Featured Charmy's BIG HUGE 2014 Chicago ANA Show Report w/TONS of Pics!!!

I really looked forward to the Chicago ANA show this year, especially since I hadn’t set up a coin show since the Long Beach show in June. I had also signed up for the PNG pre-show for the first time and was anxious to get some great “early bird” buys. Here is me so happy to be going to the Chicago ANA!







FRIDAY



Since my hubby drops me off on his way to work, I arrived at the John Wayne airport a couple hours before my flight and sailed through TSA with no problems.







So I grabbed a delicious Bloody Mary while I waited for my flight.







And since I was going to be away from my hubby for over a week, I decided to text him this photo, just to make sure he wouldn’t forget about me! ;-)







A few hours later and arrived in sunny but humid Chicago, took the brief shuttle ride to my hotel, checked in, and found my room.







I noticed a pair of earplugs on the nightstand in my room, and wondered if the walls were really thin.







Then, while looking out my window, I soon discovered that the earplugs were due to the planes that fly pretty close to the hotel!











After settling in, I grabbed something to eat, then headed over to the local casino which was just a couple miles away. They didn’t have poker but had several table games that I like to play. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much luck!



SATURDAY



Set up was at 8am so I got up early and walked through what we all fondly called “the hamster maze” from the Hyatt to the convention center. It really felt like I was in tunnel maze that turned and curved back and forth and went on forever! At least it was air conditioned! This is a view from the hamster maze between the hotel and the convention center.











Being at a coin show, I was a little amused at this sign on the front doors to the convention center.







I was so pleased to find some great, tough to find coins that first day – I felt like a kid in a candy store!!



























Saturday after the show Rick and I decided to take a cab over to the casino in Elgin so we could play some poker. While I again didn’t have much luck at the poker tables, I did get a royal flush at the 3-card poker table which made up for it!

 

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SUNDAY



I discovered that walking to the convention center on the street was much shorter and more direct than the hamster maze. This is a view of the hamster maze from the street







And the front of the convention center (before the craziness!)















This is a group of Conder tokens I brought with me to drop off at NGC. It was a great time to submit coins since Sunday was slow for everyone. PCGS even took the day off!











Although it was well worth attending the pre-show, the bourse never had the buzz like the main show, and looked pretty sparse since most of the business being conducted was between dealers.







Chris/Hafcents was the first forum member to stop by







That evening after the show, Todd and I walked over to a pub next to the park behind the parking structure. There were several restaurants that were giving ANA members 15% off so we took advantage of that.











These are fried cheese curds. They were actually pretty good and tasted like a grilled cheese sandwich.







Todd ordered this macaroni and cheese dish.







MONDAY



The pre-show ended at noon, which gave the dealers some time to move to their regular tables before the rest of the dealers would be let in at 3pm. Luckily, our pre-show table was the same as our regular table so we didn’t have to move.



I attended the PNG meeting at 1pm. These meetings are very informative, especially when it comes to legislation that involves taxes and other coin-related issues in various states. The PNG is also sponsoring a wonderful internship for YN’s to be educated and then placed at various coin agencies.











After the PNG meeting, I headed over to the exhibit area to set up my exhibit. I had once again changed out several pieces and added new ones. And since this is the last time I would be setting up my exhibit, I was extra careful and took my time placing everything just right.















The show opened to the dealers and early birds at 3pm and there was quite a line at the registration table.

 

After the show, the PNG had a coctail reception and their annual awards banquet at Gibson’s.







Todd and Rick Snow clean up nicely! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Todd in anything other than shorts and sneakers!















Me and Steven Schuch







Me and Rick







Rhonda Scurek (ANA), Bob Hurst FUN), Cindy Wibker (FUN), and Kim Kiick (ANA)







These two were last-minute fill-ins.























Me and the boys







Me and David Lange (NGC)







David Bowers received the Robert Friedberg Award for his book,"The Whitman Encyclopedia of Obsolete Paper Money, Volumes 1 & 2"







I was surprised to see it pouring when dinner was over. Luckily, it was the only night we saw much rain while in Chicago. Even though Gibson’s was just a few blocks from our hotel, we took a taxi back to the hotel and gave the driver a big tip!

