Another Central States show is in the books for me and here are some of my observations: ~The parking lot was packed as even the last rows had no spots…I was surprised as it’s a huge lot and I had not seen this before…alas it was not all coin show traffic as there was some seminar in an adjacent room. ~There was almost no line to get in at 10:30 (30 min after open). ~Inside it looked like a decent crowd and some tables had several people at them; the PCGS table had a line as well. ~In another thread someone mentioned leaving extra boxes on one of the tables near the entrance that typically has leaflets. I did that and was amused when the first person who walked by opened it to check if any coins were inside and then walked away when he saw it was empty. When I was leaving, the boxes were gone so someone had a use for them. ~I saw a Compugrade holder and a 108 rattler (the later ones; not the white label) at the same table and the dealer knew what they were (both were priced above the market rates). ~There were some bullion tables and I noticed one that had graded MS 69 ASEs at $85 each, which seemed lower than other tables but with spot dropping some today is almost $10 over (one can likely do better if they are in the market for silver). I did not have any bullion to sell so can’t really say how much dealers were paying and if any was moving (I only saw one gold deal while I was waiting at a table but I was not too focused so don’t know how much bullion was moving overall). ~I saw a few Carr pieces at two tables but nothing too interesting (for me at least). ~As is often the case, there were a ton of Morgans at the show. I saw one blast white common date I liked with a PL reverse (and a cameo look to the Eagle) but it was a 67+ grade, which was more than I wanted to spend (there was a solid premium on top of the 67 guide). I also saw a handful of all currency tables (outside of my realm of interest but seemed like there was some variety). And there were some world tables too (a combo of modern, older, and ancient). ~Among my focus of toned Morgans, multiple tables had from one to several. The prices ranged from strong to moon money. I have been seeing incredible results at auctions lately and was hoping there might be something at the show that would be more reasonable but that was not the case. If the dealers sent some of these coins to GC, they would do well but the majority would still not hammer as high as their asking prices. In some cases I believe the dealers just want a flashy coin or two at their table to draw interest and not necessarily to sell (unless it's at the moon money price), which makes sense. But others continue to run their museums (where it is the same toners that were at the last shows). ~I brought a handful of items to sell and it was going slow for a while; fortunately things picked up near the end and I was able to sell a few items, including a modern world coin and two toners. Quite a few people passed on the toners but eventually I found a buyer at a price I was comfortable with. ~I continued my streak of buying and reselling one item at the show. This time it was a world toner. The original dealer had a premium on it for the color but I saw more room and was proven correct when a different dealer paid a bit more for (nothing earth shattering but enough to cover the entrance fee and my 30 minutes of “work” to make the sale-at minimum wage ). ~I only picked up one coin to add to the collection-a nicely toned World Cup Soccer Commemorative. I actually bid on this coin at GC a few months ago and was the direct under bidder. I paid above the auction price because I liked it enough in hand and it came from a person I met via Instagram with whom I’ve now done several deals. (PCGS MS 67)
