Preliminary Show Report for Baltimore on Thursday

[TomB]

Before I write about the show I'd like to apologize to those members who have sent me private messages over the past week and who I have not responded to yet; it was not an intentional slight, I had to get my schedule changed at the hospital in order to make the Thursday show and things have been quite hectic.

 

I left Wednesday night, by car, and made terrific time through RI and CT, this is mentioned because it was quite unusual. As I was driving through the Bronx I noticed a very familiar smell and then realized that the muddied, high pitched strain was the smell of the city that I was so familiar with when I went to school at Columbia, just blocks from the George Washington Bridge. It's not a bad smell, it's just distinct and subtle. By the time I was on the NJ side of the GWB the smell had disappeared.

 

Thursday morning, at the registration line, there were two lines, side-by-side, and neither had a sign as to what they were for. Each was about 20 people deep, but they were moving relatively quickly so it wasn't too bad. Upon reaching the end of the line I asked to pay and was told that to pay I had to be on the other line, all of 18 inches away. They wouldn't let me pay where I stood, I had to go to the back of the other line where I chatted with Legend Steve as we crept along. Finally, I was at the end of the second line and gave over two checks for the show only to be asked for my business card. Normally, I carry some of these, however, I had forgotten cards, as well as my watch, so I couldn't hand one over. The woman at the table told me I couldn't enter since I didn't have a card! They already know who I am, they mail me a bourse contract for every show! I also do every Thursday at the Baltimore show and this has never been an issue. She refused to let me in and said that the card requirement was new and that it had something to do with security. She was adamant, I had to come back on Friday. I explained that I would be back in RI on Friday and she handed me over to someone else who said he would not be able to help me but would see what he could do. He asked if anyone would know me on the bourse and I told him that most people would. As he disappeared onto the bourse with my checks I had this sinking feeling that I would be conducting all my business in the hallway outside of the exhibit area. He returned to tell me that people knew who I was and I could enter. The entire episode was fairly bizarre.

 

As for the show-

-The bourse hall seemed smaller than usual.

-There appeared to be less floor traffic than normal for a Thursday in Baltimore.

-Lots of cleaned Steated Liberty material was around.

-A surprising number of tough Barber coins were around including multiple, problem-free slabbed examples of circulated 1896-S, 1901-S and 1913-S quarters.

-Wildly toned Washington quarters are extinct on the bourse.

-Typical bourse floor examples of MS65 and MS66 white Washingtons from the services are getting lower in quality.

-Larry Shepherd had an enormous number of outstanding Morgan dollars that would beat you about the face they were so cool!

-Every matte proof Buffalo nickel minted is still extant, is slabbed and was on the floor being offered for sale.

-Early type was more scarce than the last shows.

-An 1828 AU58 Capped Bust quarter with slight, concentric rainbow album toning was available and I guessed the price exactly; $12,500.

-Bigmoose had his Earie Canal medal with him and it was outstanding!

-He was also gracious enough to share with me about six other superb coins.

-I met up with Pushkin who gave me a sample bottle of his Scratch Away for removing scratches from slabs. Thanks!

-Lots of 1950s original US double Mint Sets were available and relatively few had nice coins in them.

-The nicest coins in these Mint Sets appear to be from the 1947 sets as they toned the slowest and so have the most remaining luster.

-Pushkin shared with me a large number of wonderful Indian Head and Flying Eagle cents including a complete Flying Eagle clashed denomination set.

-I never thought I would see a drop-dead gorgeous New Rochelle but Larry Shepherd had one and it sold to the first person he showed it to.

-On two separate ocassions I overheard pairs of dealers stating that they were holding back a significant portion of their nicest inventory because they think they will get more for it at FUN.

-The hot carved turkey was some of the best bourse floor food I have ever had.

-NGC and PCGS were apparently swamped with bulk submissions by dealers, but there was no one milling by their tables.

-I did not see even one ACG slabbed coin.

-Normally, one can find a smattering of unattractive matte proof Lincoln cents but I found virtually none at this show.

-Relatively little bulk gold was out given how the price has risen.

 

On my way out I misjudged how much cash I had left and I ran out of money to pay tolls after I got on the NJ Turnpike! I was 31 cents short! My options were

 

1)Stop at a rest area and crawl around to look for change.

2)Crack out my coins and spend them on tolls at face value.

3)Go to a restaurant and offer to give my waitress an extra large tip if she kicked back a dollar or two of it to me.

4)Get off the NJ Turnpike early and drive out of my way to my mother's place to borrow 31 cents! We have a plan! One chilli dog dinner with my mother later and I was back on my way.

 

Overall, I was disappointed in the show for a Thursday.

[Wihlborg]

Tom.

 

Sorry to hear that you had so many problems and the show turned out to be a disappointment for you.

 

On the bright side, your show report is excellent as usual!

 

John

 

[cladking]

Thanks for the excellent report.

 

Do you attribute the lower quality of slabbed Washingtons to collectors seeking the superior examples?

 

Any theories why the old mint sets should be so plentiful?

