Chicago International Coin Fair

Is anyone else going to the Chicago International Coin Fair this weekend? I went last year and it was my first coin show experience. I'm looking forward to going back and have been thinking about it for about six months probably.

 

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I was planning on going Thursday but my five month pregnant wife had an emergency surgery last weekend. I am taking care of her and our young son.

Hope yiu have a great time man. Maybe see you next year.

 

Bummer. I remember that you went last year. Hope your wife is doing OK.

 

I'll be there on Sunday.

 

I will be there all day Friday. Always a total blast! Always one of the highlights of my year.

 

I'm also going Friday, though probably just a few hours. There are only a small percentage of people who sell the kinds of coins I'm interested in, but it's still great.

 

Then broaden your interests.

I find shows like this cool places to get yourself interested in new collections.

 

Well it's really more a matter of money than it is interest. I'd buy all the coins if I could, but most are outside my price range.

 

i am going in spirit my body cannot go

 

yes! I'm going Saturday, I live 20 minutes away from it so it will be great! have never been there before!

 

I won't be making it of course. One of these days I will go to a major coin show, I hope. I imagine a lot of coins there will be expensive, high end and rare coins as well.

 

I just got home from the show. I felt like it was kind of a mixed bag. There were a few people I bought from who had value bins of decent coins to search through, but many sellers only have a few, really high-end coins, and many others were way overpriced on everything. A lot of people on this message board say they never buy on eBay and a shop or a show is the only way to go, but I saw many, many coins priced at several times what I could get them for on eBay. Since I really only buy lower-end stuff, there wasn't a ton for me to choose from.

 

Did you happen to notice how much junk silver and silver bullion were going for ??

 

is there an admission fee?

 

And thats why I dont like going to long beach show much, it floors me.

 

I would agree about the lower-end stuff. I go to shows for the better coinage, especially the hard to find pieces. If you talk to some of the dealers, they are there to sell and buy from other dealers, not so much the individuals. That's why (besides travel time home) they leave shows early. The public attendance is not necessary for them to have a successful show. It's to fill their want lists and make purchases for select clients and their own inventory. From the selling side, it's to find other dealers who would buy overstocks and specialty pieces, that their market showed no interest in. 90% of public sales are just a nice plus to them, but not a game changer.

 

Seriously, the best place to buy would be from each other but that would require you to trust each other and to want something that another of us would be willing to let go. I know that half a dozen of you have coins I'd like but I also know you won't sell them. There is nothing wrong with eBay IF you are comfortable trusting the seller or your own abilities to protect yourself from fakes and overpriced junk. Shows have fakes and overpriced junk as well. That is why we say to find someone you trust and buy coins that make you comfortable. If you don't feel comfortable either in person or on eBay, you may be better off paying extra for coins from a seller that charges too much. When someone here asks me if they should pay $300 for a coin I would only pay $200 for, the answer is often yes. If the coin were worth $300 to me, one of us here probably would have bought it last week.

 

@up^ i agree with everything you said there, it is better to buy from someone you trust even if it is a slightly higher price (if you have the extra money to compensate for the slightly higher price that is). Even though i do like ebay because it is a lot cheaper than pretty much anywhere else, buying (especially face to face) from someone you trust is always better

 

I went last year and because my trip to Chicago was in part business related my Company picked up the cost for the flight However I was somewhat disappointed in the coins being offered. Mostly gold coins and I understand that the dealers are selling what people are buying but I was kind of expecting to see more of a variety. If I had to pay for a flight out of my own pocket I don't know if I would attend again.

What I really want to do is save enough money to take a vacation at the same time that the Berlin International Coin Fair is happening. I'm sure that would be an unforgettable trip both numismatically (not sure if that is a word) and personally One day!!!

 

I didn't notice anyone selling just "junk" silver. Most people either had all their coins individually priced or they had some bins where every coin was a certain price. It's a world coin show and I feel like junk silver is most popular with American coins.

The admission fee was $5, but I had to pay $20 for parking, so that was the big hurt.