Inspired by the fine folks over at Atlas Numismatics, I couldn't help but follow their lead and rewrite their post about European coin shows with how we go about doing things here in the 'States. All in good fun! You May Be A Major US Coin Show If ...
How true!! It sounds almost exactly like major antique shows other then the armed guards made me laugh!!
interesting. I did not no about the body guards. I did know about the guards looking at the million dollar Brashere doubloon at 1 of the Vegas coins shows I went to. and they were dead serious.
I know at antique shows especially on the second and third day the beer and wine are flowing earlier then 4 I'm assuming this is the same at a coin show
Sounds about the same!! Been there and done that!! Hoping to make it to one this fall maybe keep getting distracted by pretty coins elsewhere especially the one I bought today at ha it totally napalmed my coin budget!!
I guess the Long Beach show should not be considered a major coin show anymore. Half the size it was 30 years ago, too cramped and very poor overhead lighting. Even with table lamps it made examining coins closely not very easy when there were not enough lamps for the amount of customers requiring them at a dealers' tables. I was really disappointed that it did not have the stamp, ephemera, and exonumia sections it used to and the too few dealers who specialized in the more casual collector priced coins, I.E under $500.00, in stock books and binders. I got the feeling that it was more of a business like atmosphere where you look at a few coins make your purchase and move on. Especially at the so-called major coin dealers' tables. The exception being dealers visiting other dealers' tables then it was more like a social gathering and hopefully no one would stop and actually want to look at their coins for fear that they would be interrupted. Give me a coin club show and the atmosphere is completely relaxed with the dealers and collectors in attendance actually having a good time.
I mean no offense but I think I like their security guard a lot better than yours. Yours looks too much like a security guard.
Ed Sims -- I still consider Long Beach a major show, though maybe that's mostly nostalgia on my part now. As you said, it's a fraction of the size it used to be, even from my recollection. I'm always amazed that some dealers put off when you approach their tables -- "you" being the public, or someone they don't know with a dealer badge around their neck. I can't tell you how many times I've walked up to a table and attempted to strike up a conversation about a particular coin only to be met with an attitude that says I've really put them out. But not everyone is like that, and there are still a lot of people who are more than happy to shoot the breeze about anything, coins or not. Maybe it's the difference between people who live to work, and those who work to live. EddieSpin -- I admit, it was the best I could come up with from a GIS. But at the same time, the dudes at the Heritage booth in particular are anything but "incognito".
