Charmy's CHICAGO ANA Show Report w/Lots of PICS!!!!!

After having my Saturday flight cancelled, I took a Sunday afternoon flight and finally arrived late Sunday night.




And I know my report is a bit delinquent, but this show has been one of my businest shows ever! And I haven't gotten back to my room before midnight until tonight! I have tried several times to start a report, only to (gratefully) have another customer stop by my table. In a nutshell, this has been an exhaustinglywonderful show so far, with lots of buying and selling going on!

First, let me say that the weather here in Chicago has been wonderfully comfortable! Not to humid or not, with bright blue skies during the day and cool breezy evenings.



Day 1 (Monday):

I went to the preshow Monday morning, and my first impression was that this room is absolutely HUGE - probably the biggest showroom I have been in! However, the preshow was pretty sparsely attended at least on Monday morning, so I was able to sit and buy new inventory coins at my leisure from several of my favorite dealers - and buy I did! I bought at least 20 new slabs and many more new raw pieces! I even bought a stunning "Christmas tree" toned new 1882 NGC MS66 RB for my personal collection.

Everyone I spoke to said the preshow was not very well attended, though many vest pocket dealers said they did well. Part of the problem was that all the dealers were able to set up at the preshow at their regular assigned table so they wouldn't have to move during the main show. However, the showroom floor is so huge that having all the preshow dealers spread out all over the showroom made the whole room seem very sparse. I'm not sure what could be done to make it more successful, but the dealers I spoke to were not comfortable with the preshow set up.

Soon it was time to set up my table that I share with Todd/Blue62vette (table # 1235). Since Todd was still teaching his photography class, I had the booth to myself and could take my time getting everything in place so that when Todd showed up he would have the room to set up his photo booth. Since set up was scheduled from 3pm til 5:30pm, there wasn't a lot of time for those not already set up for the preshow to make the rounds before it was time to shut down for the night.

We decided to head to downtown Chicago to Little Italy for some Italian food. We ended up at this little Italian Caberet restaurant which had ok food and a slightly stale Caberet program. It wasn't bad, but not really my thing.



We then walked around downtown for a little while looking for a Blues club.



We came upon the House of blues but there were no available seats so we didn't stay long.




So I was beginning to think that my first night in downtown Chicago wasn't exactly what I thought it would be .... that is, until we found the BEST little Blues pub on the planet - Blue Chicago! WOW, what a GREAT place that was! The band was fantastic, so good that I even bought one of their CD's!

 

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Day 2 (Tuesday):Tuesday was fantastically busy from the moment I arrived. I took some photos of the crowds and lines on the way in - it's always a good sign when there are lots of people gathered to get into a show, but I understand it did take a while to get everyone registered and finally in the door. However, I am hopeful everyone thought/thinks it was worth the wait!

Larry Shepherd greeting attendees at the registration table...





The exhibit area

The showroom before the public was let in (it is HUGE!)




Todd and I were very busy all day on Tuesday, and many many forum members graciously stopped by to say hi (ok, many were there to have Todd photograph there coins and some even purchased a coin or two from me - THANK YOU!). Here are photos of several forum members who allowed me to take their photo for my report (notice how they are a lot less blurry!)....

Fred Weinberg and his assistant, Kathy, who are our neighbors!


Liz and Gayle with J.J. Teaparty


Stacks Bowers Guys


Ian Russell and me


Dan/Catbert


Tony at Northern Nevada Coin


Greg/Halfcentman


Pat/WindyCity


The whole day just flew by, but of course, I did manage to take a breather to open a nice bottle of wine that my good buddy Ron Serna brought over!


Before we knew it, it was time to cover our cases and head out - we couldn't believe how the day just flew by! Since we signed up to attend the ANA Awards Banquet at the Shedd Acquarium we headed over to the buses.

So after the show, we boarded the ANA bus and headed to the Aquarium.




David/ANA

Emily/ANA

When we got there, they had a nice bar set up out outside overlooking the bay and the city - what a beautiful location it was and the weather was once again wonderful!






Julian Leidman


My "posse"!

Then we went to the awards dinner - that's PonyExpress and MFH at our table!





And then got to tour the aquarium









After the aquarium, we went back to Chicago Blue - they had the same band but a different lead singer who wasn't quite as good as the night before, but still the rythym and blues music was wonderful!

