Coin Show Report - White Plains, NY

[DaveG]

I went to the four-times-a-year White Plains show today. As usual, it was "upstairs" at the Westchester County Center and advertised 150 dealers, although, I would guess that close to 1/3 of the dealers there were stamp dealers. The next show is scheduled for Jan. 21-23 and advertises 100 dealers, so I presume it will be "downstairs," in the smaller room.

 

Usually, Friday (the first day of this three-day show) is fairly quiet, but, of course, today is the one Friday when most of us working people can take off to go to a coin show, so the floor was pretty busy from when I got there (about 1:00) to about 3:00.

 

I met Wihlborg fairly soon after I got to the show and he was nice enough to show me his box of really impressive toned commems and buffaloes. Wow! what a group of nice coins!

 

Somewhat to my surprise, a couple of dealers I had expected to be there weren't, so there was something of an absence of material that appealed to me. In general, I didn't see much C-, D- or O-mint pre-Civil War gold, nor did I see as much old tenor gold as I have frequently seen at this show. There was a decided weakness of Seated material, as well, especially Seated dollars.

 

I saw one dealer who had two NGC-55 1851-O eagles, one of which was labeled as being from the SS Republic. While I didn't look at them closely, I thought that the Republic coin was a bit too "bright", but otherwise not that different from the "regular" coin. I hope that NGC will be able to tell these coins apart from the non-shipwreck coins, otherwise, there may be a groundswell of these coins being cracked out and resubmitted without the pedigree.

 

I also saw an NGC-50 (or 55) 1859-S half, which, I believe, is the first piece of pre-Civil War S-mint silver I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I felt that the coin had been over-dipped. It was far too white and lifeless for my taste.

 

While I didn't see any coins that called my name today, I did see several items that were a bit down my list of priorities. But, I kept my powder dry, as I'm going to Baltimore on Friday and expect to see at least several of the same dealers (we'll see if they still have the same items).

 

I saw some attractive exonumia, such as a Weinman-designed 1904 St. Louis exhibition medal and a Bryan dollar (the one with the wagon-wheel on it), as well as an attractively toned (i.e., original surface) ANACS-45 1855-O half dollar.

 

But, the only item I bought today was a PCGS-64 1904-O Morgan. (By the way, this is the first PCGS-slabbed coin I've ever bought for itself, rather than its being in a rattler slab!) Actually, I bought the coin more for its story than for itself, as I'm not really collecting Morgans anymore.

 

For those of you who don't know the story, according to Bowers' Silver Dollar Encyclopedia, only a few hundred thousand of the 3.7 million coin mintage were believed to have been put into circulation. (This is the last dollar minted in New Orleans, by the way.) According to Bowers, until the Treasury releases in late 1962, the 1904-O (along with its more famous brother, the 1903-O) was one of the rarest Morgan dollars. Today, of course, as a result of the release of perhaps a million uncirculated coins, it's not expensive. Bowers says that the price of an uncirculated 1904-O was $260 in 1960 (perhaps $700 in today's dollars), but $3.50 in 1965!

 

I think the coin itself is rather attractive - blast white, but with a light die crack that connects the "* U N I T E" to add some character to the proof-like reverse. The obverse is lightly proof-like, as well.

 

Well, two shows down, three (Clifton Club show on Sunday, Baltimore on Friday and Saturday and Parsippany next Sunday) to go!

[TomB]

Howdy, Dave, with all the money you have saved I am certain you could spring for some nice dinners at Baltimore, eh!

 

Thanks for the report as some of us had to work today.

[michael]

a great report keep them coming

 

 

michael

[Wihlborg]

As Dave has already said, we met up at the White Plains show on Friday and as usual it was a pleasure seeing and talking to him again. He was right about the show being busy for a Friday. I was there for the opening at 12:00 p.m. and it was so busy that at almost every table I had to wait my turn to look into the dealer’s cases.

 

There was a good selection of nice coins at the show, including buffalo nickels and early commems, however all the buffalos I saw were untoned and I prefer my nickels to have some color and the commems were all issues that I already have nice examples of.

 

I was able to pick up an outstanding piece of exonumia however. I went to Tom Stepanski’s table first thing upon entering the show, and as soon as I looked into one of his cases a Louisiana Purchase Sesquicentennial so called $1 jumped up and smacked me in the face a couple of times! I couldn’t believe how nice it was. The surfaces, luster, and color were amazing.

 

Once I had it in my hand I brought it over to one of Tom’s lamps and the luster came alive and began to do a cartwheel dance under the light! Well needless to say it never made it back into Tom’s case.

 

One really cool thing that happened at the show was that Dave and I happened to meet up at the table of a dealer that I was talking to and while talking to the dealer, one thing led to another and the dealer brought out a box containing his personal collection of medals. Let me tell you he has some great pieces, including a couple of Pan-Pac medals that I would have loved to buy. To bad he wasn’t selling any of them. Oh well, I’m just happy I was able to snatch up that Louisiana Purchase Sesquicentennial so called $1 from Tom Stepanski before someone beat me to it. Here are my photos of it.

It’s in a NGC holder graded MS-66 red. Just a note, the little white speck that appears to be on the horse’s hip is not on the medal. It is a tiny bit of holder plastic that is trapped inside the holder.

 

John

[mommam17]

Dave- Did you see Vince Blume at the show and did he have any commems? Might have to go and stock him if he`s low!

[DaveG]

I did see Vince Bloom and it seemed to me that he was perhaps a bit light on inventory.

 

I wasn't looking for commems specifically, but it seemed as if he didn't have that many. I was looking for seated material, of which he had very little.

[Hoot]

Great reports and what a stunner of a SC dollar John! I just love those pieces.

 

Hoot