CICF trip report

Took Medoraman's advice and took the MEGABUS(!) to Chicago for the CICF, saving approximately $400 on what I would have spent parking at the airport and flying from KC. Had the front row in the upper deck on the way there, so I could watch out in front of the bus. We picked-up passengers in St. Louis then headed up I-55 towards Chicago. About 75 miles south of Springfiled, Illinois at 2:45AM we got to watch about the most inebrieated driver I think I have ever seen weave from shoulder to shoulder before finally spinning out into the median. Was a miracle he didn't hit anyone before he wiped-out. He then got right back on the road, and he disappeared into the night. Not sure if he ended upside down in a ditch, or what happened. Was a moonless night and very dark outside.

So anyway,, The bus dropped us off at the southeast corner of Jackson and Canal, next to the Amtrak station after a 10 hour journey that included one rest stop for 20 minutes. There isn't any kind of bus terminal in Chicago, they dump you right there on the street, and you have to walk half a block north if you need to use the restroom etc at the Amtrak station before continuing the journey. From there, I took what used to be the Chicago Northwestern 4 blocks away out to Wheaton to see my mom and take a shower and nap. This was all on Thursday, the day before I headed to the show. Assuming you don't have relatives in the Chicago area, getting a room might be the best option so you can be fresh and well rested before hitting the show the following day. (Given airfare these days, the cost of a room would still leave you way ahead of flying).

In any case, spent the day with my mom, went out to a place called Bohemian Crystal Restaurant in Downers Grove on Thursday evening, not too far from Distinctive Coins if you are familiar with the area. On Friday morning, my brother drove me from my mom's place to the show and dropped me off. Had time to grab a coffee at the hotel, then registered before heading in to view auction lots at the Heritage table. Lot viewing opened at 9:00AM a full hour before the rest of the bourse, so it was the perfect time to look at some coins. I looked at a few boxes of coins, the Italian issues in particular, then began my visit from table to table at the show when it opened an hour later. I did the entire perimeter of the room before doing a lap around each island of tables occupying the central portion of the floor.

All the usual dealers were there, though not all of them had tables. I spoke at length with Bob Steinberg as he and his wife spent most of the morning visiting with other dealers. That guy is timeless, I don't think he looks a day older today than he did the first time I met him 20 years ago. The dealer inventory was good overall. Northeast Numismatic had every world gold coin in their inventory out in cases, it was quite a site to behold. Spent 40 minutes visiting with Demitry Markoff chatting about Russian coins, and Russia in general. Stopped by Teller's table, and chatted with Gus Wing for half an hour. Mark Teller didn't make it to the show, at least on Friday. Teller had a 1926 Albanian 1 Franga that I was very interested in, but it was being sold as a set with three other coins for $8,000 so it wasn't too much of a struggle to surrender to the idea that I wasn't going to be headed home with that particular issue. No other dealer had one. Was one of the coins on my list to purchase if I could find a nice one priced right.

I then found a dealer in modern coins to unload my 1993 Egypt gold 50 Pound coin with. He gave me melt, $409, on a coin I had $460 in from eBay. Had spots, and I probably should have sent it back when I got it, but the thought crossed my mind to send it to NCS but I ultimately decided that the coin wasn't worth enough to warrant the expense. So I took the loss with the knowledge that the funds would be redeployed on some other much nicer coin at the show. I had sold off a pair of other gold coins before heading to the show, both modern coins with almost zero numismatic value. One was from the Cayman Islands, a $50 piece in an NGC PF69 UCAM holder. Had a mintage of only 585, but sadly that was still about 575 more than anyone really wanted of the coin. Had bought it for spot last summer so I made out okay on it. Also sold a half ounce Peruvian gold commem from 1979 in an NGC MS64 holder. Was a 50,000 Soles coin if you are familiar with those issues. Received $1035 for the pair from a local dealer in KC on Tuesday. Also scrapped together some cash, so that altogether I had about $2,600 to spend on coins. I wrote a check for $700 more than that, so looks like I will need to sell off something else next week to keep cash-flow managable. Sounds like a lot of dough to be throwing around at a show, but since it was the first time I attended since 2002, I really wanted to bring home something memorable, a coin or two that would always remind me of the 2012 Chicago International Coin Fair.

