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SLNA Coin Show Report - I'll try to be brief, but....

Started by James_OldeTowne,

16 posts in this topic

James_OldeTowne

James_OldeTowne

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I very much prefer to be at a coin show all the way until the end, but unfortunately, on Sunday, I could not make the SLNA show due to the necessities of an open house. RYK alluded to this in his SLNA report, but since we were there on divergent days, I thought I'd post my experience separately.

 

To be very brief, I would describe the coin show for Friday and Saturday as being outrageously strong. I believe that when all is said and done, I will have had my highest gross sales ever, and easily my highest profit margin ever, since I fortunately was into several coins "right", and they sold with no problems at full retail prices. One dealer I spoke with said his PROFIT at this show was DOUBLE his NET SALES at Long Beach? What does that tell you?

 

The crowd on Thursday was mind-boggling - shoulder to shoulder, and you could not walk down the aisles without getting unexpectedly and uncomfortably cozy with perfect strangers. There was so much body heat in the room that they had to blast the air-conditioning, and that was despite freezing temperatures outside! It was gratifying to see collectors turn out in huge numbers and swarm the bourse. Saturday was similarly swamped from the opening bell until about 3:00, when the crowd began to slowly dissipate. I had very little wholesale traffic, and much retail traffic, and that is always much better for the bottom line. I honestly believe that it was the most crowded I have seen that bourse since the days when the show was at the old Henry VIII hotel. I feel absolutely certain we would have been swamped until the closing bell had not Valentine's day dinner reservations not been already in place for many folks. Yes, the crowds were HUGE despite the holiday.

 

As for what was selling, it was "strength across the board". Naturally, most of my sales were affordable early material, since that is what I focus on, but bizarrely, Morgan dollars were strong - I sold fifty-three of the suckers, which was every one that I brought to the show, and even cheap Peace dollars moved quickly. I sold a certified Liberty nickel, a shield nickel, a gorgeous 1915-S buffalo with a full horn, several bust dimes, a certified Mercury dime, five partial albums of Roosevelt dimes, including one nearly complete with BU coins, several bust quarters, two certified Washington quarters, several bust halves, and one seated half.

 

Something that has never happened for me at a single show took place for the first time - five separate purchases of nice large-planchet bust quarters! They range in grade from VG to VF, all nice originals (one certified), and it just isn't common to be able to acquire these at that rate in a show like this. I also picked up a couple of certified bust halves, several large cents, and a couple of mundane bust dimes. My favorite purchase was an 1829 Reiver bust half-dime in an NGC AU-55 holder - gorgeous coin and perfectly graded, and the pedigree only cost me an extra $50. That's a bargain, folks. The Reiver pedigree is one of the few which actually means something, in my opinion.

 

Despite the good fortune of these purchases, I found pickins to be very slim indeed. There were a couple of capped bust quarters with VF+ details that were on the bourse, and both were priced right at greysheet for the details grades, but both had minor problems, and I elected to conserve cash.

 

The Scotsman auction produced MIND BOGGLING STRONG BIDS. If you had to judge just by the shocking levels that some of these coins attained, you would unequivocally declare the recession OVER BEFORE IT BEGAN. And once again, this auction provided remarkable evidence of raw coins leaving slabbed coins in the dust - sometimes under highly enigmatic conditions. For example, I had cataloged a 1916-D dime un-encapsulated, and it was a perfectly original VG with one small problem - it was bent. According to my notes, it closed at FOURTEEN HUNDRED dollars! Here's what's unsettling - a PCGS certified VG-8 with identical details (and of course no bend) closed for two-hundred dollars... LESS!

 

What the @#$% ?!?!?!?!

 

I wanted the uncertified 1822 bust quarter in EF so bad I could taste it, and was thinking $1600 or so should take it. I dropped out - AT FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!! Are you kidding me????? An uncertifed XF coin at MS-62 money?????? Oh, and the 1853-O no-arrows dime with light scratches that I was willing to ride to $600? Nothing much, it just closed AT TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS.

 

Holy stimulus checks, batman!

 

Heck, I wanted the Cocos Islands coins, which should have been mere trinkets at $150, and got trounced well beyond FOUR HUNDRED dollars. Good grief. To me though, the one that takes the cake was the first lot of cleaned-BU Siam Ticals in a Capital Plastics holder. It had a high estimate of $1500, and guess what? That crummy, lousy set skyrocketed TO EIGHT-THOUSAND FIVE-HUNDRED DOLLARS IN JUST TWO BIDS! Gee, just three times the pre-auction estimate.

