Charmy's big 2015 CHICAGO ANA SHOW REPORT w/tons of Pics!!!

I look forward to the ANA World’s Fair of Money because it’s always so busy and active, with club meetings and dinners, getting together with friends, and lots of great coins available. And this show was no exception! I had a great time, found some great coins, sold quite a bit, and had a lot of fun!!!

And as you know, the WFM is the longest show of the year, so I take my time preparing for this show to make sure I don’t forget anything. I begin packing about 3-4 days before I leave, I do an inventory of all my coins and update my inventory sheet, I organize all my travel paperwork and double-check my reservations, I prepare what I need for my club meetings, I also prepare for my Sundman presentation, I do my iPhone and iPad back ups, I make sure the frig is full for my hubby, and last but not least, I buy plenty of kitty food and litter.

I left for the show on Saturday morning so I could attend the preshow and hopefully make some good buys before the main show started. I arrived at the John Wayne airport a couple hours early only to find the airport nearly deserted. I asked the airline counter assistant why there was hardly anyone at the airport and she said that mid-morning on Saturday is the slowest time at the airport – good to know! So this meant no lines to check my bag, no lines at security, and no crowds at the restaurants! Whahoo!! This also meant I had plenty of time to relax and enjoy some breakfast and listen to my audio book before my flight.



This is me very relaxed and looking forward to getting to Chicago!



Leaving sunny Orange County…..







Soon we were flying over the Chicago area!











I checked into my hotel – the Hyatt is the host hotel and very trendy looking, including their cool elevator.







Then I headed over to security to check in my coins and stop by Heritage for auction lot viewing and to meet up with Rick.



Then we head over to Gibson’s for dinner – they are known for their amazing cuts of beef, and they have some amazing wine as well!





This is their mashed potatos presentation!



It was still early so we went over to the Rivers Casino which was just down the road.



Unfortunately, they don’t have a poker room so we just played some of the table games in the black jack area. I like their Texas Hold-Um Bonus game, and I ended up doing pretty well.

 

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Sunday morning as I was getting ready for the day, I turned on the tv and saw a commercial for the World’s Fair of Money Show. Also, as I was watching the CBS Sunday Morning show, which I love, they also featured the World’s Fair of Money Show on Tuesday on their calendar for the week!



I then headed over to the PNG preshow. As I was walking over there from the Hyatt, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the massive amounts of people and lines that surrounded the convention center last year, and was thankful that we wouldn’t have to deal with that this year!





Rick had told me that he had acquired an entire Lincoln proof set – the Wright Collection – and I wanted to check them out first! What an AMAZING collection, especially the Matte Proofs!















If you’ve ever been to a preshow, it’s quite different than the main show. There are only about 30-40 tables occupied, and they are grouped together near the front of the room. The rest of the room is sort of curtained off. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere, and usually not very crowded, with mostly dealer-to-dealer sales.





Tina Ballanea/PNG Executive Assistant and Bob Brueggeman/PNG Executive Director



I enjoy not having the crowds and being able to hunt for coins without having to rush back to my table. I even found some great coins, including the stunning and scarce 1857 Flying Eagle proof!





I showed it to Rick and he quickly made an offer to purchase it from me. After a little back and forth negotiating, we finally agreed on a figure that we were both comfortable with, which made him very happy!

 

I also found this very cool large cent error that was obviously a pocket piece. Even though it is a lower grade, you can still see the double strike, and the second date at the top of the coin!



I also found two bright and original fresh-from-a-roll blast red 1909 Indian cents, a gorgeous 1909-S vdb, a beautifully toned 1938 Lincoln proof, and a nice high grade 1984 DDO.













Here are the rest of the new purchases I found throughout the show.



After I was finished at the show on Sunday, I went back to the hotel and came upon a young couple who had just gotten married and were having their wedding photos taken at the hotel.





Since there really isn’t that much to do in Rosemont, we decided to catch a movie at the theater next to the Park Tavern area.





When we bought our tickets at the Muvico theater, we actually got to choose our seats before going into the theater. We watched “Ricky and the Flash” – it was a really good moving and had great music with Meryl Streep actually doing the singing. She sounded like Melissa Etheridge.

