First, let me start off by saying that this was my first EVER coin show, and I had no idea what to expect...but anything I could have imagined? It was better! I will start with the ride over. While I've spent a lot of time in CT over the years this was all new territory for me, and in fact it was the first time in my life I had ever been on I-95. One thing that surprised me while driving to I-95 is how small and picturesqe the roads were in CT. I was expecting Route 7 to be a major road, like it is in Danbury, but it wasn't. A pleasent surprise and the ride was quite enjoyable. I didn't get lost once The rain held out too. It only drizzled a little bit right after getting on I-95 although the roads were wet on the ride over, it had rained during the night. When I got there there was only about a half hour before the show opened. People lined up and the line nearly filled the lobby upstairs. Had everyone gotten on line instead of sat around waiting like I did, it would have made the turn. This is a very large lobby, the Hilton is quite large. Then, after going past the velvet ropes to get in, the first thing you see is the display of the Unique Gold. That was very impressive, and it was the first time I had ever seen a gold coin in person. It's pretty cool that the first gold I ever saw was the 1943 D $5 Specimen that is appently unique After actually entering the Bourse itself, I was sure to stop at the Scarsdale Coin table, see Jon and thank him for all the help he gave me in getting there. While looking at his table, I see some very cool errors. There weren't too many errors at the show, which I was a little surprised about, but there were some. Jon had the most that I saw and yet again, it was the first time I had seen major errors in person. Then I start walking through the tables. I looked at every table there, I believe, by the end of the day. One of the first tables I visit has some large size bills in perfect condition. It was amazing to get to see some of them, and see $1000 bills for the first time in my life. Right after viewing them I am just walking down the aisle and am greeted by both versions of the Pan-Pac Gold $50s at the Legend table. By this time I had seen most every denomination of gold coin, and my honest reaction to them is that they were smaller then I expected. But then I saw the two Pan-Pac commeratives. They were huge, and in perfect condition. Both were graded by PCGS, I believe, but I could not tell you what they were graded. I don't think I looked. But it was one of the most visually stunning displays in the entire event, and it made an impression on me. (I later saw another Pan-Pac gold $50 but I don't recall which version it was, I think round. I was on coin overload yesterday!) I continue to walk around the show, meeting some of the dealers that I had heard about online or in some instances talk to on the forum. The first addition to my collection was Rick Snow from Eagle Eye Coins' store card. It features a great design of, what else, an Eagle on it! It was very cool to get that, because I have read about and even seen classic store cards in books and in person, but this was my first. I did pick up another later on in the show, but the design of Rick's is in my opinion, more interesting. I eventually come to see Larry at Sea Eagle Coins, all the way over in the corner. I've been talking with Larry via PM for a while, and I spent a lot of time yesterday at his table, making a large purchase for me (but fairly small in the overall show) and just chatting with him and another board member, getting quite an education After leaving Larry's table for the first time, I see a man selling currency. It turns out to be John Schwartz, who co-wrote the book on small size notes! I ended up making my first purchase of the day at his table, coming home with 8 small size notes, including some stars, two more red seal $2s, a silver certificate and just some earlier notes, I was planning on going back and purchasing some more from him later in the day but ran out of money. It turned out that was the only modern US currency I bought at the show. I then further peruse the tables, and come across a table that was very well laid out, with every denomination not only grouped togther, but in year order within the denomination! That was impressive, and while I didn't get too much from their displays, I did root around in their dollar a coin basket and pulled out 4 buffalo nickels, one liberty nickel, and two 1800s Indian cents. Those became my first purchased coins of the day. After that my plan of walking the entire floor once before buying anything was out the window, but I feel that by then having covered roughly 1/3rd of the main bourse room I had a basic judge of what I could expect to see and started making some small purchases. I will readily admit to anyone that I am a small time collector, and most of my purchases today came from the cheap bins. (when you pull out 20 or more coins it isn't so cheap anymore! ) but I did that for another reason too, not just because it was cheaper. I knew that by going through those boxes, I could pull out coins I wanted for my collection based on the coin's merit itself, not on weather or not I could afford it. Even doing that, I ended up with some really nice classic silver in uncirculated or darn close to it grades, mainly Mercury dimes, a particular favorite series of mine. I also nabbed my first EVER puchased upgrade, a 1943P silver war nickel. It is uncirculated, and the version I had already (which I actually recieved in change in 2007) was very highly worn. I also bought my first graded coin from a major grading company. One of the things I wanted to do when I set out was buy the cheapest slab possible. I'm not a big fan of grading, honestly, but