Hi, all. I wanted to give a brief summary of the 2008 Michigan State Numismatic Society fall show. The venue is the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn, MI. It is a good location, as it is in reasonable proximity to major highways. There are good restaurants and a coffee shop in the hotel. In the same parking lot is Fairlane Mall, a major shopping center with lots of good places to eat and many stores. There are two shows here annually; a Fall show and a Spring show. The Fall show always starts the day after Thanksgiving (Friday), and runs through the adjacent Saturday and Sunday. I went today and spent all day (10A-6P) at the show. I may or may not go back tomorrow. There were over 200 dealers present, with an excellent variety of material available. I saw multiple dealers of ancient coins, paper money, numismatic supplies, books, foreign coins and, of course, U.S. coins. There was something available for every collector at every price range. I purchased material from around 10 dealers. Each of them I spoke with said that business had been pretty good the first two days. There was a feeling of dread about Sunday's show due to predicted inclement weather, but business was certainly bustling today. Many of the dealers were willing to bargain, and there were certainly good deals to be had. When first entering the area, you first have to put on a name tag, as is standard at the larger coin shows. The sign-in tables are covered with flattened souvenir cents (free), as they have at every show. Walking on, you pass the exhibit area. I went in and saw some very interesting exhibits. I would estimate there were 60-80 exhibits in the competition in various categories. Then you pass a small bourse with about 50 dealers. The main exhibit hall comes next, with just about 200 dealers. An auction took place at 5:00, but I did not participate. I had already spent an insane amount of money and I was pretty coined-out by then anyway. Admission to the show is free. Members of the MSNS can get into the show an hour before the general public on Friday if they are wearing their badge. I did have the chance to meet up with Stainless and Silverstruck, both great guys. We chatted for a bit, and we looked at a few coins that the other had brought. I ran across them a couple of times throughout the day, and we updated each other on our newps. That's about all I have to say. I'll try to get up some pics of my new acquisitions in the near future.
Nice report, did you stop by booth 138 and say hello to Budgood? I know about half of the dealers at this show which I though was pretty amazing. Ran into some old friends and met some new ones. Picked up a couple of old Crusty BHD's, and some silver eagles. Did you happen to see the clock the guy had in the first row? Was about 2 feet across and had $1,000 dollar bills for each number for the hours. Something that I did notice. No TPG's were there that I seen. Kinda odd for a large state show I would think. Maybe I missed them??
I didn't say hi to Budgood; for some reason I didn't know he'd be there. If I go back tomorrow I'll stop by. The only TPG I saw there was DGS (Dominion Grading Service.) I didn't see much activity there. I did see a display of their graded coins, and they seemed reasonable. Larry Briggs was there, as usual. He's Mr. SEGS. I don't think SEGS has an official presence, although I could be wrong. I remember a year or so ago you could submit coins to SEGS right at the show, but I don't know if you still can or not.
I was there yesterday, made one purchase which I will keep mum on, but another I will share in a thread here: http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?p=469211#post469211
tdec, have you been to any of the St. Louis shows? Its sounds like they are just a little smaller than the MSNS show described here.
well i went to the show on friday and bought some nick a date, a uncirculated wheat cent, a 1963 proof roosevelt, and a 1912 and 1901 v nickel in vg then on saturday i went to the auction it looked as if the world coin lots were going very low below estimate like for example, a world coin lot with a low estimate of 30 dollars went for 5. but i do not bid on these lots because i dont know much about world coins and i did not preview those lots. i ended up winning a 1851 large cent in ef-au, a 1833 bust half in fine, a 1835 half cent in vg, a 1856 seated quarter in vf-ef, and a 1878s trade dollar in vf-xf. i am thinking about getting the trade dolar certified because it looks as if there are some tool marks on hte top of the reverse.
