What follows are some observations from the show: ~the entrance fee for one day mentioned sales tax and had a credit card fee too…total was 11.20 but there was a cash price of 10…has anyone seen sales tax mentioned before for a show entrance fee? (I did look up the rules and Rosemont does have sales tax for shows but no prior show there has specifically mentioned charging the tax) ~not too many people were registering at about 15 minutes past the 10 AM open and the crowd seemed smaller than last year and certainly less than the ANA show when it is in Rosemont ~the room was also different…this is the first time I recall a show on the second floor of the convention center…it was still a big space but there were fewer tables than last year and some areas curtained off…also some tables were empty ~bullion: one table had silver Eagles at $5 over spot and generic rounds at $2 over spot…another had gold at melt (world)…those seemed to be the best prices for each….several tables had platinum too (mainly graded Eagles at a premium) ~old holders: one table had 3 of the NGC black 1.0 slabs…someone else had a 108 and 109 rattler…there were small Anacs, PCI, IGS (the better one, not the basement slabber), Global….all were priced at a premium (sometimes super strong premium)…all of these dealers knew what they had (nothing to cherry pick) ~toners: every show the prices seem to keep going up…the nice but not monster common date MS 62-65 Morgans tended to be in 1,500-3,000 range (with some well above)….even the darker or monochromatic examples were 600-1,000…it is hard to find much at “reasonable” premiums (which some might still think are high but I remember the days of 300-500 for a solid reverse toner, which was “only about 3x-5x the generic amount)…auction results have been strong too so I understand why dealers price certain examples but many are $500-$1k above what I have seen similar examples bring at GC or Heritage…for those that just have 1 or 2, it makes sense to hold out and have something to attract people to your case but when the whole case is like that, it becomes a museum (which we all have seen at various shows with all sorts of coins-not just toners) ~Carr: I only saw one table with any Dan Carr items ~selling: one dealer, who has always been fair on the buy and sell side, picked up several of my items at good prices for both of us (he flipped one item to a person I know from IG right away at a profit)….I had a few other items that did not sell (one toned Peace Dollar had several comments that the price was fair but no one wanted to buy it, which was a bit surprising…I was debating on selling it originally so I might just keep it or list it online….a modern world coin in a 70 slab did not have much interest as one dealer who is normally at the IL shows was not there and a few others who were selling modern world either did not know much about it or could not find an eBay sale so did not want to offer much…an ICG slab with a nice coin in it did not get much traction as people tended to shy away from the slab ~buying: a few smaller items were found that aren’t really what I was looking for but seemed interesting enough and were not too expensive….the one big purchase was from a person I know from IG who I have bought a few things from over the last few shows ~I overheard some mentioning that the show might not make it much longer (this was the second one and it did seem smaller than last year)….hopefully it does stick around as having another bigger show in the Chicagoland area in years without the Summer ANA helps will the gap in between each Central States show
Random musing. I wonder if the whole toning thing is a bubble that's gonna burst one day. Hmm. Nah, I reckon toners will always be popular with a certain segment of the hobby, but will the moon-money prices last, is what I'm wondering.
Thanks for sharing, I always love a good show write up, makes me feel like I was there is some small way. Also interesting to see what other collectors are looking for / commenting on at shows. I would also have noted the old slabs, Carr items, toners, and for me I would make a point to note CACG slabs and more importantly to me, CAC stickered coins. For the shows I visit, 50% of dealers generally are offering raw coins. Something I glance at, but nothing I seriously sit down and dig through or really consider for purchase. What level of mostly-raw or raw-only tables did you see?
I'm guessing they forgot to pack the tax into the admission fee last year and got a surprise when they had to pay a 10+% sales tax bill. Usually the tax is included in the advertised price of admission tickets. I went last year and it was mostly a waste of my time. There's only so much capacity within the hobby for big shows when so much business is done online.
I think NE was going to be there and if you mentioned something you got like a 7% discount or maybe I am imaging it. Yeah sometimes I do not get the big premiums for toned coins. Not sure myself - but sometimes I do pay a little extra.
