I attended the 2010 MSNS coin show today. For those of you unfamiliar, this is Michigan's state-wide show, held twice a year; typically in the Spring as well as Autumn. I got mixed reviews from dealers as to whether it was a "good" show. Some said it was slow, while others did quite well. I only ran into once fellow CTer (more below), but I typically run into more at these shows. There may have been more there, but I didn't recognize anyone. I always write my club affiliation on my badge (Northwest Detroit Coin Club), as well as my CoinTalk affiliation, just in case someone can recognize me in that way. The dealer attendance was a bit down. I saw probably 10-15% empty tables, which I never see. I was so shocked by it that I asked other dealers if the tables were attended on Friday and Saturday, or if they were just not filled. It turns out that the dealers were there, but had left some time on Saturday. I never did find out the reason for this, but they were gone in any case. This is likely a good thing, as it took me 4 hours to walk the bourse, and if they had all been there, it would have been a bit longer. I did make a few purchases, and I saw many transactions taking place. I bought a Seated Liberty half dollar (common date, VG-8), a 1923 (I think) Peace dollar with some nice toning on the reverse (only bought it because toning is so uncommon on Peace dollars), and the highlight of my show: A 1955 NGC PR-65 Jefferson nickel with the nicest toning on a proof coin I have ever seen. I showed it to about 6 dealers who like toning, and every single one of them asked me if it was for sale. I only got approximate prices from two dealers, and they were about triple what I paid for it. Blu62Vette was at the show. I intended to meet him ahead of time, via his post in the "Open" section of CoinTalk. I have a couple of hundred coins that need to be photographed that I have neglected. Anyway, I showed him one of my interesting nickels, and he took a couple dozen nice shots of it, which he burned for me on a DVD, free of charge. We chatted a bit, and he's a really nice guy. Turns out he's here from California, and this was his first (hopefully not last) MSNS visit. I returned to him later in the show with my newly-purchased 1955 proof nickel (see above), and he photographed that as well, gratis. Many thanks, Blu!!! Anyway, he's got a great photo setup, and I hope to steer some of my coins to him in the future. All in all, I'm glad I went. I didn't have nearly the time to peruse that I normally do; usually spend 10-12 hours spread over 2 days at the show. In my 4 hours today my browsing was limited, but I still learned a lot, and I got to share my love of coins with many dealers. I hope to see some of you at future shows (Usually the Fri-Sat-Sun immediately following Thanksgiving for the autumn show). It's a good time, with plenty of friendly numismatists. See you next time!
You would have seen me, but I had to get a new well dug a couple weeks ago. Hopefully I'll see you at the fall show.
Great report Borgovan. I was one of the CT'ers missing. Went to the EAC show in Annapolis, and was just too tired to drive to Dearborn on Sunday. I've got the Fall show on my calendar already.
I was there for about 5 hours Sat. Gracing the public with my presence.. lol... There were two empty tables there Sat. Borg. I left around 3PM or so I would guess. Spent some time talking to Budgood/Jason. Really nice young man. I also stopped and talked to Blu for a while, looked at some of his shots of Charmies Lincolns and IHC's! WHOA... Spent some time running a 3 legged Buffalo around having some people look at it and picked up a 1864L IHC thats heading for auction. Dealers told me that it was really busy Friday, Talked to one of the members of our club who was manning the entry table. ~800 people on Friday came through. Sat. seem slow to me. Never had to wait at a table and the dealers were all looking around for something to do. Economy?
I had a great time at the show. Met a few forum members but did not buy much. I knew I had 2 collections to shoot and shot them the days following the show. Spent 10 days out in Michigan total and still have a weeks worth of work before I am done with the show images. I did Santa Clara a couple weeks prior and felt traffic at MSNS was much better. The show was very well done. I hope to be back but dont know if I can sneak away on the turkey weekend.
Fall is the perfect time for me to return, I can sneak in a coin show and visit family on Turkey weekend. Hope to see many of you soon !
