This weekend I am goin to a coin show for the first time. What should I do to prepare and what should I expect? Thanks.
Prepare? Bring money. Have a list, bring what you might want to sell Expect? Depending on which coin show and its size, be prepared to be impressed--There will be no way you will be able to see, check or even get the time to review & see everything that you might want--It usually is over whelming--At least it was with me at my first coin show @ the FUN show in ft lauderdale this January-- --Be frugal, look for bargains on what you collect & for God's sake have fun!! cisco
I agree with Cisco.... Take cash as most dealers I've seen don't take much eles...I only use cash so that is no problem to me. Take along a magnifier...I use a 10X... I don't buy any coins that have problems with them as its worth it to save up a little more and buy a good one. I used to like the Bargain Boxes but they kindof bruned me out....sometimes you don't get such a hot deal like they want you to think. Speedy
You will find very much good, detailed advice in two recent threads: my first coin show (started by rick) Coin show etiquette question (started by cholmes75) On the one hand, we all sort of feel our way around the process. On the other, getting good advice from those who know can help you have a better time. I have attended perhaps 50 coin shows, in the last 15 years, which is not many, really. Here in Metro Detroit, you can go to a show every weekend in the winter. (You can also go to a different club meeting every week.) Among the shows I have made are six ANA conventions, two FUN, one NYINC, many MSNS, and a CSNS. The MSNS shows are the smallest of the major bourses with about 150 dealers. Also, the MSNS conventions come complete with educational forums, other club meetings (tokens, paper money, etc.), exhibits, and a nightly auction. Most newbies see only the bourse floor. In fact, the first convention I attended was an ANA show and the people I was working for kept telling me take time from the booth and to go to a Numismatic Theater. I did not see why I would want to do that. Later, I found out why. Let's just say that collectors share a lot of opinions on forums like this, but when you sit in a seminar and listen to the guy who wrote the books, you are getting first hand information. One talk I enjoyed at the 2004 ANA convention was "recent developments in the Morgan Dollar markets" by Bill Fivaz. At the last MSNS convention, I shared the forum with Wendell Wolka who wrote several books on midwest private banknotes of the early 1800s. Just to give you some idea of the company you will keep, when I spoke at the Cincinnati ANA on The Origins of Coinage, there were three people in the audience -- and I brought one of them. Similarly, auctions tend to be for dealers. I do not know why. Anyone can go. Basically, newbies and collectors in general tend to be day people with day jobs for whom this is a hobby, whereas dealers must work 24/7. Maybe there are other reasons. I have attended only a few auctions, and then only because it was my job to cover them. However, the few collectors I saw in them left ecstatic with the opportunity to buy the best coins on the market at the lowest possible prices. When you see people in auctions looking at Greysheet, they are looking at how much they can sell the coin for, not how much they are willing to pay. (That said, it is pretty exciting to see some rarity shoot up to three times the estimate in a bidding war between two dealers with serious clients who need the item.) As far as meetings go, again, it takes you off the bourse floor, and many people never see the reason to attend a club meeting at a convention. However, you came here to ask a question. In a club meeting, you will socialize with the serious collectors who can help you if you are a member of the club. It is also interesting to see who is serious about what. The reason that I voted as I did for ANA president last time around is that I sat in a meeting with Gary for Seated Liberty collectors. We just sat there, listening, learning... Another underappreciated opportunity is the Exhibits area. At a major show, there are prizes at stake, and a lot of ego goes into those exhibits. (Believe me!) READ THEM LIKE BOOKS. (Don't just glide past the pictures while ignoring the words.) You come to a forum like Coin Talk -- which is fine; I like it a lot -- and accept people's opinions on the grounds that they probably know more than you. The Exhibit area is a place where the real experts strut their stuff. The hardest challenge on the bourse floor for a newbie is not getting carried away. In all those conventions, with all those dealers, I once (once) missed being able to buy a coin I saw in the morning because someone else bought it before I came back -- but I found another one later. Nothing is so rare that you have be rash with your money.