 

TUESDAY (the insanity begins!)



The Hyatt is located around the left side of the convention center, and this morning the line of crazy people waiting to purchase the Kennedy coins was strung around the right side so I didn’t notice it until I was almost in front. Apparently, it went all the way down the street for a few blocks.







The ANA (Walter and Kim) were talking to security trying to figure out how to deal with the craziness.







And it continued inside







It was nice to see that, in spite of the madhouse, the ANA folks at registration were still cheerful







Todd looking so lonely, just waiting for someone – anyone – to bring him a coin or two to photograph, but apparently everyone was in line to buy a Kennedy coin! ;-)







Jim McNally and Cris/Casman stopped by to say hi







The bourse soon became quite crowded, even on our end of the bourse which was far away from the Mint madness. The bourse was huge so I took several photos from different directions.



















One of the dealers also owns a winery in Napa and always brings a case or two to the show, so I bought a couple bottles to have on hand. The wine is very good once it airs out a little.







A customer showed me one of the privately issued Doubloon coins that were available at the show.

 

Tuesday evening was the ANA’s big kick-off event at the park behind the parking structure. The ANA had a large section fenced off with picnic tables right in front of the stage. There was plenty of great German food prepared by Haufbrauhouse, and there was a fantastic band playing great rock and roll music, followed by fireworks. Here are the photos I took during this very fun event!



They had beer and Apfel apple liqueur to drink. I opted for the Apfel on ice which was very tasty



























Kim Kiick and a happy friend







Ken Hallenbeck







Lowfat, carb-free German food! ;-)







Couple guys from my posse - Neil Ulrich and Mark Simon







I’m not sure if it’s a German thing, but there was a lot of paddling going on at this event. Even a couple of the band members got paddled!















Me and Barbara Ulrich (Neil’s wife) really enjoying the music!







The ANA awarded Dealer of the Year to Lee Minshull







Tom Hallenbeck cruising around!







The band performed into the night!

 

It was a perfectly beautiful night!







More paddling…







Fun was had by all!















Even Don Kagin knows how to rock!











Neil and Barbara – cute couple!







Mark even did a table dance for all of us!







The fireworks were fantastic!

 

WEDNESDAY (back to the madness!)



This time they moved the line of Kennedy crazies moved over to the left of the convention center so it wrapped all the way around to the street across from the Hyatt where I stayed. So I had to walk in the street past all these grungy looking people amid foul trash and urine smelling bushes just to get to the convention center. It was unpleasant and I just shook my head.







At least the ANA tried to organize some of the craziness by installing these rails to try and lessen the length of the lines outside.











All this madness…







over this little coin!















Back inside the bourse, one of my favorite exonumia dealers, Al Weinberg, brought me three great new pieces for my collection. I am so thrilled to have these, as I’ve never seen any of them before! Sorry that my photos aren’t very good. I’ll post Todd’s photos when I get them.



This is a very rare Washington D.C. encased cent with a key-shaped aluminum encasement I The coin looks like it was probably cleaned at some time in the past, but it is such a lovely rare piece that it doesn’t really matter.











Rare 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair Indian cent charm encasement with mica intact











Beautiful 1901 Pan Am Expo Indian cent encasement with photo of Triumphal Arch











As you can imagine, both PCGS and NGC were extremely busy most of the show.

 

Later in the day, I took the opportunity to see some of the ANA exhibits.











Jefferson peace medal















The real Brasher Doubloon























Rod Gillis (ANA) giving a presentation







The folks at the U.S. Mint after the sales were over







Michael Dixon promoting the National Battlefield Coin Show







Mike “Noodle” Nottleman who is one of the hosts of the Coin Show Podcast (along with Matt Dinger)







Beautiful Payton Sauter - the 2014 YN of the Year







Lance Keigwin/lkeigwin

 

After we left the show, there was already a new line getting ready for a long night sleeping on the sidewalk!







Women In Numismatics (WIN) hosted a social mixer at the Hyatt – we had a nice turnout and enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about each other.







After the mixer on Wednesday night, we took a cab into the city - downtown Chicago at night!











