I have never gone to a show before.. I left feeling glad that I went, but dissapointed in the experience. Is it common that the floor is full of dealers who want too much for their stuff? I wasn't looking for bargains or anything.. but geeze the prices looked like they were for that ONE buyer who needed ONE coin to finish a century old collection. Mostly the action was all dealer-on-dealer.. I didn't see John Q Punlic browsing around. The aisles were fairly empty (friday12-5pm). a roll of tennesee quarters with writing on the wrapper was 30 bucks! Part of *my* fun is trying to find something that is "pretty" and cheap. only 1 item fit the bill, a foreign modern silver ounce round with a laser-etched design on it. I passed on it though, thinking it may be fake. It smelled bad. I brought alot of stuff to the show for the graders to peek at.. pretty much the answers were 'naah, not worth grading', 'We don't grade those', 'that has been cleaned', 'We grade foreign but that won't fit into any of our holders', and for my statehood commems (boy the internet boon DESTROYED those values).. 'that'll be 340 dollars please'. I submitted a seated Liberty CC quarter for the PCGS free special too. Only 17 bucks. Oh and my 178 degree rotated Adams. I got to sneak into the VIP auction and the first 3 went for spot-gold value.. the rest were either no-bid, or one or 2 internet bids. The people in the room were busy eating the free food and only a couple bid on anything. I left it half way through though. All-in-all I think the shows just aren't for the casual dude. Way too many $7000 coins to look at. I saw NO security. There must have been 3 billion dollars worth of stuff in that room.. and it seemed 90% were Morgans and Eagles and such.
Many "large shows" are disappointing, but I had lots of luck in some smaller shows in places I never heard of, except via the local newspapers (non-numismatic publications). Clinker
There are few things you need to realize about coin shows - 90% of the business done is strictly between dealers. And dealers at shows are like dealers everywhere - prices are all over the place. It is up to you to know what a fair price is. And the reason there was little activity at the auction is because there was no fresh material. It was the same old coins that all of the dealers had seen a hundred times before. This is also typical. But let some fresh material show up - and you better stand back. It will be like a bunch of sharks in a feeding frenzy and they don't care who gets in the way. The way to be successful at coin shows is to have knowledge before hand. Then you can pluck the wheat from the chaff And don't be afraid to not buy any. I've gone to many coin shows and not bought a single coin. Then I have gone to others and bought 20 ! You never know, at least most of the time - exactly what you will find at a coin show. But you better be prepared so you know it when you see it
there was plenty of security - thre are plain clothes and uniformed police, and hired securty in blazers. the big big big guy you walkd past as you entered the door, he was security. in talking to many dealers, this was a poor show - the looming recession has many buyers not buying. -steve
About right for a roll of Tenn. And to think that back when they came out I went to the bank to get mixed rolls of quarters and they handed me BU rolls of Tenn....I didn't want them so I traded them out with my dad and he spent them on gas Speedy
You would think that with the looming recession that prices would come down some. I am sure that I missed the bargains too.. but I figure with all the dealers around checking each other out, that no bargains would be left after the first 20 minutes. There is a local show around here once in a while.. in conjunction with a gun show. Coins and guns.. I don't get the connection but hey.. if it works.. Thanks for the comments.. I understand a little better now.
One more thing to remember Delmer, the day before a show opens to the public, they have what they call dealer's day. And all the dealers buy and sell amongst themselves. So by the time you get to see the coins, they might have been sold 2 or 3 times already. Thus driving up the asking price.