 

......What recession?

 

To make a long story short, the realities of an auction this strong were very sobering to someone on my budget, so shortly after gulping down generous helpings of the catered Imo's pizza, I left the room, certain that my bidder card would prove useless the rest of the night.

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Conder101

Conder101

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I wish I'd known about the Cocos Keeling set.. You're wrong James, that set went CHEAP. The easiest coin to get in that set is the 25 cent and it's $150 retail. I've owned my sets for years and I've probably got $1000 to $1250 in each of them. At that price I'd have gladly added a third set to my holdings. (Of course then I'd have to try and find a third set of the 1968 and 1977 sets as well, and that would mean another $2K or more, if you can find them.)

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James_OldeTowne

James_OldeTowne

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I wish I'd known about the Cocos Keeling set.. You're wrong James, that set went CHEAP. The easiest coin to get in that set is the 25 cent and it's $150 retail. I've owned my sets for years and I've probably got $1000 to $1250 in each of them. At that price I'd have gladly added a third set to my holdings. (Of course then I'd have to try and find a third set of the 1968 and 1977 sets as well, and that would mean another $2K or more, if you can find them.)

 

Mike, here is a link to my write-up on the lot. And, I was mistaken, it sold for $425 (net $488.75). I agree with you that the lot went cheap at that price, and should have been more clear in stating that it was more than I could afford at the time on a lot that doesn't fit my collection/inventory.

 

But here is the lot that really blew my away. And I was mistaken here as well - it sold for 9500, not 8500 as I previously stated.

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RI AL

RI AL

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:blahblah: RI AL is rambling again...must be the new carpet fumes

 

I'm glad I read this report, James-EarlyUS. VERY interesting information and I'm trying to figure out how to interpret it. Is everyone going "stimulus package" crazy, thinking that it will do the least bit of good and put money back in their pockets? Is it panic buying? (Sort of like the Macy's wedding dress 1 day clearance when those crazy Boston women nearly kill each other to get a wedding gown...or 3..whether they fit or not at a real cheap price). Are people looking to put their money into something they see as a store of value for when the dollar crashes? Or, is the hobby on fire?

 

It's only 1 show, but this information combined with the fact that less expensive stuff I've been watching is selling above Numismedia prices might indicate a trend. I don't think it's a case of a, "buy when there's blood in the streets" mentality...because obviously there is very little coin blood IN the streets as prices are high. It does explain why I can't seem to win an auction these days, except for some OK foreign stuff. People are willing to pay MORE than something is worth...but that is impossible because if people are paying it, THAT'S what it's worth.

 

If I had to pick what I thought was causing the high prices, I think I would go for the "panic buying" theory. Kind of cuts me out of the market, but I guess it will be a good thing if I ever sell.

 

As for me, I think I'd rather put my $ into gold, or...if I had a bit longer time frame, the stock market. If gold hits below $800 again, I'll buy. I'd LOVE to have good collectible coins instead, but I think that gold would be the more stable asset in the event of a collapse.

 

Believe it or not, I'm an optimist, but this whole economy thing has me feeling a bit queasy. I'm thinking that if I had attended this coin show, I'd leave empty handed.

 

But that's just me...

 

 

 

 

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James_OldeTowne

James_OldeTowne

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James could you explain what the The Reiver pedigree is about for those of us who are uninformed . Thanks

The best way to learn about the Jules Reiver collection is to start reading here on the Heritage website. They auctioned off most of his holdings in early 2006. I think the Reiver pedigree is and will be underrated for a while since he didn't invest in generic "pop top" coins like so many mundane pedigrees of recent years, but I'm convinced his will go down as one of the five or so most important pedigrees of all time, up there with Eliasberg, Norweb, Pittman and Garrett.

 

Just as an aside, I think the Eric P. Newman pedigree will be in this upper echelon as well, but all of Newman's coins (at least the important ones, and there are LOTS of important ones) will be locked up in his museum forever.

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Barndog

Barndog

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was it the Reiver LM-2/V-3?

YES!!!!!

 

How did you know?

 

I try to keep abreast of my chosen series!

 

I believe there were two 1829 AU55 coins in the Reiver auction. The other was the LM-6.2, a rare variety that I figure is firmly entrenched in someone's collection. So that just left the 1829 LM-2/V3. :grin:

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Houston Investor

Houston Investor

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Wow - sounds like a real barn burner of a show. I think I will mark that on my calendar to set up there next year. For an out of town show like that I clear out Saturday nite as Sundays can be really dead with just lookey looks on the bourse.

 

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