I figured I wanted to buy one just for the heck of it basically, to see what the fuss was all about. I ended up nabbing a proof 1961 dime, graded PR66CAM from PCGS, for only $10. Mission accomplished! I figured I couldn't go wrong with a proof, in silver no less, for only $10. In this instance, it was clearly a case of buy the slab, not the coin I purchased it based on price alone, but, I did not previously have a proof 1961 dime, so it worked out well in the end. I know eventually I am going to have to start buying slabs, but for now, as a new collector, there are plenty of low priced raw coins I need for my collection that it's not really a concern. In the secondary Bourse, I made my single biggest purchase of the day, and it literally doubled the amount I spent on one single coin. It was also my only ancient purchase of the day, and my first ancient silver. I paid $50 for it and I would say I got a very good deal! Can't beat Roman silver. Seeing some of the anceint coins was amazing. The only ancients I had seen in person before were the few in my collection...nothing at all like the large silver and gold coins that I saw today. I was really impressed by them. In the smaller room there was a larger table with all kinds of cool stuff, ancients, medieval, all the way up to modern American coinage, and ancient artifacts as well. I ended up pulling out a large variety from his lower priced bins, (that is where I got the upgrade nickel I mentioned above) and one of only two half dollars I bought on the day, a 1951 Franklin, which I would say is about uncirculated. Mostly I got some world coins out of there though, I tend to skew more towards world coinage. I eventually make my way through the entire bourse, and I ended up meeting and chatting with a few fellow board members, from both boards I post on. That was very cool, it was nice to meet people that I had only talked to before. Eventually I made about three trips around the entire bourse, and several sections mutliple times. Near the end when the crowds had died down, I went through again and some of my favorite purchases of the day came then. I found a table selling world currency, and pulled out more then two dozen from the $1 a piece bucket. Included in that were my #1 most wanted world note, the Belarus issue with a squirrel on it. I'll be scanning them all in shortly...I eventually see the table run by board member Nickle. I don't how how but I missed stopping at his table the first few times, but I ended up finding something I had hoped to find (and really didn't) throughout the show: Discount world coins I unded up pulling out 40 of them for my collection, and as an added bonus, he had some nice condition but common date Barber dimes in a $1.50 each bucket. Since I'm still new to collecting, even common dates of silver do not reside in my collection, and I pulled out 6 of them that I needed. I am amazed that I didn't end up buying a single duplicate, as I purchased quite a few Barber dimes throughout the day, and I didn't always get the chance to add them to my list. I will admit to forgetting to check for mint marks in that final purchase form Nickle, and that is I think my only real mistake at the show. At the very end of the day, within 10 minutes of closing, I went back to say good bye to some of the people I knew. As I did that I saw that one of the tables I wanted to go to but was busy every time I went by was still there and I made my final purchase of the day, 4 circulated Washington quarters, ranging in date from 1935 to 1945. Here are some other assorted notes about the show: There were more gold and Classic Commems then I expected. I would say that as a whole, classic commems even outnumbered Morgan dollars, although single design wise I would say that Morgans were the most populus at the show. I didn't see a single three cent nickel. It's the only US coin type I didn't see at the show, excepting some classic gold, which I may have just missed as gold is almost completly out of my price range. I have a Three Cent Nickel, and I think it may be an error. I was hoping to compare it to some more at the show, because if it's not an error, it may be a counterfit, and I would really hope not. (I got it in the 1990s so it wouldn't likely be a modern ebay style counterfit, especially because it has been in my collection longer then ebay has been around) The food was Great, priced right, and huge. The hot dogs were the size of half dollars, and the hamburgers apparently covered the plates (I don't eat hamburgers, but that is what I was told). All I ate yesterday until I got home were two hot dogs, (I forgot breakfast, as I was that excited to go to the show) and they were large enough that I was not hungry again throughout the entire show! I am not sure what all they offered, but every time I walked by the food area it smelled great. I think the single coin that made the biggest impression on me was a gold issue, I believe a $10 (eagle) at Julian's table, from 1799 yet preserved in perfect condition. Most of the dealers and other collectors were genuinly happy, friendly people. Not at all some of the horror stories you hear online. I also did not see a single stained shirt. My favorite currency purchase was the Belarus squirrel note. I've been wanting that one for a long time. Squirrels rock. My favorite coin I purchased is a toss up for me, while I like them all, (or else I would not have purchased them) the ancient Roman I mentioned above is about neck and neck with a coin from 1623 from Poland that I purchased from Allan G. Berman. I purchased more Barber Dimes then any other single coin design, adding 12 new examples to my collection, ranging from 1892 to 1916. I didn't pay more then $10 for any of them, although I did pay that exactly