WOW! It was huge. I tried to take a pic to show everyone, but a guy at the door wouldn't let me. It would have taken 3 pics just to get it all. The display area was pretty easy to get into. Seemed like noone was interested. Met up with Stainless and Borgovan again and chatted for awhile. I had heard that paper money selection was weak, but did not appear that way to me. High end stuff was not really there as far as paper goes though. I'll be going back tomorrow. Here are some pics of my newP until then. The book was free (reg. 26.99) with $10 signup to MSNS.
Show was great. I spent about 5 1/2 hours there today, and will likely go back tomorrow for more punishment. I met up with TheNoost and Stainless, whom I had met on previous occasions, and also Covert Coins and his wife, whom I had not met before. I did a little buying and selling; came out about level cash-wise. I went with money to spend, but I'm a bargain-hunter, and didn't see as many as I thought I might. I still did find a few sweet buys. The show was much smaller than it has been in the past. The two anterooms were closed, and they are usually full of dealers. A full house is about 200 dealers, but there were only 140 at this show. Still a massive show, but a little shy of normal. I did make it through the entire bourse in my 5 1/2 hours. On the whole, dealers were friendly, as usual, but there were lots of complaints about how slow it was. This was to be expected, given our local economy, but I didn't expect it to be this slow. Given how many people are usually in the smaller rooms, and with them being closed this time, I figured the main room was jammed. It was not. This could be because the show is Thursday-Saturday, instead of Friday-Sunday, but the dealers didn't think so. I still say that work schedules kept people away today, and it will probably be crazy tomorrow. I hope to meet up with more CTers tomorrow morning (if they're there early enough before I leave). I'm especially hopeful to meet Arizona Jack, because he's not from around here. I'll try to give another brief trip report tomorrow. Cheers!
Thought you knew about those camera rules. Not all shows but more and more are restricting camera usage. Same with cameral cell phones. At one show I go to people have been told to leave is attempting to photo something or someone. Due to all the thefts lately it is really a good practice. You should have seen what I went through when I pulled out a camera in a bank.
Thanks for the reports. It sounds like things are slowing down a bit but there is still activity. It's great that members of CoinTalk can get together at shows. It's always nice to put a face - and a personality - to a name (or a handle).
Thanks, TX is for Eagle-55 Bday Sunday(shhhh). Wait until you see Stainless' pickups. Lots of dealers were saying paper money is slowing down and then adding that coins are too.
Hey All, stainless checking in and back from the show. It was awesome. Expect to see my pics of the newps tonite. I was very happy with the amount of ancient dealers there this time, about 6 stops actually. Prepare to see the MOJO's. Give me a an hour or two though..lol stainless
You dog. If it's not asking too much, can you put a price range on that beauty? I'm not askin' you to kiss and tell....
Hey folks I'm in MI at my moms now, I'll be there early tommorow and stay for most the day. I will see you there. I will check in at the main table to see if you are all there yet, otherwise JimM and I exchanged cell #'s..... How about noon at the sign in table for a meet up?
8:30 Detroit time, I'm up and ready to head out. Waiting for my uncle Skip to pick me up , then a stop at Denny's or IHOP for breakfast, I'll hit the show around 10:00 am or so. See you folks there !!
That was fast, Jim! Nice work!!! That is the cast of 7 CoinTalk members at the MSNS show. I looked for Fish, but couldn't find him when it was time to take the pic. I talked to him earlier in the day, but perhaps he had gone by this time. In any case, today was a blast! Parking was tight (I had to valet, and I NEVER valet.) The show was hit-or-miss from a dealer perspective. I talked to some who had a great show, and there were others who were packing up around noon. I heard rumors about the show moving to Grand Rapids in the future, but for now, I personally believe it will stay here. I bought no coins today. I had a pocketful of cash, but there were no bargains to be had that I could find. I took a set of my toned nickels to show to a few dealer and collector friends of mine, and they were received well. I really wanted to add to the collection, but there were no bargains to be found. I did find a few toned nickels, but the prices were through the roof. Lehigh might have bit on a few of them, but I sure wouldn't. I had offers on a few of my toned nickels, but declined. Overall, this show was more disappointing (from a buyer perspective) than all of the previous MSNS shows I have attended -- probably half a dozen or so. Dealer participation was down, and so was seller participation. I did have a nice lunch with Jerry (covert coins) and his SO, Brenda. Well, actually the food left a little to be desired, but the company more than made up for it. They drove about 6 hours for the show! Anyway, we had a blast talking about various aspects of coins collecting, and I got to show off a few of my favorite toned nickels. I hope that more of you can join us in the future. Mike M. said something about getting a room set aside just for CT members in the future. I think it would be a blast to get together in a little more organized fashion. Anyway, I had fun, and the best part (even better than the 1916-D merc I picked up) was getting to meet fellow CTers I hadn't met before, and getting to reunite with people I had previously met. This is truly a great bunch of people, and I hope more of you can join us in the future.
The show was fun, I picked up a few odds and ends nothing worth much. The place was like deadwood! I talked to alot of the dealers and none of them were having great days. I did talk to one dealer that I have known for a long time and he picked up 5 complete sets of Lincolns, another dealer bought 8 from the same guy. Alot of hands in pockets as the dealers were saying. I did get a chance to talk to Tom Reynolds for about an hour. What a great guy, and man does he know his Large Cents. WOW..Meeting everyone today was a real blessing. For those that were there, NO, I did not leave in time to beat the storms. 50+ MPH winds, trees and limbs falling all over the place and raining so hard cars were pulling over on the freeway, being on a Harley was NOT what I call fun. : )
Just back home from the show after a brief stop at the casino in Detroit ( I could smell the poker chips for miles) Ok, if nobody is going to do it, here goes. The last pic is from left to right: Mike Moratta, Penny Guy, TheNoost, Jim M, Covert Coins, Borgovan and yours truly. I think I hold the record for distance, but Covert holds it for time, a whole 6 hour drive from the MI upper penninsula. As stated above, I found it hard to buy at this show, and I had some good stuff on my want list. I did spend a few on a generic rack of slabs, all 09-VDB's but thats it. I filled a CT'ers want list with a 70-S small date as well, but no luck on the " big ones"..... Meeting the CT gang was great, and if memory serves me right, this was the largest yet gathering at one show. I have to jump on some of my moms home cooking here while I have the chance, see you later.
