Went to my first Central States show yesterday in Shaumburg,IL. It's not as huge as the ANA Worlds Fair but firmly in second in size. I normally like to stay at the hotel and enjoy a couple days but yesterday I crammed it into a day and was there almost to close. Was $15 at the door for a one day pass. When I first got there I went straight to NGC. FWIW, PCGS, NGC, CACG and ANACS had booths for submitting. PCGS seemed to have the longest line but they may not have had as much staff. NGC had a shorter line. There were six employees helping people fill out paperwork and a spot to submit if you had pre-filled forms. From what I saw they will be bringing back A LOT of material. I spent about an hour getting through there submitting seven coins. I had nothing pre-filled out but am experienced in doing so. I cannot imagine how much business PCGS and NGC get at these shows. There was a guy in front of me submitting over a hundred paper notes. Another had a stack of gold. Greysheet and Vaultbox were there. US Mint Director Paul Hollis was there early on. I met him briefly and asked about the prospects of the proposed $2.5 commemorative and circulating this year. He said he doesn't see it happening. Getting too late with the Senate sitting on it. Somebody must not want it to happen. Show seemed very busy. Saw Jeff Garrett, Matt Dinger, Ben the coin geek. Saw pre-33 gold proof sets in satin finish. Saw a 70 oz gold nugget. Was looking to upgrade my 1921 Peace but only saw one on the floor at a MS65 star which was higher than I wanted to go. Did not see another. Searched the entire show, ALL the cases for a $2.5 classic head and eventually after 3 hrs of fast paced walking and looking, I found one in the year and grade I wanted. I probably saw a total of around a dozen classic head $2.5 at the entire show. Roughly half were 1836s which was a higher mintage year at 500k. I found a gorgeous 1834 in MS-62 and made a nice trade to get it. It was certainly the only 1834 there. I did see an 1839-O in AU55 for $7500. Even a couple Charlotte versions. Somebody did have a complete set of $2.5 classic heads on display, not for sale. Only saw around three $5 classic head gold. (I have not yet photographed this pickup.) Found some awesome Alexander the Great Tetradrachms in XF that had amazing detail in NGC slabs. Seven to choose from. Was contemplating selling some silver and gold to help make the deal but was just too painful. I could have sold a 1/10th gold piece and been happy but $70/oz on silver while a year ago would have had me drueling, now didn't feel like a good deal when it's $76 and maybe in the 80s next week. Usually if I let any go it explodes the next week so I just hung on to it. I didn't want to let 20 oz go so I didn't get the Alexander Tet I wanted (though could have.) Guy had amazing stuff. Several of those real early Greek turtle coins. $5k range. Many places were not buying silver at all. One place would buy all you wanted to sell at 70/oz. There was a booth selling one oz prospector rounds for $80 a piece. Pretty fair in person when you can skip the auction fees and shipping. Saw a poor guy trying to sell a bag of mint sets to practically every dealer at the show and no interest. Not enough to work with for them to warrant taking on the inventory. You really have to read the room if selling. Some places will buy this, others will buy that. Some say what theyre looking for on a sign. If you have something that was very valuable to begin with, you can sell it. If not, you probably wont.
Nice report! And sounds like you found a cool $2.5 gold! I have the same view on selling silver. It feels painful to sell for that much under and then watch it go up in a day or two (and you end up with an almost $10 spread; of course it could go the other way, but we don't remember those instances as vividly).
Excellent report! Thank you for taking the time to do it. I badly wanted to go because it is only 45 minutes from me, but I had to write a super long Greek exegesis paper that comprises 25% of my grade. I decided my time was better spent on the paper than at the show, even though it wasn't nearly as fun (by a long shot). Even though I can't afford much right now, I really like looking at all the amazing coins people bring in. It is like a museum where you could actually buy what is being displayed. Post pictures when you can!
I didn't take a lot of pictures. Was fairly busy myself but here's a few. This is the main hotel. The convention center where the show was is off to the left. This area is somewhat isolated out here by itself between interestates which makes it pretty nice. Felt quiet and safe. Wasn't bad to get to. This is the main hotel and the fountains out front.
My only pickup. Older NGC slab. MS-62. Scratch on the plastic in front of face. It's just like a nice $5 Liberty. Great luster. I never thought I'd have this high grade of one but it was what I found and made an interesting deal. My other 2.5s are nice so I'm very happy to add this one.
Oh yeah, NGC said they do not have the scratch resistant slabs available anymore because they were having too much difficulty sourcing them. That's why they're no longer on the form. Wait on ancient grading is 80 days currently.
Nice looking classic head there, quite a show, here in Sacramento we never get Coin Grading companies at shows, I guess nobody wants to deal with such a small City of coin collectors. In the last 10 years, ANACS came twice that I know about but that's it, no other companies came.
I think this location is preferred for some of the big shows because of it's relative central location in the US and all of the suburbs surround O'Hare with numerous flight options, making most any of the large convention centers easily accesible from the busiest airport in the US. I-90 has 8 lanes going by but at rush hour around 5:30 can slow to a crawl. The highway is relatively new and in good condition for a change. With all the tolls there are at least it got something done. I got spoiled going to the worlds fair. I like when they're actually grading on site. Just dropping off to avoid shipping is nice but not as nice... Cue the violin for us.
