Charmy's Nov 2011 BALTIMORE SHOW REPORT w/lots of pics!

Charmy’s November 2011 Baltimore Show Report

I arrived in Baltimore Wednesday early evening, and met up with Rick for dinner in Little Italy. We went to Sabatino’s, had a nice bottle of wine, then stopped by Shula’s bar where we ran into several other dealers who had just arrived in town. We tried to order a round of Irish Car Bombs but they were out of Guinness – can you believe it! So I switched gears and had a very tasty Lemon Drop martini. I then called it a night since I’d been up since 4am to catch my 6:45 am flight, and I wanted to acclimate to the 3-hour time change.





Here’s a view of the city from my hotel room at the Sheraton about 3 blocks from the convention center….


The show opened to dealers at 8am on Thursday, and everyone was hustling and bustling to get set up before early birds and the public were let in.



And I’m all ready for business!


Here’s the bourse after the public was let in at noon. We had a steady stream of people throughout most of the day, so we were kept busy most of the day.


Mark Feld was one of the first people to stop by our table – I was even able to capture him when he wasn’t scowling!


AnkurJ also stopped by – it was great to finally meet him, he’s a very nice and friendly guy!


Larry/LittleBear also came by to give Todd some coins to photograph and chatted with us for a few minutes – what a really entertaining guy!


Todd arrived in Baltimore before I did so he went to the store to get some supplies like water, etc. He was kind enough to ask me if I wanted anything and, of course, I asked if he could pick up a bottle of wine. Since Todd doesn’t drink wine, he began listing off the different labels for red wine they had at RtetAid. He found some really funky labels, so I just asked him to get some Robert Mondavi since you can’t really go wrong with any of their wine. Well, he really surprised me by getting some Mondavi PLUS this “boutique” wine because he really liked the label.





And the cork….



The Moose wine wasn’t bad at all! He also picked up some absolutely wonderful eggnog that contained two different whiskys, rum, and bourbon. Now, as I mentioned, Todd doesn’t really drink alcohol but at the end of the day he did have a small cup of this delicious concoction - as did Mark Feld!


Several more forum members stopped by:
This is Jeff/Breakdown, one of the nicest and kindest people on the planet – and not to mention, of course, he’s a big fellow tom Petty fan!


Mike/Goldbully stopped by with his box of 25[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary sets on his way to the PCGS table.



Mat/BillyGoatsGruff who now works at Pinnacle, is always a pleasure to see, especially to watch he and Todd banter back and forth!


Jeff/Coppercolor wanted to stay under the radar so I just took a picture of his hand and the new coin he just bought from me!


Tom/BigMoose


Chris/HalfHunter


Mike/MFH and his newps!


Scott/MsMorrisine and his son Ethan – notice the boxes - he just returned from submitting his anniversary sets to PCGS!


Mike/NE Rarities - Another fellow wine lover!


Charles/Kaz


Here is the dedicated group of forum members who was responsible for the wonderful Seated Liberty display….
Darryl/ClassicSilver, Jerry/SeatedDime, Len/Coinasaurus, Stephen/Spetty [correctly spelled] (Speety’s Dad), John/Crypto74, Steve/Mr.HalfDime




I bought a circulated Indian cent in a SEGS holder, so I asked Gene Bruder who is just across the aisle from me if he would crack it out for me! Many of you probably know that SEGS holders are the toughest holders to liberate a coin from, but Gene did it quick lickity split!



This is just an interesting fan/windmill sculpture in front of the convention center that spins…



Behind the windmill was this guy singing and playing the drums using 5 gallon buckets – he was quite good!

 

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After the show, a group of us met back up at Shula’s bar before dinner. I made a quick stop at the ladies’ room and when I got back to our table, there was a woman sitting at our table chatting with Rick. I assumed she was in the coin industry but after she introduced herself she said she was alone at the bar, noticed Rick also sitting alone, and decided to “pick him up”! Actually, she was there for a health care convention, and her friend had other plans so she didn’t want to be in the bar by herself (which I completely understand). She was a delight and ended up joining us for the whole evening!

After Shula’s, we all piled into one of the other dealer’s van who had driven to the show, but there were only seats for 4 and we now had 5 people, so of course, the new girl had to sit on someone’s lap!


After Shula’s we headed to L.P. Steamers for dinner – wow! If you like seafood, this is the place to go! But don’t wear your best shirt, and be sure to use the bib they provide – also, you’ll need plenty of wipes when you’re through!






This is what the table looked like when we were through – I’d hate to be the one who has to clean up this mess!


And they gave us this handy tool to thwack open the crab legs, but I think it would also be very handy to have at the shows to keep Todd in line – I call it a “Todd Behavior Correctional Device”!


Since we had such a great time last time we were in Baltimore, after dinner, we went back to Howl at the Moon down at the Power Plant district. A few other dealers also joined us there. As it was the last time we were there, it was a blast!!!




