GACC Show – Rosemont – Thursday 10/1 report

What follows are some observations from the show:

~the entrance fee for one day mentioned sales tax and had a credit card fee too…total was 11.20 but there was a cash price of 10…has anyone seen sales tax mentioned before for a show entrance fee? (I did look up the rules and Rosemont does have sales tax for shows but no prior show there has specifically mentioned charging the tax)

~not too many people were registering at about 15 minutes past the 10 AM open and the crowd seemed smaller than last year and certainly less than the ANA show when it is in Rosemont

~the room was also different…this is the first time I recall a show on the second floor of the convention center…it was still a big space but there were fewer tables than last year and some areas curtained off…also some tables were empty

~bullion: one table had silver Eagles at $5 over spot and generic rounds at $2 over spot…another had gold at melt (world)…those seemed to be the best prices for each….several tables had platinum too (mainly graded Eagles at a premium)

~old holders: one table had 3 of the NGC black 1.0 slabs…someone else had a 108 and 109 rattler…there were small Anacs, PCI, IGS (the better one, not the basement slabber), Global….all were priced at a premium (sometimes super strong premium)…all of these dealers knew what they had (nothing to cherry pick)

~toners: every show the prices seem to keep going up…the nice but not monster common date MS 62-65 Morgans tended to be in 1,500-3,000 range (with some well above)….even the darker or monochromatic examples were 600-1,000…it is hard to find much at “reasonable” premiums (which some might still think are high but I remember the days of 300-500 for a solid reverse toner, which was “only about 3x-5x the generic amount)…auction results have been strong too so I understand why dealers price certain examples but many are $500-$1k above what I have seen similar examples bring at GC or Heritage…for those that just have 1 or 2, it makes sense to hold out and have something to attract people to your case but when the whole case is like that, it becomes a museum (which we all have seen at various shows with all sorts of coins-not just toners)

~Carr: I only saw one table with any Dan Carr items

~selling: one dealer, who has always been fair on the buy and sell side, picked up several of my items at good prices for both of us (he flipped one item to a person I know from IG right away at a profit)….I had a few other items that did not sell (one toned Peace Dollar had several comments that the price was fair but no one wanted to buy it, which was a bit surprising…I was debating on selling it originally so I might just keep it or list it online….a modern world coin in a 70 slab did not have much interest as one dealer who is normally at the IL shows was not there and a few others who were selling modern world either did not know much about it or could not find an eBay sale so did not want to offer much…an ICG slab with a nice coin in it did not get much traction as people tended to shy away from the slab

~buying: a few smaller items were found that aren’t really what I was looking for but seemed interesting enough and were not too expensive….the one big purchase was from a person I know from IG who I have bought a few things from over the last few shows

~I overheard some mentioning that the show might not make it much longer (this was the second one and it did seem smaller than last year)….hopefully it does stick around as having another bigger show in the Chicagoland area in years without the Summer ANA helps will the gap in between each Central States show

 

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Gonna read this again in the morning..

 

I'm guessing they forgot to pack the tax into the admission fee last year and got a surprise when they had to pay a 10+% sales tax bill. Usually the tax is included in the advertised price of admission tickets.

I went last year and it was mostly a waste of my time. There's only so much capacity within the hobby for big shows when so much business is done online.

 

I think NE was going to be there and if you mentioned something you got like a 7% discount or maybe I am imaging it. Yeah sometimes I do not get the big premiums for toned coins. Not sure myself - but sometimes I do pay a little extra.

 

I have been following toners since 2015 and people were mentioning it was a bubble back then. If one goes back to some threads from 2004-2005, you can find people mentioning toners being over priced too. Some of those comments turned out to be accurate as there was a dip after 2008. From 2015 through 2026, I have seen prices mostly going up with no dips. The last 4-5 years I have felt a dip was coming but it has not shown up yet. As some point, it only seems natural that prices would drop, especially on the average material. However, I believe the higher end material will not drop much since quite a few of those coins are in strong hands. Also, eye appeal will continue being a big driver of prices and toners will remain popular with a large enough segment that there will be a floor below which prices will not fall. Now I would not recommend investing in toners (one could generalize that statement to most coins), but I would not deter someone from paying up for a really attractive coin if their budget allows it.

 

I tend to go to the big shows (ANA, Central States, and this show) so the raw offerings are a much lower percentage. Most tables are majority graded pieces. There were a handful of all raw tables and the material was mainly problem coins or problem-free but priced like higher grade slabbed pieces. For example, one dealer had an obvious AT Morgan (unc) raw in a paper flip for $395 that I would think on a good day should be under $100.

In terms of CACG slabs and CAC stickered coins, there are a good number but most holders are still PCGS/NGC and not stickered. I did not notice any at this show, but at prior shows there were one or two tables that were 100% PCGS with CAC.

 

That is possible about the tax. I have not seen it mentioned at ANA or Central States shows. Are those two exempt from paying tax on admission fees?

As far as this show, last year seemed solid. Rosemont is also a good venue for most people and dealers from across the country to get to. With the ANA being in OKC last year, people figured that might be a weaker show and this show would be a good one to have soon after. The OKC show ended up being better than expected from what I read so maybe that decreased the need for this show for some dealers.

In general, it still seems to me that the Chicagoland area has enough demand for more than one annual large show. Central States is the only show that is consistently in the area while the Summer ANA show moves around some years.

 

There was a small handout with several coupons/offers like that but I did not pay much attention to it since I figure the dealers with the coupons would negotiate down to that same price without a coupon.

And the toner premium is sometimes hard to understand. Part of it is the unique nature of some of the coins and the desire of two or more people to attain it (and thus you see moon money paid).

 

Reminder for you to read it again.