WOW was that a great coin show or what. Table chart given out noted 531 dealer tables. There werer dealers from all ove the USA. I only went on Friday. I knew Saturday would be way to busy and Sunday many of the dealers would be packing up to leave. Friday started out crowded and it only got worse as the morning went on. It got so crowded by noon I had to leave. To difficult to see what was on some of the tables with that many people there. It still cost $11 to park and $5 to get into the show. Hot dogs were $3.50. Some dealers were selling currency, foreign coins, magazines, books, coin albums and one even was sell ing knives. I met dealers I've known from other shows and flea markets. Somehow I spent over $2,000. Guess I won't be going to any coin shows for a while. If anyone else here went there, hope you had a great time.
Yep, Friday was quite busy, but Saturday couldn't have been more dead. Half of the dealers were packed up by 1 PM. There were probably no more than 40 people there by 2 and it only slowed down more later in the afternoon. I imagine that NO ONE came on Sunday and that there were only 2-3 dealers left!!! Yeh, I spent $11 on parking, $5 entrance, and $4.50 on Pizza-over $20 for no coin(s), what a rip-off. It was quite fun on Friday though. I think I spent about $200 in all and sold about $80 in coins. I was the kid who was wearing the orange shirt on Friday if you remember.
Is "early packing up" typical in coin shows? Seems to me that it drives a circular model-- people get there later and no one is left, so they come earlier and it's too crowded to have a good time. And then there's no one left later, so dealers pack up. Some train shows I've been to are the same way. Others mandate that you stay until closing or you're not invited back to the next one. The train show has to be popular enough to warrant such a policy, though; many are not.
I dont know what happened with this show and all those dealers. Most were the big dealers specializing in the ultra-high grade rarities-ANR was one of them. Also NGC was there and they left right away. I know of coin shows closer to where I live where it's a 2-day show and dealers squeeze every second they can into it.
Yes, it is typical. Dealers arrive at coin shows primarily for one reason - to deal with the other dealers. For the most part they could care less about the collectors. Fully 90% or more of the business a dealer conducts at a coin show is done so with another dealer. Once they do that they are ready to leave. And they do.
The coin shows I work at locally with my uncle are usually busy and when it gets dead the dealers start making deals with eachother and looking at what people have, thats my favorite part, just chilling with the coin dealers I know and asking them lots of random questions.