After the movie, we went to the Five Roses Pub across the street for some Guinness and a bite to eat.







They had this “Guinness shot” which was actually kalua and tequila that tasted like Guinness.

 

After dinner, we heard about the Sugar Factory and decided to check it out. It was wall to wall candy – we felt like kids in a candy store!!









I saw this button candy that reminded me of when I was a kid and my parents would let us return a six-back of empty RC Cola bottles and we could use the money to buy some candy – I used to get this button candy or juju bees.





It was still early, so we headed back to the theater and watched the new Mission Impossible movie. It too was good, and had some great motorcycle action scenes. Then it was time to call it a night. This is the view from my hotel room which looks directly over the convention center.




On Monday, I headed back to the show to see if I could find anything else. Monday morning at the PNG show was busier than Sunday, probably since many of the dealers were arriving on Monday.



I ran into Tony of Northern Nevada Coin. He had this short tree stump next to him on their table and asked if I could guess what it was.





I looked it over and made a couple obvious guesses, but Tony said I was wrong and that I just got “stumped”!!!! Ha ha ha!

The preshow closed at noon, just before the PNG lunch meeting.



One of the most important things discussed at the PNG meetings are the updates of any legislative changes around the country that affect numismatics and what we can do to help.



At 3pm, the show then opened to all the table holder dealers for set up and a noisy frenzy began as all the dealers began arranging their tables and cases, setting up lamps, unloading their material, etc.





The PNG reception and awards dinner was held at Gibson’s after the show. It’s always a nice event, with tasty hors devours and a wonderful dinner, and a great way to see and chat with other dealers and members in a relaxing atmosphere.



I caught up with my fellow WIN board member and FUN bourse chair, Cindy Wibker.



Soon it was time to be seated for dinner.

 

Fred Weinberg and his right hand assistant Kathy sat at our table (I didn’t catch the name of the other young lady next to Kathy).





Fred also presented Sarah Miller of Heritage and Doug Davis of Numismatic Crime Prevention with the PNG’s Sol Kaplan award for their extraordinary work in helping to solve a very complicated numismatic theft, resulting in the arrest and conviction of the criminal.



Julian Leidman and Jeff Garrett also received PNG awards






The show opened to a nice crowd on Tuesday morning.







These are the great volunteer helpers who were always around to help anyone needing information, directions, etc.



Here I am all set up – including my new surveillance camera and sign!





And of course my wine stash for the week – which I brought from home!!



Not far from my table was the most energetic singing shoe shine guy – and guess who was one of his first customers – Donn Perlman!!



My table was right across from the ANA Museum Showcase.

 

A few forum members began stopping by.

This is Wes/UtahCoin



Mike/Illini



Amanda



A fellow exonumia collector stopped to show me something from his collection. He said he was finally going to part with it and knew I was the one who should have it for my exonumia collection.

When I originally set up my Penny Potpourri exhibit, it including photographs of the original envelope, notecard and tiny box that were issued with the tiny teapots that were created by prisoners. I had searched for the original paperwork and/or teapot box but never could find them, except the one in Richard Burdick’s collection. And he had been gracious enough to let me use photos of the card and box for my exhibit.

Well, Richard finally decided to part with the envelope, postcard and teapot box and offered the entire set to me for my collection and now I am the proud owner of these rare documentation to my penny teapot collection! The set I bought from Richard also included the original teapot that came in the box, along with a beautiful charm bracelet to add to my collection! I am SOOOOO pleased and thrilled to finally acquire this treasure.



Richard also brought me some other fascinating exonumia pieces that I was happy to add to my collection!

This is a Lincoln cent cut out watch fob – I’ve never seen one like it before!



A Canadian cent in an unusual encasement



An antique Indian cent whistle





And this interesting Lincoln cent with this hand carved song



I bought these beautiful pocket mirrors from another collector.

 

This is the beautiful flyer advertising the upcoming amazing and gorgeous Tom Reynolds large cent auction





After the show, a group of us headed back to the Five Roses Pub over at the Park Tavern area for dinner.

Neil (Rick’s FBI friend), Rick Snow, Ron Sirna, and Greg Allen



Greg, Me, and Rick




Wednesday started off a little slower than Tuesday, but soon customers and forum members began stopping by.



