NW Coin Show--Report: Updated
Ahrensdad
Posts: 2,583 ✭✭✭
It's been a busy two days. I arrived on Friday at the beginning of set up, one of the first dealers allowed in. I barely got my stuff behind the table and the early birds arrived. I didn't leave my table for the rest of the day. The dealer traffic was humming like a couple years ago, but nice. One early bird dealer that normally handles gold and travels to all major shows said he wasn't looking for any 20's. He was looking for smaller gold. He ended up buying a $1 and couple $2.5 indians. I found that interesting. It appears the market is softening for generic $20's...at least according to him. When the show opened to the public, it was very busy. Collectors were not just buying bullion as I've seen at smaller local shows, but they were buying nice collector coins in the $50-$500 range. I did have one very nice buy. I purchased 7 original rolls of WLH's. I sense a bulk submission coming on.
I managed to meet a few board member MJH, Regulator, rctoners and a few others that my memory is failing on. Please forgive me.
Saturday was busy when the doors opened to the public at 10am until about 2pm then it slowed down. The show was open until 6pm, but I left a little early. The dealer to the left of me was having car problems and left it at a local shop and needed a lift to get back there before they closed. No big deal, the show had slowed to a crawl. Silver Eagles seemed to the order of the day. I don't mean rolls of 2010, which sold well too. I mean back dates being purchased by collectors for books. I sold at least 50 to various individual. Wierd. That never really happens.
Oh well, no complaints. Sunday will likely be very slow.
Edit.
Edit. Update
Update on Sunday:
I felt that Sunday was unusually busy. The club sponsoring the show held a youth auction. Items were donated by dealers on Friday and Saturday and the kids were given an imaginary $200 to spend. Every child I saw was beaming afterwards. By 1pm the show was pretty much in wrap up mode, but there were still people walking the floor. I was busy enough that I didn't start packing up until 2:30 (show closed at 3pm). I've been to this show when it wasn't even worth while to set up on Sunday.
In recap, I feel pretty positive coming away from this show. It felt like collectors were coming back to buying collector coins and adding to their collections. They weren't sitting on the side lines, not certain about the future. This is reason for optimism. Yes, there were plenty of people looking for gold and silver (mostly silver, I wasn't asked much for gold bullion), but they didn't carry the show for me. I heard there were a couple other dealers that sold quite a bit of bullion. I old heard one dealer that said he didn't have a good show. But his comment to me was that he just didn't seem to have what they were looking for. Several dealers I spoke with said they had an excellent show. One even said this was the best Northwest show they could remember.
I managed to meet a few board member MJH, Regulator, rctoners and a few others that my memory is failing on. Please forgive me.
Saturday was busy when the doors opened to the public at 10am until about 2pm then it slowed down. The show was open until 6pm, but I left a little early. The dealer to the left of me was having car problems and left it at a local shop and needed a lift to get back there before they closed. No big deal, the show had slowed to a crawl. Silver Eagles seemed to the order of the day. I don't mean rolls of 2010, which sold well too. I mean back dates being purchased by collectors for books. I sold at least 50 to various individual. Wierd. That never really happens.
Oh well, no complaints. Sunday will likely be very slow.
Edit.
Edit. Update
Update on Sunday:
I felt that Sunday was unusually busy. The club sponsoring the show held a youth auction. Items were donated by dealers on Friday and Saturday and the kids were given an imaginary $200 to spend. Every child I saw was beaming afterwards. By 1pm the show was pretty much in wrap up mode, but there were still people walking the floor. I was busy enough that I didn't start packing up until 2:30 (show closed at 3pm). I've been to this show when it wasn't even worth while to set up on Sunday.
In recap, I feel pretty positive coming away from this show. It felt like collectors were coming back to buying collector coins and adding to their collections. They weren't sitting on the side lines, not certain about the future. This is reason for optimism. Yes, there were plenty of people looking for gold and silver (mostly silver, I wasn't asked much for gold bullion), but they didn't carry the show for me. I heard there were a couple other dealers that sold quite a bit of bullion. I old heard one dealer that said he didn't have a good show. But his comment to me was that he just didn't seem to have what they were looking for. Several dealers I spoke with said they had an excellent show. One even said this was the best Northwest show they could remember.
