PAN show report
kranky
Posts: 8,709 ✭✭✭
Spent Friday and Saturday with PTVETTER at his table helping out (more like trying to not get in the way) which is always a very pleasant way to spend a coin show. PAN is a twice-yearly, medium-large show, with about 125 tables. All tables were filled, the vast majority of which were PAN regulars although I noticed a couple new faces. Attendance seemed a bit lighter than normal.
Since I've been doing this with Pat for a few years now, I was able to notice one significant difference in what people wanted. Out: proof sets. In: gold! At most PAN shows, I would see at least a dozen customers wanting proof sets but this time there only about 3 or 4. Quite a few people were looking for gold bullion, but there was little to be had. And some were looking for platinum but there was none to be had. There was a decent amount of pre-1933 US gold coins if people wanted those. One customer asked about the 2008/07 ASE. I noticed one dealer had a couple in his case, marked at $500.
One dealer was paying 50 cents each for 1969 P or D quarters. Circulated!
There was one customer who had come from Ohio and when I asked how I could help him, he smiled and said, "I'm looking for simple. Simple coins." I laughed and asked what he meant. He was looking for 1992-99 slabbed proof singles but I hadn't seen any at the show that I could recall. I think he probably went home empty-handed. There was only one semi-annoying customer, who asked for prices on eight or nine different Morgans but didn't buy any because "you're asking more than bid and I can't make any money on them."
As usual, there were a few dealers walking the floor looking to sell coins. One of them who stopped at the table had some marvelous coins - a 1799 $10 in AU and a PR66 (maybe it was a 67, my eyes were more drawn to the coin than the label) trade dollar were two that I noticed. These aren't the coins typically being walked around at a PAN show. I noticed a drop in show attenders who brought coins to sell.
One thing that I feel sets PAN apart from most shows of its type is their emphasis on YNs. One of their YN activities featured free Whitman Lincoln folders (1941-up) and a table full of bins of donated wheat cents. Kids could take a folder and rummage through the bins and fill as many holes as they could. ANA's newly appointed Chief Judge Sam Deep supervises that activity.
Of the board members I met at the show, every one was behind a table - RichieURich, mar327, shortgapbob, njcoincrank, vam44. And regular show attenders Bob and Judy (who lurk here but haven't joined) can't find an slabbed 1887-O Morgan in 63 for anything. Is it a conspiracy, are they actually very rare, or is it just a fluke?
Since I've been doing this with Pat for a few years now, I was able to notice one significant difference in what people wanted. Out: proof sets. In: gold! At most PAN shows, I would see at least a dozen customers wanting proof sets but this time there only about 3 or 4. Quite a few people were looking for gold bullion, but there was little to be had. And some were looking for platinum but there was none to be had. There was a decent amount of pre-1933 US gold coins if people wanted those. One customer asked about the 2008/07 ASE. I noticed one dealer had a couple in his case, marked at $500.
One dealer was paying 50 cents each for 1969 P or D quarters. Circulated!
There was one customer who had come from Ohio and when I asked how I could help him, he smiled and said, "I'm looking for simple. Simple coins." I laughed and asked what he meant. He was looking for 1992-99 slabbed proof singles but I hadn't seen any at the show that I could recall. I think he probably went home empty-handed. There was only one semi-annoying customer, who asked for prices on eight or nine different Morgans but didn't buy any because "you're asking more than bid and I can't make any money on them."
As usual, there were a few dealers walking the floor looking to sell coins. One of them who stopped at the table had some marvelous coins - a 1799 $10 in AU and a PR66 (maybe it was a 67, my eyes were more drawn to the coin than the label) trade dollar were two that I noticed. These aren't the coins typically being walked around at a PAN show. I noticed a drop in show attenders who brought coins to sell.
One thing that I feel sets PAN apart from most shows of its type is their emphasis on YNs. One of their YN activities featured free Whitman Lincoln folders (1941-up) and a table full of bins of donated wheat cents. Kids could take a folder and rummage through the bins and fill as many holes as they could. ANA's newly appointed Chief Judge Sam Deep supervises that activity.
Of the board members I met at the show, every one was behind a table - RichieURich, mar327, shortgapbob, njcoincrank, vam44. And regular show attenders Bob and Judy (who lurk here but haven't joined) can't find an slabbed 1887-O Morgan in 63 for anything. Is it a conspiracy, are they actually very rare, or is it just a fluke?
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
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https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
Pardon my ignorance about moderns (I do know they aren't silver...) but why would they command a premium?
Rob
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
Sounds like a desperate soul!
As for a slabbed 87-O in 63.....no conspiracy, they're generally pretty easy to find....a few slabbed examples listed on Ebay right now (62-64).
<< <i>One dealer was paying 50 cents each for 1969 P or D quarters. Circulated!
Pardon my ignorance about moderns (I do know they aren't silver...) but why would they command a premium? >>
There are no rolls and the mint sets are getting a little too
pricey to be cutting up. This means the big wholesalers have
no choice but to turn to circulation coins to complete albums
to sell to the public.
The incidence of these in circulation has dropped dramatically
over the years as the small mintages (100 and 160 million) are
diluted by later dates and burnt up in fires and lost in floods.
With more than half gone now it leaves only about 125 million
coins distributed among the 35 billion quarters in circulation.
This means fewer than 1 quarter in four rolls of this date will
be found. It's easier to just offer 50c than look through the coins.
If anyone is wondering the '69-D can still be found in low end XF
or better about one per hundred but the '69-P is not going to be
found over VF. Even a nice VF is getting nearly impossible. Fig-
ure about one per two hundred.