Charmy's 2012 FUN Show Report w/lots of Pics!!!
ThePennyLady
Posts: 4,468 ✭✭✭✭✭
“WOW” is the best adjective I have for this show! It seemed like a whirlwind of activity almost the whole time. From the minute all the dealers were let in, the show had a loud buzz until at least Saturday afternoon. I had a lot more of dealer to dealer activity than usual since many dealers were looking for quality collector material that seemed hard to find. I had just purchased a nice group of high grade toned proof Indian cents and sold almost all of them before the end of the show. Here is just one of them.
on Tuesday, I left nice sunny warm 85 degree Southern California and arrived Tuesday evening to biting 40 degree cold Florida temperatures! At the last minute, I decided to take what I call my “Baltimore” coat with me and was I glad I did – at least for the first couple days.
I got settled into my condo who I shared with a couple other people, then it was off to dinner at Maggiano’s for some dinner and fine wine!
They even have their own monogrammed wine glasses!
Though the temperature was probably below 40 degrees on Wednesday morning, the sun was bright and shining and it was a gorgeous day! I took these photos of the lake and pool from the balcony off our condo.
Dealer set up was Wednesday at 2pm so we stopped for some lunch at TGI Fridays before heading to the convention center. Along the way, we came upon this hilarious car advertisement for a lobster restaurant!
The convention center
The registration area of the convention center was already crowded with people (mostly dealers) waiting to get in for set up.
This is the registration line
There was also a long line at the top of the escalators which you had to take to get down to the convention floor area. However, they had actually turned off the escalators so as not to create an overly crowded area on the floor right in front of the doors to the bourse floor. But that also created much difficulty for people who had large suitcases and boxes of material they were bringing onto the bourse floor – and there was only ONE elevator. So all of this greatly slowed down everyone getting onto the bourse floor. Fortunately, everyone seemed very courteous and helpful, and there were no accidents.
Towards the end of set up on Wednesday, NGC held a wonderful reception to celebrate their 25th anniversary. I have to say, the reception was top notch and the wine they served was absolutely wonderful!
They also had a beautiful display of these rare coins!
After set up, we headed out to dinner at Ming Court on International Drive – one of my favorite Chinese food restaurants! They have the most excellent ambiance and superb service, not to mention very tasty food!
They also had beautiful live Asian musicians playing on these very interesting instruments
I had this very yummy spicy chicken curry dish – and of course a good bottle of wine!
On Thursday, we met several forum members for the “forum breakfast” at Denny’s.
Me, Jerry/Yellowkid, Rick Snow and his assistant Karin
Dennis/Dennis88 and Mike/MFH
More forum members
Here are the PCGS/NGC/CoinTalk forum members who stopped by my table throughout the show (in no particular order)
Wayne/Auraborealis
Alden and Nick/OnlyRoosies
Gary/FrozenInk
One of my ANA Summer Seminar Buddies (wanted to remain nameless!) and his brother on my right
Shane/Kryptonite
The next day Shane wore this very expensive colorful shirt and wanted me to be sure I got a photo of him in this shirt – so here he is!
B./Tamu15 and Paul/CoinKid
Joe/JMW
Greg/SavoySpecial
Alan/HardTimes
Mark Feld (looking like he felt that day – very tired!)
Ken/Green18
Jason/PhysicsFan
Matt/BillyGoat
Chris/CPM9Ball – who brought me these two wonderful bottles of wine!
My fellow wine lover and good buddy Dennis/DennisH
Rick Snow and his assistant Karin (who always brings tasty homemade chocolate chip cookies to the shows so she is known as the “Cookie Lady”!
Ron Guth
Stewart Bley
Doug/GDJMSP (CoinTalk Moderator) – he may seem a bit “gruff” on the CoinTalk forum, and although I know probably won’t like me dispelling that perception, but he is actually a big kind and charming teddy bear in person and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Doug!
Todd/Blu62vette, me and his dad Roger/MustangGT
Don Willis, me and David Hall
I also ran into several more of the “regular” forum members, including Wei, TomB, Colonel Jessup, Ian Russell, and more!
After the show on Thursday, a large group of us went to Vito’s Chop House for dinner where we had some amazing steaks, and even more amazing wine!!
When you walk into the restaurant, they have a display of some of their cuts of steak and lobster
They also had this huge aquarium containing beautiful salt water fish
I realize tequila doesn’t mix well with wine, but before dinner (and before we ordered the wine), Rick and I had some Don Julio 1942 sipping tequila – mmmmmmmmmm, tequila doesn't get much better than this!
