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My 2012 Philadelphia ANA Report with Newps!

Started by AnkurJ,

39 posts in this topic

AnkurJ

AnkurJ

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Ok, so this is going to be a long report. Grab your coffee or diet soda and enjoy the read!

 

I woke up nice and early today at 5am to get ready for the trip to Philadelphia. Originally I was planning to attend the show for two days, but health issues prevented that. Now that they were in the past, I had much to look forward to . The trip to Philadelphia, parking and registration were all painless and I walked into the floor with all of the other dealers. For a short period of time, I helped my dealer friend, J&H Coins, set up and get situated. Then the races began!

 

I had written down who I wanted to visit before the show, and was ready to attack based on where I was located. I cannot tell you what a good decision this was. If I just walked around and looked for specific dealers or tried from the tiny map in the program, I would be seriously lost. Attendance was decent, but it never was to the point where I could say it looked "packed". At my first stop resulted in a big sale of multiple coins. There are dealers who will pay serious money for seriously nice coins out there! Many board members have contacted me regarding pricing of coins on my site. Keep in mind, these same prices were given to dealers today and many coins were immediately sold at these prices! I am sure we will see them on their website for much more. Since I visited many tables, I wont bore you with all of the details, but at the end a total of 19 coins were sold, almost all of which were CAC'd and truly quality coins. Almost every dealer I visited said after looking that I had some very nice coins in the box. At the end dealing in quality does have its rewards, and today was proof of that.

 

I met our very own James Garcia of Scottsman! It was a pleasure dealing with James who purchaed 3 coins from me. We chatted a bit, and at that time JerseyCat came down as well. Jerseycat & I had a fun chat about our quarrels on the board. James enlightened me about his exNorweb Hibernia and why he was banned from the PCGS Forums.

 

For all Ex-PCGS Forum members. I saw Don Willis, made sure to introduce myself and shake his hand, and walk away. He had an interesting look on his face once he realized who I was.

 

Another fellow board member I had the pleasure to meet for the first time was Mark Feld! Mark was much more cheerful than I expected and I wasn't sure if I met a clone or a decoy, but it was in fact him! :insane: As usual Mark had some lovely coins, but nothing I was looking for at the time.

 

A few interesting notes. There was a 5oz Gold Panda coin being sold as an exclusive at this show, and you had to enter a raffle to buy one for close to $7k! A friend of mine won, but didn't want it. He asked me and I passed. Apparently, someone bought his ticket for $500! I guess these will be hot ticket items and the Modern coin guys want to jump on them. I also heard another board member, Charmy, sold hers for the same! Not a bad way to make a quick $500!

I posted the other day about someone walking around in a CAC costume, This was true, see the pic below, but they were not arrested. This was a publicity stunt by CAC to show that coins can be fun sometimes!

 

Now in terms of buying. I wanted to pick up a decent chain cent at the show, but no such luck. The same coins I saw before, none of which were quality enough for my tastes. So I hunted for a few type set upgrades. One coin I saw just made me say...WOW! It is a half cent in PCGS MS65BN. I was about to pass on the coin as it was early in the show, but I thought to myself that there may not be another chance to buy it, so I pulled the trigger. Everyone I showed this coin to was also wowed by it! From the same dealer I purchased a very choice type 2 $1 gold in AU53 CAC with very nice original skin.

 

Another purchase came curtosey of fellow board member Broadstruck who was doing some running for CRO apparently. He had a pretty 2 cent piece, and I needed one with nice color and this one fit the bill. In regards to CRO, they had some very nice coins in their inventory including a Regency holder. John was doing fine and was in good spirits. And as for Dave at HLRC, I only saw his back every time I passed by his table as they had him looking up coins. Lets see how long that lasts.....

 

One purchase I am very excited about is a bronze Lake George Regatta Association medal! I had been looking for an example in any metal that was resonably priced, but had no luck. I saw this at a table I had written down to visit marked at $300 (which I would have paid), when I asked for a price, I was told $225! Done Deal! :) Pics of that one tomorrow.

 

My last purchase which will be an extended one came from curtosey of my dealer friend J&H Coins. Jim saw a coin he knew I wanted, and brought it over to show to me. The history of the coin is like this. It was sold at auction earlier this year, and Legend bought it. I asked my friend at J&H to ask Legend about it at Baltimore. When he did, it had sold just moments before. And this was the same coin! Jim was able to purchase it for me for a small amount over what they paid. The coin is a 1829 $2.50! The type is just so tough to find without problems! A big thanks to Jim for this one as it completes my gold type set!

 

Some of the coins I saw along the way were just jaw dropping! RCW had a 1802 dollar in PROOF 64! I mean just WOW! Their display of early proof gold and other coins was just mind boggling. The ANA also had on display the Simpson collection of all Stella's which was very nice to see. Some amazing coins are offerred at these major shows. Even if you cant afford them, its fun to look! :)

 

So by the time I was finished, it was 5:45! My feet ached, my back ached, but I had a smile on my face! What a show! If you cant find you're looking for here, then you simply don't collect coins. I have never seen so many US, Foreign, Medals, paper money, bullion, moderns etc etc under one roof. Simply AMAZING!