 

Day 3 (Wednesday):
WOW, Wednesday was non-stop busy for both Todd and me! We couldn't believe how fast the day went by, and neither one of us even had time to take a breather (which is a good thing really!). Again, several forum members (and other dignataries stopped by too.

Don Willis


My fellow Tom Petty buddy - Jeff/Breakdown


Chris/Halfhunter


My other posse - Darth Vader and Stormtrooper


Darkstar


I also got to quickly visit Jonathan's amazing MPL collection at Legend's table - those are some STUNNING coins!


Todd did the beautiful photography for the background poster in the display



Another forum member brought me this bottle of wine from his young cousin's family vineyard and I plan to open it shortly!

 

I might have to pay you a visit!

I'll be in Irvine next week.

 

Nice report, I plan on making it in tomorrow.

 

As always another good report.

 

Nice to see some faces connected to names.

 

It was truly fun meeting/seeing all the forum members who stopped by - thank you for taking the time to say hi! I started keeping a list of everyone's names/usernames but I know I forgot to write down several of you.

Thursday and today have been extrememly busy again! Todd and I have been quite surprised at the consistency of traffic at this show. Instead of it dying down in the afternoon, it seems to pick up speed - for which we are very grateful!.

I missed the PCGS lunch yesterday but did manage to attend the Fly-In Club meeting today. We saw a lot of Indian cent countrfeits which were very scary since many of the counterfeits are so well done.

Any way, here are more photos I've taken through the past couple days....

A very interesting new error I picked up for my own collection


David Hall and me


Stuart Blay


Harry Lapstein's table


One of the cutest little guys I saw at the show! He was at my table doing the treasure trivia hunt


Ed/MrCoin3


Mike/MikeNoodle and Carlton/Wiggam007


Michael Hassler who won the award for the best Everyman Registry Set


Mike Ellis/new ANA Governor


Alan/Northern Nevada Coin


Ken Potter


The Twins Jeff and Bill


Jim Bush/Shrub68


David/Whitman Publishing getting his shoes shined!


The NGC Crew


The Pretty PCGS Gals


More later....

 

How did they ever arrive at a 64 for that multi-struck fold over? Don't get me wrong it is very cool, but how would you ever get a grade on something like that?

 

Same way you do with any coin - nicks, luster, and eye appeal. Oh, and they also consider strike. I wonder if it got any bonus points for strike?

 

Great report. I have seen many of these folks at shows but didn't know who they were. Wish I could have been there. Chicago is a great town.

 

So, now the show is coming to a close and we've had a blast here in Chicago! But the very best part has been meeting SO MANY forum members (both PCGS and CoinTalk)! I know I've missed photographing some of you but meeting and chatting with each of you has been a pleasure. Please forgive me if I've left out any names, but here are some of the forum members we got to meet: MikeNoodle, Eichild, Dimeman, MFH, Vipergts2, Chip, Justacommem, Commoncents, Wiggam007, MrCoinB, Saltysam, Shrub68, Vess1, US656, JMW, Windycity, Rollerman, as well as all the "regular" forum members. Here are a couple more who stopped by our table.

Todd and Dan/BidAsk


Paul/Commoncents
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Larry Shapiro
[IMG][URL="http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Leyden-20110820-00329.jpg%5b/IMG"]http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Leyden-20110820-00329.jpg[/IMG[/URL]]

Yellow River Coins
[IMG]http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/IMG-20110819-00294.jpg

I was finally able to get by the ANA exhibits, and WOW, there are some fantastic coins on display.









Here are some more YNs who stopped by my table to do the treasure trivia hunt



I bought a deal of beautiful PCGS Lincoln cents that I haven't even had time to put out!



Mike/MikeNoodle on CoinTalk and Matt/Renomedphys on PCGS forum ended up joining us for our last night out here in Chicago. What two great guys they are! It was great getting to know Mike who I've seen on the CoinTalk forum for years. We started with a couple of yummy drinks at the Embassy Suites Hotel....



Then we took a cab downtown and walked around for a while...


PT Cruiser car show



And then ended up back at Blue Chicago for another night of wonderful rythym and blues music! Boy was it packed - standing room only - and what great music. This band had lots of energy and played a full 2 hours before taking a break!





