Lakeland, FL coin show

Feb 18-20 and it should be a good one! I'll be there if you want to talk coins through our masks.

 

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Wish I could but its to far 2-3 hours.

 

I wish I still lived in Florida.

 

I'd love to go, but it's too risky for us "old codgers." I am getting the second shot this weekend.

 

I am thinking about it. It will be two weeks after my second Moderna vaccine shot, and that yields 95% immunity. That, plus a KN95 mask is close to 100%.

 

FYI...even if you CATCH the Covid-19 virus after being vaccinated (many have)....the severity of the illness is likely to be far reduced.

 

I'd go but.... nahhhh. it's an almost 4 hour drive one way for me, or a 55 minute flight. LOL.

 

I'm thinking about going. It's only an hour away but I haven't been able to get a vaccine yet. Want to go! Want to go!

 

Folks wear masks & hand sanitizer at each table. Temperature checks at door.-

 

Guess this will be another branch of the grand "accelerating toning with hand sanitizer" experiment...

 

OK, I'm planning on being there on Thursday and meeting a friend from Merritt Island. I'll make a point of stopping by to say hello, @Insider.

 

I just returned home from the first day of the Lakeland Collect-O-Rama Show. I thought it was about as well attended and stocked with dealers as the pre-pandemic Lakeland shows I have attended. I was surprised to see WestCoastCoins there, seemed like quite a jaunt for them. WCC had some really choice material on display.

I did see and speak with @Insider briefly, he seemed pretty busy the entire time I was there, about 10 am to 1 pm. Also chatted with several dealers I have not seen in months and months. Ran into the secretary and president of my local coin club and had a nice chat. Haven't seen them for over a year.

Everybody obeyed the mask rule as far as I could see but social distancing was an afterthought and sometimes a no-thought.

I saw lots of money and checks changing hands, including some of mine. I thought pricing was high, similar to what I have seen in auctions this last 6 or 7 months. I saw quite a few high-quality U.S. PCGS and NGC non-CAC coins that I was very interested in with super-premium price tags attached (1873 Pr-64 LS 1$, 1871 AU-58+ LC 1$, 1891 MS-65BN IHC, 1877 AU-55 IHC). I also saw a lot of low-end stuff or very common highly-graded material that seemed to me to be about where the market should be (LOL, And just where SHOULD the market be, Publius2?) for this material.

I think some of what was I was seeing in this show was a lot of dealers trotting out their tired old material and a lack of new material for many of them. I think I've heard this issue of lack of new material from others.

One of the things I was looking for specifically was nice Capped Bust Half Dimes in PCGS or NGC AU-55 to MS-63. There were surprisingly few CBHDs at all in this show, slabbed or raw, and absolutely nothing that I wanted or needed.

Lots of silver and gold coin stacking going on. Heard a couple of dealers complain about selling gold for less than they purchased it due to the recent fall in gold spot price. I don't know if they actually sold at a loss or not, it seems about half of what I hear dealers saying at coin shows is some kind of complaint.

So, for a short while I won't be jonesing for a coin show. Now the EAC auction is coming up next month. Got my eye on something there.

 

Publius, great update...how many dealers/tables would you estimate ?

 

H'mm, I didn't try to take a count but let me take a stab at a SWAG: There were a couple of fossil-type dealers; four or five jewelry dealers; five to seven World coin dealers; and maybe 60 to 80 others. Call it say 80 to 100.

 

I was going to go, but decided to wait. Not enough folks have gotten the vaccine yet. I am one of the fortunate ones, having had both doses of Moderna. It is unlikely that I could get the virus, but I would not want to be a carrier to others, as in rare cases can happen. So, I will wait a while longer, until more folks have been vaccinated.

 

Wow...that's a pretty big show. It's about 2x the Parsippany (Garden State) Coin Show held monthly.

Lakeland is monthly, quarterly.... ?

 

Lakeland used to be once a year but its been twice, I think, the last two years. The guy that puts it on kinda does what he wants, is my impression. But I don't have any insider knowledge there.

 

Thanks for the update...might be the biggest coin show held (at least mentioned here on CT) since C-19 hit last March.

 

One other thing for you @GoldFinger1969 - There were a pretty fair number of SGs in dealer's cases but they outnumbered the LH DEs by about 4 or 5 to 1. And many, maybe most, of the LHs were in circulated grades.

Does this suggest that the decline in gold spot is keeping coins sidelined?

 

This show was sold out. I'll ask Ed how many tables tomorrow. The show was SMOKING HOT and so far it is just Wed and Thur. Friday should be the best day. Ed said his phone was ringing off the hook asking if the show would be held. losts of buying and selling going on and foot traffic. I have not heard of any dealers who were not pleased. One made it a point to tell me it was his best show in a long time when I asked. RARCOA even had a table.

Best of all, the convention center is about 40 steps from the hotel door.