Charmy's January 2015 LONG BEACH SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!!!

As I have mentioned before, the Long Beach show is one of my favorite shows since it’s “in my backyard,” and I can sleep in my own bed each night. And having come off a very busy and successful FUN show made many people feel the lackluster coin market might be on the upswing, so there was hope this first Long Beach show of the year would also be a good show. For me, there were lots of nice coins to buy and I had decent retail sales.











The severe winter weather in the east prevented a few dealers from making the show so there were a few empty tables that would have otherwise been occupied. Harry Miller, who has two corner tables right across from me was missing. But for us here in SoCal, the weather was exceptional and made me even more appreciative of our beautiful warm sunshine.











Inside the convention center, outside the bourse floor







The stairs in front of the bourse floor







Looking into the bourse floor from the front door







And the first thing you see when you enter the bourse – Stacks Bowers and Heritage!







One of the things I really love about attending coin shows is that I get to see some of the most unusual and interesting things. After I was set up, a dealer friend showed me this really neat ladle made with a gold coin at the bottom.











Then another dealer friend, Tony Tumonis, stopped by and showed me some rare coin boards he had recently acquired.











Ann and her husband Ari, who have been my bourse neighbors for years, are fun to banter with.







Kerry Pieropan recently went out on his own after having been associated with Stacks Bowers for several years. He also does a heck of a job running the Buena Park show (coming up the first week in March)!



Wednesday is the day I usually do most of my buying, though I also pick up newps throughout the show. This show I found some great coins, including some for my own collection. This is a photo of the coins I purchased throughout the show for my inventory.







Next to the one in my collection, this is one of the prettiest 1909-S vdb’s I’ve ever had.











I also picked up a couple amazingly toned proof Indian cents, one of which I sold at the show. This 1889 is the other one.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

This is a very neat Scarface coin I bought for my personal collection. The portrait is full of raised die breaks – and this coin also happens to have a strike-thru.







I didn’t have a 1913-S Lincoln cent in my personal collection that fit my criteria (pretty toning or neat variety or error) until now. This 1913-S has beautiful violet magenta toning.











I also bought this beautifully toned rare Sussex 27 Conder token











I had submitted several Conder tokens to NGC and was able to pick them up at the show.











The off-center cat (Sussex 33) is unique in that there are no other pieces known with this die and edge combination.







I also picked up this very pretty 1980 nickel struck on a cent planchet (sorry for the blurry photos)











My dealer friend, Karl Stephens, brought me these penny spoons from various countries for my penny exonumia collection.







After set up, we headed out the back door of the convention center, and I noticed this beautifully lit building across the parking lot.







Then we headed to our usual after-set-up-wine-tasting dinner at our favorite restaurant, Café Piccolo’s. There were six of us so there were six bottles of wine (and no, we always have left-over wine which we usually end up taking back to the show for our afternoon happy hour)! As often is the case, everyone brought some really great wine.











This is what our table looked like just before dinner was served!







Rick Snow, my booth buddy Rich, and dealers Alan Kreuzer and Karl Stephens







Me and Joanne Stephens







And just so you don’t think we only have “unhealthy food,” they do serve a delicious salad!

 

On Thursday, the Mint released their U.S. Marshall’s Service coin, and boy, was there a long line of folks waiting to buy them! But at least it was quite subdued with no chaos compared to other new coin releases.















The bourse floor was very active on Thursday.







PCGS was busy as usual.







This is David and Sandy working away.







David is a good sport! ;-)







Anyone who knows Nina knows not to disturb her during meal times - this tiny little girl is one ferocious eater!!!







I got lovely Amanda Varner of Alhambra Coins to take a second to look up from helping customers.







Another lovely lady, Cindi, with her ANACS co-hort Paul, were also very busy throughout the show.







Al Arnold of Arnold’s Coins is a SoCal dealer and also does fantastic wood work – he is the one who made my custom oak show cases.







Later that afternoon, out came the wine!







Have you heard the one about how you can tell when a coin dealer goes on vacation? They put all their chairs on the roof of their house!