Just before dinner, we ordered this double-sized bottle of wine which cost over $200, but it was definitely worth it!!
Here is the plate of beef they bring to the table to demonstrate the different cuts that are available
They also have their own signature steak knives (that’s Karin demonstrating what she would do if someone tried to steal her steak!)
This is the second bottle of yummy wine we ordered at Vito’s
After we rolled ourselves out of Vito’s, we all headed down the street to Howl at the Moon (a chain of dueling piano bars which anyone who has read my previous show reports may be familiar with). The two piano guys at this Howl at the Moon were true entertainers and were very good at engaging the audience.
Here they are playing a Devo song!
A lot of my friends have now become fans of the Irish Car Bomb, so of course, they ordered a round as soon as we got there!
(Yes, I know exactly what you are all thinking – tequila, wine, beer/whisky/Bailys all in one night – and though each of these are wonderful drinks all by themselves, yes, I definitely paid the price the next morning for combining them!)
Anyway, one of the trademarks of Howl at the Moon bars is that they also have these dry-erase boards where you can pay a tip to have any “advertisement” or phrase written on the board but you have to increase the prior tip by at least $1. We paid double the prior tip to “advertise” the FUN show and was surprised when someone soon paid even more to have their own phrase replace it!
My hubby and I are Chargers fans so of course, I have to be sure to promote them on the east coast!
A Scotch lover who felt “what goes on at Howl at the Moon, stays at Howl at the Moon!”
Those of us who didn’t care!
I was moving quite slowly on Friday morning but I did manage to go around the bourse floor and take photos of what was going on. As you can see, the bourse was quite crowded for most of the day.
David Lange at the NGC table
The PCGS table
They had a gold panning set up where anyone could stop by and try their hand at panning for gold.
Mike Bean had his spider press on display
The Hobo Nickel Club table
During the show, I was able to acquire several nice key date pieces for inventory, including an 1856 Flying Eagle. I even found a few toned Lincoln cents for my own personal collection and 4 more beautiful Conder tokens as well, including a really neat Conder that was struck over another Conder token!
The Conder token on the left was struck on a Conder token just like the one on the right.
More critter Conders!
Friday night after the show we were all still pretty worn out from staying up so late the night before, so we had a low key dinner, went back to the condo, and watched a mindless movie. In the morning I walked out onto the balcony and, although the sky wasn’t as clear, I noticed what a difference the temperature was from the first morning.
We had bought a lot of snacks for the condo and still had quite a bit left so we brought them to the show to share with our customers on Saturday.
Since my son Erik who lives in Italy came home for the holidays, I scheduled my flight to leave the show on Saturday to spend more time with him. (He’s the one on the far right next to my other son Troy – and that’s my hubby holding our very upset kitty who wanted desperately not to be in the photo)
Even though my flight wasn’t until 7pm, I headed to the airport around 4pm since we heard it was very crowded and security lines were long. Luckily, they had died down by the evening and, even though they screened (privately) my bags, it didn’t take very long. But each of the terminals did seem quite crowded, including mine.
Here’s a view of the sun setting from inside my terminal
And from my plane window just before taking off for home!
Even though I very much look forward to each show I attend, I look forward even more to coming back home – and it sure is good to be home!
on Tuesday, I left nice sunny warm 85 degree Southern California and arrived Tuesday evening to biting 40 degree cold Florida temperatures! At the last minute, I decided to take what I call my “Baltimore” coat with me and was I glad I did – at least for the first couple days.
I got settled into my condo who I shared with a couple other people, then it was off to dinner at Maggiano’s for some dinner and fine wine!
They even have their own monogrammed wine glasses!
Though the temperature was probably below 40 degrees on Wednesday morning, the sun was bright and shining and it was a gorgeous day! I took these photos of the lake and pool from the balcony off our condo.
Dealer set up was Wednesday at 2pm so we stopped for some lunch at TGI Fridays before heading to the convention center. Along the way, we came upon this hilarious car advertisement for a lobster restaurant!
The convention center
The registration area of the convention center was already crowded with people (mostly dealers) waiting to get in for set up.
This is the registration line
There was also a long line at the top of the escalators which you had to take to get down to the convention floor area. However, they had actually turned off the escalators so as not to create an overly crowded area on the floor right in front of the doors to the bourse floor. But that also created much difficulty for people who had large suitcases and boxes of material they were bringing onto the bourse floor – and there was only ONE elevator. So all of this greatly slowed down everyone getting onto the bourse floor. Fortunately, everyone seemed very courteous and helpful, and there were no accidents.
