Charmy's LONG BEACH SHOW and PCGS Anniversary Party Report!

Yesterday was set up day and I was surprised to see that just about every table was occupied AND new tables were added towards the back of the room - I think that's a great sign that things in the coin world are picking up! Later in the afternoon, PCGS gave out free beer to all the dealers which seemed very welcomed by everyone.

Once set up was over, PCGS hosted a really nice 25th anniversary party at the Hyatt for authorized PCGS dealers, complete with "special" entertainment! What a hoot it was. After a couple very talented high school acts performed (barber shop quartet, a fantastic young "Aretha Franklin" and a young group of girls), David Hall picked up his guitar and and Laura Sperper took over the drums! And boy were they good! Here are some photos of this wonderful event - I'm sure you'll recognize several familiar faces....



David and Laura




Me and David Hall


Don Willis


Stewart Blay



Coin Gods



Rick Snow and Karin


Brian Wagner


PCGS Guys


and Gals


Julian


Glen Holsonbake (PonyEspress)


Wei and PCGS's Rebecca Tran


PCGS's wonderful Sandy!


Walt Ankerman, his son Erik and friend Danny








PCGS Exhibit in lobby of the reception




Chocolate "coins"

 

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Hey its Brian Wagner, Matte Proof cent expert!! Love the pictures Charmy. The first two PCGS coins are pretty neat.

 

You need to get Jack in there.

 

Brian's eyes sure are red. Was he feeling OK, or were you out the night before?

On a more serious note, thanks for the report. I enjoy living vicariously through your travel reports.

 

Drove up to Long Beach from San Diego today to see the show. Got to meet Charmy right after her interview by some TV guy. It was such a pleasure to get to meet her...blushed a little since I have a little bit of a crush on her. She was super nice and had some great cents.

Show was awesome! I ended up filling 4 slots in my 7070 and 4 more slots in my BU Franklin book. Also picked up two awesome early comms. If you can get there, you need to make the effort!

 

Went for the first time ever, I had a ok time, didn't meet charmy since she seemed very busy as I went by. Picked up a raw vf20+ 1838 large cent I needed. Got a few Mexican silver coins & a cheap ancient bronze follis.

I was overwhelmed with sticker shock on most coins. And the problem coins were also priced more then some net dealers I get from.

Don't think I will be going again anytime soon. It was something different to do and I enjoyed the exhibits.

Maybe it's cause I am young 31 but damn some collectors seemed grumpy.

 

Mat, I'm sorry we didn't get to meet, I was pretty busy today. But sometimes you just need to be a little more persistent and/or patient, event with other collectors since they are usually in a hurry and everyone wants to get the "best deal" for their money. I hope you return, and just flag me down when you stop by so I can be sure to chat, I'm always willing to make time for forum members!

And fyi, the band was really good! They did some r&b, and some rock and roll, and even played some old favorites but changed the words to be coin-related - it really was fun, and quite entertaining! Per David Hall, here are the names of the songs they played:

Good Dippin' (to the Young Rascals "Good Lovin") Doctor, doctor...all these coins really need is a...Good Dippin'

PCGS No Grade Blues...My fours are thress, my fives are AT's

and of course, the coin dealer theme song "Money" (Motown Barrett Strong, not Pink Floyd)

Also, thank you all for enduring my "bandwith" issues, and I also sincerely apologize for the poor quality of my photos - I don't think it's the phone since some of the photos seem to turn out ok. I really think it's that dang illiterate camera technology, shaky handed clueless button-pusher photographer - aka, ME! I'll try to learn more about my camera phone and do better.

So here's the news for today.....

It got really busy about 11ish and didn't stop until around 4pm! I didn't do too much buying since I won a ton of great coins in the Goldberg auction, much more than I anticipated. However, I did buy a very cool 1873 S-2 double die - the king of double dies for Indian cents - and I'm thrilled to have it! Todd is taking photos of this newp as well as my Golberg auction coins. A couple of my customers brought me some wonderful bottles of wine, so we definitely enjoyed opening and sharing them with everyone!

Several forum members stopped by, and some of them showed me their beautiful newps - I love seeing what all of you have found at the show! Several of you even commented on my pictorial show reports, and I really appreciate knowing that you like seeing photos of the shows I attend (and my after-hours events), even if the photos aren't the best quality!

Tonight I treated my "helper" friends to dinner SuperMex with my sweet hubby and boys. It's been sort of a tradition that we meet at my house, have a little Don Julio 1942 sipping tequila (Roger, one of my helpers, also brought me a really nice special tequila sipping glass), then head to SuperMex which is not far from my house. Their food is pretty yummy yet inexpensive, and it's nice to be able to just kick back, relax, and enjoy my friends and family for an evening.




