Sketchy Show Report for the Bay State Coin Show in Boston, MA

[TomB]

I spent one afternoon at the Bay State Coin Show (BSCS) and will give my impressions of the afternoon.

 

First, however, I must tell everyone that I do not like driving to Boston for this show and absolutely detest the ballroom that the show is held in. The BSCS is in the Radison each year and the ballroom is horseshoe shaped, has uneven lighting and cooling systems, badly streaked windows that need a serious cleaning and, worst of all, parts of the ballroom have ceilings so low that I almost clip my head on it!

 

While at the show I met up with MrD (greattoning on ebay) and also with toneddollars. They offered to have dinner with me but I had to drive back to the hospital for some appointments I had to attend to. I was also able to spend some time with njcoincrank and a little with Julian (Julian Leidman).

 

As for the bourse, I was a little disappointed. It seemed like there were a number of empty tables where I would have expected to see dealers and none were there. It also seemed like fresh coins were nearly non-existant unless one were willing to spend upwards of $5,000 or more. There was a ton of toned material and it was almost uniformly ugly. The kind of coinage where there is a sprinkling of brown over the devices and folks label the holder as "PQ". Quite a few white Morgan dollars were available, some original and some not original. Only one dealer had more than two or three SEGS holders in his case and this particular dealer seemed to only have SEGS holders. He was not selling Seated coinage, either, as far as I could tell. There was plenty of gold strewn all over in all denominations, both raw and slabbed. ICG had a table at the show but I saw no one there. This doesn't mean that they had no business at all, it just means that I never saw anyone at their position on the horseshoe. Julian had an outstanding 1944 Washington quarter stuck on a steel cent planchet. If you are interested in this piece send him a message as I can't believe there are many of this error around. Also, be prepared to pay for it. There were a decent number of dealers selling exonumia, literature and ancients, some of it quite nice. An odd thing was that three dealers, who didn't know me, tried to explain to me why they wanted so much for the toned coins of theirs that I asked to see. The coins weren't particularly attractive, they were just the best of what I could see on the floor. The explanations were not appologies, rather, they were more like lessons in why toning costs more. Needless to say, I didn't need those lessons. I also didn't buy any coins from them. One dealer in foreign coinage had two wonderfully toned coins that I asked to see and he told me they would cost $1,500 and $3,500 before he would even open his case. In other words, he couldn't be bothered to show them to me unless I was seriously interested in buying them! As I looked at the $1,500 piece and commented on its fabulous toning the coin transmogrified into a $2,250 coin! Yup, he saw I liked the coin and raised the price 50%; I bet he does lots of good business that way.

 

Overall, I was taken aback at the relative lack of quality material visible on the floor. I managed to buy a handful of coins, didn't spend much money at all and left relatively quickly.

 

Please remember that this was a Friday afternoon when I went, so the volume of people should pick up considerably on the weekend. However, the coins were what I found disappointing.

[truthteller]

transmogrified? That's how I feel after eating too much chile and beans! Thanks for the update.

 

 

TRUTH

[EVillageProwler]

Tom,

 

You should have offered the guy $1000 for the coin that was listed at $1500. Or, just punch him in the nose! He gives dealers a very bad name!

 

EVP

 

[toneddollars]

I ran into Tom at the show today. Always a pleasure to talk with him. I totally agree with Toms view of what was available on the floor. Just a lot of STUFF. There were some pretty impressive coppers at the show. The annual 4c's meet at this show. That is colonial coppers club or something like that. I managed to buy a couple of nice coins on Thursday night (dealers setup ) I picked up an 1898-o in NGC 66*, it is an endroller and quite nice. I also found bought a 1903 target toned dollar in PCGS 65 and lastly I bought a 1880-s in NGC 65pl Toner with 3/4 rainbow on the obverse. I picked up all these at one dealers table who had a large assortment of toned material. I passed on a pair of end rolled 1885 dollars that had to come from the same roll. Each had identicle toning only one was obverse and theother was reverse. He was selling them as a pair. for $2400.00. I was offered these same coins raw by someone who called me from The ANA they were $1600.00 then. They now both are in PCGS 65 holders although the obverse one is no better than a 64, but had to get bumped due to the beauty of the coin. I went back to look at these coins one last time on Friday and they were sold.

 

So I guess I would agree with Tom that there was not much there, although I got three nice additions to my collection.

 

TD

 

[Hoot]

Thanks for the reports guys! Always great to know about shows. I cannot imagine a ballroom with such a low ceiling that Tom almost hit his head! He's tall, granted, but it's mostly hair!

 

BTW, I agree with EVP!

 

Hoot

[BillJones]

I'm sorry to hear that the fall Bay State show now has empty tables. The fall show was always better than then the spring one because of 4C. Now it seems that the fall show is in trouble too.