Towards the end of set up on Wednesday, NGC held a wonderful reception to celebrate their 25th anniversary. I have to say, the reception was top notch and the wine they served was absolutely wonderful!
They also had a beautiful display of these rare coins!
After set up, we headed out to dinner at Ming Court on International Drive – one of my favorite Chinese food restaurants! They have the most excellent ambiance and superb service, not to mention very tasty food!
They also had beautiful live Asian musicians playing on these very interesting instruments
I had this very yummy spicy chicken curry dish – and of course a good bottle of wine!
On Thursday, we met several forum members for the “forum breakfast” at Denny’s.
Me, Jerry/Yellowkid, Rick Snow and his assistant Karin
Dennis/Dennis88 and Mike/MFH
More forum members
Here are the PCGS/NGC/CoinTalk forum members who stopped by my table throughout the show (in no particular order)
Wayne/Auraborealis
Alden and Nick/OnlyRoosies
Gary/FrozenInk
One of my ANA Summer Seminar Buddies (wanted to remain nameless!) and his brother on my right
Shane/Kryptonite
The next day Shane wore this very expensive colorful shirt and wanted me to be sure I got a photo of him in this shirt – so here he is!
B./Tamu15 and Paul/CoinKid
Joe/JMW
Greg/SavoySpecial
Alan/HardTimes
Mark Feld (looking like he felt that day – very tired!)
Ken/Green18
Jason/PhysicsFan
Matt/BillyGoat
Chris/CPM9Ball – who brought me these two wonderful bottles of wine!
My fellow wine lover and good buddy Dennis/DennisH
Rick Snow and his assistant Karin (who always brings tasty homemade chocolate chip cookies to the shows so she is known as the “Cookie Lady”!
Ron Guth
Stewart Bley
Doug/GDJMSP (CoinTalk Moderator) – he may seem a bit “gruff” on the CoinTalk forum, and although I know probably won’t like me dispelling that perception, but he is actually a big kind and charming teddy bear in person and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Doug!
Todd/Blu62vette, me and his dad Roger/MustangGT
Don Willis, me and David Hall
I also ran into several more of the “regular” forum members, including Wei, TomB, Colonel Jessup, Ian Russell, and more!
After the show on Thursday, a large group of us went to Vito’s Chop House for dinner where we had some amazing steaks, and even more amazing wine!!
When you walk into the restaurant, they have a display of some of their cuts of steak and lobster
They also had this huge aquarium containing beautiful salt water fish
I realize tequila doesn’t mix well with wine, but before dinner (and before we ordered the wine), Rick and I had some Don Julio 1942 sipping tequila – mmmmmmmmmm, tequila doesn't get much better than this!
Just before dinner, we ordered this double-sized bottle of wine which cost over $200, but it was definitely worth it!!
Here is the plate of beef they bring to the table to demonstrate the different cuts that are available
They also have their own signature steak knives (that’s Karin demonstrating what she would do if someone tried to steal her steak!)
This is the second bottle of yummy wine we ordered at Vito’s
After we rolled ourselves out of Vito’s, we all headed down the street to Howl at the Moon (a chain of dueling piano bars which anyone who has read my previous show reports may be familiar with). The two piano guys at this Howl at the Moon were true entertainers and were very good at engaging the audience.
Here they are playing a Devo song!
A lot of my friends have now become fans of the Irish Car Bomb, so of course, they ordered a round as soon as we got there!
(Yes, I know exactly what you are all thinking – tequila, wine, beer/whisky/Bailys all in one night – and though each of these are wonderful drinks all by themselves, yes, I definitely paid the price the next morning for combining them!)
Anyway, one of the trademarks of Howl at the Moon bars is that they also have these dry-erase boards where you can pay a tip to have any “advertisement” or phrase written on the board but you have to increase the prior tip by at least $1. We paid double the prior tip to “advertise” the FUN show and was surprised when someone soon paid even more to have their own phrase replace it!
My hubby and I are Chargers fans so of course, I have to be sure to promote them on the east coast!
A Scotch lover who felt “what goes on at Howl at the Moon, stays at Howl at the Moon!”
Those of us who didn’t care!
I was moving quite slowly on Friday morning but I did manage to go around the bourse floor and take photos of what was going on. As you can see, the bourse was quite crowded for most of the day.
David Lange at the NGC table
The PCGS table
They had a gold panning set up where anyone could stop by and try their hand at panning for gold.