This is Burton/BStrauss3



Lance/Lkeigwin



Heritage auction lot viewing



A couple months ago, the ANA asked if I would like to submit a lecture presentation for their Sundman Littleton Lecture series with a theme on Lincoln. I submitted a presentation on my Lincoln cent exonumia and errors which I am proud to say was accepted (it came with a $250 honorarium).





Doug Mudd gave the first presentation on Lincoln in Numismatics



Then the Sundman lunch was at noon, followed by my presentation at 2pm on Wednesday. While I was at the lunch, Walter Ostromecki surprised me with a Certificate of Appreciation for my service as Chair of the ANA’s Dealer Relations Committee!





Waiting to give my presentation….

 

Giving my presentation…..









This is the display of my Lincoln penny exonumia and errors including my newly acquired original postcard, envelope and teapot box!





The ANA gave me a Certificate for my presentation.



I was gone from my table for about 3 hours, but luckily, Rick’s friend, Neil, took over my table and even made several sales for me!

Later in the day, I was able to get away and take a few photos. This is David Lange and Mitch Ernst at the NGC table



Some scarce paper money notes on display





The amazing Pogue Collection!











This is the main lobby of the convention center



This hallway leads to all the meeting rooms, auction rooms, etc.



After the show on Wednesday, a group of us headed into Chicago. Since traffic was heavy, we decided to take the train. Here is our trusted FBI train security guard on duty!

 

Chicago is a beautiful city with a great landscape of all kinds of buildings, bridges, waterways, etc.









We didn’t have any dinner reservations so we just walked around until we found a place that had room for us. We were very lucky that River Roast riverside restaurant was able to accommodate us at the last minute! Wow, what a beautiful evening it was, both weather-wise and scenery-wise!!





This is a panoramic photo taken right from our table!





They had their own form of Fireball Whiskey, only with this one you could actually taste the Whiskey – it was very good!



The food was served on a cutting board – and it was delicious!!!





Me and Ron Mirr

 

Nighttime Chicago!



After dinner, we went over to our favorite blues club – Blue Chicago. They always have excellent talent playing wonderful blues music!








Thursday morning came waaaay too early because I had an 8am WIN board meeting, followed by our general meeting at 9am.

WIN will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year at the Anaheim ANA so that was one of the items we had to discuss, among other things. Kevin Brown of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) started off our general meeting. He said there had been no woman on U.S. paper money since Martha Washington appeared on the 1896 educational series note. He said a new $10 note featuring a woman will be issued in 2020 and encouraged everyone to go to the BEP website at thenew10.treasury.gov and give their opinion about who should appear on the new note and why.



Ron Guth talked about his beautiful new book, “100 Greatest Women on Coins” while will be out in September. Then he and Caitlyn Trautwin of Whitman Publishing surprised me by presenting me with a signed advanced copy of the book!

 

Once a year, WIN gives a Gloria Peters Literary Award and a $50 check to a deserving article that appeared in our publication, Winning Ways. We have a subcommittee that goes through all of the issues from the past year and they choose one they felt was their favorite – and they surprised the heck out of me by awarding my article “Penny Potpourri” which appeared in 3 consecutive issues this award! I was completely surprised and deeply honored!!!





Then our guest speaker Mark Wieclaw presented a fascinating program on the Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina.







Two of WIN’s members – Saundra Behmer and Beth Deisher

 

After our meeting, I took a few minutes to finally view the competitive exhibits which were on the complete opposite side of the bourse floor from my table, and were even in a separate room! But, wow, there were several amazing exhibits!



This is FunWithMpL’s awesome exhibit (just the first case)



Since both of my boys are Eagle Scouts, I have a soft spot for anything scouting.



This is Larry Sekulich’s exhibit that won Best of Show. He also had a second exhibit that took 2nd Runner Up!



I liked this exhibit too



It include TWO of these penny Lincolns!





This is my dear friend Mitch Ernts’ fantastic exhibit on Sower medals, including a fantastic Lewis & Clark Indian Peace Medal in the last case that Rick Snow helped him acquire.















