FUN SHOW REPORT: by El Cheapo, wanna-be coin dealer!

He's baaaaaaAAAAAaaaaak! Meet El Cheapo, everyone! El Cheapo travels to all the big coin shows, showing you all how to be a coin dealer the El Cheapo way. No fancy hotels, no air planes, no expensive dinners, and oh yeah, beer only... no wine. Enjoy.


It was a great show. Thursday and Friday were packed, and dealers were buying and selling a lot. El Cheapo spent nearly every cent he had, which strangely enough was more than usual. Charmy kindly offered to consign El Cheapo's MS65 Indian cent, but he traded it instead to the fine folks at Alhambra Coins, where the lovely Amanda Varner works.

The Winter FUN show always sets the tone for the year, and by the looks of it, it's going to be a strong year. El Cheapo passed quite a few tables, however, with slabbed coins marked at nearly twice the market average. And rainbow toned Morgans? Forget it. I pay a premium for toning, but not a 5x-7x premium. El Cheapo saw a rainbow Morgan 1879-O PCGS MS61 priced at $500 by one dealer. No thanks. But, as you would imagine, the busy tables were the dealers not trying to run museums. They were there to move product, and plenty of product was moving at Greysheet pricing levels!

For the most part, dealers were willing to take offers and work with the El Cheapo's of the world. It was a awesome... except the $10 sandwiches and $3.25 20 oz. Cokes at the convention. That was not awesome.

 

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A few more El Cheapo buys:

 

Lol great thread.

 

Epic thread. Great work.

 

Very nice. Enjoyed it a lot.

 

Thanks a lot!

If we had more tight wads like you, we would all be a lot better off! I have heard collectors saying they spent around $2000 on the Fun Show travelling and accommodations alone! What spendthrifts!

The cheapest would be via super economical car; then you camp out along the way or sleep in your car. You eat cheap food, but healthy, there are lots of ways to do this, making ample use of rest areas. You avoid the toll roads and toll bridges if possible. Once you get to Florida, you live like the homeless, kind of easy to do.

 

El Cheapo strikes again!

 

Never thought I'd envy a monkey. Great job.

 

Nice write up!

 

It was great meeting you, and that was a very nice 1871 and I see it went to a good home with Amanda! I love the very cute little monkey guy, looks like he gets to see some great coins!

 

I want that monkey. Lol ⭐

 

i really wish there were more experiences/threads like this. really awesome man.

 

Funny! Glad to see you got to the other CoinTalkers too.

 

Funny thread. That was no wig...it was a squirrels nest. I have to hand it to you. How many guys can get two beautiful women to pose for a picture with his stuffed monkey in the middle of a busy coin show? (Mods: you can't get more 1950's TV show than that). Makes me want to buy a coin from you. Thanks for the report! TC

 

Too bad I missed you at the show El Cheapo, but I'm glad I didn't miss this thread!

 

too funny. the next time i decline going to a professional sporting event (which i do 99.5% of the time) with my buddies, and subsequently take flak for not enjoying watching sports, i am going to reference miss varner as the cheerleader-equivalent of numismatics.

 

Thanks for the report! Still waiting on Charmy's, wonder if it was as good as it was for her last year....

 

oh, and PS...squirrel nest must be a SoFla resident because my brother in law and i both recognized him from this picture as a semi-regular attendee of the Hallandale, Planatation or WPB coin shows down here, we just cant remember which one we have seen him at.

 

Pffffft, not even. When I go to the coin show I take the subway.

 

Great report