But back to the bourse floor...,,, Spent nearly an hour talking with David Harper, the editor of Numismatic News, along with George Cuhaj, the editor of the Standard Catalog of Wolrd Coins. Then chatted with Roxanna, the gal in charge of world coins at Harlan Berk. After spending the entire day looking at coins, I finally decided what I wanted, and purchased a grand total of 3 coins. One from Distinctive Coins (Downers Grove, Illinois), a fairly common Notgeld issue for all of $22 which was a great price, usually these are offered for two or three times that much. Has a couple tiny rim nicks hardly worth mention, otherwise grades around XF. The other two coins were from Jonathan Kern, a dealer out of Kentucky.

I had never bought anything from him before, but I have watched Kern's ads in Coin World and there were a couple of sensational coins advertised earlier this year that he still had in stock. We ended-up coming to agreement on an acceptable price for the pair late in the day. An 1911 Italy 5 Lire NGC MS64 and a 1923 Egypt (Fuad) 10 Piastres NGC MS63 with deep multicolored tone. They are both monster coins, easily the nicest examples I have ever seen of either coin. Heritage had the exact same 5 Lire in their auction in NGC MS64, but it wasn't white and really wasn't in the same class as Kern's coin, hence when it crossed the auction block for $500 less later in the evening, than what I had in my coin, I wasn't too surprised. Would have been nice to see it sell for more, but there's no question I left the show with nicer of 2 coins available. Pop 3, with 2 finer both in MS65.

Speaking of the Heritage auction, it wasn't nearly the blow-out that some of their recent world coin auctions have been. To be sure, many coins exceeded estimate, but only if they were once in a lifetime opportunities to acquire a particular type of coin. As has been the case for over a year now, numismatic premiums on gold issues continued to decline on many coins. Which, at least to me, means that any drop in gold prices would further depress the price of these coins, hence for the first time EVER, I didn't buy a single gold coin at the show. The 5 Lire, while expensive, was priced close to what it would have been 10 years ago, which suggests to me much less downside risk than with many of the gold coins out there right now.

Afterward, I took the "L" about 4 blocks away from the hotel, back downtown, -the Blue Line. Cost, $2.25. Only way to go since a cab would have been at least $60 and not any quicker. I got off at Lake and Clark, not too far from Harlan Berk's store, and waited for my friend Tom. We hadn't seen each other in over 30 years, and after hooking up on Facebook recently, we decided we HAD to get together next time I was in town. He lives up by Wrigley Field and made the drive downtown and took me to a very popular and trendy Spanish resturaunt called Iberico. Was quite the place to see and be seen, and while the food was good, it was a little noisy for my tastes. Afterward, Tom dropped me off by my bus for the ride home which departed at 11:55PM. I arrived back in KC about 10:30 this morning.

Anyway, a few pictures of the show for you...,,

 

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Big Um, the size of a large medal.

 

Check-out the cheek, talk about clean. There is a small abarsion in the reverse field at 2:00 not seen in the photo, and one small mark on the woman's right breast that probably keep the coin out of an MS65 holder.

 

Finest known?? The NGC website population report for Egypt, 10P does not list this coin. But obviously, it exists, becuase here it is! Photos were shot with daylight on a cloudy day, so awesome color in the tone doesn't show-up. The reverse in particular is loaded with reds and orange in the tone.

 

I don't know much about world coins but those sure are beauties! Sounds like you had a fun trip, too.

 

It was nice meeting you Bruce.

I think we both had a fun time, and going by Megabus for anyone able to really helps make the trip more affordable. I am planning on doing it again next year, maybe Thursday and pay the $100 to get in a day early. Members of the ancient coin club here has always said its worth it if you plan on spending $1000 or more at the show to get in early.

