Was the Long Beach show that bad?

Legend numismatics says " for the majority of dealers this Long Beach went down as horrible and quite possibly the worst one ever."

What say thee?

 

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Sorry for multiple postings---just tried to fix typos in title (very confusing).

 

I'll check with MFD and see what they say.
But my impression is that the West Coast coin shows are not doing well.
Notice that Whitman has TWO shows a year in Baltimore and they do quite well.
And the end of this month there will be a Whitman show in Philadelphia. That's only about 1½ hour drive from Baltimore. (I'll be going.)
The East Coast seems to do much better.

 

The Long Beach show's timing is off. It's held just after skewl starting and on a coast 3000 miles away from where more of the early collectors live and it should be held during winter months so peeps can go to it as a vacation getaway (from the cold). The organizers need to look at the timing and move it to a later date. :thumb:

Ribbit

 

Actually, since 1964 it's been three per year. The 2010 schedule is February 4 - 6, June 3 - 5 and September 23 - 25.

You sure got that right!

 

it is too bad. too far from new york.

 

I think we got the right answer with the market being in a slump. Everything is currently in a slump so vacation/coin show trips to the West Coast just aren't happening. The good news is that no recession has ever been permanent.

 

In my view, that was an exaggeration, even without the "quite possibly the worst one ever". And when that part is added in, it makes the comment so far over the top that it lacks credibility.

 

I know the stuff I go after (early copper) isn't in a slump! I wish it was! The 1797 S-135 I went after on Ebay ended up selling for almost double my bid and I bid $375. :goofer: Tom Deck predicted it would go for around $500 and even he was surprised it went so high. :whistle:

Ribbit

 

That's fine and dandy, but the topic is (or was) the Long Beach show.

 

I wasn't there to see prices on the floor, but for what I was looking at in the Heritage auction, prices were as strong as ever.

 

I'm gonna tell on you to Laura--na na na naya

 

Go for it

 

I thought it was pretty much the same as the last few Long Beach shows I've been to. Bought a few and sold a few and had a lot of fun. Legend doesn't attend these shows for the collectors anyways, they don't even have coins there on the weekend. They are there mostly to do wholesale business which is fine I guess, but their report doesn't speak for all dealers and definitely doesn't speak for the collectors.

 

Kanga, I believe Baltimore has THREE shows a year, though their summer show doesn't seem to be very strong. As far as this Long Beach being the worst ever, nah, I don't think so. Collectors are holding on tighter to their money and being much more selective, but it was still a very active show, in both wholesale and retail arenas. Not everyone did as well as usual, but some I know of had a fantastic show.

Overall, yes, as everyone knows, the market has slowed down, and not just on the west coast. As is true any time, I think it completely depends on your material - if it's fresh, high quality, and better dates, those dealers did well. If a dealer has old stale, low-end material, probably not. That's how it was at this show.

Personally, for me, I had a very similar show to the summer Long Beach, which is usually the slower of the three. The February Long Beach is usually the best, and although I did well at that one, it was only slightly better than this and the summer show. It's just a matter of these slower economic times in my opinion, nothing more really.

I think as a collector, you just have to have more patience, do more price comparisons, shop around a little harder, and not settle for "dreck."

 

Oops, I believe you are correct.
March, June and the "yet to happen" November show.

Just noticed. Philly is less than 2 weeks away.
I better start getting my ducks in order, esp. since I have more ducks than usual.

Comments from MFD. He really didn't say anything significant.

"The Long Beach Show, as well as recent shows in California, haven't been too successful for many retailers. We continue to attend these shows to meet the customers we have on the West Coast as well as trying to find items on want lists."

 

I spoke to a dealer Sunday, who had a table near the entrance.

He said that at a 1/2 hour after opening on Friday that there was NO ONE entering, or near the entrance.

They thought that promotions stunk, no outside signs to attract -- even tho there was a Justin Timberlake concert with many thousands attending. [not attracting the kids, but their parents who dropped them off.]

That, plus the charge to non-members, he saw a lot of folks just walk away when they heard about the charge.

 

I think Long Beach, like many SoCal cities has been hit hard with these economic times. A working-class town is just not the best place to hold a show trying to sell goods bought with disposable income, because right now nobody in places like that have any. I've only attended two shows this year, and both were so packed it has hard to even move table to table. The crowd was old, the cities retirement meccas, and the business seemed booming. Coin show organizers would be wise to re-adjust show schedules to places where people don't depend on the economy to survive. Just a thought.
Guy~