A pleasant, mid-size show

Having spent myself out again on the Naftzger late dates sale (my new 1841 MS65), I had thought I'd just save up for awhile and wait for the Baltimore show in November, or March, to buy again. But Philadelphia seemed so close - why not go to the new Whitman expo? And last week, Coinfest seemed like it might be fun too. Stamford, CT isn't all that far after all, right? So I decided to go. I gathered my stuff, including the duplicate 1841 cent to sell, and 20 of my best-for-the-grade coins for the free CAC evaluation offered at Coinfest.

I got in line to enter Saturday morning, at 9:55, 5 minutes before opening. Through security, I was #31 in the CAC line. Nearing the table, I realized that folks had already filled out submission forms, so I asked for one and quickly completed it. We were told that our coins would be ready sometime in the early afternoon. Apparently they were overwhelmed. I got mine just before 4:00, and there were more folks behind me than ahead.

During the wait, I had plenty of time to check out the show. As I wrote recently, Philadelphia show was pretty slow, at least when I was there. Not so with Coinfest. The floor was busy the entire time I was there, sometimes too busy. Ads said there would be about 150 tabled dealers. I didn't count, but that seems about right. It was similar in size to the Philadelphia show, and obviously smaller than the Baltimore & FUN shows I've been to. But it was enough larger than most local shows that some top dealers were there, and there were plenty of quality coins.

Despite the crowd, I was able to get through the entire floor and find several coins to examine as possible additions to my half dime collection and a couple potential large cent upgrades. Even though the numismatic allowance is currently in the red, the family budget is doing better, having recently made the last payment on my wife's car. Still, I just don't have enough for the nice big coppers. The half dimes were nice, but not quite nice enough. In the end, I bought the first coin I looked at - an 1849 open wreath gold dollar.

How do gold dollars fit in my collection? I've been trying to get my wife to be more interested in the hobby. It's not really working, but she (jokingly) said that she wanted to collect something small. So I decided to put together a nice (but not super-high grade) type set of gold dollars for her. Two down.

I checked out Heritage's auction archives to see recent prices realized for coins like my (wife's...) new dollar. In looking at one, I noticed a similar scratch, and soon verified that it was, in fact, the same coin. The certification number didn't clue me in because it is different. Apparently the auction winner thought it might upgrade and resubmitted it. I think it's pretty nice for the grade too. Anyway, a photo is provided below.

I'll have more to write about the CAC experience in another entry. Thanks for reading.