We had dinner at our new favorite restaurant we had discovered at the Central States show last April – the Centro Rosebud















Me and the boys















A delicious salad!







Matt and I split the main course – pork chops over delicious risotto and corn with mozzarello cheese tomatoes







And of course the wine – it was so good, we had two bottles!







After dinner, we headed over to our favorite blues club – Blue Chicago!











I love blues music and these guys/gal were fantastic!!!

 

THURSDAY



The next morning along my path to the show where the Kennedy crazies had camped out overnight there was nothing but trash everywhere – geese, what a mess this whole thing was!







And of course, the familiar line of Kennedy crazies, same as the day before!















Someone else took these photos but I thought it was typical of the insanity!











Inside, the NGC table looked really pretty – for at least the next little while until the Kennedy crazies descended upon them!







Salty Sam stopped by to say hi







Jim Bush, a fellow dealer, came by and bought a beautiful 1861 Indian cent from me!







Mike/Illini showing off his newly acquired Kennedy coin







Dennis Tucker/Dentuck







The Youngest Numismatist!







And the youngest selfie!







Me and Todd!







This is the happiest shoe shine guy I’ve ever seen!







The lunch at the convention center was not very good, so we usually sent someone over to Gibson’s. Their food is amazing, from the steak sliders, to their Caesar salad, to this yummy Rueben sandwich!







Payton receiving her YN of the year award at the ANA awards lunch.







Rick received the ANA’s Wayte and Olga Raymond Memorial Literary Award for his article entitled “On the Verge of Change, 1848-55,” which appeared in the 2013 volume of THE NUMISMATIST.

 

Thursday night was the better auction night so I sat in on both auctions to see how some of the coins did.



The Stacks auction room











Heritage Platinum Night











This is a fantastic Indian cent error on a gold planchet! Wish I had the $$ to own this piece!!







A gorgeous rare 1864-L Indian cent proof







And of course, this famous 1909 VDB MPL – the most beautiful Matte Proof Lincoln cent I’ve ever seen!!!!







After the auction we went over to meet some friends at one of the pubs at the park. The night was beautiful, and another band was playing in the park, and then more fireworks. We took a bunch of selfies - what a great time with great friends!



Matt and me







Matt, Ron, me and Neil







Ricardo and Neil – these guys made me laugh so hard!















A group of coin people we ran into outside the pub







Me taking pictures of the fireworks!

 

FRIDAY (Kennedy craziness ended – YAY!)



So this is what I saw when I rounded the corner to the convention center! What a relief!







In between selling and buying coins on Friday, I was really busy with meetings, starting with an 8am WIN board meeting, followed by our general meeting at 9am, then the Class Exhibit Awards reception at 1pm, then the Fly-In Club meeting at 1:30pm (luckily it was right next door to the Exhibit Awards), then the ANA Awards reception at 7pm, then the main ANA Awards Banquet at 8pm!



Our WIN meeting















Kathy Freeland gave a wonderful and interesting presentation on the American Red Cross (ARC) collectibles, and the publication of her recent book



























Cindy Wibker presented Prue Fitts with WIN’s 2012 Gloria Peters Literary Award for her article, “Let’s Hear It for the Ladies.”







At the Class Exhibit awards reception











My “Penny Potpourri – a Collection of Things Made out of or Using Pennies” won first in its class, making it eligible for the Best of Show Award















Then it was off the Fly-In club meeting right next door

 

Not long after I arrived at the Fly-In Club meeting, one of the ANA judges popped in to say that I was needed next door again at the Exhibit reception. I was confused as I had no idea what they needed me for. Well, I soon found out. My exhibit had also won First Place for a special award given out by the Goldberg’s for “Coins that Made History”! They told me that they really enjoyed my exhibit and that the penny is an important part of coin history. I was very thrilled to receive this extra special award from the Goldbergs!











This is the beautiful box and Mexican coin I received. They kept the box so they could engrave my name on the placque.















After these meetings, I went back to my table. I hadn’t had any lunch so I was very pleased to discover that Shane/Krypto had left us a whole bag of White Castle burgers!!! MMMMMMMMMMM! Thank you Shane!!











