Charmy's 2013 Double LAS VEGAS SHOW REPORT w/Lots of Pics!!

So I just returned from a very fun and somewhat successful 5 days in Las Vegas, so I’m a bit tired from the long drive and very happy to be home!

I left for the show on Wednesday morning so I would have time to check in at the Rio before I went over to the PCGS show that afternoon. I like to stay at the Rio because it’s not far from the Palace Station where the Las Vegas Numismatic Society’s show is held and it’s an easy drive each morning since I avoid the Strip traffic. And the weather in Vegas was absolutely beautiful the whole time!!! Here’s my room and the view from my room of the beautiful sunny desert that Vegas is!







I then headed over to the Venetian to the PCGS show – Wednesday was dealer set up day where most of the dealers are busy getting their submissions into PCGS for grading, but there was also lots of buying and selling as well.





I brought a few coins to sell, found some nice ones to buy, and also submitted several coins to PCGS. I was fortunate to get this nice picture of these two very cute PCGS girls!



PCGS set up a very popular sweet “snack” bar set up in the afternoon.



I know this is a little weird, but the design in the women’s restroom at the Venetian was so beautiful I just had to take a couple photos.

These are the gorgeous bright red stall doors


And the vanity/sink area


After I finished doing business at the PCGS show, I headed downstairs to the Poker Room. It’s a very large room and always seems to be quite busy.



Right from the beginning I was catching some good cards and quickly built up my chip stack - and the Patron shot wasn't bad either! I was doing so well, that I didn’t even go out for dinner but had a quick sandwich!




The next morning (Thursday), I headed back to the PCGS show to finish some business. I also took a few more photos.

Surprisingly, this is a photo of the beautiful ceiling of the valet/taxi area in front of the Venetian registration


More wonderful and very helpful PCGS gals!


Behind these curtains are the tireless hardworking graders and you can hear the constant sounds of the slabbing machines!


Found this familiar “face” at the show!


Soon it was time to head over for dealer set up at the LVNS show. The room is pretty large and there are over 100 dealer tables. I tried to take some photos to put into perspective the size of the show





There was quite a bit of business being conducted on Thursday between the early bird badge holders and all the dealers. For a dealer day, there was quite a buzz throughout the room. Later in the day when things died down a bit, I opened this yummy bottle of Ghost Pines red wine:



The show closed at 7pm so I went back to the Rio to meet up with my friends for dinner. Everyone was pretty tired from the travel and setting up their booths, so we decided to just have a simple dinner at the Grill restaurant, then do some gambling before calling it a night.

Some of my friends wanted to play some Roulette so we found this table with some very happy folks. These two guys were having a blast betting large stacks of chips on red or black, and were being quite successful at it.





I also played my usual table games - Ultimate Texas Hold-um, 3-Card Poker, Let it Ride, etc. However, I wasn’t very lucky/successful at these games this time around, so I soon headed back up to my room. Here’s a photo of beautiful Vegas at night from my room.

 

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The next morning (Friday) I headed over to the show. I went out in the lobby just before it opened to the public and was happy to see a large crowd gathered to get in.



The registration desk


It didn’t take long for the show to become very crowded and the usual “show buzz” to begin


This is Walter Ostromecki (ANA VP and Presidential candidate) – he works tirelessly setting up and running the kids’ treasure hunts at coin shows around the country!





This is one of my most favorite dealers - Logan of Vams & More


And this is his beautiful daughter Cindy who also works for ANACS at several western region shows. She was extremely busy each day!


I was able to round up John McIntosh and his boys for a much-protested photo op!


I posted this on separate thread, but I thought I’d post it here too. A good dealer friend of mine had this error note stolen from him at the show. If you have any information about it, please contact:

Jim Cauley at Errors and More
916-212-6752
kjcauley@netzero.com




After the show was over, we decided to head downtown to Fremont Street to check out the light show, have some dinner, and, of course, do more gambling!



We had a wonderful relaxing and very yummy dinner at Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse which is in the Golden Nugget







This Palermo wine has a beautifully artistic label and was fantastic!!






I had a very tasty seabass with a chunk lobster topping and a side of parmesan artichoke risotto – mmmmmmmmmmmm!!




Then I played some no limit poker at the Golden Nugget poker room. I actually had another successful run at the poker table!


Also, there’s a legendary coin dealer who is known for sitting down at a 1-2 no limit game and plopping down $25,000 in cash – and sure enough, he showed up at my table!


For those who may not have been to Fremont Street, it has a very fun Mardi Gras atmosphere with lots of interesting characters just walking about!

A couple of bucket drummers


A balloon guy


Don’t know what he was thinking!


A bunch of guys getting a photo op with a cute show girl


This guy was just taking a nap (probably passed out) when a girl walked up and put a dollar bill on his cap


This is the light show on the roof that covers the street








On Saturday the show started out slowly but soon picked up.



There were lots of kids participating in the treasure hunt, and a “celebrity” also did some coin shopping!

This is Mark Hall-Patton - the Pawn Stars show expert from the Clark County Heritage Museum!!




In the afternoon, I opened this very decent bottle of Coppola zinfandel


After the show, I just went back to the Rio and played a little more poker before going to bed. This is the Official Main Event final World Series of Poker table for 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 with a pile of chips glued together and stuck to the table.






