I have been looking forward to this show for months now. I had to miss it last year as my son was sick and the wife had to work, but everything worked out great this year. I was hoping to hit the road by 9:30 am and arrive right at the 12:00 pm opening, but I had a few loose ends to tie up first, so I got a bit of a late start. Traffic was light on the way up, so it only took 2.5 hours to drive there and I arrived just before 1:00 pm. As I arrived, the parking was pretty full, but I managed to find a spot close to the entrance. Thankfully the parking is free at this event. I made my way to the entrance, where I was greeted with a smile and an offer to take an elongated cent to commemorate this particular PNNA Show. I asked if I could take a few as my kids enjoy them and I wanted to send one out to one of my east coast friends. I happily paid the $2.00 admission and entered the show. It was pretty crowded and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Lot's of dealers with fresh coins. I started over towards the left side and worked my way up and down each aisle. I was greeted with a lot of smiling faces from dealers which is always a good sign. My first stop was a dealer that had a couple of nicely toned Canadian coins. I didn't end up buying any as I had just arrived and the pricing was a bit more than I wanted to pay for raw. My next stop was a larger dealer from the Seattle area who had a corner table. They had a lot of freshly graded coins back from PCGS, mostly Morgan's, so I took a peek. A couple grabbed my interest, but I had just arrived and didn't want to just start spending money without looking around a bit. But, as I rounded the corner I noticed an old NGC fatty with a bright almost baby blue green label looking up at me from the case. It was a 1938-D Buffalo, something that I have recently become addicted to buying. It was graded MS-67 and appeared to have pretty decent color to boot. So I asked to look at it. I didn't own an MS-67 yet, so this would be a great addition to the heard. After looking it over, I noticed the MM appeared to something going on with it. So I got out my higher powered lens and took a look. Sure enough, it was an unattributed FS-511 OMM-001 D/D/D/S. I handed it back to the dealer and asked how much? I was very happy with the price he offered, so I bought it. I was ecstatic that my first purchase was a home run. I've been wanting a D/S for quite some time, but I prefer to cherrypick my varieties. I didn't expect to find such a nice example to go unattributed by one of the big TPG's. I was also very happy as the holder appeared to be in pristine condition. It did have an old sticker over the hologram on the back, which I was a bit concerned about. But, it came off and the residue was easy to remove with a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol. The hologram is completely intact, which is great for my OCD. My next stop was the other side of the aisle. There were a lot of customers sitting down with thick binders looking through pages of 2x2 flips. This is one of my favorite things to do, look through binders of coins. The binder or Mercury Dimes was available. The dealer gave me an extra chair and I shared a light with another customer. I started flipping through the binder not finding much. The earlier dates were all lower grade. But, once I got to the '40's, I started to find better material. I pulled (2) higher grade 1941-S FS-511 Large S Mercury Dimes. One is an AU and the other a low end Unc. I also found a really nice looking Gem 1942-S with full McDonalds Arches, FSB. The coin really jumped out at me. It had been struck with dies that had previously clashed and consequently were abraded from the repair work, leaving behind heavy die file lines. Remnants of the clash can be seen next to the Axe on the reverse, part of Liberty's neck is still there. The reverse shows most of the repair work. I also bought a 1929-S Buffalo with a nice sized lamination error on the reverse. I don't have any photo's of it as it's still soaking in acetone.
I walked around a little more and stopped to say high to Tom at Liberty Coin who is my favorite local dealer down here in Vancouver. I wanted to say hello to Jerry Bobbe, but he was busy with customers as was @ThePennyLady. I don't like to interrupt as business is the reason why they are there. So maybe next time. My next purchase was an attractively toned 1885-O Morgan Dollar in an old ANACS MS-64 holder. It's the second generation holder that still used the 2 letter prefix. I negotiated with the dealer and we came up with a price we were both happy with. After that purchase, I made my way around to the rest of the tables. I couldn't find anything that I just had to have. So I made my way back over to the Seattle dealer that I made my first purchase from earlier. There was a really nice looking 1921 Morgan in a PCGS MS-65 holder that I wanted to go look at again. I was happy to see it still there. So I asked to look at it again. I set it aside and asked to look at a few other Morgan's. An 1883-O in MS-64 that turned out to be an unattributed VAM-36a E clash made the cut. So I negotiated a deal and bought the 1921 and 1883-O. It was starting to get late and I knew I had a long drive ahead of me, especially with the rush hour traffic. So I left at around 5:30 and didn't get home until 9:00. I did have a great time and would have gone again, if it were closer. I look forward to the upcoming October PNNA here in Portland.
Nice! I couldn't make it out but hope to next year. That buffalo is killer and the others are nice as well. Well done!
Nice show report, and cherry picks!! Finding a clashed E in the wild is ALWAYS a landmark event. I am REALLY digging that 85o early Anacs though, and i KNOW you cant wait to send that Buff off to CAC. I couldnt find any notable die cracks on yer '21 so you will probably hafta use the scribbles to try and Vam it. Nice Haul !!
Yeah, there were no cracks on that '21. It's a D2 reverse, so that narrows it down a bit, but still super tough.. I knew you would be loving that '85-O Morgan. And most certainly that '38-D/S Buffalo is going to take a trip to Joisy.
D/s is super. And they were really tough back then especially on that vintage. Too pop is 68 for either. Imagine a gold bean on it. Though I doubt thatll happen let’s hope tho Nice pickup. Like the 85-o a lot too
Oh man, a gold bean would be amazing!! But I think a green bean is probably a lot more realistic. Although, there is always a chance it might not bean as well. So who knows. I was just thrilled to have scored a D/D/D/S in a fairly monster grade unattributed. I was also thrilled that it had a bit of color that helps with the eye appeal.
Yeah agree. I hope it does go gold as its a huge money coin in 68. Surprise someone hasn’t cracked it or tried to cross it it’s got enough eye appeal for sure. I bought one similar raw about a year ago not as nice that went pcgs 66
Ni e write up glad you got to go and enjoy the show.. sweet pick ups! BTW 38 D rookies that's a D/D/D/S yes that's right a triple D just like Stormy
@jtlee321 , congrats on your finds. The last coin show I attended I also had a blast looking through folders of coins. I found a 1945 Merc. with heavy die polish lines on both the obverse and reverse. I haven't studied the Merc. series yet, but when I saw the coin, I knew I had to have it. I think I paid around $7 for it. It will end up in my new Dansco 7070, but not before I photograph it. Thanks for sharing your experience!
There is just something mesmerizing about a coin with heavy die polish lines. Anytime I come across one, I just have to buy it. I know some people view them as less than desirable due to what they perceive as diminished eye appeal, but I view them contrary to that. To me the eye appeal has increased, because they stand out from all the others. So collect on and enjoy what catches your eye.
I agree with you. The dime I mentioned is 65ish, so not worth putting it in a holder, but it will go nicely in my album.
