Charmy's March 2013 BALTIMORE SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!!

I always look forward to the Baltimore show – it’s usually one of the best shows of the year, the food is amazing, and I get to catch up with good friends too! As many coast to coast travelers will attest, the hard part is the travel – it takes a full day to travel from the west coast to the east coast. My flight left at 8am, I had a connection in Chicago, then landed in Baltimore at 7pm.

While at the OC airport on Wednesday morning, I ran into the PCGS folks! It’s actually not uncommon for me to be on the same plane either coming and/or going with some of the PCGS staff since they are located in Orange County too.

Ophelia


David


Our flight leaving OC was delayed for about an hour due to fog, so we sat on the tarmac until the fog lifted, and then we were off!







Luckily we had 2 hours between flights so we didn’t miss our connection at the Houston airport


Coming into Baltimore






I checked into my hotel, and looked to see what kind of view I had – not bad!



Then I headed out to dinner at Luna Del Sea Bistro which was recommended by the hotel. The hotel even provided a shuttle for us!


While waiting for our seat, we chatted with a couple attorneys from Louisiana who were there for an educational seminar, so we ended up dining together. With the upcoming ANA show in New Orleans, we picked their brain for recommendations of some sites and restaurants they thought we should visit and ended up with a nice list of places to check out!

We all ordered some drinks before dinner, but there being only one waiter in to the whole restaurant, it took quite a while before they arrived. We did have a wonderful bottle of Rutherford Hill wine with dinner.


One of the people in our party ordered this very tasty seafood dish!


Not being much of a seafood fan, I of course ordered steak - which ended up not being the best choice!


There were also a couple problems with our dinner, and so we spoke with the manager, who was very gracious and apologetic, and gave us another bottle of the same wine to take with us!

After dinner, it was definitely time to turn in – after a long day of travel, dinner, and wine, I couldn’t wait for my head to hit the pillow!


The show opened to dealers at 8am on Thursday morning which came way too early for this west coast gal! But I was on time!

Since Todd’s dad wanted to attend the Baltimore show, it would make it too crowded for the three of us at one table, so Todd got his own table – this made set up easier for both of us because we wouldn’t be in each other’s way! After I was set up, I walked around the bourse to see if I could find coins for my customer want lists and, of course, ran into some familiar faces.

Guess who!


Todd’s dad, Roger/MustangGT


Me and Taryn – the Long Beach Show’s tireless show coordinator


Fellow female coin dealers - Bonnie from Albanese Rare Coins and Katy from Pinnacle Rarities


Even dealers like to ham it up for a photo! That’s Rick Snow/Eagle Eye”photo-bombing” Rick Sear/Colonel Jessup


It seems my reputation precedes me because this wonderful dealer (Arnold) knew I enjoy wine and brought me this fantastic bottle of 2010 Napa Chappelle!




Thad/Exojunkie


Set up day is when I usually do most of my buying, and throughout the day, several dealers brought by some nice copper. I found several quality pieces for m inventory, including one of the nicest 1914-D’s I’ve seen – except for the one in my personal collection of course!



After the show closed on Thursday, we headed out to one of the most popular dealer-loved restaurants in Baltimore – G&M!!!



When we arrived, the place was packed - unfortunately we neglected to make reservations. We had about a half hour wait, so we found a spot in the bar while we waited.





No, this isn’t a homeless guy we picked up off the street – he’s Rick’s FBI friend, Neil!


After we left G&M, we found a nice Irish Pub with a small Irish band that played some wonderful Irish music – and of course we had some great Irish beer !

 

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I arrived at the show on Friday morning around 9am so I would have enough time to get my newps added to my inventory. Even though the lobby was not very full when I arrived at 9am, by the time the show opened, there was quite a crowd that rolled in.





Here I am ready for business!


Peter, Adam and Spencer - these three “amigos” also visited me at FUN and stopped by again to say hi!


Ken Finkenbinder helps out at the registration desk – and always stops by to say hi and see if I have any coins that will fill the few spots left in his beautiful PCGS MS65 RB Indian set!


Two of ANA’s very tireless workers - Emily and David


The bourse floor was very active from morning until about mid-day, then it slowed down quite a bit around 3pm – that’s when we broke out the wine that the restaurant gave me!




Len/Coinasaurus


Alan/CoinZip


Bob and Shirley from Bethlehem, PA


Eric/Rollsearcher and his son Jake


Eric is a fellow penny exonumia enthusiast, in particular he enjoys collecting capped pennies including this rare Santa Claus capped penny on an original postcard in an original envelope






Here are a couple very cool penny exonumia pieces I picked up for my personal collection. They are two different Indian cent push-out pennies!





A big thank you to Broadstruck who told me about this cool error that NFC had on their website. I contacted them and they brought it to Baltimore for me!





This is another neat error that I recently picked up and brought to Baltimore for Todd to photograph.






My dealer friend (and fellow birthday buddy) Dino Koromvokis showed me this very interesting complete set of counterfeit trade dollars – some of which were very well made.




After the show on Friday, several of us went to La Tavola in Little Italy for some yummy Italian food and some more great wine!









I really look forward to getting together with my dealer friends at the end of the day after a show closes. We get to catch up on how our families are doing, how the show is going, what’s happening in in the market, any special new purchases, what’s selling, what’s not. It’s a really great way to stay connected with friends and coins!