So overall, the LVNS show was very busy and extremely well attended. However, I spoke to several dealers who all agreed that there were far too many people who just wanted to chat or graze than there were actual coin buyers. Unfortunately, many dealers reported poor or less-than-average sales. And even though I had one large sale that saved my show, it was not a very good retail show. However, I have hopes that the next show will be better and will happily return especially since “it’s Vegas baby!”

Next up – the Buena Park show this coming weekend!

 

Nice report, but I have a dumb question. What was Mr. Clark County Museum doing there? Does he collect coins on top of everything else?

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Looks like you had a very fun time, thanks again for the report.

 

Heard it was a good show this year. Hope you didn't gamble all your earnings lol
Guy

 

:thumb:Charmy!!! as always a Great inside view!!!
ANA seller's photo just make it 200% better:thumb:

 

I brought a few coins to sell, found some nice ones to buy, and also submitted several coins to PCGS. I was fortunate to get this nice picture of these two very cute PCGS girls!

No offense, are you a girl or boy??

 

Really?!? Out of all the photos and the information in my report, that fact that I referred to two young ladies as being "cute" - you want to know if I am male or female? How old are you?

Rlm, I am guessing that yes, he collects coins, as he walked up and down all the aisles looking at various coins.

Jello - I take it you mean the ANACS' representative (Cindy) who was taking submissions - and yes, she is a beautiful woman and the nicest person on the planet!

​

 

He's 11, literally...

Great writeup, very enjoyable read as always.

P.S xGAJx - do you see the word after Penny in her handle?

 

What? Noting to sell to the pawn shop this time? LOL

 

Thanks for bringing me along! I feel as if I were there with you.

A thought to consider: In more than one of your previous writeups, you mentioned having assissted or witnessed apprehending a thief. IIRC he was caught. Did you happen to notice this man at the show in which the error note went missing, and was mention made among dealers and security of him? Did you all get a copy of his photo, or was this theif largely forgotten about for this show?

I felt like I was connecting some dots there, lol! I am curious though whether everyone was informed and on the lookout for him or if he struck again.

 

The thief I apprehended a few years ago was from Fresno and I would recognize him in an instant - he was not at this show but his picture (and many other known thieves) is known to security at most California shows. In case this is news to anyone, there are a LOT of coin thieves out there. I do probably 30+ shows a year and word gets around among dealers very quickly about anything that gets stolen and especially if any thieves were caught. I would estimate that there are 5+ thieves that don't get caught at each of the larger shows, and at least 1 to 2 get caught on average at each show - I've even been to a show where 7 different thieves were caught at that same show.

The first thing any dealer does when something "goes missing" is to contact security and the show promoter. The next thing is to advise as many other dealers at the show as possible about the theft and details about the item(s) stolen - as was done here (I immediately made a post on the major coin forums, including the paper money forums and error forums).

 

Im just confused!! There is alot of pictures of a girl in dark hair which I assume is her, as well as her name(the penny lady), but why does she say she saw lots of cute girls. Edited~ sexist.

 

OMG! xGAJx, No. 1 - Why do you care? No. 2 - What does it matter? No. 3 - Don't you have anything more appropriate to add to this thread?

 

Ok, ok sorry for being too personal, but now I get it. I have something to add to this thread though, that must have been a nice fun vacation for you, and hopefully you made some money too.

Also you said earlier,

Also, there’s a legendary coin dealer who is known for sitting down at a 1-2 no limit game and plopping down $25,000 in cash – and sure enough, he showed up at my table!

Im not much of a gambler(for obvious reasons), but did you play with him, and did you win or lose? Sorry you didnt have to say Im just a curious guy.

 

xGAJx, I don't think you do "get it." I realize you are very young, and probably haven't been on these boards very long so you don't know much about me. So I'll indulge your youth and naivety a little by saying that a woman referring to young girls as being "cute" does not reflect whatsoever upon one's sexual orientation - for me, it comes from a sort of motherly admiration of two very nice, personable, hard working young girls. And again to indulge your overactive curiosity, I am very happily married to a wonderful man and have two grown boys.

Regarding the dealer with the $25,000 cash, as I mentioned, he did play at my table but only briefly. I don't think he played very many hands before he left. When I left the table, I was quite a bit ahead.

By the way, even though I have fun when I travel to coin shows, I don't consider that time to be a "vacation" as I am working at the show all day each day of the show, and even when I'm out dining, drinking, and even playing poker during the evenings, I am usually "networking" and sometimes wheeling and dealing with other dealers. (One time when I was at the airport waiting for my flight, I ran into another dealer waiting for his flight and ended up buying several thousand dollars in coins from him!) Even though I absolutely love coins, when I go on vacation, it usually does not involve coins.

 

Oh, geez..this went off the rails quickly.

Charmy, I really enjoy your trip reports very much.

 

okay okay. I didnt mean my posts to be offensive, Geez.

 

If I thought you had meant it to be offensive, I would have used more severe sanctions than an edit. However your 'apology' is far from acceptable. Why not say something like. " Charmy I am very sorry for the offensive remark. Please accept my apology and thank you for correcting me." The beginning and ending of your comment implied, you felt you were being treated unfairly and felt you had done nothing wrong. Not the best attitude.

Jim