I had the amazing privilege to see this coin in Rosemont, IL. Other than the Smithsonian coins, this is the most expensive coin I have seen in person. Unfortunately, that coin show was not great, in my opinion. There were plenty of tables there, but I felt very out of place. Most coins seemed to be priced four digits and up. I brought a few coins to sell and struggled doing so because they were not graded/slabbed. I sold a 1909 S VDB penny and a $2.5 gold coin which many dealers agreed were real, only to be told they would not even give an offer without being slabbed. I eventually found dealers who did buy them. I had other coins, but was embarrassed to even ask people about them if well known coins were going so hard. I had one dealer tell me every coin in my collection was fake because I bought coins on eBay. That was a pretty outrageous claim that did not sit well with me. I suppose @charley would tell me I am just too thin skinned. Perhaps I am. LOL. I went hoping to sell a few coins and get both the 1913 S and D type two buffalo nickels in exchange. I only found one dealer with both and bought the D, the S not being what I was looking for aesthetically. While it was fun looking at all the coins for sale, most were priced far above what I have seen comparable on eBay or even at Harlan Berk in Chicago. That's the only coin show I have been to and it has not made me eager to go to another one.
Would probably be the sight that me and @lordmarcovan made fussing over which one of us was going to buy the lusterbomb Peace dollar we both saw..... I lost.
I was in our local coin shop and a lady brought in 32 $20 gold pieces to sell. The owner says, a check like last time ok? After she left he said it was the third time she had been in. Before you consider that anything nefarious happened, she was old enough that she may have gotten them at face value. This was before the current spike in gold prices but still north of $2k an ounce.
Best coin show experience was meeting two older gentlemen that had large cents for sale. I need one specific variety to work on my album - I already had the varieties that had on sale (not many 30-40 coins). But I ended up chatting with them for over an hour on large cents. I think they even gave me a copy of the list of coins they think make up the large cent album - I still have the list and I could be wrong on it use now. But it was just great talking to these older guys. Worst coin show experience was walking it and seeing nothing buy modern stuff and 90% SGS coins with a few dealers with SEGs stuff. I did not mind looking at the SEGs stuff to see if I could find a deal - but most were over priced even if true to the grade. The dealers with these coins also were aggressive - best coin for the money, I don't think so. That was the show where this supposed dealer had 1883/2 coins and they were all the filled 2 variety of 1882. I think I left that small show after about 45 minutes.
A couple of years ago, at the Baltimore Whitman show, I was at an ancient dealer's table looking at a Parthian tetradrachm. I had taken the coin out of the plastic flip (with the dealer's permission) to examine it more closely, when I dropped it... not onto the dealer's table, but onto the hard concrete floor of the Convention Center. Fortunately the coin was not damaged, and I did end up purchasing it, but I think for a few seconds both the dealer and I were in danger of heart attacks.
I'm remembering one local show during the height of the 2011 silver frenzy, when dealers were upping their offers for 90% during the show. I bought a small bag of well-worn SLQs for I believe 25x spot, picked out a couple to keep, and sold the rest at a table in the next row for 26x. Haven't been able to repeat that performance since.
I did see Continental Currency at a very small local show I attended just a few months back. Even though it was well worn, it floored me to see a coin that historic at a tiny local show.
My absolutely worst, most embarrassing coin show story.... I was in my late teens, still in high school. Went to the local coin show (maybe 40 tables, tops). I was working on a Whitman Album of Ikes. Saw a dealer with a few in 2x2s in his case, so I stopped, asked to take a look, and pulled up a chair. To this day, I have no idea what my clumsy, foolish self did... The guy sitting next to me had a similar Whitman album he was working on with silver Washingtons. Somehow, I must have bumped him or bumped his album, which was laying on the dealers case... album dropped to the ground, several quarters popped out, went everywhere.... I felt absolutely terrible. In the end, we managed to find them all (I would have had to buy him replacements, of course!). But scrambling around underneath dealer's tables looking for rolling quarters that I had thrown out of his album... not my greatest memory.
A few years ago I went to a coin show and one of the dealers there was a joke. I was looking at a coin that I both wanted and needed when a customer asked how much a certain coin was. The dealer gave him a price and he said no and walked away. I asked and was given a price on the coin I wanted. I kept looking at it and a few minutes later another customer asked about the same coin the first customer asked about. He was quoted a different price. I thought that was odd but as I continued to look other customers asked about other coins. I realized that none of his coins had prices so I thanked him and walked away. Another dealer close by drew my attention so I looked and bought a coin from him. I mentioned to him about that dealer not having pricing on his coins. The dealer smiled and told me he never prices his coins at shows because he sizes the customer up and his prices are based on what he thinks each customer can pay. I’ve never bought from him or his shop and I never will.
Similar experience at the last local coin show I attended a couple years ago. "What are you looking for?" "Barbers." "Well here's some gold, you need to buy gold. Financial meltdown, Armageddon, fiat money, blah blah blah." Very aggressive. You'd think my reaction would have clued them in that I wasn't interested in that whole line of reasoning but they kept going on and on about it until I walked away. This happened at three different tables. I was just looking for some Barbers.
Good for you. I wouldn't either. Can you imagine if it were a car or something? It would be a joke also. You have to admit; Coin guys are weird sometimes.
The one that sticks out the most is the winter FUN Show in Fort Lauderdale years ago. There was a shooting in the airport and that shut down all of the airport. A lot of dealers and collectors were booked for flights that day. Shortly after that the FUN Show was surrounded by Sheriff officers. All had long guns walking the doors and the floor. First time I ever had armed guards while I was out in the smoking area.
