Spent the last two days at Summer FUN, arriving at 8:30 and leaving at 5:30. I'm volunteering at our local coin club table so I get an early bird pass as a result. My first experience at that. Interesting to be there before the general public is allowed in. It's nice to browse more or less unhindered. It's also nice to have a "home base" at the coin club table to rest and relax while promoting the club and interacting with the YNs, some as young as 8. Anyway, my contacts at FUN tell me the show was sold out. By my count, there were 294 separate entities occupying tables. That includes TPGs, ANA, ANS, Local Coin Clubs and other non-dealer entities. By my estimate, about 260 dealers. I think business is brisk. This morning about 9, I helped a local dealer friend of mine attribute a Fugio he had recently acquired (Newman 3-D, R-3) in a VF-Details slab - a scudzy coin. We talked about how to price it and he put a number on it that I thought was high by about $150. He told me at 2 that the coin had sold to another dealer minutes after my attribution for his asking price. He is a small, local dealer but he sold $8K in those 4 hours with a diminished starting inventory. Indication, but not proof, of a still strong market. Lots of decent material at the show but not a barn burner. There were, though, some fabulous coins on display. GC, Heritage, and Tangible Investments had lots of old, rare gold and other material. Only at shows do you get to hold stuff you could never buy. For example, during a break, a dealer acquaintance pulled a PCGS slab out of his pocket and asked me if I needed it for my type set. The coin in question was a 1796 eagle in AU-50, a $96K coin. I told him I had that hole to fill but I'd already blown my show budget - Ha! Another dealer friend let me examine a 1796 quarter, a Gobrecht proof dollar and a 1797 half dime. Sat in on a pricing discussion between two national dealers on a trade dollar. That was very interesting because it displayed some nuances and research twists that were new to me. Sorry I can't talk more about that. At the public rope drop on Thursday, public traffic seemed a little thin but it picked up considerably within an hour or two and traffic today was substantial. I did not hear any dealer whining. Somebody tried to pass off a counterfeit 1909-S VDB. From what I heard, second-hand obviously, it was offered to several dealers (one I spoke to personally) who all told him it was fake but he persevered and kept trying to flog it. That is, until the Orange County Sheriffs Deputies intervened and took him away to await the Secret Service, or so I was told. I made a few deals and failed at some. What I acquired: 6 capped bust half dimes, 3 slabbed and 3 raw; 1840-O with Drapery Quarter, NGC AU58; 1852 Half Eagle, NGC AU58 CAC; 1795 Talbot, Allum & Lee Token, PCGS AU55 CAC. Tomorrow is another day.
Thank you for the very detailed report! Almost like being by your side at the show. I always loved Cliff Mishlers show reports. He’d even tell us where he went to eat and what he had! One could take pictures and post to the foodies thread in here as an addendum to the show report!
Glad to hear you are having a great time, relaxing and enjoying the show while getting to buy some nice coins.
Great report. The show was everything I'd hoped for. Spent the whole day Thursday and blew the show budget on one coin. Something for everyone. Trite but true.
Thanks for the report. Being a hermit, all I could think of was; Large crowds of people. Noise. Possible spread of virus, with the new one being the easier to spread. I hope you are safe, health wise. I would love to hear the outcome of the guy trying to sell the fake '09 cent.
Third and final day at the show. Arrived 8:30 and attended the EAC Region 4 meeting. Sparse, only 7 people there but had some nice chat for 40 minutes. Went to a dealer that had 3 1877 IHCs in MS grades and asked him about the MS-61 in a PCGS slab. He was asking $6500. Wow! Greysheet is $3400. PCGS Price Guide is $5000. I guess he's hoping for the "Greater Fool". But the reason I mention this is because I saw some significant evidence of over-pricing (IMHO) at the show. Not everywhere and not every dealer, but if you were looking for key dates, etc. you were not going to find a decent deal. OTOH, I found the show to be significantly short of a lot of different material: Almost no Colonials; I was looking for a Spanish Colonies Cob and the stuff I saw was over-priced and mediocre; I was looking for a No Motto Eagle and almost nothing available; looking for a nice fully-struck 1919 or 1920 SLQ and just junk on display. I acknowledge that my interests and tastes may not reflect the general interests, but I found the show indicative of the continuing lack of good and fresh material. Anyway, in conversations with dealers and show officials, the general sentiment was that the show had been a success. Dealers apparently did a ton of business and weren't griping - that in itself is pretty amazing. I was tending my local coin club table today and we had lots of families with young kids and also the Boy Scouts. I gave out tons of swag and lobbied the local parents to come to the club meeting to try it out. Fun! This Summer FUN was in the South Concourse which was a bit of a hike through the building from the parking lot. Next January, the Winter FUN show will be in the North Concourse which is an easy, short walk from the parking lot and the bourse is right there, not a quarter-mile walk through the center. Doesn't mean anything to you young-uns but it does to us oldsters. I only bought one coin today, a nice 1833 Half Dime, PCGS AU53, LM-3, R-4. As a measure of the desert conditions at the show for me, I only spent 40% of my show budget when I normally overspend my FUN show budget.
