Today I went to the Brimfield show in search of coins. 3 times a year there is a giant antiques show in Brimfield, MA. It's supposed to be the Mecca of antique dealers across America. The rumor is you can get stuff for a third of what you can sell it for at home. Well that turned out to be a myth regarding coins. Coins were there all right. But they were asking three times what I would pay for some of it. Nothing was a good deal. A beat up 1892 Columbian expo in the raw priced at $25..Ha ha. Really considered a 1915 2.5 Indian slabbed by PCGS and graded AU-55. It was $235 but the plastic holder looked like it was thrown on the road. There were some sets of Canadian quarters with 4 types of quarters all slabbed together. He had five identical sets. They were all discolored and pitted. The paper labels were stained and wrinkled. To me it looked like they were in a flood of salt water. I was going to give a buck a set. Nope he wants $5 a set. A set of Canadian large cents was priced at $5 a coin. One ounce gold Krugerrands were $710 each. Everything was overpriced or plain junk. Then there was also the overpriced junk. I did buy a set of Canadian dimes in a Whitman folder. 1937 to 1980 plus the guy threw in 14 silver dimes extra. It includes both versions of the 1947, with and without maple leaf, plus an extra maple leaf 1947. And I got him to throw in a US 1866 3 cent nickle (vg) all for $40 total. Add the parking cost $7 and admittance cost $5 and maybe I broke even. There were antique bracelets made with holed seated dimes all strung together. Off topic but you should have seen the antiques. Absolutely amazing. Probably ten million dollars worth of antiques all in one place.
For further clarification it was not a complete set, several missing. The blue folder was mildewed, dogeared and the coins were spotted, worn and corroded. If anyone truly thinks that's a bargain, I have a nice left handed monkey wrench for sale.
The part that always gets me ticked off is the parking fees and entrance fees at all such events. We have all types of shows around here and some charge to get in and some are free. Odd thing is the free places are always better at merchandise and prices. Example is any show at the Rosemont, Il. Covention Center. When built they made sure no parking within miles and then they charge you $11 to park. Then there is always about $5 entrance fees. Same with shows at a place called Kane County although the parking is usuallly only a few dollars. I usually refuse to go to those just because of those types of fees. Way to many free places.