 

The usual dinner spot on Thursdays is Naple’s Ribs – there’s always about 40 dealers who dine there in one of the back rooms.







When we got there, we found Greg and another dealer sitting out front working on some coin deal!







Here are some of the dealers enjoying some delicious ribs! You may recognize some of these familiar faces…



























These Northern Nevada Coin guys can’t take their eyes off their phones – I’m guessing Alan finally let them check their phones now that they were off duty or they were posting selfies on Facebook!







Ernie is the one who always organizes this event for us!







Instead of wine, I enjoyed a refreshing gin and tonic!







And this is why we go to Naple’s Ribs!











And now for the photo I keep getting requests for….

 

On Friday morning, I took a few moments to check out the Pogue collection at the Stack’s Bowers table. They were still putting out the coins and had the security guards standing right by the cases as I was taking photographs.







































Back at my table, this adorable young man, Ryan, who reads my show reports on CoinTalk, and his mom stopped by to check out some pennies for his collection. After he bought a few coins, he asked me if I would autograph one of the slabs and one of the 2x2 holders for his grandfather. I was so tickled and oh so very honored.







Friday afternoon, my neighbor friend Joan who is an avid baseball card collector and also has several coins came to the show. So she stopped by my table and shared some wine together.







Friday night we headed over to my favorite Chinese restaurant, PF Changs, which is just across the street from the convention center.



I love to start off with their chicken lettuce wrap dish.







I had their Mongolian beef







Someone had the seabass







Someone else ordered the orange chicken







And of course, the kung pao chicken







These were our fortunes from the fortune cookies. Believe it or not, Rick got the last one about the lost penny!

 

It was a beautiful evening that night – this is the pier right next to the restaurant











The blue lit building is the convention center at night







The ferris wheel is right next to the convention center







And what used to be a roller coaster







Saturday is when they hold the kids’ treasure trivia hunt – this is the meeting table for the kids. Walter Ostromecki (ANA President) has always been a great supporter of promoting kids in the coin industry!







Walter also awarded Julian Liedman with a “Points of Light” certificate for his service to the numismatic community











That’s about it for this report. As I mentioned, it was a busy show and went by very quickly, and I was quite tired by Saturday evening. So I always look forward to coming home to my hubby and now adorable little Penny!













Next up:



- Dallas PNG show (February 26-28)

- Portland ANA (March 5-7)

- Buena Park show (March 14-15)

- Las Vegas Riviera show (March 20-22)

- Baltimore Whitman show (March 26-28)

 

Lovely report!

 

Thanks for the report, Charmy.

This is a bit off-topic, but the History Channel aired a segment the other day about the man who played a big role in making Napa Valley popular for vineyards. In 1973, he produced a cabernet sauvignon that was entered in a blind taste competition in France, and his wine won. Have you ever heard of Stag's Leap?

Chris

 

Chris, oh yes - Stag's Leap is one of my favorites. We had some during the FUN show and it was in my FUN Show Report. They make some fantastic wine!

 

Great report, with nice photos of coins'n'peeps. Thank you!

Christian

 

Great report as always, Charmy. For the sake of us winter weary Easterners maybe you could just leave out the warm sunny days and balmy evenings, por favor? (OK just kidding). But keep the food and wine.

 

Weather is overrated, hehe. I came back from the World Money Fair yesterday (world's biggest coin show), and in Berlin it was pretty darn cold. Happy to be home again, but as the show was inside ...

Christian

 

Great report Charmy. I love the 1889 proof. Pretty coin. For some reason I get hungry after reading your post.

 

great report as always Charmy. I'll see you in Dallas & in Portland.

 

Thankyou Charmy. Nice looking 1909S VDB

 

Looks like fun, nice report as usual.

Coins, food and wine....just don't get any better !!

 

Great report!

 

Wonderful report!!!

Makes me wonder why I ever left Southern California for this cold hell-hole we live in today... :-~

 

Always enjoy reading your reports.

 

Great report. Love all the pics.