Me and my new BFF Pam (or should I say Rick’s new BFF!)





Some of the dealers in our group


Out table is not far from PCGS and NGC, and they both seemed to be quite busy with people submitting their ASE 25[SUP]th[/SUP] Anniversary sets. PCGS eve had a long line in front of their table when I stopped by.


Although this photo does show it very well (I happened by right after a few people finished but NGC was quite backed up to!


Again, this picture doesn’t show how crowded Stack’s Bowers’ table was at the beginning of the show during the auctions.


The show was even busier on Friday than Thursday.



We were pretty low key on Friday night - we went to La Travola restaurant in Little Italy for some tasty garlic-filled dining, along with a great bottle of wine.


Here is the long line of people waiting to get in the show on Saturday morning!


There are bottles of wine on display at the restaurant – I forgot to take a photo of the one we drank


Ron Sirna (ANA Legal Counsel) stopped by and showed me this cool German medal he found that depicts some cute bunnies. Apparently, it was a medal that was awarded to someone for “outstanding bunny raising”!


I even managed to find a couple new pretty coins for my own collection…



I also picked up this batch of Conder tokens from NGC – I was quite pleased with the grades I received (I’ll post Todd’s photos of these beauties when I get them). I also bought a few more and dropped them off for grading.



And here is a bunch of newps I bought at the show ….


There was lots of public in attendance the whole time, and as usual, there were peaks and valleys, but overall, it was a successful show for me - and I know it was one of Todd’s best shows too. He barely sat down! It seems that some of the higher end collector coins are increasing in demand. I sold a beautiful 1912 MPL PCGS MS64, 1922 No D PCGS AU55, 1955/55 PCGS MS62 BN, and several better date Indian and Lincoln cents.

If this show is any indication, the coin market is definitely alive and doing well!

Now I’m going to put coins on the back burner for a few days while I head to Glamis with my hubby to do some offroading, relaxing, eating, drinking and enjoying time with our friends. Hope to see some of you at the Houston Money Show in a couple weeks!

 

Thank you for a terrific show report. Keep them coming, and all the wonderful photo's !

 

Thanks PennyLady for your report and the great pics. I look forward to reading about the coin shows you go to.

 

Very nice thread. I always enjoy seeing the pictures and reading your stories. Its almost like I was there! Did u happen to see how many 70's were being given out on the 25th sets?

 

Another great write up and batch of photos. Thanks Charmy.

 

Nice story/thread as always!

 

Looks like a great show with great fun.
And I can't wait to see a better picture of those Conders!!

 

1st class post

1st class :thumb:as always Charmy!!!!

 

Wow girl, you all know how to get down. Great pictures of the show. I plan on going next year.

 

Always a pleasure to read your informative and entertaining show reports Charmy......

 

Great report, I really enjoy the coin I got from you.

Dan

 

Thanks Everyone - as always, it's great to be back home! Yesterday was a long day, and ALL of my "gadgets" pooped out: I forgot to charge my iPod so it died, I was finishing typing my report on the plane (in a word document) when it ran out of power again! So then I played some scrabble on my Blackberry when it began to lose power. That's what happens on long plane flights!

Dan, I'm sorry I forgot to get your photo for my report! But it was great meeting you and I'm very happy to do business with you!

Anyway, I left out something I really wanted to put in my report. There was a Whitman employee who had been with them for 10 years (darn, now, I forgot his name - perhaps if someone knows his name they can post it for me) but he was killed right after he got home from working the Summer Baltimore show. Apparently, a gang drove by and opened fire at his house while he was taking the trash out, but they got the wrong house. There was a crack house on the same corner one street over, so this Whitman employee was just at the wrong place, wrong time. Several people were shot, but he was the only one who died. On Friday, his mom came to the show and spoke over the intercom to thank all the coin people who helped her with donations for the funeral, cards, phone calls showing their support, etc. She was very emotional and touched by how close-knit the coin community is, and how much they cared about what happened to her son. I just thought I would share this.

 

Its fine It was nice to meet you too.

 

The girl at the PCGS table looks really enthused to process another set of eagles.

 

lol
Yea she's like "another one of these darn modern coin set's, (#@$*&#@"
lo;l

 

Actually, the guy who's anniversary set she was processing said she was extremely helpful and nice and even lined up the coins for the photo. I think she was just concentrating when the photo was taken, and was also probably quite tired since they really were swamped all day!

 

So where's the close ups of those great Conders?
I see an "End of Pain" and a "Spence" and a "Donkey" but those are NOT taken by Todd

 

Duke, those photos were taken with my cell phone - I'll post good photos once I get the images back from Todd.

 

One thing I gotta know Charmy. With all the "whoopin' it up" that you guys do, how the devil do you manage to bring any money home with ya?