On my way back to my table, I took some photos of the grading services

John Roberts helping to man the ANACS table



Paul DeFelice and I didn’t get the young lady’s name also at the ANACS table



PCGS and David Hall

 

Back at my table I had the busiest day of the week so far. I had tons of sales and bought some more nice pieces for my inventory. Also, more forum members stopped by to say hi

Mike/Noodle with The Coin Show



Dennis Hengeveld/DennisH



Ron Sirna



Greg Rohan/Heritage and me



After the show, I headed over to the Hyatt for our WIN social mixer!



Then it was off to dinner with my good friends Karl and Joanne Stephens. We went to an Italian restaurant that was down the street in Rosemont, Gene and Georgetti



We enjoyed this wonderful bottle of Two Hands wine

 

Friday was another very busy day for me – it seemed everyone was trying to fill want lists for their customers. Even Ron Guth was very busy at work at the PCGS table!



Sam Ernst stopped by and proudly showed me his well-deserved Presidential award and Certificate of Appreciation for being a YN Intern to the ANA Board of Governors.



These three are a hoot – Bill/Penny Guy, Frank/TreasHunt, and Jim/JimM (our wonderful WIN webmaster)



I also picked up some Conder tokens I had submitted to NGC







I also bought this fantastic scarce Conder token from Ron Sirna – I just LOVE the shattered reverse die!!





On Friday afternoon, I headed over to the Fly-In Club meeting where Rick gave a talk about the Indian cent varieties that will appear in the upcoming revised edition of the Cherry Picker’s Guide.





On my way back to the table, I saw this very cute exhibit at the Austrian Mint



Back at my table, these two (Jeoff and Tim) stopped by to say hi and to give me some information about their Coin Store Day project which is a national event to educate and raise awareness about the numismatic hobby.

 

Friday night was the ANA Awards banquet – and Mitch’s Sower exhibit was one of the exhibit contenders. So a group of us met at the bar for a drink before the banquet.



At the banquet:

There was also a silent auction at the banquet



Larry and his lovely wife Linda













Our table!

 

Me and Neil!


Some of the ANA “funny money” that was at each of the tables





The food was really good, especially for banquet food!



The new ANA board!



Donn Perlman was the 2015 recipient of the ANA’s highest honor, the Farran Zerbe Award



Larry Sekulich’s exhibit awards – Best of Show and 2nd Runner up for his second exhibit!



After the banquet, we went back to the hotel and saw that Beatlefest was well underway! They had bands and singers all over the hotel playing Beatles music.








Saturday was quite light, as expected. Some dealers had already left and the rest began packing up throughout the morning. There was still some steady traffic, but there didn’t seem to be many actual buyers.













At noon, I went over to the FUN table for the WIN raffle ticket drawing. The total receipts were $840, so we raffled off two tickets for $210 each. Bill Anderson/PennyGuy and Mary Burleson of Whitman Publishing won the 25/25 raffle. (An extra thank you to Mary who graciously donated her winnings back to WIN's Summer Seminar Scholarship.) A BIG HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who generously helped our our scholarship fund - I personally appreciate every one of you!!


Soon it was time for me to pack up and head to the airport. Due to the computer glitch at an airport in Virginia, a couple major airports in New York and DC were completely shut down which created havoc throughout the country, including O’Hare. So I kept checking on my flight and was very grateful that my flight was not delayed.

I got through security quickly and had some extra time, so I found an air conditioned restaurant and for some dinner and a drink before my flight.





Back at my gate, I ran into the PCGS folks who were on the same flight as me – this is my favorite PCGS rep – Ophelia!

 

So long Chicago, till next time….







This is me very happy to be going home!!



Back in OC!



With my hubby and sweet Penny waiting for me!!!



And just when I thought I had left numismatics behind for a few days, the next morning when I was watching CBS Sunday morning, they did a segment on how the mint designs our coins!



Next up: The Santa Clara Show in a couple weeks, followed by the Las Vegas show at the Westgate, then the Long Beach show!

 

Awesome report Charmy... great to meet you and chat... especially liked your talk

 

As always, great photos and presentation. Looks like it was a great show in a great city. I remember from previous shows you mentioning Guinness beer also (it's my favorite beer!). I'll be sure to look for you when I go to Long Beach show.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Nice report, those early proof Lincolns are super nice !!