First Show as a Dealer...

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Congrats for this friendly show. Wish you every luck J.A.

Charles

 

<waiting breathlessly for updates>...

 

I actually forgot this was John's weekend amidst all the hurricane stuff..l

 

That brings up a question of whether there will be much effect on our hobby due to the hurricanes. Obviously there are quite a few collectors with more pressing concerns than following lots closing on eBay in the next few days. I doubt it would have any effect on a small show in Pennsylvania but eliminating an underbidder in a high level sale closing tomorrow would make a bargain for someone and a poor payout for someone else. I received word today that a non-coin item I ordered from a seller would not be coming and my payment was refunded. The seller was from Texas. Obviously our first concern is the physical and emotional well being of our friends in the path but the effect on us all is something we will not realize fully for quite some time.

The evening news here had a piece on Florida Nursing Homes that were not evacuating. It seems that a study showed that the death/hospitalization rates of very elderly and Alzheimer's residents evacuated before major storms was greater than the number of people left in place. There is no 'win' in this. I hope the show was a major success. I'm glad it was in Pennsylvania.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all the advice and well-wishes! It turned out to be a great show despite my misgivings about being ignored in a sea of US collectors. A shoutout and thank-you to @Ardatirion for encouraging me to take the step! I actually had a steady stream of customers, or at least talkative tire-kickers from the moment the show opened to the moment it closed. I managed to snap this pic of my table before the doors opened, but didn't have the time to take any more pics later...



I had a number of adult customers, but surprisingly also a good number of guys in their teens and twenties. The $5-$25 coins were very popular, particularly the Indo-Greeks (another surprise). But I also sold some of the higher-end stuff. I had some great conversations with guys that knew much more about ancient coins than I expected, for a show that's geared to collectors of moderns. I gave away a number of coins to interested YN's and raffled off a nice ant of Gordian III, which was won by a very happy young man.

For whatever macabre reason, almost everyone who works at CNG was at the show, despite the lack of ancient coins. Some of those guys sell US coins as a hobby. Imagine my nervousness presuming to say something intelligent about ancient coins whilst surrounded by the entire CNG staff!

I ended up buying a few nice coins, a Parthian drachm and RR denarius from Kerry Wetterstrom, and a Seleucid tet and Thessalian League stater from other dealers. I was also invited to set up at two other local shows this fall, which I agreed to as the rent was low for both.

I haven't done the math yet, but I believe I broke even. I'm pretty sure profits covered the rent and a hundred dollars worth of supplies I had to buy to set up a table - lights, invoices, bags, mats, signs, all that kind of stuff. Maybe I made a few dollars more than that, but my brain is too fried at the moment for bookkeeping.

But everyone wanted me back, and I have invitations to other shows now, so perhaps it's possible to build up the show routine to something profitable. We'll see. But considering I was afraid I'd only sell one or two coins, I'd call the experience a wild success.

 

Sounds like a very positive experience. Congrats on your first show!

 

The Republic???

 

Great news John! Glad it was a good experience

 

Great report, John! Congrats on a successful first show

 

Good to hear you had a positive outcome and hopefully better more in the near future.

 

Sounds like you had a great outing and can look forward to more in the future. Congrats!

 

Congrats @John Anthony I'm glad to hear it went so well. Hopefully that Seleucid tet will be featured in one of your upcoming auctions.

 

Thank you all, my friends, for the kind words! The most satisfying moment of the day was talking to a young man who expressed his dissatisfaction with his current collecting aesthetics, and was very intrigued by the ancient coins, but had no idea where to begin. After talking to him for half and hour and giving an obviously very general lay of the land, he spent a good deal of time picking out nine coins and expressing a desire to delve deeper into their history and numismatics. I'm pretty sure I turned him resolutely to the dark side!

 

i knew you'd do well plus you had a marvelous time JA. congrats on 'breaking the ice" on your 1st show

 

Resistance is futile!

Really glad you had a good show!

John

 

That's awesome John.. I'm glad the show went well for you!

 

I hope you invited him to visit CoinTalk. Many of us would be collecting alone were it not for on-line forums. A newbie is more likely to continue if they have collectors to interact with--us!

 

Congrats ! Sounds like a good day