Just got back from the FUN show, greeted by Mother Nature having coated the entire area in a nice mirror glaze. I'm thankful I didn't decide to drive myself and leave the car at the airport or I would have had the same experience I did about 8 years ago when the same thing happened, and it took make several minutes just to get one of the car doors open. Unfortunately, I was informed upon returning that I need to do some grocery shopping. Some cool news on the VAM collecting front. The online SSDC price guide was finally turned on for SSDC members on Friday just before VAM Thing XIX. This is the culmination of a combination of pricing research and web development mostly on the part of two people, Ash Harrison and John Coxe ( @alefzero ). As it's online, the mechanics of keeping it updated won't be difficult. Ash has also been working with John Feigenbaum to have them include the more popular VAMs from the SSDC price guide into the printed CDN a couple times per year. This will put the collectors and dealers on the same page as far as VAM valuation is concerned. So what did I buy? A couple Morgans to resell, a $2.50 Lib for my 7070, and a few other coins for my collection: 1821 O-101 50c PCGS 53: A very well struck 1821-Mo Ferdinand VII Real NGC 64 for my World Coins in Early America set: A 1649 Lion Dollar from Utrecht. While I already have one of these in my WCiEA set, I liked enough that I had to buy it anyway. I now have decent examples from 4 of the 12 provinces/regions/cities that minted this type, which I guess means I may as well pursue the other 8. A Cab at Delmonico's, a Pinot Noir at Del Frisco's, and my ears are still ringing from Señor Frog's last night.
