Welcome to another coin show report from yours truly; this one is a collection of my experiences and observations ~there was no line to register (only a few other people) about 15-20 minutes after the show opened to the public at 10AM ~the free entry passes were nice (saved $10)…I believe certain coin stores passed these out (not sure if it was just the local ones in Chicagoland or if other states had them too) ~the show had a decent number of people walking the bourse but it was not as many as an ANA show in Rosemont or even some of the Central States shows ~on the two ends of the bourse there were empty rows that had no dealer names (I believe these were tables that were not purchased)…there were 2-3 rows that just had one or two dealers among other empty spaces ~Friday was the second day of the show for the public and there were dealers that had left (probably completed their business on dealer day Wednesday plus Thursday) ~I did not see much gold or silver exchange hands but there were signs like usual advertising that dealers were buying ~I was able to sell some fractional platinum at spot (bullion) and graded proofs at a bit over spot; I was happy with those numbers given the increase in spot and the fact that many dealers are paying under spot for gold, silver, and platinum ~there was a dealer that had a large display of NGC star toned coins that were not for sale; I found out he is looking to buy 1,500 at various price levels to do a mystery box sale of all star toners. I was able to sell one of mine to him that I was happy to move (nice coin but was not moving-it helps to see it in person as pictures are close but not quite as good as the in hand look) ~I saw a few displays of not for sale items that acted as something similar to exhibits; these are usually all in one section in the back but the idea was to sprinkle them along the bourse so people would see them (they were not as elaborate as the exhibits though but did have some cool coins-I recall one had a PCGS Regency while another was toned Silver Eagles) ~I continued my tradition of buying and selling a coin at the same show (ever since I did this several shows back it has been a fun mini challenge for me to see if I can pick out something underpriced) ~there was not much world (I did not expect much); some were sprinkled in among US coins but nothing really stood out to me ~in terms of older holders, I saw some rattlers, a few ACG, PCI, an NGC black (1.0) and white (2.0), plus a few of the basement/self-slabs…most dealers knew what they had for the rarer holders, so there were no discounts ~I ran into a very cool obverse toned Morgan (NGC star-well deserved) but when I flipped it to see the $15k price tag, my excitement dissipated ~a few dealers had more fair (in my opinion) prices for toners while others were somewhere beyond the moon….I did add one toner (pictured in the end) from a dealer I have bought and sold with before; he has been fair (reasonable toner premiums) ~my other main addition came from an IG guy; it was nice to meet him again and he always has some great eye candy in his inventory ~the whole bourse took about 2.5 hours to cover; I returned back to some tables after that. About 4 hours total was enough to get the full show experience ~there was a dealer who had some Carr pieces that I picked up but those have already found new homes; only one other person had any Carr that I saw ~the PCGS and CACG tables did not seem too busy compared to prior shows (I did not have anything to submit but it looked like anyone that wanted to would not have needed to wait long) ~overall it was another fun show and I was glad to get a second major show in the area (Central States being the other) given that the ANA was not here this year