Mike Bean had his spider press on display
The Hobo Nickel Club table
During the show, I was able to acquire several nice key date pieces for inventory, including an 1856 Flying Eagle. I even found a few toned Lincoln cents for my own personal collection and 4 more beautiful Conder tokens as well, including a really neat Conder that was struck over another Conder token!
The Conder token on the left was struck on a Conder token just like the one on the right.
More critter Conders!
Friday night after the show we were all still pretty worn out from staying up so late the night before, so we had a low key dinner, went back to the condo, and watched a mindless movie. In the morning I walked out onto the balcony and, although the sky wasn’t as clear, I noticed what a difference the temperature was from the first morning.
We had bought a lot of snacks for the condo and still had quite a bit left so we brought them to the show to share with our customers on Saturday.
Since my son Erik who lives in Italy came home for the holidays, I scheduled my flight to leave the show on Saturday to spend more time with him. (He’s the one on the far right next to my other son Troy – and that’s my hubby holding our very upset kitty who wanted desperately not to be in the photo)
Even though my flight wasn’t until 7pm, I headed to the airport around 4pm since we heard it was very crowded and security lines were long. Luckily, they had died down by the evening and, even though they screened (privately) my bags, it didn’t take very long. But each of the terminals did seem quite crowded, including mine.
Here’s a view of the sun setting from inside my terminal
And from my plane window just before taking off for home!
Even though I very much look forward to each show I attend, I look forward even more to coming back home – and it sure is good to be home!
Charmy Harker
The Penny Lady®
The Penny Lady®
0
Comments
show, but Weds was blacked out, so I changed my mind. When we thought we might meet up, Shane
stated via PM that he'd be wearing the loudest shirt at the show.
He was not lying!
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
<< <i>The next day Shane wore this very expensive colorful shirt and wanted me to be sure I got a photo of him in this shirt – so here he is!
>>
Nice report, yet couldn't scroll any further as this pic semi blinded me...
So glad he didn't also have a matching man purse!
$200 wine....copper must be berry berry good to you!!
Good get with the three top dogs....Ron, Don, and David!!
Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
AB
Larry L.
Posted Sunday night from the Dallas airport.
The Prisoner is a great choice
Mike
WS
Mike.
rabbitracks toned showcase set
myurl
-Paul
Do you mind if I post that image of the Lobsterwagen on a car forum or two? I wouldn't be surprised if one of my more talented (than I!) model building friends built a replica of it.
Ron
Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
<< <i>Thanks for posting that picture of the lobster car. On Tuesday morning I caught a very brief glimpse of it and I thought it was an odd looking model that didn't look like a parade float nor anything you'd normally see. To be honest it sort of looks like that giant lobster is in a position on top of the car trying to have intimate relations with it. >>
-Paul
Thanks Charmy
<< <i>Your show reports always make me hungry. >>
Her show reports make me thirsty.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
Goldbully, even though copper is doing well, gratefully, I didn't have to pay for the wine!
Aurora, it was great to finally meet you too - and you certainly do have excellent taste in toners!!!
Moderncoin, I look forward to meeting you too!
DennisH, it's people like you who also make attending shows that much better
Rick, sorry, but I didn't take any photos of that beautiful set of Indians.
WalkerGuy, it was great to finally meet you as well.
Etexmike, sorry for being so late - I started to prepare the report a couple days ago, but I got distracted and it's hard to concentrate on organizing all the photos, so waiting until I get home is usually easier for me.
Watersport, perhaps PCGS feels I do a good enough job that they don't have to do their own report!
JMW, I'd love to be your "copper gal"!
CollectingMachine, the Conders are pictured in this thread (I know the photos aren't very good since I only used my cell phone to take the pictures).
clw54, thanks, she is a hoot, very noisy, feisty and has lots of personality!
SoCalMark, thank you for editing your post
BillyKingsley, that lobster car was certainly eye-catching - feel free to use the photo!
Ricko, I thought you might approve of our wine choices - they were some of the more quality and tasty wines I've had.
Prethen, my photos of the 1909 proof makes the coin look darker than it is - it does have a lot of vibrant pink and magenta on the portrait and bright mirrors, it is very pretty in hand.
The Penny Lady®
<< <i>I always look forward to your reports....keep 'em coming! >>
+1 Glad you had a great show and always good to put some faces with a username.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
<< <i>Way to buck the stereotype buddy
>>
As you can clearly see I keep my belly well sheltered and the pony tail doesn't exist
They help me realize what I missed. Looks like a fantastic, FUN, show!
Ed. S.
(EJS)