Ron and Mike
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Mike, Me, and Matt
[IMG]http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq139/thepennylady/Chicago-20110819-00322.jpg

So, that’s about it for now, I’ll do a wrap up later, but I can tell you that it’s definitely been one of my best shows ever – both selling and buying! And from what I can tell from talking with other dealers, they have had similar comments!

 

Thanks for all the writeups & photos Charmy.

Those roman coins need to be housed in my collection

 

It was nice meeting charmy at the ana show, here is my newp for my album, thank you charmy.

I also remembered to ask Rick Snow to autograph my copy of his redbook for Indian Head cents.

My brother also was able to pick up a nice flying eagle cent, charmy also explained to him how to easily tell a small letter variety from a large letter variety.

 

Hi Charmy,

I wanted to be there so much but it wasn't in the cards for this year. You got a nice photo of a friend of mine. Prue Fitts is right up front in the pic of the bus ride. Her husband ran for ANA vice pres. this year but lost.

I'm already saving for Phillie next year

Richard

 

Nice registry MPL set! I would have loved to have examined one of those in hand, I bet they are top-notch and top pop with stunning eye appeal. Great report.

 

Enjoyed meeting you Charmy! Really like the IHC I picked out! Great show and nice report! Thanks ~ Darryl

 

I must give my apologies! Even though I was there the whole week, I somehow completely failed to stop by your table. But I still managed to appear in one of the pictures - let's see if anyone can spot me. It'll be like Where's Waldo!

PS - If you ask me, Waltz is the absolute best PA wine, and probably the only one that doesn't taste like fruit juice. I did a tasting there and ended up staying all night for a lawn concert.

 

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you've enjoyed sharing the show with me! And again, it was great meeting all you CT'ers who stopped by! And a very special thanks to MikeNoodle and Carlton/Wiggam007 who graciously agreed to help me pack up my table (well, actually, they really didn't have much choice - they were there, I handed them some boxes, and said "start here"!). So here's the wrap up....

Last Day (Saturday):

Here are a few last photos of more folks I ran into at the show...


Wayne Herndon


Garrett and Michelle Burke (Garrett designed the California State quarter) and they have a new book out called "Quarterama: Ideas & Designs of America's State Quarters")


And here I am at the airport having my usual pre-flight beverage (a very tasty "Top Shelf" margarita at Chilies) while I wait for my flight.

Although we had to wait on the tarmack for 40 minutes waiting for our flight to depart, I didn't mind so much when I heard that American Airlines was actually holding the plane for people who arrived late from connecting flights that were delayed due to poor weather. I know I'd appreciate that extra courtesy since I've had connecting flights delayed and had to sprint over to the next flight before it took off without me.

Yesterday was a long day, but I'm so glad to be home relaxing, before I begin catching up on emails, phone calls, coin orders, sorting and organizing new purchases, expense reports, updating inventory, etc. most of which I will put off until tomorrow!

As I have already mentioned, I believe this was one of the most successful shows I've been participated in, both buying and selling. And it certainly was my most steadily busiest show. I understand gold and silver were the hot commodities at the show, but I can attest that pennies are also quite popular! I sold more pennies at this show than any other show. As usual, raw XF and AU coins were the most popular sellers, and I ran out of most of the better date coins in these grades. But I also bought a ton of new material.

And I think Todd also had a great show. At one point towards the end of the show, Todd said he had taken over 4,000 photos of coins! But now he has to begin making all the edits (putting the images of the front, back and label in one photo). He has about 75 to do just for me!

As I also mentioned, getting to meet and chat with all the forum members who stopped by our table was the best part of the show. You are always so kind and Todd and I both appreciate your taking the time to say hi, do some business with us, as well as allowing me to "exploit" your images on the forum!

Now I have a busy week ahead, and another show this coming weekend, but then we're off to spend a few days relaxing and boating in Lake Havasu - yippeeeeee! After such an exhausting week, here is what I will be thinking about for the next couple weeks....

 

Great report and I was glad to be able to meet you. I must say it was a very impressive display of small cents you had for sale, very nice. I was also able to meet with Mike, Carlton and Darryl, a great bunch of guys for sure.