[MikeKing]

Chili dogs??

[TomB]

Yes, chili dogs!

 

I think cladking brings up an interesting question and that is why it would seem that mostly lower quality coins, in my niche, were available at this show. There are likely many reasons, but some will be listed. One is a play on the idea that bad money drives out good money. In this case, correctly graded or undergraded coins will be driven out of the bourse by overgraded or no-eye-appeal coins. Another is that, until the State Quarter feeding frenzy, most Washington quarters were worth relatively little even in fairly high grade. Therefore, there wasn't motivation to submit mass numbers of Washingtons, there was only motivation to submit the finest coins. Now, however, with the larger prices, lower quality coins are submitted. Lastly, in a related issue, many coins are maxed out by being submitted multiple times in order to hit the third-party-certification-lottery. We all see this on many respected web sites where they state things such as "we bought this coin from a crackout artist who tried six times to upgrade the piece..." or "even we tried two times to upgrade this coin it is so nice...". What you typically don't read about are the success stories such as "finally, after submitting this coin 35 times, it went a grade higher and we will now make a killing off of it...". I wonder why?

[toneddollars]

AHHHH New Rochell, beautiful, sold to first coustomer, sounds like Greattoning to me. Tell me I'm wrong!!!!

[Wihlborg]

We all see this on many respected web sites where they state things such as "we bought this coin from a crackout artist who tried six times to upgrade the piece..." or "even we tried two times to upgrade this coin it is so nice...". What you typically don't read about are the success stories such as "finally, after submitting this coin 35 times, it went a grade higher and we will now make a killing off of it...". I wonder why?

 

A very good point Tom, and one that does not escape me every time I read a coin description with that type of statement in it.

 

Personally, I would rather have a MS-whatever.9 coin and wonder why it did not make it to the next grade than a MS-whatever coin that just made it into a holder with that grade.

 

Sometimes less is more.

 

John

 

[TomB]

You got it toneddollars!

 

Andy Kimmel, Larry Shepherd, greattoning and I were hanging out together at Larry's table before he had set up and, while I went through one box of awesome dollars, greattoning had the box with some commems and he snapped it up before I had the chance.

[pmh1nic]

TomB

 

Thanks for the report. It's only those the have had their sense of smell cleansed by that pure New Hampshire air that notice the "smell" while traveling through the Bronx .

[stman]

Tom.... You got a problem with the Bronx? Not sure if you remember me telling you that was my birthplace. Great show report

[TomB]

Yes, I remember our conversation about the Bronx. I didn't mind living there, but you have to admit that there is a certain "aroma" to the environment.

 

A few things I forgot to mention-

-I was able to handle my first raw $50 gold slug, a US Assay Office piece from 1852 that looked F12 and might have been messed with in the past; it was still cool to hold.

-Two complete sets of business strike Liberty nickels were for sale. One set was AG-VG while the other was about $4,000 and was F-EF with the key dates being EF, that was quite nice and something you never see.

[Hoot]

You made me very hungry with your report Tom! I simply LOVE a good chilidog - a good kosher bun buster with home made chili!

 

Thanks for the GREAT report. Very insightful, as usual, albeit very strange how you had to coerce your way in. Maybe you weren't who you thought you were...

 

Would have liked to have seen those Libs!

 

Hoot

[toneddollars]

I think most of those dollars you were looking at came from the long beach auction (I think, I do not know for fact). Word was Larry was very busy buying up all the good pieces.Thanks for the great report, your show reports are always a welcome read when one can not attend. No surprise about the New Rochell, is quick on the trigger and knows who to hit first at these shows.

 

TD

[DaveG]

Thanks for the great report, Tom!

 

Did you happen to notice much of any no-motto gold?

 

Somehow, I don't think you'll be in Parsippany tomorrow.

 

(I don't think I'll be there - too much shoveling to do!)

 

 

 

 

 

p.s., now that I have an older NGC slab, I now longer care if you saw any at the show!

[Pushkin-migration]

 

Tom,

 

Thank you for showing me a sample of your great toned coins - some of those were just amazing. It was a pleasure to meet you.Sorry about you hassle at the entrance.

 

Regards,

 

Pushkin

[Leothelion]

He asked if anyone would know me on the bourse and I told him that most people would.

 

Reminds me of the, "It's a Wonderful Life" movie and they're all standing on the inside looking back at you and you're yelling, "C'mon Bert and Ernie, don't you remember me? You guys sanged at my wedding!

 

Leo

[DirtyGoldMan]

Excellent show report, one of the best I have ever read, here or elsewhere. Was there any gold at the show?

[EZ_E]

He asked if anyone would know me on the bourse and I told him that most people would.

 

Reminds me of the, "It's a Wonderful Life" movie and they're all standing on the inside looking back at you and you're yelling, "C'mon Bert and Ernie, don't you remember me? You guys sanged at my wedding!

 

Leo

 

 

 

 

Ditto, Tom B., about the most excellent thread that you started!

 

Thanks for the good read.