Charmy's 2016 FUN SHOW REPORT w/tons of Pics!

[The Penny Lady]

The FUN show seems to be the show that everyone looks forward to. Some say it sets the tone of the coin market for the year. Well, if that is true, than I think we are going to have a great year in coins!

 

I was flying out on Tuesday which was a cold morning with several storms slated to hit Southern California. My hubby dropped me off at the John Wayne airport on his way to work, which meant that I would have a couple hours before my scheduled flight. I sailed through TSA, and relaxed with a nice warm cup of coffee at Ruby’s.

 

 

Then I settled in a seat at my gate and began listening to my latest audio book until it was time to board.

 

 

By the time I boarded my flight, I saw that the storms had begun and it was raining quite hard outside.

 

 

Thankfully, I had a very uneventful, although long, flight to Tampa (via Houston) and was so happy to be in Florida.

 

I stayed at one of the host hotels which was attached to the convention center by a walkway, and my room overlooked the convention center.

 

 

 

I was watching tv in my room and was pleased to see a commercial for the FUN show!

 

 

I had my ANA Dealer Relations Committee meeting early Wednesday morning so I woke up early, grabbed a quick breakfast and cup of coffee, then headed over to the convention center.

 

 

We had a lot to discuss, including locations for upcoming ANA shows, possibly shortening the length of the ANA World’s Fair of Money and the PNG preshow, and other logistics and suggestions on ways to improve the ANA shows. All of our recommendations are then presented to the ANA board to discuss and decide on.

 

The day was gorgeous and sunny, so I took several photos around the convention center. I saw several crew boats on the river right outside where we were meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a view from the bridge in between the convention center and the hotel looking both ways and back at the convention center

 

 

 

 

Set up wasn’t until 3pm, so after my meeting, I went in to the Heritage Auction Lot Viewing room.

 

 

Then I registered and got my picture taken for the new 2-sided badges. Bob Hurst is the FUN Vice President and was on hand to help answer questions

 

 

I received these “swag” items at registration

 

 

The bourse floor was located just up these stairs

 

 

The lower lobby

 

 

I had enough time to view some coins at one of the dealer’s rooms, which gave me a little head start on the coin buying part of my trip. I found this beautiful 1863 toned Indian cent - it’s very hard to find toned copper nickel Indian cents and I was very happy to snatch this one for my personal set!

 

 

Then it was time for my PNG lunch meeting back at the convention center. We listened to details about a new PNG precious metals sub-group, as well as information from an eBay representative on changes eBay has made to their coin and paper money category, as well as updates on changes and potential new laws in various states that affect the coin market.

 

 

 

 

Soon it was time for the bourse to open to dealers, so I went to security, grabbed my bags, and waited in line along with all the other dealers eagerly to get in.

 

 

As usual, during set up day, I often do most of my buying. Here are the newps I bought so far!

 

 

I also bought this beautiful 1877 in a scarce old PCGS rattler holder with possible upgrade potential!

 

 

After setup, Rick and I headed over to the Hard Rock Casino to play some poker. Of course, they have some amazing music memorabilia displayed all over the casino! Here are some of my favorite musicians.

 

 

 

 

And Rick’s favorite!

 

 

A wall of gold records by many famous musicians.

 

 

The poker room is quite large! This photo was taken from a table that was in the middle of the room looking towards the entrance.

 

 

 

Thursday I was all set up and ready to do business with my brand new sign!

 

 

 

Right next to Todd/BluCCPhotos and his dad Roger/MustangGT

 

 

Right across from me from my own town was Ian/GreatCollections.com

 

 

Next to Ian was James/QA

 

 

Boy, was Thursday a blockbuster day! The floor traffic was amazing, and I was busy from start to finish! I hardly came up for air and couldn’t believe how much business I did that day.

 

 

Here are some of the people who stopped by my table.

 

David Lange of NGC stopped by to say hi. It was good to see him since he doesn’t work as many shows as he used to.

 

 

Ken/Green19 was very kind to bring me this big bottle of wine

 

 

Greg/Keyman64 and Darren/dsgill2000

 

 

I barely had time to even open a bottle of wine in the afternoon, but of course, I found a minute to do that. Here are the two bottles I brought from home – which didn’t last long since I shared with several customers and dealers.

 

 

 

After the show closed, we walked across the bridge to Jackson’s Steakhouse. What a beautiful night it was!

 

 

 

 

 

Even though the restaurant was extra crowded and they were short staffed, and we had to wait an hour to be served, the food was delicious. I had grouper covered in crab, but forgot to take a photo. And of course, we had some very yummy wine with our wonderful dinner.

 

 

 

Rick, Ron, and Matt

 

 

When I woke up on Friday, the weather was opposite of the day before! There was a big storm, with thunder and lightning.

 

 

But it soon cleared up.

 

 

 

Friday was another blockbuster, super busy day, with great sales! It was so good to see the bourse floor being so crowded and busy!

 

Shortly after I got to the bourse floor, Fred Weinberg stopped by to give me 2 piece bonded die cap error cent he had sent in for grading for me. I was surprised to see it in this giant holder!

 

 

David Poole/dpoole stopped by to say hi, and got photobombed when I was taking his picture!

 

 

Benny/Greysoldier came by my table to give me a really neat Lincoln cent pocket mirror as a gift! Wow, so very thoughtful, and I was extremely grateful as it was one I didn’t have!

 

 

Again, I didn’t have much opportunity to get away from my table on Friday, except to attend the Fly-In Club meeting, and I was grateful to Dennis Halladay for stepping in and watching my table for me!

