I debated whether to attend the FUN show in Ft. Lauderdale this year, but since it was "only" a four hour drive away, I thought I would make the trip. I even made a Coin Talk name badge with this web site's art work on a 2" by 4" avery label. "Tradernick" saw it and got a kick out of it. Steve (ND) was supposed to share the space with him, but couldn't make it. When I walked into the show, I was just floored at the size of it. There were over 400 dealer tables set up and you could feel the heat from all of those light bulbs showcasing their goods. Now I had my want/wish list and a plan. First, I started at one end of the hall and zig-zagged my way through the entire floor. I purposedly didn't buy anything, but I made notes of those dealers (booth numbers) that I wanted to come back and investigate more. That browsing process took over 3 hours! Afterwards, I had a hard time lifting my head from that "down-looking-at-the-table" angle that occupied my neck muscles during my first go at the floor. Afterwards, I went back to the dealers that had coins I wanted. I was looking for some nice AU to BU+ early Lincolns (before 1930) along with some books and supplies. Thank goodness I looked first and made notes before I bought, because I really felt good about my buys afterwards. I immediately took some of these coins to the graders and they gave me some of their "at-show" opinions. Now before I even thought about attending the show, I should have told you that James Taylor (President of ICG) sent me a personal email inviting me to his booth and to bring any coins for grading (20% show discount). I showed up at his booth and he greeted me like a personal friend. He introduced me to his staff and stated, "This is the guy that reaaaaallllly likes our Intercept Shield protection and sent me all of those emails about our poor printing quality (which has been upgraded)." It really was nice to be treated like that...even for a novice collector like myself by the President of one of the top grading companies. Afterwards I attended Don Bosner's seminar (other thread with notes) and enjoyed it. Actually it was great just to sit down and have a Diet Pepsi. After the seminar, I spent another hour and a half looking for odds and ends for my boys and closed down FUN Show day #1. Now...I never have seen so many Morgans in one room as this. I never seen as many slabs in one room as this show. I would bet that over 65% of all coins displayed were "slabbed" and after a while, they started to all to look alike. All in all, this is one show that all should attend. You wouldn't find too many other shows with the quantity and quality as this show.
Ed , Glad you had a great time!!! I wish I could go to a show like that... WOW...the show I go to is 30-40 dealers..... That is one thing I do and don't do..if I see a coin I need at a good price I go ahead and buy it before anybody else can..if I see another one I see if I can buy 2 I've always heard that you find more Morgans then any other coin. Speedy
Thanks, Ed. I kind of feel like I was there Since I live in NJ, I really have no idea when I would be able to make the FUN show, but at least now I don't feel like I completely missed out
Hello everyone, first post here, formerly a CW forum member. I decided to jump onto ed zak's post instead of opening a new FUN post if it's alright I want to confirm & verify all posted so far by the visitors to the FUN so and my thoughts and feelings on my experiences today--I just got back from the show & decided this is as good as any reason to jump into the forum time to quit lurking-- WOW--look at all the tables/booths!!!!--Impressive. This is my first visit to such a large show as this so that was my first impression when I walk in--My first decision was, do I wanna go right or left? We went to the right- As we walked, I immediately noticed that there were lotsa slabbed coins, overwhelming was the amounts of morgans & peace dollars that were slabbed. But as you wandered in, you can see that you could buy what ever you want--TONS of raw coins in all states, junk, xf, au, ms stuuf everywhere--Also, the prices for ms63/64 surprised me at how reasonable they were 40-65 dollars for super nice common stuff-- As I wandered about, I started to notice a pattern of, look at all the paper!!, there was more paper booths than I expected, and you name it I believe I saw every bill ever made in usa and other countries-- My first serious stop & purchase was at the Canadian Mint tables, since it caught my wife's eye, we wandered on over there. She and the kids were immediately impressed with the hologram coins-(BTW, the guys at this booth were the MOST friendliest in the place, even tho everyone was very nice and courteous) & they were the only people that gave away freebies. They gave my daughter a teddy bear & a bottle of water, gave her boyfreind a bottle of water, (water sells for $1.75 to $2.50 per bottle), they gave each of us a USA Commemorative Medallion struck in cupro-nickel Celebrate 225 years of Life, Liberty & happiness for FREE!! a $10 value AND a press florida quater fun show medal I guess it is--This was given even BEFORE they knew 100% I was gonna buy something--I purchased 1 ea of: 2003 Silver Maple Leaf Hologram Set 5-coins, 2004 Special Edition Packaging ANA Proof Set Limited to 500 sets (I have #0205) 8-coins & 2005 Specimen Set of Canadian Coinage 7-coins, all in original "sealed" government packaging-total cost?? $203.00-- I sold: 1 1996 Proof Prestige Set & 1 Gold 1924 St Gaudens in bezel (it was cleaned) So I walked out with more moeny than I walked in kewl eh? Now to what I learned--this sorta depressed me sum --No Silver Eagle tables ANYWHERE..Was not able to find any SAE in ms, found sporadic Proofs esp in OGP, donno what that tells you, but it alarmed me--What do you think it means? (I have my thouhgts but I wanna haer yawls feedback before I reply--To continue on what I learned--Paper moeny is more popular than I believed, and 2 MORGANs MORGANS MORGANS--finally GOLD--guys OLD gold is the ticket--I believe I have been collecting the WRONG stuff---so to me this visit has reawaken my feeling from when I was younger, now I know why I love Saints so much---I'm collecting the wrong stuff...So Ima gonna start to sell off my high end stuff from my current collection, and see what I wanna get into, morgans are on the list, but it looks like more n more that I'll probably start seriously back into gold--
I've never been to such a large show but I'd guess that the sellers there need to sell higher dollar items than than SAE's to make up the fees they have to pay. They are hoping for seasoned, highly specialized collectors who are looking for specific coins. I wouldn't get too alarmed. Its just bullion.
I didn't expect to get the first hits on the SAE first which is making me feel little better But to clarify there was NO eagles being sold in ANY slab in any state, no one was interested in buying the PCGS slabbed coins I had for sale, and the 1 guy that would buy them didn't know what to offer, (which surprised me), I said I'll sell for $40 each ---What I did see if extremely small quantities were SAE Proofs in OGP's, veeeery few slabbeb, I quit trying to sell my slabbed pcgs 1994's and 1997's--Thats what alarmed me NO interest-- Also, which I didn't post on my original post, how come dealers were leaving closing shop at 1PM, by 2PM there where lotsa closed tables, and they were falling like rain drops?? This observation told me, especially on the way home when u r in the (what if mode), I don't think we will see the FUN show back in Ft LaLa Land in near future-- --The weather is not good today down here, been raining since Wednesday, (rare for January) But I don't believe they got the expected traffic I know the next 2 FUN will back in Orlando, but will they ever come back to Ft. La-La-Land??? I donno...
Oh! Now that you tell me it's obvious. This is a specialized market so you have to find a dealer who is in this market. Many of these trade on ebay.
The people who sell slabbed sae's on ebay, etc are not usually the same people who set up shop at coin shows. Yes there's silver eagles there but with most dealers it's just a sideline. Many of them don't really go for slabbed bullion. I had a great FUN show...did everything I wanted to do, although there wasn't a lot of "extra" business like I usually do. I bought a bunch of gold, currency, and some proof type...stuff I needed for the shop. And I sold all items I took to sell except for one. So generally I'm happy. I'll be back in the area again in March for the Palm Beach show. If you live near there it's a good show...about 1/3 the size of FUN, so it's still a big show. Can't wait! Nick