for two of them. Buffalo nickels ranked second on the new intake, with 7, ranging from 1920 to 1938D. Before the day started I had a grand total of 6 Barber coins, counting the dime, quarter and half all togther. In addition to the 12 dimes I bought, I also bought three more Barber Quarters, ranging in age from 1897 to 1916 D. The oldest American coin I bought was a 1859 Indian cent. It is my first Copper-Nickel IHC and it is also the first year, which is an added bonus! The newest coin I purchased is an issue from 1993 from (I think) the Czech Republic from 1993 from the world coin bin I went through at the end. I got to hold a Machin's Mills issue, thanks to the fine folks at CRO. Machin's Mills was located just across the Hudson River from me, and I would really like to add one to my collection one day. The version I held yesterday, however, was in almost uncirculated condition, and the price that would be required to bring it home is more then was paid for the family car! I got 7 new countries for my world coin collection. Amazingly, I still have some money left! I was sure I would be completly broke, but I actually brough home a small bit of money. Less then $20, but I am surprised it was that much! Had I more time, I probably would have spent it though, and I was there the entire day. Overall, it was an amazing show! For my first ever show, it was more then I could have hoped for. I got to see some amazing things, some things I can only ever dream of owning, and meet some great people, as well as have the single best day for my collection yet. I don't want to wait until next year to do it all again! Although one thing is for sure, I'm going to save more money for next year, LOL! Here is a link to the album of pictures I took. It's not that many but I got all the exhibits on display. http://public.fotki.com/ElCaminoBilly/other_hobbies/numismatics/coinfest-2009/ And here is the video I took at the end of the day, about an hour before closing time: (By the way, the video was shot in HD, so you can click that and get a better quality on YouTube!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LHKu5G0Ux0 PS I have not yet tried to image any of the coins I bought, but I will...if it works, I will post some of them! And another PS to Mark Feld...thanks for taking time out of your busy day to come over and say hello! Sorry about when I said hello it sounded more like Mike then Mark, I did have a mouth full of my hot dog lunch at the time
Thanks for taking the time to share the fun, the anxiety, and the dreams-come-true because you made the time to attend your first coin show.... Clinker
great report! sounds like you had some fun, picked up some great items.... So! you ready now to hit another show???
Thanks for the report, photos and the video, sounds like you had fun and came back with a bunch of nice coins!!!
Awesome post Billy! I agree, the show was overwhelming for a first-timer like myself as well, but there were some decent finds if one was willing to dig through the stuff! Oh I did see a dealer with a whole bunch of 3 cent nickels btw, it was in the large room in one of the center isles I think. Good to see that you ended up buying from a bunch of the same dealers as I have. Didn't see you at the show, but then again I mostly was looking down, not up and around lol. BTW, I actually bought the Belarus entire note set not too long ago because of the cool animals on them.
Thanks for the comments! I really did have a great time. I've been thinking about it since then, had I not spent all my money on Saturday I would have gone back today, but I did so no return trip today, LOL. Raider, sorry I missed you too! Jon, oh yeah I am ready for another one. Not too many around here, but Parsippany is every month, I'm going to maybe get down there in December (I hope!) Might buy myself a Christmas present! Sasha, sorry I missed you! Maybe you were at the 3 cent nickel table that I must have missed, lol. I was planning on buying the whole Belarus set someday, but never have yet. I ended up bringing home the note with the squirrel and the moose on it (both animals fascinate me) Now I just need a note with a monkey on it and I will be set! I think I found some awesome deals...you really can't beat uncirculated silver for less then $5
haha it wasn't a whole table, but at least 20 or so in a case that I saw walking by. Oh and Belarus also has 3 Ruble Beaver and 5 Ruble Wolf notes, I have both and they are AWESOME! I'll see if my local store has any in the junk bin, they are less then a buck if you need them.
Whoa ! I would like to see a thread about the difference between specimen strikes and proof strikes. I saw an 1803 50c SP65 a while back that absolutely floored me. I have a special fondness for Draped Bust 50c... but that one was a little out of range.
Billy, good to have met you. Nice show report and I think it's great that you enjoyed yourself so much there.
Billy, very good and detailed report. I first saw it on the CU forum and really enjoyed reading about all the things you saw. As with Sasha's report, it was fun hearing what it's like for someone to attend their first show! Thanks for sharing!
Billy Liked yours and Sasha's reports. Also liked your photo of the 1843 D gold piece. I was there briefly on Friday and enjoyed staring at it myself. I had no idea Mark Feld was going to be there or I would have brought along some of my annoying questions! I also didn't bring any of my coins for CAC'ing. All to show I will need to plan better next year. Although I could only make it for a few hours, I had a good time and scoped out a few things I wanted to see in person. Also met some good dealers, in addition to the ones I had previously dealt with. Anyway, thanks, Billy, and I am glad you enjoyed the show.
