Coin Show Report - Parsippany, NJ

[DaveG]

I went to the first-Sunday-of-the-month, 80-dealer, show in Parsippany, NJ today. The rain had tapered off this morning, so even though it was Spring Ahead day, I thought that a lot of people would be there. Much to my surprise, floor traffic was clearly down today. It was still hard to get down the aisles, but nowhere near the wall-to-wall people that it usually is. All the tables were full, although Dart Coins wasn't there; two or three other regular dealers were missing, too, including Jon Lerner of Scarsdale Coins.

 

Although I didn't see Wihlborg, I had a nice chat with njcoincrank, who, although he declined to be even mildly entertained by my new Buffalo (see my White Plains report), told me about a Civil War letter he owned that was from a Union soldier to his parents and written in late-1861, wherein he mentions that he was sending some of his pay (received in gold coins) home to his parents. Of course, I had always associated Union army payrolls with greenbacks, without giving any thought to what was done before greenbacks were issued, so it was very interesting to hear of a genuine eye-witness report.

 

I also talked to Jeremy, who showed me his 3CN struck from clashed dies. (I believe he posted pictures across the street.) Wow! What a blazer!

 

Walking down an aisle, I overheard two dealers talking about a new lot of "Sesquis" (halves and quarter eagles) that had just appeared. One dealer said: "They were from original rolls, I unwrapped them myself." Now, that's got to be a once in a lifetime experience!

 

Perhaps it was just me feeling a little under the weather, but the show didn't seem to have its usual buzz today. Like yesterday, I saw a lot of slabbed Bust dollars, as well as several C- and D-mint quarter and half eagles (that was a bit of a surprise.) Of course, many of the Parsippany dealers do the White Plains show, so in some cases, it was the same coins in the same dealer's cases, but some of them were coins I hadn't seen yesterday in White Plains. Sometimes I feel that the "market" takes a breather at this time of the year, as everyone tries to recover from FUN, Baltimore and the big auctions of the first few months of the year - not to mention tax time, of course.

 

As for me, I looked a lot, but didn't buy anything. (Although I was sort-of tempted by one of the St. Gaudens Columbian Exposition medals, which is about 3" across.)

[spy88]

Excellent synopsis Dave. Seems the lack of interest in the shows this time of year is coast-to-coast as others have reported the lack of traffic at others.

[TomB]

Thanks for taking the time to write the report, Dave. Those Columbian Exposition medals are fantastic, aren't they?

[airplanenut]

I also talked to Jeremy, who showed me his 3CN struck from clashed dies. (I believe he posted pictures across the street.) Wow! What a blazer!

I posted it here, too!!!

 

I'll agree with Dave's sentiments... the show was very slow. Usually, it's a loud room, but today, you could talk at a nice conversational level and easily be heard. There were some tables that weren't being used, contrary to what Dave said, but there were also some regulars who weren't there--that was a shame because I was looking for type, and a few type dealers didn't show

 

Anyway, I did go looking for type, and ended up with a few nice pieces--an XF 2-center to replace a scratched VG, an XF 1831 H10c to replace a hole, and a VF30 (NGC) barber half to replace a G... I'll be doing some cracking soon for that one

 

I also picked up two other coins--one was a 1944 NGC MS65* half... just a small sliver of toning, but with the lustre, it's just a pretty, pretty coin. I also bought a 1903 MS63 dollar with some nice color.

 

Jeremy

[TomB]

Sounds like you made a good haul today, Jeremy. What were the dates of the two-center and the half?

[airplanenut]

Tom,

 

The baber was a 1908-D and the 2-center an 1867. I'm going to be taking some photos soon... although the barber gets cracked before it gets photo'd

[Wihlborg]

Hey Dave,

 

Sorry I missed you today. I wasn’t able to make it to the Parsippany show for a couple of reasons, but I did make it to the White Plains show on Friday. It was a disappointing show for me however, I could not find a single thing that I was interested in buying!

 

Oh well, there’s always next month.

 

John

[DaveG]

John,

 

Sorry to have missed you, too (but I'll remember to bring the coins to show you next month).

 

That's the nicest part of living in coin show central - "There's always next month"!

[Scarsdale Coin]

Hey Folks....I feel such love that I was missed.....Promise I will be back next month.....we had one of our people in west coast and picked up some nice coins....and we are off to KC to ANA show...stop at our booth in the middle between both halls # 1003....