Coin Show Report - GSNA, Somerset, NJ

[DaveG]

Today I went to the Garden State Numismatic Association's annual show in Somerset, NJ. This is a three-day (Thurs, Fri, Sat), 50+ dealer show.

 

As usual, the traffic on the bourse floor felt a bit light today. Of course, I've been going to this show for about 10 years and bourse traffic always feels a bit light, but most dealers usually say they have a good show. I guess that the collectors who come are there to do business!

 

Tom Hyland, who runs the show, works hard to get dealers who don't usually come to the monthly Parsippany show, so although I saw a number of faces familiar from Parsippany, I also saw a number of faces I usually only saw at the White Plains show (when I used to attend them). Also, Doug Bird and Gus Tiso were there (and they almost never come to New Jersey).

 

Book dealer John Burns was there with a nice inventory. It seemed a bit heavier on world and ancient coin books, but perhaps that's because I have almost all of the US coin books I want. He said that he wasn't having that busy a show and he was considering not attending in the future. (So - buy a book from John Burns and encourage him to continue coming to GSNA!)

 

I chatted with a couple of dealers who cast the usual stones at PCGS: "I sent five toned Lincolns from the same roll in and three of them came back slabbed and the other two came back in Genuine slabs as "questionable color." "I sent this coin in twice - the first time it came back in a Genuine slab and the second time it came back in a graded slab." Oddly enough, no one was complaining about NGC - perhaps they need to try harder!

 

There's always a wide variety of material at GSNA and today was no exception. Spencer Peck was there with a lot of neat esoteric stuff; I saw a lot of large-size currency, including about 15 Chief $5s in a wide range of condition. Doug Bird had his usual inventory of copper. I saw a dealer with a case full of nice bronze medals. Tom Stepanski of Dart Coins was there, as was Coins of Merritt. ATS boardmember Seaeaglecoins (Larry Greenstone) was there with some nice Buffalo nickels and a very nice looking, dark grey raw 1843-O quarter (XF?) and some nice early Seated Dimes. I was tempted to look at the quarter, but decided not to.

 

For myself, I sold an 1841 ANACS-53 Seated Dollar and picked up a really neat promissory note from the third Bank of the United States (dated August 1838). I bought it from Larry Shuffman, who sold a similar item on eBay today, so you can search for it there if you want to see it.

 

All-in-all, it was a very nice show - low key, but a lot of neat stuff to see and buy!

[cpm9ball]

Thanks for the report, Dave.

 

Chris

[michael]

great report keep them coming!

 

did you happen to hear more about the early copper market or comments about large copper in general from doug bird??

[DaveG]

Michael,

 

Since I'm not a copper guy, I didn't chat with Doug Bird, nor did I overhear anything interesting while I was passing by.

[TomB]

It's too bad we couldn't meet up at the show, Dave, it would have been fun.

[DaveG]

Tom,

 

That's what I get for coming on Saturday.

 

Bill Shamhart and John K weren't there on Saturday either.

 

Will you be going to Coin Fest on Saturday?

[EVillageProwler]

 

Yes, it's me... I was there too, but only for maybe an hour. I was there with a total noob looking for lower-priced raw stuff for his type set. Helped him pick up a decent (lightly cleaned, but eye appealing) RE Bust Half and a fairly orig-looking WM Seated Dollar.

 

Total amount was $570, and that was over his budget.

 

EVP

[JJSingleton]

I attended the GSNA show back in 2003. It was a decent show. I was raised in the Garden State and as luck would have it I was visiting my mom at the time and took in the show.

[thebeav]

Very good report.

 

I always enjoy reading them !

 

Paul

[johnny9434]

cool report, always good to hear about whats going on