Greg Lyon stopped by and graciously brought me a very welcomed bottle of Malbec! Thank you Greg!!















Mitch Ernest/CornHusker and his son Sam/NotLogical and their family stopped by to say hi - they are such a wonderful, kind, loving family!! Mitch was in my exhibit class last year at the Summer Seminar, and Sam took the same class this past year.











After the show, we headed over to the Hyatt for the ANA Awards reception and banquet. It is a very important and well-attended event!















Our table mates – David Lange and his beautiful girlfriend Carla

 

This year, they also had a silent auction fundraiser. These are some of the items that were auctioned off:























I ended up winning the wine basket and Todd’s photos, and Rick and I split the wine tasting event. However, I hadn’t even thought about how I was going to get the wine basket home, and ended up just shipping it back.



Once they got to the awards, they announced the longevity awards for individuals and clubs, and then they got to the exhibit awards. The first was for People’s Choice, and I was thrilled to hear my name announced once again for this most prestigious and welcomed award!







Then they announced the Best of Show awards, where I took 2nd runner up (I was 1st runner up last year).

 

My Penny Potpourri exhibit:































Since this will be my last year exhibiting, I was thrilled just to have placed since the exhibits that I saw were all very good. I am very grateful to have had such a successful time with my first exhibit, but and definitely looking forward to having a much less heavy suitcase as I travel to shows around the country!



This beautiful exhibit on Two Cents took 2nd place



























First place went to an exhibit on Baby Bonds.

 

SATURDAY



This was a very slow day, though since I was on the Treasure Trivia trail, I did have a lot of kids stop by for their question/answer. But by 1pm, the bourse became very sparse, with even the kids becoming far and few between. So rather than haul it home, we decided to open the bottle of wine we had won with the wine tasting auction item from last night. It was a great bottle of wine and we shared it with several people!







Seeing such a huge bourse floor so deserted was surreal!







Since Rick’s flight out was around the same time as mine, I waited as he finished packing up. It was really hot and muggy on the bourse floor, and packing up was exhausting.







Once at the airport, I ran into Stacks Bowers, PCGS and GreatCollections folks, including my good buddy Nina, who were all on the same flight as me.











So long Chicago







Me so happy to be going home …







Or so I thought! A short while before our flight was scheduled to depart, we were informed that they were towing a plane from another gate to our gate so there would be a brief delay. Soon, the plane arrived and we were all on board and ready to take off, when we were told there was a mechanical problem that would require the plane to be lifted up so we would all need to deplane, which we did. Then about an hour later, we were told that our flight would not make it to OC in time for the curfew so it would have to be diverted to LAX. Argggh! Everyone thought the next thing would be that they would cancel our flight altogether! But around midnight, we were loaded back on the plane and finally took off. Thanks to little Nina, before we took off from Chicago, rather than have the busses take us to OC from LAX, she made car reservations for a bunch of us so we could be taken directly to our homes much quicker than the busses. That was a Godsend and I am grateful to Nina for making those arrangements ahead of time! I finally arrived home at 2:30 am!!



For me, the show was very busy and very successful. I made some great buys and sold a lot of coins. I also was very pleased and grateful to receive more wonderful awards for my exhibit. And I had a great time the whole week meeting old friends and making new ones. Attending the pre-show made it a very long week, so next time I think I’ll just go a day earlier and attend the pre-show, rather than set up for it.



But I have to give a lot of kudos to the ANA. Once they saw what a disaster the Kennedy crazies had created (both the dealers and regular buyers), and that the extra security measures they put into place weren’t working, they made the tough but appropriate decision to shut down the sales. And aside from all that, they put on a great show, meeting and dealing with all the small and large issues that arose, organizing all the meetings and events, especially the fantastic kick-off party Tuesday night at the park.



I definitely look forward to the spring show will be in Portland!







Next up, my other son’s wedding over Labor Day weekend, followed by the Long Beach show!

 

Great report Charmy.

 

Read this on the PCGS board. One of the most picture filled posts I can remember. Great thread as usual. Love the wine label art with Victory on it.

 

As always, Charmy, a great report. Thank you.

 

Nice write-up, Charmy!