Coin Show Report - Parsippany, NJ

[DaveG]

I just got back from the monthly, 80-dealer, show in Parsippany. As usual, the floor was crowded and buzzing with activity. As I've mentioned before, this show has been getting more and more crowded over the past several years (it's very hard to get down the aisles) and dealers have been featuring more extensive (and higher quality) inventories. The usual wholesalers were there, with a lot of inventory on their handcarts. I saw Kleinman buying as usual and Jules Karp was walking around. (I haven't seen Laura there yet. We'll know the show's made the big time when she comes!)

 

As far as tasty items, I saw a lot of proof Indian head cents, three or so high relief Saints (all slabbed), a couple of pieces of old tenor gold (including a Capped Bust to Left half eagle in a PCGS-55 holder) and several slabbed Bust dollars. The "usual stuff" was there in significant quantities - slabbed Morgan and Peace dollars, slabbed Walkers, MS with-motto slabbed gold, Saints, etc. The book and supplies dealer (Harco) was there with a very good inventory of US numismatic books - all the current (Red Book, Krause, etc.) books and a nice selection of older books (Breen, Reiver, Logan/McCloskey, Browning/Breen, etc.)

 

There was also a dealer who has recently (in the past six months or so) started carrying a large inventory of so-called dollars (Wihlborg has bought a few from him that he's posted). He has them both slabbed and raw and has a lot of them. In a "nice, fraternal moment" another (national-type) dealer stopped by to observe "you're coming late to this game, a lot of guys are way ahead of you on this." The dealer who received this shot to the ribs absorbed it manfully and shrugged it off.

 

I also stopped by the table of Ira Meltzer (who I believe was the subject of a recent thread across the street). Ira has a very nice display of desirable 19th and early 20th century coins - almost all raw. While I, myself, am not that comfortable buying an expensive Draped Bust half or dollar raw, his coins, to my casual examination, looked generally un-messed with - perhaps he's just a traditionalist. Ira's got a crusty, somewhat pugnacious, exterior and I suspect that he's not above jerking someone's chain if he feels he's being jerked with. I did pick up a decent, raw 1924-D Mercury dime in XF from him. He had some nice mintmarked Mercuries from the teens and twenties - perfect for my Dansco album. His prices, while not cheap, seemed appropriate - I thought that many of the coins I looked at were conservatively graded.

 

I didn't see the usual crowd (TomB, Jeremy or Wihlborg), but I had a nice chat with Jon Lerner (Scarsdale Coins), who starting setting up at Parsippany last month and spoke briefly with njcoincrank, who was driving out of the parking lot as I arrived.

 

In conclusion, it's a great local show, to which you should not come, because it's already too crowded (unless you're selling something that I want to buy, that is!)

[Wihlborg]

Dave,

 

I was at the show until about 11:30. I was wondering if I would see you, Jeremy, or Tom. I brought a few goodies with me to show you guys, but I didn’t see any of you there. Man, it was crowded today wasn’t it!

 

I would have loved to have been there to hear that comment the other dealer made to Bob. I’m surprised he took it so well! Anyway, the three so called Dollars that I bought today came from Tom Stepanski. He had good number of so called dollars when I got to his table today, but after I bought my three, njcoincrank came by and bought up a few more.

 

Sorry I missed you today

 

John

[michael]

great show report daveg

 

keep them coming your writing skills are superb

[braddick]

Coin Show reports are my favorite part of these forums. Thanks for a great one!

[TomB]

spoke briefly with njcoincrank, who was driving out of the parking lot as I arrived.

 

I believe njcoincrank was trying desperately to avoid you, but you snagged him anyway! Ira is a good guy and he will definitely give as good as he gets. He also has some rather expensive coins raw, such as 1796 and 1804 quarters, that I would buy from him but that I could not recommend others' to do unless they are comfortable with die diagnostics.

 

I am still in mourning from missing the FUN show and will have to rouse myself from it soon.

[airplanenut]

I wanted to go, but was unable to make it I'll be at the March show, and the Baltimore show (remember, Baltimore is my 18th birthday )

[DaveG]

Actually, Tom, njcoincrank made an effort to stop and talk, as I wouldn't have recognized his truck. (Of course, the first words he said were "What was that about the early bird?")

 

I presume your caution about Ira's raw coins is a general caution (as in "don't buy rare coins raw unless you know what you're doing") rather than anything specific about Ira.

 

By the way, is Ira just a traditionalist (he dislikes plastic) or has he had his inventory a long time? (He's got a lot of really tempting coins!)

[TomB]

Thank you for pointing out that my post might have been construed as a caution about doing business with Ira when, in fact, it was merely a caution about buying coins from anyone that one might not be intimately familiar with in terms of characteristics. Ira pays stronger money for raw coins than most people will, hence, he sells quite a bit of raw material at fairly strong prices. I have never had a problem with him.