CNS/COINS Ohio State Coin Show report. I attended this regional show on Saturday, Sept. 4th. It was held in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. I live 100 miles north of there, so I left home at 7:30am to try to make it in time for the opening at 10:00. I arrived precisely at 10:00 and had to wait in line for maybe 5 minutes. There were approximately 85 dealers, placed in two meeting rooms and in the hallways outside those rooms. There were two "Coin Stops", tables where you could redeem coupons given to you when registering. I received two of the new nickels for my coupons. My mission was to seek out and purchase at least one better date/variety US large cent and/or New Jersey copper. During my initial walk through, I saw a few cents within my budget that would have met my criteria, but I did not see any NJ coppers. I did strike up a conversation with a very helpful woman behind a dealers table. Turns out, she WAS the dealer. She was also a member of EAC, as am I. We had a great discussion about the show and EAC, and she was most helpful in pointing out other dealers who may have had what I was looking for. Continuing my initial walk through, I came upon the book dealers table. I was elated to see that he had a table, but my joy turned to consternation when I realized his merchandise was covered and he was nowhere in site. The dealer at the table next to his reassured me that the book seller would be along shortly. I made my way back to the main entrance, where I began what I call my first "attempted buying trip." I looked at perhaps 30 coins at a half dozen or so tables, but could not come to grips with any of them. Back to the book sellers table, where much to my delight, I found him open for business. He had over 10 titles that are on my list, so I spent a half hour or so trying to decide which one to purchase. He gave me some fairly good pricing on several of them, so I told him I needed to think about it. I headed for lunch to take a break and try to get a clear picture of which book to buy. I made the decision to purchase Breens Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents. But first, I had to find at least one coin to take back home! I was starting to get a little anxious. I went to a nationally known dealers table and asked if he had any New Jersey coppers. He looked me over and rather curtly told me that I had already looked at them. I assured him that I had not seen them, as I had not been to a show where he had a table in over 4 years. So with a heavy sigh, he pulled out a box of 2x2's and dug out maybe 10 NJ coppers. Now I was getting excited. After a quick glance at all of them, my excitement began to wane. They were all pretty bad, even for NJ copper. There was a Marris 39-a that was the best of the bunch, and priced reasonably. I told myself that if I could not find anything better, either large cent or NJ copper, that I would come back and buy that one. I handed the coins back to him and thanked him, but I might as well have been talking to the wall. He must have had a bad night. I decided to check for what I wanted with the dealers out in the hallway . After several unproductive stops, I came upon a gentleman who had one NJ copper. It was in a 2x2 identified as "1787 New Jersey Colonial Cent porous". I whipped out my handy dandy Marris phototype plate, and after about 5 minutes determined it was a Marris 63-s. A variety I did not have.No surprise there, as I have fewer than 10 percent of the varieties. He had it marked at $110, but before I could even begin to haggle, he dropped it to $85, so I bought it. Feeling a great sense of relief, I headed back to the book seller and bought the Breen book. I spent perhaps another half hour shooting the bull with the dealer, then decided to head out. On my way past the dealer I had bought the NJ copper from, he flagged me down. He handed me a 2x2 and told me he had bought the coin inside last week. It was a Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling. A nice looking example, as far as I could tell. He showed me where he felt it had been bent (to ward off witches) and then restraightened. Looking at it, I couldn't argue with him.It had a scratch on it that probably came from a careless metal detectorist. But a very cool item indeed. While standing there, a younger man approached and asked the dealer if he still had that NJ copper piece for sale. My hand immediately went to my pocket and I felt like Bilbo Baggins being approached by Gollum. This guy was after my precious coin! I pulled it out and said, "You mean this one?" He was very accepting of the situation and we struck up a nice conversation about NJ coppers. Turns out we have both been collecting them for only a short time and enjoying the challenge of finding decent specimens. That was enough for me, I headed out the door and up the road. Of course, the Ohio State football game had just finished and traffic was a mess. But that’s ok, because it was my birthday and I was feeling pretty good.
That was a great read - I almost felt like I was there. But did you buy the Pine Tree Shilling? And when you have time, will you please post a picture of the NJ copper? I'd love to see it.
Great report, Joe. You're a terrific writer. I agree that you made me feel like I was right there with you. Glad to hear that you came away with a couple of goodies. I had to look up the Bilbo and Gollum things, though. Sorta went over my head. LOL
Susan--- No, I did not buy the Pine Tree Shilling. As I said, it was my birthday. If I bought the Pine Tree Shilling, it would have been my funeral! Jody--- Regarding B. Baggins and Gollum, it was an assumption on my part that a majority of English speaking people would be familiar with them, if not from having read the books then probably from the recent movies. My apologies. If you do not normally read fiction, I would recomend that you give those books by JRR Tolkein a try. I believe you will not regret it.