Sorry, I don't have any photos from the show, but I will take more pictures tomorrow!

 

Man I could make a dent in the Agave juice

 

Sounds like fun! Stewart is my hero! I would have enjoyed meeting the Lincoln master himself. Thanks for the report and pics Charmy!

 

Funny that the Blay and Willis photos are together. Wonder if his tooled coin ever got straightened out. Awesome trip report.

 

Your reports are great Charmy. Will I might not be at a show - I do attend vicariously thru your reports. Thanks for the posts.

 

Thanks for sharing this one

Thank you Charmy your post always make thing better here at CT
:thumb:

 

I almost forgot to mention the best part of yesterday! I was approached and interviewed by Huell Howser of KCET "California's Gold" fame. I guess he's doing a special involving the Long Beach coin show and he chose a few dealers to talk to, and I was one of them! At first, I didn't even know who he was but he is quite flamboyant and passionate, so it wasn't long before a crowd began to gather around my table. I felt like a celebrity, but of course they were all waiting to get Huell's autograph! Anyway, I can't wait to see whether he actually includes my interview in his show!



From Wikipedia:

"California's Gold highlights small towns, landmarks, events or places of interest throughout California which are not well known to the general public, with Howser conducting informal interviews with the locals. Howser received his first name from a conjunction of his parents' names, Harold and Jewell, as revealed in the California's Gold episode "Smartsville". He also produces derived shows including California's Golden Parks, California's Water, Visiting... with Huell Howser, Our Neighborhoods, The Bench, Road Trip, "California's Golden Fairs," and various specials. His distinctive style as host of his various travel shows has led to him being impersonated by many different comedians and radio personalities, such as Adam Carolla[1] and James Adomian."

California's Gold]http://www.calgold.com/

 

I'm really glad you all like my photo reports, and someone suggested that I have a "Charmy-cam" which is a hilarious idea, but I don't think many of my customers would appreciate being plastered all over the internet so if you don't mind I'll just continue to take my quick and dirty cell phone shots!

Huell's photographer sent me a couple photos he took during our interview so I thought I'd share those with all of you!




So yesterday was a little slow, as is usual for a Friday, but still business was strong and there was quite a bit of public. Towards the end of the day, I did get a chance to wonder around and take more photos of my dealer buddies....

Here is Tom Reynolds and Doug Byrd


And here are Logan McKechnie and is beautiful daughter Cindy


One of Logan's customers Dean, me and Logan


And you all know Todd and his dad Roger


And are a couple of my "helpers" - Rich is the best "helper" I could ever want and he's been doing shows with me for probably close to 10 years! And Roger is very friendly and helpful, and also loves Indian cents.



Rick showed me his 1857 S-1 PCGS MS66 Flying Eagle he just sold which is the finest one known




As you know, I buy and sell a lot of uncirculated pennies, but I thought I'd show you one of the most popular items at my table!



After the show, I went to dinner at Madison's on Pine with a couple friends and we each brought a very very nice bottle of wine. Madison's is in a beautiful old building with gorgeous interior architechure. I had been saving my bottle of Cakebread cab for just such an occasion, and thoroughly enjoyed opening and sharing that bottle of wine! Afterwards, I met several dealers at the Hawaiian Gardens casino which is sort of on my way home. I was doing ok for a while, but then got another one of those dang bad beats, so it was time to head home!

Today was busy on and off, saw several forum members including Illini and Watersport, and some "lurkers" even stopped by to say hi. So that's about it for now. It's been another fun show! I have a couple smaller local shows over the next couple weeks, and then the a really good show in Las Vegas the first week in March - one of my favorites!

 

Charmy,

I love your show updates. It makes those of us who don't have the opportunity to attend the major shows feel like we were there. Thanks for bringing it to us!

PS. I think the Charmy cam is a great idea. Just remember to turn it off when you are playing poker, you wouldn't want your secrets to get out.

Paul

 

I'm thinking about quiting my regular job and joining this coin dealer circuit. Charmy always make it look fun, but I know what we see is the fun stuff, not all the serious business transactions going on. It's good to see all having a good time. Maybe the secret is to meet them (dealers) at a social event and negotiate a coin purchase

 

Yes, we have a lot of fun on the coin show circuit, but you're right about there being a lot more to it. Of course it's a lot of work and take a huge amount of dedication and patience, but I do love it and am so very fortunate to be able to make a living doing what I love. But anything you do has an aspect of "it is what you make it" don't you think?

And now that this show is over, I'm home, the coins are unpacked and locked up, I'm in my jammies, hubby is at some offroad races in Havasu so I have the house to myself, and now I'm relaxing in front of the tube (and my computer of course!), enjoying the rest of my wonderful bottle of Cakebread and my favorite unhealthy but tasty finger-lickin good chicken - ummmmm, life is good!