Charmy's October 2012 BUENA PARK COIN SHOW REPORT w/Pics!

The Buena Park Coin Show is held twice a year, usually in March and October. It has about 60+ tables and is usually very well attended by the public. I understand there’s also a waiting list for dealer’s to get a table at this show. I arrived around 8am and checked in at registration.



Then I set up my table and finished just in time for the public. There was a good group of people waiting to get in, and soon the show began filling up and was buzzing with activity.





I had my usual Buena Park and Long Beach show helper with me, Rich, and also my son Erik for good measure!



A couple forum members stopped by, including some a couple PCGS “dignitaries”!

Don Willis


Ron Guth


Mike/Illini


One of my regular customers stopped by my table to show me his completed set of Two Cent Pieces. Over the past few years, I sold him several pieces for his set, and at the Long Beach show, I had sold him the last piece he needed to complete his Two Cents set and he wanted to show me his entire collection.







My helper friend Rich, who is a fellow wine lover, had brought me this wonderful bottle of wine, so when the show started to slow down around 3pm, we opened the wine, and with a few others helping, quickly finished!


And another dealer friend at the show brought me this very tasty bottle of Argentina wine.



We also had a little “excitement” during the show – a thief was caught and arrested! Apparently, this guy who got caught stealing today was suspected of stealing from the same dealer in Long Beach and another dealer at the small Anaheim show, but the dealers weren’t couldn’t prove it. At the Anaheim show when this guy showed up, someone notified the show promoter Jerry (who is a retired Long Beach cop and also owns and runs the Anaheim show) about the "possible" thief and pointed him out to Jerry at the Anaheim show.

So Jerry who is also in charge of security at the Buena Park show saw the same guy enter the show (he was very distinctive looking - big, lots of arm tats, and a ZZ Top style beard) and had two other security guards watch him. Sure enough, the guards witnessed him steal from the same dealer as the Long Beach show. They had their cell phone cameras ready and actually videotaped him stealing. Jerry called the cops, the dealer signed the complaint, the thief was walked through the show in handcuffs while all the dealers cheered, placed in a police car, taken to the station, processed and released. I understand he had pocketed over $600 worth of coins from the dealer's notebooks that were sitting on the table and tried to buy his way out of it but, thankfully, the dealer refused his offer and pressed charges.

So that’s it for today. I’m headed back tomorrow morning and will update this report tomorrow evening!

 

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I am curious. How often do you pack up/get home or wherever and find that you are missing one/several coins?

 

It depends on when I do inventory but it happens only once in a while. At the Las Vegas show a couple weeks ago, a partial roll of low grade 1880's Indian cents went missing.

However, I too keep coins in notebooks and those are harder to control and keep track of - that's why thieves seem to target them more often. But that's also when/how I caught the thief from the Bakersfield show (mentioned in my original post on this thread).

 

Though the public sort of just trickled in on Sunday, surprisingly and thankfully, the room filled up and the show ended up being quite busy for me.




Also chatted with Stefanie/CoinsAreFun for quite a while. We talked a bit about my favorite subject: COPPER! I showed her a bunch of my cute little penny teapots and other penny exonumia. And she showed be a beautiful quarter she just bought (I'm sure she'll post it soon enough). She has a wonderful eye for nice coins, that's for sure! And here are some more forum members who were at the show...





Brian/BustHalfBrian (PCGS)/ICanGradeMS70 (CoinTalk) along with Steve Price, owner of Penny Lane Coins in Huntington Beach


Many people were still talking about the coin thief from yesterday and the security guard even showed me the video he had taken of the thief actually pocketing the coins. There is no way this guy will get away with his thievery! Some people have asked me to post a photo of the guy but I can't since he is not yet convicted. But I will have it with me on my cell phone and have already sent it to other dealers so that we all know what he looks like in case he shows up at another show, which I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

So, all and all, we had a good turn out and it was a successful show for me. It was especially nice being able to spend some quality time with my son who recently returned from Italy. I know it will be too soon when he will be back gallavanting around the country and/or world again!

Next up will the the Dallas ANA in less than two weeks!! Hope to see some of you there!!!

 

Another enjoyable post Charmy. I wanted to go but had to pay $400 for new tires instead sat >(

 

Thanks for the post! I always enjoy reading your coin show reports.

 

Another great post!

 

Haha thats me, It was nice meeting you Charmy. Had alot of fun at this show it was my 3rd time ever at a coin show and my first time at the Buena Park show.

 

Great report (as always), Charmy... and thanks for including Steve and I in it! :smile

 

Nice to finally meet you, Charmy! I enjoyed chatting with you as you and your son were packing up.


I ended up winning four times for the drawings. Lol

 

I like reading these coin show reports as well. Keep posting them.