Bay State show report, Boston Ma.

[bigd5]

I was set up here for Thursday pm, Friday and Saturday. Virtually from start to finish each session.

 

To start, if anyone who is familiar with the 6th floor layout and location of the Radisson hotel where the show is located is reading this, they know how tough it can be navigating one's self to this show. Well, it's worse now, more than ever. The Big Dig construction is still under way so getting TO the building is a challenge. Parking is limited in the area, and EXPENSIVE, so that keeps people away (the hotels are expensive as well and I imagine that keeps some dealers away). The 6th floor "convention center" is also still under construction and the hall, which used to be two rooms (one room is usually better, no?) is now a maze consisting of one larger room, with 5 smaller rooms off of it. Bizarre is a good word to describe the situation.

 

OK. Enough moaning and groaning about that. Dealer night on Thursday was busy. I usually have a lot of type coins, especially some that most wouldn't have slabbed, so I was able to sell quite a bit of that material early. I was actually so busy at my table on Thursday evening that I was not able to walk the floor at all. The larger dealers I spoke with all mentioned being busy with problem free material still in demand.

 

Friday started off as Thursday evening ended. I was busy again early and as things cooled down with the dealers, the public started to arrive. Not being in the "main" room, it was hard to judge exactly how busy the traffic was, but it seemed to be steady, if not a bit slow. I stayed busy with enough going on at my table where I didn't get a chance to look around until after lunch (2:00ish?). I had a few dealers holding some coins for me, which I went to check out and hopefully purchase. Those deals worked, but I had a pounding headache and was getting dizzy looking at coins so I had to retreat back to my table for the day. That was ok though. I sold a few more coins and while things slowed down later on, my headache finally started to diminish and I went on a coin finding mission. I know some may think that by the end of the day on Friday, all the "good" coins were probably already in new hands, but there's a little bit of "good" in more than one place, and it can still be found out there.

 

I picked up quite a few sharp coins at that time including a beautifully toned Columbian which never even made it back into my case. Showed it to a board member before I got back to my table and it was gone..........I don't look for Columbians as they usually come toned, but the tendency is to be dark. This was a vibrant coin with intense color at the rims with light centers. As eye appealing as I've seen for this issue. I shouldn't be surprised it sold so fast. I picked up some raw material that I put away to send off for submission and a few other slabbed coins and had to get kicked out at the end of the night.

 

Saturday I ran around early and made up for my headache on Friday. With the traffic of the show being "steady" or even a bit slower than usual, some dealers were already in panic mode and offering stuff up at cut prices to generate a little cash flow. Again, I picked up a few very nice coins mentioned a few of my coins to a few other dealers, who came back by my table to scoop those mentioned coins up. The traffic started out scarily light on Saturday, and that could have been a by-product of the "room" situation. I'm not sure. A few board members stopped by early for a little chit chat and i bought a few coins at that time as well.

 

Traffic never really got to the busy stage on Saturday so I started packing different coins up to sell on the floor at different stages of the afternoon and evening. That ended up making my day and show. Picked up a few very nice deals at the end of the show and then rushed to pack up and leave the show. I did not set up on Sunday in Boston.

 

Headed to Nashua on Sunday and I'm glad I did. I sold a ton, which is not what I expected. I had hoped that would be the case, and was delighted it went so smoothly. I also arranged to sell some larger lots of Barber and Seated material I've had for a while (lower grade ag/g type stuff) and will do that at the next Westford show.

 

All in all the show was busy enough for most dealers there although the limited foot traffic always puts a scare on what the market is doing. This is a tough show to judge foottraffic on because of the layout.

 

I'll be back in the fall.

 

If I think of anything else, I'll drop it below.

[michael]

[bigd5]

Michael I thought especially of you when I purchased a certain coin at the Boston show. Check the Marketplace forum and my sell thread for the coin.

 

*by the way, not as a solicitation for you to purchase, but from a couple of conversations we've had concerning 3cnickels.

[Hoot]

Thanks for the report Darin! Glad things are going so well for you.

 

BTW, that 3c nickel you have up is spectacular.

 

Hoot