Coin Show Report - Parsippany, NJ

[DaveG]

It is a beautiful day in northern New Jersey and a nice opportunity to once again attend the first-Sunday-of-the-month 80+ dealer show in Parsippany, NJ. This show features a large variety of coins and currency and a lot of floor traffic.

 

Today, perhaps because of the nice weather and perhaps because of the partially competing Westchester coin show (WESPNEX), floor traffic was a bit lighter than usual and there were even a couple of empty tables in the main room. (There were three or four dealers in the side room, too.) Despite the lighter floor traffic, there seemed to be a lot of ATS forum members and New Jersey Numismatic Society members in attendance. Jon Lerner (ATS board member ScarsdaleCoin) wasn't there today, but he was probably at WESPNEX.

 

As usual, I stopped by Tom Hyland's table first, but he was pretty busy and a quick scan of his table didn't reveal much that was of interest.

 

Next, I stopped to visit ATS boardmember njcoincrank, who, as usual, had some amazing things, including a really colorful PR-64 Seated half and a couple of MS-67 Type III gold dollars. He also had a relic medal made out of bronze from a bell from the Chicago Fire (with original box and certificate from the Mint). The medal was lovely, but as njcc pointed out, the "ratty" certificate really made the set, as it's the rarest item. He also had the certificate that accompanied a "State numbered" Stone Mountain half and mentioned that he had recently been in contact with a researcher who had gone through archives and found information explaining the countermarked coins. Oh and he also had a pair of matte proof Norse medals (thick and thin).

 

My next stop was ATS board member Larry of SeaEagleCoins, who was as busy as usual. He had some very nice coins today, including a raw high-end AU 1838 dime with some really nice toning on it - a nice crescent of blue on the reverse, for example. He had a couple of nice Bust quarters in PCGS slabs and a Seated dollar or two, as well.

 

For you bibliophiles, John (big guy with a beard who is two or three tables to Tom Hyland's right) had a bunch of less-common books today, including a copy of the B&M reprint of Franctional Money and a copy of Kam Awash's 1981 book on Seated dimes.

 

As usual, saying 'hello' to everyone was a high point today - I must have seen 10-15 fellow members of the NJNS today (the most I can recall seeing at one show, in fact). As I mentioned, I heard about a lot of ATS board members in attendance. I didn't actually get to meet any, but did see AnkurJ from a distance (colorful shirt, Ankur!) and heard that Steve Liu (sp?) was there - four or five years ago he worked for Legend and used to be a board member ATS (and perhaps here).

 

My educational high-point today was the reinforcement that nice circulated mid-19th century coins are hard to find and really nice to find. This is best illustrated by looking at hundreds of coins at a coin show - when you get to the point that you notice a Bust quarter or Seated Half in VF or XF that really sticks out, because it just plain looks nicer than all the other coins, you know you've found a keeper and you know you've learned how to spot a needle in a haystack, how to spot "originality" in an ocean of "messed-with"!

 

By the way, for those of you who are interested, the next meeting of the New Jersey Numismatic Society is April 20th (a week and a day after Easter) in Madison, NJ. PM me for details.

 

[EZ_E]

Great report and very well written. I'm glad to hear that Steve Liu, AKA EVP, is still around. I miss him on the boards here.

 

I find it fascinating that one dealer had both the thick and thin matte proof. Amazing. And I sure would have liked to have seen that no drapery 1838 dime. The state numbered Stone Mtn sounds interesting, too.

 

(thumbs u (thumbs u

[michael]

great report please keep them coming

 

hope steve liu starts to revisit the boards here on ngc!!