A Newbie's Wish for Coin Shows

This is too much to ask, so it will never happen, right?

All vendors should have a list of the inventory they are taking to the show. I imagine that the days and weeks leading up to a major show are hectic (to say the least).

Does anyone else think it would be nice to be able to search all inventory that's going to be at a show so you can know which tables to hit first?

I realize that last-minute changes happen, stuff gets added/removed from the list or sold.

But would this or would this not be a valuable feature to be added?

Is it too much work with too little return for the dealers and/or coin show hosts? Do most people just go to browse, with too many items on their "Want List" to make this feasible?

 

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One of the main points, to me, of a coin show is to be able to expose myself to something new in numismatics. The internet is good for searching and listing, etc. Coin shows are more about the casual browsing, exposing yourself to new areas you have never thought of colleting before. If you required all dealers at shows to list out their stock, why wouldn't they just stay at home and put that list on the internet?

A lot of dealers who go to shows do so because they like this method of selling over internet selling. If you try to force them into the internet model, they might find they get better returns there and stop going to shows, right?

I would say to enjoy shows for what they are, and go to them not necessarily with specific needs in mind, but to be able to see in person tons of coins you normally otherwise would never see.

 

Point well taken.

Just to clarify: I'm still *going* to the show, and I'm not trying to buy the coins on-line ahead of time.

It's simply that the Baltimore Show was kind of overwhelming to me and there is no way I can get done what I want to get done in the amount of time that I will have there.

Does that make sense?

 

It can be overwhelming but the Baltimore Show is a great place to find what you are looking for. Just do a little homework ahead of time. Odds are that you know some of the right dealers to go looking for on the coins you want. What coins are you looking for?

 

Yes, it is overwhelming. I have only one day to spend at NYINC, and my strategy will be to go to every table and ask the dealers if they have what I'm looking for, which is ancient coinage of the Southern Levant. I intend to make a list of items I'm interested in as I go along, noting the table numbers and the prices. Then I will caucus with me, myself and I over a meal and return to my top choices. Hopefully they will still be there. If not, I will move on.

I've discovered that my biggest issue is spending up my budget too quickly at the first few tables I visit. Then I come across something else and say, "Dammit, I should have gotten that."

As far as asking dealers to maintain a complete inventory, yeah...that's a pipe dream. Would YOU want to catalog and inventory thousands of coins? How long would that take?

 

Plus what John just said, the dealers themselves trade and sell among one another. Some don't even come there to sell to collectors, just to freshen up their own inventory. So the inventory is always changing on the selling floor.

 

Specifically looking for common date examples of a Seated Liberty Dollar (<=VF) and a Capped Bust Quarter (<=VF for no motto, <=F for motto). I have a few suggested dealers from another thread. Always open to more.

 

Ah, thus ends my pipe dream. It was nice while it lasted ;-)

Thanks to everyone for bringing me back to reality.

 

GDJMSP hit it, particularly for big shows. The volume of dealer-dealer transactions can be huge. The big one for me is the Money Show in Houston, early December. At the 2013 and 2012 shows, I showed nice pile of old gold coins, including a half-dozen or so $5 gold from Charlotte and Dahlonega, and a lot of XF/AU ho-hum $20s, $10s and $5. Both years, a dealer from Phoenix cleaned out my gold before the doors opened to the public. So what did I do? I walked over to a dealer/buddy's table and bought 40 GSAs from him. He had just acquired a trunk full of them, and wanted to move some.

Here's what I would suggest. If you are interested in X, ask the dealers who has X. We would have already sniffed around the room to see what's what. Plus, dealers tend to know who specializes in X, Y , Z.....

 

John Anthony: At larger shows around the country, and most shows in Texas, ask if Ricky Beale has a table. Ancients is his "thang." well, one of them

 

Thanks CG. However, NYINC is the Mecca for collectors of ancients. I certainly will look for Ricky Beale, but there will be 115 tables with ancients at this show.

So, as you can see, I will have my work cut out for me.

 

Not unless you are saying every coin has to be slabbed. Please explain to me how a dealer who buys a collection will have time to update this database with all of the information from these coins. Unless you are assuming every coin is slabbed, and they can just scan the barcode to put in and take out of inventory, the volumes we are talking about makes such a thing impossible. If all of the coins DO have to be slabbed in order to facilitate your "younger generation" coin show, that will be the last coin show I ever attend.

 

my bigger concern about this system if I were a dealer is that it would be too easy for a thief to find out who was carrying what for inventory and choose his mark accordingly.......

 

that probably never happens. most dealers know their inventory. what I do for my regular dealers I see at coins shows is send/mail them my coin list of most wanted for world coins with pictures.