LordM 2025 FUN show report (live updates from the floor)

Randy and I both remarked upon the fact that we each left the show on Friday with more money (cash) than we’d had when we came in! That was kind of freaky, and we imagined our wives’ approval of that rare occurrence. Haha.

That’s just Friday, though. We’ve still got all day Saturday and part of Sunday to blow our gains.

Randy bought two nice Roman coins. He’s just starting out in that field. One was a nice Nero bronze I pointed out.

The other was a mistake. You see, Randy is collecting the Twelve Caesars. While I went out for a break, leaving him briefly unsupervised , he bought a Hadrian denarius.

The bad news? Hadrian was not one of the Twelve Caesars. So it doesn’t fit in his 12C collection. (He’d left his checklist behind and has not yet committed the list of the 12 Caesars to memory.)

The good news? It’s an absolutely beautiful coin with a terrific portrait, which he got for a fair price. I’d have bought it myself.

He almost traded the Hadrian back in on that Nero he bought, but Tom Wood and I told him he should keep it. It’s a sweet piece, and buying it “by mistake” was a fortuitous accident, if you ask me.

Now with that Hadrian in hand, he’ll just have to do a set of the “Five Good Emperors” in addition to the Twelve Caesars. And thus he shall slide ever further down that slippery slope. He’s a goner.

 

Saturday, January 11, 2025.

We have breakfasted but not left the hotel yet. The bourse doesn’t open to the public until 10:00 AM, so there’s some time to kill.

I’m going through some of yesterday’s pictures.

There are two things I’m sort of looking for while at the show.

The first is a US $3 gold piece, to replace the one I now regret selling last year.

Either of these two I saw at one table would be an upgrade to the XF40 I had, but I’m not really sure if I’d take the plunge on either of them. They’re on my “thinkin’ about” list.



Update: I bought neither one, but found a different AU58 on Sunday.

The second thing I’m sort of looking for is a gold Spanish cob, preferably with a shipwreck pedigree.

This one I saw (at the same table as those $3 pieces) does fit the criteria, but I think the pricetag ($7,500, as I recall) is way, way beyond my pain threshold. So this one is not likely to happen.

(Terrible pix- sorry- didn’t even get the full slab in the frame.)





I sorta had this notion in my head (perhaps misguided) that I could maybe find a small gold cob in the $2-3K range, if I looked hard enough. Am I way out of touch with reality there?

I would like to visit the Sedgwick table, if they’re at the show. I’m confident they are.

Update: I failed to make it to the Sedgwick table, but I did find my gold cob on Saturday.

 

Yesterday, just off the highway, I attended the show in my travelin’ clothes (i.e., incognito).

Today I’ll put on my coin geek costume. So the hat now comes out of its box for the first time in two years.

 

Was nice to meet @Publius2.




My good friend Jason Foster from Western NC also showed up.

 

@Burton Strauss III told me:

There were indeed some amazing shipwreck coins there, many from wrecks I’d never heard of. Most were on display rather than for sale.




I did buy a two-piece set of 1808 Admiral Gardner shipwreck coins in a fancy little booklet. This is for my giveaway stash. The coins do have some corrosion, but the packaging is nice and the set includes both a 10-cash and 20-cash piece.






I bought four other pieces to eventually add to my giveaway “free store”. Two Roman silver denarii, a 1721 Spanish real, and a 1908-S Philippine peso.

 

There was probably some giveaway goodie potential in this half-price bin of slabs. @Randy Abercrombie did pick up some sweet stuff that will likely be offered in future CTF (CoinTalk Friends) giveaways.

I was distracted and did not paw through these bins much. The dealer had three kiddie pools full!

 

I recently ran out of large cents in my giveaway stash and wanted to pick up another.



I settled on this 1853 with reddish patina. I think I got it for 20% off the marked price. So this one is destined for a future giveaway.

 

Random walk-by pics of interesting stuff…

 

I wanted to add a Standing Liberty quarter for my giveaway stash. Was happy to pick up a 1917 Type 1- lower grade but pleasing- for 44 bucks.

 

Click the pic below if you want to enter my Giveaway #121.

You may pick your prize- either from my existing giveaway inventory, or the newly-bought items mentioned in this thread that were earmarked as giveaway goodies.

(Not the stuff I’m buying for my own collection.)

To enter, follow the instructions in the linked thread. Just state the prize you’re most interested in, and WHY it appeals to you. If you win the drawing after February 1st, you’ll get that item!

 

More random walk-by pics…

 

@Randy Abercrombie checked two more off his Twelve Caesars list, with a cool little Augustus quinarius and a Tiberius “Tribute Penny”. You don’t see the quinarius denomination that often. And a Tribute Penny is almost mandatory for a 12C set, if you ask me.