If you do not mind, I will post pics of my purchase on the same thread, just to make it an all in one stop for those reading about CICF.

Chris

 

Post-away, the more pictures the better. Meanwhile, I did figure out the population on the 10 Piastres. Needed to search on S10P (not 10P) in order to display it. Turns-out it is the finest known, tied with one other specimen in MS63.

 

That was a very comprehensive, entertaining to read and interesting show report. Thank you. I've been hearing about C.I.C.F for years and have participated in may of the auctions attached to it, but never been to the actual show. The distance does not help of course.

I am glad you were able to find some coins you wanted with Jonathan Kern. I used to buy from him in the late 80's, mainly U.S coins. He was always graceful, and a nice person to deal with. His stock of coins is (and was) also very good. Maybe I will see him this summer at Summer Fun in Orlando which I plant to visit during our summer vacation.

Eduard

 

Great writeup. I especially like 5 Lire italy.

Look forward to your pics chris

 

I enjoyed reading your write up Bruce,
I particularly love the Italian issue you picked up.
Are you pursuing Italian issues too a greater extent now in regards to collecting or was this a pickup simply for a type or aesthetics set?
By the way was the franga teller was selling with the other three coins a prova or business strike?

 

Great write up. Pete needs to put it on the front page.

Ruben

 

Teller lists it as a pattern proof, whatever that is. But to answer your question, they appear to be provas. As for Italian, --I have a nice collection of mostly early 20th century issues prior to WW-2, all in high grades with the exception of one or two in AU. Link to the set Teller is selling: http://www.tellercoins.com/prodinfo.php?prod_id=1872

 

Late and not great, but pics of what I got

Here are some ok pics of what I got at CICF. Like i said, they were $18 a piece if you bought a group of 6, and I thought the coins were so great I just couldn't stop at one or two groups. Anyway, here they are:


Obverse

REverse

Silver

Bronze

Oddball stuff

So, decent buys for $18 each?

 

I can't think of a better place for a collector to get "carried away" than the CICF! I'm thinking I will probably be back next year, the only change being a slightly larger pillow for the ride there ;-)

 

Here is a reverse closeup of an interesting (to me) coin. I like the lighthouse in the background.



Btw Bruce saw these in person, so can attest they are not nearly as bad as the photos. The Khusro II is actually a nice XF.

Yeah, I know, I need to get a stand built, and maybe buy a macro for the Canon.

 

Not a bad photo at all if you ask me. Especially for indoors at night.

 

Just getting around to see your pics Chris. Some nice ones there, especially for $18 each, really couldnt go wrong. I like the Faustina Jr. as its portrait style I dont have, her hair.

 

Couple more pics of the 10 Piastres, this time showing the color in the tone. Amazing what a difference lighting makes on the image captured by the camera.

 

This was my first time attending this particular show and I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. I guess my expectation was that there would be a lot more modern coinage and by modern I mean last 20 to 30 years. If you were looking for ancients, gold, or not so modern coins you probably would enjoy the show. I was also disappointed on how small the bourse floor was. Other shows I attended had more floor space and therefore more dealers. The highlight was meeting Dave Harper and talking to him for about 5-10 minutes. I ended up not buying any coins because I didn't find anything I wanted/needed. Maybe in a couple of years I will attend the Berlin coin show and hopefully that will be a better experience for me

 

Well, if you want larger, NYINC is still here in the states. IDK, the CICF seems fairly good sized. I would think for more modern coins its not so great since dealers have to make judgments on what to bring, and modern coins aren't as popular at shows as older issues I believe.

Did you sit down at some of the tables and ask to see something specific? Usually higher dollar/older coins are what is displayed, but many times they will have boxes of other material not on display.

I apologize if you an "old hand" at shows like this, just offering a suggestion. Many people believe only what is in the cases is what is for sale.