH where the pigment of the insert had changed to a light canary. The coin is fantastic with complete hair and facial details as well as full star radials; the strike is truly hammered. The coin is predominantly a grey and pink mix with grey and navy near the rims. I was also able to buy a fantastic, original 1909 matte proof Lincoln in the same generation dot matrix, OGH where the pigment of the insert had also changed to a light canary. This is very odd since these holders are becoming tough to find, yet I was able to pick up two very nice type coins at one show. The Lincoln is original, which is something few matte proofs can boast, and has a warm, faded, brick red glow about the surfaces. While buying the Lincoln cent I was able to meet yellowjacket for the first time and had a great conversation. Aside from these two coins, I purchased an EF copper-nickel IHC and an EF Barber dime for my Dansco 7070.
I went to dinner Friday with a crew that included BigMoose, caitlin, cape and AACoinCo. This has become a Friday night Baltimore tradition for me and is always quite enjoyable, even if it makes walking the floor bright and early on Saturday a bit more challenging. For those interested in the history of the certification services and who look for older slabs, Julian had three NGC holders with the plain white insert while the boys at CRO had the only PCGS doily holder that I saw on the floor. Both Friday and Saturday I ate lunch within the convention center and the good folks working for food services must have thought I looked pretty hungry or fairly pathetic. Friday afternoon I had the carved turkey sandwich and while other folks received an inch or so of turkey, the server gave me a six-inch heaping mound of steaming turkey on my plate. This was the same server whom I had at the last Baltimore show and who looks eerily like Evander Holyfield. Saturday afternoon I had the pasta primavera and the server on that afternoon gave me almost an entire third of the six-inch by eighteen-inch serving tray for my lunch. Needless to say, I was full both afternoons. The women at the cash registers had the new Presidential dollars in their trays, but no one that I saw was either given any in change or asked to receive them. In fact, I told them each day that I didn’t want any.
Saturday night was dinner with supertooth and family at his home. Folks, if you want to see a tour-de-force in WLH collecting, you must catch up with supertooth. We talked well into the night, but I don’t think my new matte proof Lincoln was a hit in the supertooth home. Sunday morning was more coin talk and then the long drive home though MD-DE-NJ-NY-CT and mostly light rain. I had a great time, thought the bourse was slower than typical, thought it was difficult to sell nice coins but easy to sell really nice coins at aggressive prices and was delighted to find the two major purchases that I brought home. Below are the two main purchases with the slab inserts to show how the color of the inserts had faded to nearly the same hue over the years. These slabs were issued in the early 1990s and all the inserts started life as dark green.
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Comments
-Paul
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
thanks for taking the time to write it up.
very well detailed and written report
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
Sorry to have missed you on Friday in Baltimore. Great pickups!
By the way, there were a total of 12 PCGS doily insert slabs in Baltimore on Friday!!!
Dave
PS Super half dime!!!
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
I love the '39 half dime
<< <i>the boys at CRO had the only PCGS doily holder that I saw on the floor. >>
Not only that, but I spent a few minutes talking to a customer on Saturday and realized later I had cream cheese on my nose.
How tough are the PCGS doily holders? I have some of them and really never gave them a second thought...
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
<< <i>
<< <i>the boys at CRO had the only PCGS doily holder that I saw on the floor. >>
Not only that, but I spent a few minutes talking to a customer on Saturday and realized later I had cream cheese on my nose. >>
We'd expect nothing less