Successful BST Transactions with: WTCG, Ikenefic, Twincam, InternetJunky, bestday, 1twobits, Geoman x4, Blackhawk, Robb, nederveit, mesquite, sinin1, CommemDude, Gerard, sebrown, Guitarwes, Commoncents05, tychojoe, adriana, SeaEagleCoins, ndgoflo, stone, vikingdude, golfer72, kameo, Scotty1418, Tdec1000, Sportsmoderator1 and many others.
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
0
Comments
I enjoyed the show and, as a collector and not a dealer, it seemed to me more energetic and "happier" than the past few shows in our area.
Saw Geoman and noticed that his table's holdings have grown admirably. He's now a B&M presence in Duluth and I wish him well there and will plan to drop in when in that lovely city.
Wish I had more money and more time. I know I missed looking it all over.
zap
102 capped bust half dollars - 100 die marriages
BHNC #198
<< <i>
I managed to meet a few board member MFH, Regulator, rctoners and a few others that my memory is failing on. Please forgive me.
>>
The MFH you spoke of was not me...I've been in SW Florida since
FUN in January, 2010.
You must mean MJH - ??? -
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
Please visit my website Millcitynumismatics.com
Things got off to a good start on Friday. Searched through 4 rolls of dimes from the bank and the second roll yielded my first ever 1957-D in nice white XF/AU and a very nice 1975 in near mint state. Both went into the Dansco folder for my Roosevelt collection from circulation.
I went to the Northwest show on Saturday and arrived a little after noon. The crowd seemed about average, not too big and not too small. Most dealers had people at their tables. There were some items I wanted coming up for auction/sale, so I really did not have any money burning a hole in my pocket. I did find a couple low-price coins for which I had been looking. First was a Mercury dime in mint state with russet toning about the devices and periphery for $5.00. A nice little pickup for my first purchase. I usually spend most of my time at local coin shows looking to cherrypick Lincoln cent RPMs in mint state. The only real find was a 1953-S RPM#22 for $1.00. I don’t have a close up, but it is a pretty nice RPM. Not long after buying the 1953-S I had one heckuva scare and thought I had lost my 30x loupe. I had previously scouted a HC copy of Lange’s A Complete Guide to the Mercury Dime, so if I had not luckily found my loupe at another dealer’s table, I would’ve had to pass on the book. The book set me back $36.00. Yeah, it’s available online for free, but I’ll take a real book over a computer screen and zeroes and ones any day. So for a little over $40.00 I picked up a couple nice items for which I had been looking and had a fun time doing so.
A few other notes… On the way to and from the show, I took I-694 which crosses the Mississippi. Personally, I have never seen it that high and an island which typically shows perhaps a good six feet of bank was easily underwater. Said hi to foodude and Ahrensdad. I think I was at his table when Ahrensdad was being offered the WLHs. One dealer had a ton of “Am I Not A Woman” HTTs- perhaps half a dozen slabbed and another dozen raw.
My numismatic weekend ended well as I was able to pick up a Chihuahua, Mexico token off eBay.
Here are a few pics of this weekends acquisitions. The Lincoln and Mercury were shot in diffused/ambient lighting- it’s the only way I could get rid of the mylar glare, but makes them look like hell. They have decent luster and look much better in hand.
Ahrensdad- I’m sending you a quick PM…
MJH was there , I stopped by and said Hi !
As others have stated, Friday was busier than it usually is for this show. At times it was tough for the crowd to move along th isles. I remember in past years counting the number of people that were waiting when the doors opened on Friday and only being like 20-25 people. It was packed within 1 hour and stayed busy up until almost 6:00 pm. Saturday was pretty typical but Sunday was busier than usual again. I also ran out of 2010 ASEs on Friday, as I only brought one roll with and left the others in the store. All my 90% silver also was gone on Friday. Silver bullion sold quick! I did buy a really nice Gem BU set of silver Roosevelt dimes, but not much else.
What I wanted to mention was the American Numismatic Association (ANA) took a table at the show for the first time I can remember. ANA President Cliff Mishler was there with another governor (Ed?) from the ANA for both Friday and Saturday. I did have a nice talk with Mishler in which we discussed ending the "early bird" at the ANA show. I also learned the correct pronunciation of "Krause" Publications. (You say the "e" on the end.)
I did meet several PCGS forum members: zap1111, sinin1, onthelake, Ahrensdad, foodude, etc. I probably forgot a few also.