 

 

 

On the way back to my table, I took a brief opportunity to see this amazing part of the Perfection collection at the Heritage table.

 

 

And to stop by my BFF Cindi’s table who attended the FUN show for the first time!

 

 

Dino-Lite always has a nice display of their microscope cameras and since they had a penny on their display screen, I just had to take a photo!

 

 

Jeff/Justmakecents came by to look at some coins

 

 

My good copper buddy, Greg Hannigan, needed to borrow my wine opener and brought me a cup of his own very tasty wine!

 

 

Wow, what a super Friday it was! I had some record sales, which and was so grateful to all the collectors who came to buy my pennies! The shows during the last half of 2015 were not as busy and successful as usual, so having a great FUN show was much appreciated!

 

After the show closed on Friday, a group of us went over to the Embassy Suites for their happy hour and much-needed unwinding. I ran into my fellow Summer Seminar buddy Dan Adif and got to catch up with him.

 

 

After happy hour, we took a cab over to That’s Amore to meet up with another group of friends.

 

 

 

Ron picked out the wine and these three wines were some of the very best wines I’ve EVER had, particularly the Vulcanico!

 

 

 

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It was another beautiful night so we ate outside on the patio. The harbor was gorgeous!

 

 

My dinner companions!

 

 

 

 

Several of us had the lobster ravioli which was delicious!

 

 

The ravioli was so good and some of us were more hungry than others, that Cindi’s plate looked like she had licked it clean!

 

 

 

Saturday morning I had a WIN board meeting at 8am, followed by our general meeting at 9am

 

 

Wendell Wolka was our guest speaker and gave an interesting presentation on obsolete notes

 

 

Two of my regular buddy forum members came by to say hi - Larry/Ldhair and Lance/LIkweigen

 

 

I had yet one last lunch meeting on Saturday – the FUN Club Member lunch which is sponsored by FUN for representatives of clubs who are members of FUN. The lunch was well attended and I enjoyed chatting with the people at my table.

 

 

ANA President awarded this gentleman with the ANA Presidential Award for his service to the ANA, including making a huge bequest in his will to the ANA to help the ANA continue its educational mandate.

 

 

Saturday was much slower, with several dealers packing up and a lot less public in attendance

 

 

So I took the opportunity to finally view the exhibits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kids’ Zone was very active on Saturday

 

 

 

 

Rick showed me this stunning rare 1856 Flying Eagle he won in the auction!

 

 

 

My flight wasn’t until later on Sunday, so I was still open for business all day and had several sales throughout the day, as well as several people who stopped by to ask questions about coins they had found, including this young man who showed me a medicine vial filled with various wheat cents (unfortunately, they were not very valuable).

 

 

The circus was in town and was located right next to the convention center, so there were several sightings of critters crossing the road, or just meandering around, including these elephants!

 

 

I ended up selling several of the new coins I had purchased at the show, as well as buying more, so these are the final set of newps I had at the end of the show.

 

 

Saturday night after the show, we just went back to the Embassy Suites for their happy hour with some friends, and ended up having dinner there too. Afterwards, since Rick had a rental car, we I headed back to the casino. Along the way, we stopped at a store so I could buy some Powerball tickets!

 

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything!

 

On Sunday, I slept in a little, had a relaxing breakfast with my friend Dan, and wondered into the bourse around 10am. It looked like a ghost town, at least the main part of the bourse floor did. The budget section was still mostly fully present. But there was still a decent public presence, and I was very pleased to have a huge sale by a new customer who bought a large group of PCGS MS64 RB Indian cents.

 

Soon it was time to pack up and begin the long trek home. Rick’s flight was at 4pm, and even though my flight wasn’t until 6pm, Rick had a rental car so I went to the airport with him. I had an almost 4-hour wait for my flight so I had a nice lunch and a tasty rum and pineapple beverage while I waited for my flight.

 

 

When I headed to my gate, I was very pleased to see that the area around my gate was not very crowded, in fact, it was almost deserted!

 

 

Getting ready to board!

 

 

So happy to be headed home!!

 

 

Bye-bye beautiful Tampa….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello home, hubby and my sweet little PENNY!!!

 

 

As I mentioned, this FUN show was a fantastic show for me, probably one of my best shows ever! It demonstrates to me that the collector market is still alive and thriving. I loved being so busy that the days flew by, yet I still had some time to visit with the folks who took the time to stop by and say hi. I am so grateful and fortunate to be able to work in a business that I love and have a passion for, and to get to see so many good friends at each show I attend.

 

Next up: San Jose Show, then Long Beach on Super Bowl weekend!

 

[USAuPzlBxBob]

Always the BEST, Charmy.

 

LOTS of PICS!!!

 

Feel like I'm in Florida.

 

Had read about the elephants.

 

Too late, will check it out tomorrow, in detail.

[cpm9ball]

Thanks for a wonderful report, Charmy!

 

I'm hungry!

 

Chris

[BillJones]

You have brought back some wonderful memories. Thanks for posting you wonderful pictures !!!

[Hard Times]

Great report Charmy, thanks for the cup of wine on Friday!

 

Best, HT

[johnny9434]

i love that 1856 flying eagle cent that some one has there. wtg

[Coagman]

Thanks for taking the time to this great report. Love all of the pics.

[ldhair]

Great report Charmy.

[Walkerfan]

Wonderful pix & write up.

 

Thanks for taking the time.

[SkyMan]

Always a nice read with fun pix!

[The Penny Lady]

Thank you everyone! It really was a great show, but the best part is seeing all my friends, both dealers and collectors, and especially the forum members who stop by just to say hi. Hope to see some of you at the Long Beach show!!