 

A few take home points I will leave. Be prepared and educated when you go to a show. I had a dealer give me a price of $4500 on a coin at first. When I pulled out my phone and started going to coin facts looking up auction records, he said well actually I can do $3700. I laughed and said thats a big drop in a matter of minutes! He said, well you obviously know what you're doing so I have to price it right.

 

Did you get that?

Yes. Dealers will overcharge if you dont know what you're doing. BIG lesson people! Also I have to say coinfacts is an invaluable tool when you're buying quality slabbed material. People DO look at this stuff when pricing, so its in your best interest to look at it when buying and making offers of your hard earned money.

 

And thats it! I cant wait to do it again next year! :applause:

 

Still awake?

THANKS FOR READING! :D

 

And here is some eye candy:

 

1828halfcent.jpg

 

1854dollar.jpg

 

1829quareagle.jpg

 

2z7pwdh.jpg

 

Regattamedal.jpg

 

Show floor:

showfloor.jpg

 

Offical CAC guy pic:

CACguy.jpg

 

 

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delta

delta

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Hi Ankur, Thanks for recounting your exciting coin adventures at the Philly show, making me envious I couldn't be there, even though my financial level would be a limitation. Didn't you imply there would be pics of your newps?

 

Edited to acknowledge your great photos, which you added belatedly.

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jom

jom

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Offical CAC guy pic:

CACguy.jpg

 

I don't know why but that photo reminds me of this:

 

milkcarton.gif

 

Great report and coins!

 

jom

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MarkFeld

MarkFeld

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Ankur,

 

That is a nice report and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself so much.

 

But one point of clarification - I wasn't at the show, so you must have me confused with that (other) chipper guy you met at my table. :D

 

 

;)

 

Good to have met you.

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AnkurJ

AnkurJ

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A few more observations. I saw one guy paying with a LARGE amount of Euros. And it was at a US dealers table, so some major couns are probably headed overseas.

A good number of CAC'd early $5 pieces seemed to be around but are not cheap!

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Nutmeg Coin

Nutmeg Coin

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Thanks for the report, Ankur, and lol on the Don Willis issue! My thoughts on the internet economy, blogs, etc., and inherant problems with misunderstandings that are hard to resolve except person to person, too bad there is not a remedy available for you to get back on the PCGS forum.

 

I had not been in Philly for 30 years when I played in the World Open chess tournament; also my memory of the city is tinged by it being close to the quaker founded Swarthmore, my father's alma mater that has morphed into an extremely liberal institution.

 

I went to Philly on a shoestring budget, spent one night at an international youth hostel for $23, as well as a couple of $58 a night motels that were half hour drives. I did one show special submission which graded under the minimum that the dealer who I bought it from said it would, that saved my bacon and he took it back but groused about that. This is not an inexpensive show for dealers who are set up there; I am sure many dealers are there more for building their standing in numismatics than making a big profit. But Ian Russell of Great Collections had his error coins explode in bids Wed. night after bidders had a chance to examine the coins in person.

 

The food shops across from the convention center makes it very easy to get quality or even high calorie food cheaply. Parking is available for less than $15 a day.

 

 

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AnkurJ

AnkurJ

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Nutmeg, Philadelphia was truly a great venue for this show! Where I parked was pricier ($29), and I packed lunch/drinks/snacks from home to save time and money. Not all dealers can afford to eat at fancy restaurants every day ;)

 

What is funny is that coins of every calibur, from $1 to $1 million were available on the bourse floor. But I really did see how highly respected and in demand CAC coins were. They sold much quicker even if priced aggressively.

Ankur

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MJ

MJ

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I'm glad you are feeling better and that you could make it. Nice report and I'm glad you could add to your collection.

 

I'm bummed that I couldn't make it. FWIW, my contemporaries in my collecting discipline said that overall the show was very weak.

 

MJ

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AnkurJ

AnkurJ

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I agree MJ. I overheard more than one dealer who was setup say that sales were not very good. I guess it's more effective taking a box and running around than to sit in one place possibly in solitude!

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AnkurJ

AnkurJ

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Oops! Forgot about this half cent. I paid for it at the show, but it was at their offices and will be shipped. Not as extravagent as the other, but still a nice example and an upgrade from my VF25!

 

2z7pwdh.jpg

 

 

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James_OldeTowne

James_OldeTowne

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I agree MJ. I overheard more than one dealer who was setup say that sales were not very good. I guess it's more effective taking a box and running around than to sit in one place possibly in solitude!

We had excellent sales, well beyond my low expectations. By my estimate, of the two packed cases of inventory we brought to the show, we sold approximately 40% of it. This was strictly from our table - I never got to walk any coins around the bourse! In fact, it was quite challenging to get away from the table because of the amount of foot traffic we were getting.

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Nutmeg Coin

Nutmeg Coin

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Similar action was reported to my by Paul Battaglia of RCNH; his PQ coins priced right went quickly.

 

I was impressed by Mr. Kagin's collection of early American currency, the Stella display; NGC's Brasher Doubloon, and Heritage's museum like display of high end numismatics. Heritage had phenomenal auction results.

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blu62vette

blu62vette

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Ankur,

 

That is a nice report and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself so much.

 

But one point of clarification - I wasn't at the show, so you must have me confused with that (other) chipper guy you met at my table. :D

 

 

;)

 

Good to have met you.

 

 

Then who was that masked pastrami eater?

 

Nice seeing you Ankur, glad you had a good show and thanks for the report.

 

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