 

When I lived in the area I took a table there for a number of years. The best day to go there was always Friday. Some sellers packed up and left after Friday because Saturday was often a disappointment for the dealers. Unfortunately some New England collectors are very frugal buyers, and the Mass. sales tax does not help the situation for dealers. It's a shame, but there just aren't that many strong shows in New England now. The collector market there just can't support them.

 

A shortage of good material and fresh stock is a problem though out the industry. Finding realy nice coins in any grade is a challenge, when you find them, the prices are steep. The Bay State show is not alone in that respect.

 

Running over the Gray Sheet I can't believe how much my early coins (pre 1807 U.S. pieces) are worth now. The prices are just driving middle class collectors out of that part of the market, and that's a shame.

[bigd5]

Sounds like a typical Bay State Show.

I think a new venue would help this show immensely.

I've always avoided this show. When I was younger, I would take the train into the city, and it wasn't that bad, but to drive in there today......it's quite an adventure. Plus, the more casual collector isn't going to pay to park down there.

[DaveG]

Thanks for the post.

 

The show reports are always one of my favorite things about the forum!

[TomB]

The statement from Bill Jones about dealers leaving early was apparently true at this show, too. I had forgotten to mention that several dealers whom I spoke to on Friday had told me that they were in the midst of shutting down for the show, also, and would be heading home Friday evening.

 

I'm with bigd5 on this one completely! Typically, I do not even attend the BSCS even though I work in Providence, RI. That is because traffic is nuts, parking is brutal (it cost me $16 for two hours), they charge an admittance fee of $3 for one day or $5 for the weekend and the ballroom at the Radison is the pits. The only reason to go this time was to meet someone to see some newps.

[MikeKing]

I almost went, now, kind of glad I didn't. Would have been at least a 2.5 h drive, if not more. Are there ever any good shows in New England?

 

 

[BillJones]

When I lived in New England the best show was in Nashua, NH, the third Sunday of every month. It was a one day show, but there was a variety of dealers there.

 

If you are looking for really hard to find coins, the Baltimore show, which going to be held early in December, is probably the closest one to you. New England has sadly gotten a reputation among to dealers for less than active buyers. As a result shows like Bay State just don't get a lot of really good national dealers any more.

[TomB]

The GSNA show in Somerset, NJ is held each May and it is pretty good. Of course, the Baltimore show is where you want to be.

[chrisfuccione]

I was going to go on Sunday but I was tied up at an event in middle of state all day. For future reference how is Sundays at the show? CHIS

[JadeRareCoin]

We are back from Jade Coin's first Bay State Show. Boston is a really cool town and I wish that I had more time to see the sites. Due to budget constraints, James booked me in a hotel about 1 mile from the show hotel (Radisson). Therefore I walked to and from the show each day. I took different streets each time and saw some really cool architecture. I was especially fascinated by the very old city cemeteries. Some of the grave markers date back to the 1600's! Amazing!

 

Oh, about the show? It was great for us. We didn't walk the floor much because we were there to sell more than to buy. We were in the C4 section of the bourse and it was nice to be surrounded by so many great colonial coins and specialists. The highlight of the show, imho, was the C4 auction. Griffee sold his entire collection of St. Patricks farthings, which would warrant a thread of its own. Wow! What a collection!

 

Overall, the show was a big success for us. If I had to find a downside to the show, I would say that the location was less than convenient. Downtown Boston is not my favorite place when it comes to driving. I think that the location limits the amount of public attendance. On top of it all, James told me that I had to drive to the show, again due to budget constraints. In the end I drove 2000 miles (roundtrip) in order to attend the Bay State Show. James, I am NOT driving to the Hawaii coin show this month!!!

 

We were one of the last tables to pack up on Sunday (left Boston at 4:30 PM). I am glad that we stayed because we picked up some business from collectors who came in after lunch. I bet that they were disappointed to find that 90% of the dealers had already left. Sorry that I did not meet more NGC forum members at the show. Next time stop by and say "HI".

 

PS - best purchase at the show for us??? You guys ready for this? We bought a Norweb Hibernia Farthing (raw) from the C4 auction! It complete with the original B&M flip insert, but since it was part of a 4 coin lot that was not plated, how will we ever know if it really is a Norweb example of a Hibernia farthing......

[James_OldeTowne]

((( On top of it all, James told me that I had to drive to the show, again due to budget constraints. In the end I drove 2000 miles (roundtrip) in order to attend the Bay State Show. )))

 

Dennis, I told you that if could just start selling our coins at a profit, then we could put some GAS in the official company moped, and you wouldn't have to pedal it all the way to Boston and back!

 

James