We had heard that a new casino recently opened just outside of town, so we decided to check it out after dinner. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any live card or table games (yet). The place was packed, with lots of bar and lounge areas, and even some live music.



I’m not a slot person because it seems kind of boring to me to just sit there and press a button, but I decided to give the penny slots at try. Boy, were they confusing. I never did figure out what configuration paid out!



So then we went over to the electronic card table pit and, after waiting in line for about 45 minutes, we got a seat at the 3-card poker table. It actually turned out to be pretty fun, everything moved quicker than a live table, and I even ended up winning a nice little bundle which helped pay for the $50 cab ride back to the hotel!

 

Bill Anderson told me he had an exhibit on Two Cents so before the show opened to the public on Saturday morning, I went over and checked out the exhibits. All of the exhibits were really well done and very interesting, but of course since I love copper, I have to say that I liked Bill’s exhibit the best!















I also stopped by to see how the PCGS and NGC folks were doing!



I even caught their security guard kicking up his heels!




On my way back to my table, I spotted these creepy bugs at a dealer’s table!


I also ran into two of my dealers buddies – Lou Rasera and Doug Bird


Then another one of my dealer friends (Jim Bush/Shrub68) stopped by and ended up buying one of my nicer pretty pennies!


The bourse stayed pretty busy on Saturday until about 2pm when it started to die down, which was good since it soon would be time for me to pack and catch my flight home.


When I got to the airport, my airline didn’t seem very busy, but when I turned the corner and headed to security, I was shocked at how long the line was! Luckily it was moving rather quickly but it still took about 45 minutes just to get to the boarding pass check. I was relieved that they didn’t need to do a security check on my bags, and quickly headed towards my gate. I stopped at the Green Turtle for a drink and a snack and ran into about a half other dealers there including my fellow female dealer – beautiful Bonnie with Albanese Rare Coins!







And here’s me trying to take my own picture!


Soon it was time for me to begin my long trek home!


My first leg to Houston was completely full, including many coin dealers! But my flight from Houston to OC was the complete opposite with only about 20 people total – there were only 4 of us in the front section and I had the whole row to myself!!


Then finally, I saw the lights of Orange County below which meant I had to turn off my camera, because soon I would be on the ground and almost home!!!



This Baltimore show for me was not one of my best selling shows, but it was a very good buying show. Even though I was a little disappointed with retail sales, I was very pleased to acquire some nice quality better date coins. I think other dealers had some similar experiences with their retail sales, as several of them stopped by and I ended up doing some wholesale business.

Next up is the McIntosh show in Sacramento in two weeks, then the PNNA Tukwila show in Washington two weeks after that!

 

Another great write up with photos. Thanks Charmy!

 

The only shows I get to go to are the two FUN's, so I'll have to experience them through your write-ups.
Thanks for taking the time.

 

Charmy So glad I got to meet you at the show...and yes I do agree Bill's AKA Penny Guy..had a exhibit was outstanding! I see by your pictures you found the crab cakes at G&M yes very yummy ...but here a tip The Olive Grove right up the road on the oppsite side is owned by G&M and is a little bigger in size next time if G&M are full try The Olive Grove Now your picture of coming into Baltimore you are on the approach flying over the Severn River and the Magothy river is the river to the top of your picture. Again a pleasure to meet you Paddy

 

Another great report.

You need to retain a better travel agent lol 8 hours to fly across country is crazy. We fly to the east coast several times a year and we get non-stop flights that average 4 hours gate to gate on Southwest.
Guy

 

You always have great commentaries and photos
of shows. Thank You!

 

As usual a very descriptive writeup of the show. Thanks. I haven't been able to attend the last two Baltimore shows.
I have never seen Indian cent push-out pennies.
I'm looking to buy some. Is "Indian cent push-out pennies" the best way to search?

Mike

 

One more Home Run Charmy ! */*

 

Guy, I prefer to fly out of Orange County rather than deal with getting a ride to LAX or paying huge amounts of money to park there, and then dealing with all the crowds and long lines, so I put up with making connections instead. For me, it's worth it since I live less than 10 minutes from OC. I call my hubby as soon as we land, and by the time I get my bag and walk outside, he's right there.

 

Maryland Live Casino. I was there too Friday night, lol.

 

I will see you at the Washington show!

 

Nice write up and story. I always enjoy these so keep them coming.

 

Thank you everyone!

Coleguy, unfortunately, I am my own travel agent! And as I mentioned, I prefer to always fly out of OC if possible - but even LA no longer offers direct flights to Baltimore.

Paddy, I'll have to give the Olive Grove a try next time. Btw, I'm sorry but I don't think you told me your user name when you stopped by - can you refresh my memory as to who you were?

Midas1, yes - "pushout" or "popout" coins.

Silverhouse, sorry I missed you at the casino - were you playing slots?

Therocktjb - I look forward to seeing you at the Tukwila show!

 

Great write up Charmy , thanks .

 

Charmy your picture here shows alot of Baltimore history The red arrow point to Ft McHenry ...the green one to Ft Carroll designed by Lafayette as protection to the harbor. The Black X is where the British Navy sat durring the bombardment of Ft Mchenry. The white arrow is the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Right up by the point where Ft McHenry is there are two tunnels thet run under the harbor ..The Ft Mchenry and the Balto Harbor tunnel. Great pictures Charmy

 

i enjoy reading & seeing the pic you put up

 

I really like these show reports! I'm going to the Baltimore show this Saturday.