My show notes. Comments welcome. I spent three hours at the Grapevine, TX show this past Sunday. So much more fun and more memorable than shopping on ebay. Since most of the items I was looking for aren’t rare but are rare slabbed, I got a lot of strange looks and didn't see much of what I was looking for, but I wanted to give the local guys a shot over ebay I looked at all the tables and made notes on a map of the show I drew. Then I sat at an empty table and determined what I would focus on buying. My hit list for the show and results: Only looking at PCGS or NGS slabs Just looking for one good find from the list below: Jefferson war nickel: I was only looking for one, but the dealer convinced me to buy ALL his Jeffersons. Poof! All money spent. Franklin in a grade or year I don’t have: No low grade slabs as expected, some years I didn’t have, but I didn’t pull the trigger BU or proof Silver Eagle: Plentiful, but the Jeffersons won out Circulated early commemorative, e.g., Columbian Exposition: None found, but SO MANY beautiful MS early commemoratives AU Liberty Seated dime: More expensive MS ones were available AU silver 3 cent piece: Only one MS found Proof-like (PL) designations, but not Morgans: None spotted Budget older type coins: None spotted Noteworthy dealers (everyone was very friendly): First dealer inside the door had the best stuff. No bullion, just rare US coins. I checked prices on a few things that caught my eye, but they were all out of my price range. He said one of his old-timer customers breaks his $10,000 (for example) coins out of the slabs and puts them in albums and then carries the albums to the shows. He’s always worries the guy is going to get mugged. A nice dealer showed me some Cap and Ray reals. He said they were a good value for their rarity, that there are over 200 different types to collect and that China was a big market for these now. One dealer gave me a hard time about looking for a circulated commemorative. He said I should think about my collection’s future value and the bump to MS not being very large. I think he thought I was bargain hunting rather than looking for something unique. After he gave me a hard time about that, he went out of his way to show me the difference between some silver eagles: burnished vs regular, reverse proof, 2011 vs older. Super nice guy.
hmm i splurged on Jeffersons this weekend too. Then he convinced me to buy his dimes too. Poof all money spent Good luck completing your collections. I'll still have a few holes to fill and then it's off to the buffalo nickels I guess.
It looks like you thought things through before you went in spending money hamster. You really have to do some planning when you go to these shows so you don't waste a lot of time wandering around aimlessly. While not as detailed as your plan, I do know what dealers I'm going to visit first and what I hope to find at their tables. Once I've pretty much found what I wanted and have spent all my money then I do wander around aimlessly and look at all the things I can't afford. My want list is huge...but not as long as my "honey do" list. Bruce
Bear in mind that most of the coins you were looking for are too inexpensive to slab (under $200). Just not valuable enough to pay the cost of slabbing AND S&H ... both ways. That's why you could find them slabbed in MS but generally not circulated. QUESTION: Were the War Nickels that you bought all slabbed? Franklins below MS tend to go for about silver spot ... and not slabbed. You generally only find the more expensive commems slabbed in circulated grades. AU SL dimes and silver 3-cent should be easy to find. You seem also the have the same problem that I used to have, what I call the "kid in a candy store" syndrome. Way too many things you want for your budget. Hard to break. Consider sitting back and picking one or two areas of concentration. Final comment: GREAT REPORT! I'm going to take a lesson from you about how to report about trips to shows.
I've been to one coin show in my life and I was in the aimless crowd. I had money in my pocket , but no plan. I had no idea what fair prices are, and didn't have anything in mind in particular to buy. Next time, i'll do my homework and have a plan.
I've had tables at the Grapevine show, but just for Sundays only when you charge $400 for a table it is hard to get that back and offer good prices to your customers. I've got some good deals there buying and trading with other dealers. I would say that over 50% of the deals done are between dealers there. I like to sell in person and buy over Ebay.
They are all slabbed. (First coin pics. Hope to get more proficient. I followed most of the how to's, but details seem lacking. And Wow! Look at those spots.) $130 for lot. Very pleased with the purchase. [TABLE="width: 294"] Type Date Mint Grade TPG Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1942[/TD] S MS66 PCGS Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1943[/TD] P MS65 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1943 [/TD] P MS66 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1943 [/TD] P MS66 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1943[/TD] D MS65FS PCGS Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1944[/TD] S MS66 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1944[/TD] P MS64 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1944[/TD] D MS67 ICG Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1944[/TD] D MS66 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1945[/TD] S MS65 PCGS Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1945[/TD] P MS65 PCGS Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1945[/TD] D MS65 PCGS Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1948[/TD] S MS64 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1953[/TD] D MS66 NGC Jefferson 5c [TD="align: right"]1962[/TD] PR67 PCGS [/TABLE]
Nice pickup on that lot and good show report. I wish there were more shows I could make - only been to 3 or 4 small ones.
Good going. Nice group of coins. Two comments about imaging coins: 1. Use a non-reflective black or dark gray background. White backgrounds tend to overpower the camera/scanner and wash out the coin. I use a piece of dark gray construction paper like elementary school kids use. 2. Because coins pictures end up larger than what you see in the real world, you also see defects that you didn't see with the coin in hand. This is particularly true with proof coins. Beautiful in hand; disturbingly ugly in large images.
I am surprised that Jeff got a 65 grade with those spots, but then again if that's true I understand what can go for a 65 better.
