My Baltimore Show report

[EVillageProwler]

SO ... what did you get ? Anything good ?

 

Since Greg was nice enough to ask, I will tell of my experience, in lengthy diary fashion...

 

Thursday:

 

I got to Port Authority for my 9AM bus, but my friend (who's a lurker) was late and caused us to miss the bus. Next bus: 11:15AM. Grrr... We got there so late that there wasn't any reason to do Dealer Day / Early Bird. So, I went to view lots.

 

*** When I stepped into the floor area (to go to view lots), I saw Julian Leidman. He immediately shouted "the Prowler is here!". I then sushed him, as I enjoy my privacy.

 

Boy, was I mostly disappointed. Of the stuff I had interest in, I puked at nearly all of them. Sunnywood's proof Seated Dollars were, as expected, admired by my friend and me.

 

Thu evening was mostly uneventful. We hooked up with Coinosaurus and Dollarmike and went to dinner and talked business for a while. Later on, I came across an opportunity to buy a small group (~ 10 pieces) of original low grade Seated Quarters. Included in the bunch is a '59-S and '45/5. After I study them for a bit, I will make them available...

 

*** Lot 4390 in the sale was a superb double-sided PL Trade Dollar. I was resolved to buy that at any cost...

 

Friday:

 

I went to the NGC booth to drop off some coins, and I also dropped off my '73-CC Arr dime with ANACS. Thanks to a recent post by GregM, I did the submission online and then took the coins to the show. That way, I save 10% as well as part of the shipping.

 

I then proceeded to sell a bunch of my coins (aided by Dollarmike, who's a great guy!). I sold a large number of my ED's and two of my TD's. I then went to Heritage to do lot viewing for Charlotte. To my dismay, I was horribly disappointed in the one big coin that I had had my heart on. While there, I said "hi" to Laura, and she told me that she thinks I may have been kicked off the CU msg bd.

 

As I was walking around the floor, I stopped by Julian's table and he told me that there's a buzz going on that I may have been banned. Julian said that a number of people were wondering where I was... He responded by saying that I'm at the show.

 

At this point, I got a little bit concerned that I had been banned. But, there was nothing I could do. So, I went to look at more coins. While at the Pinnacle booth, I ran into Mark Feld and TomB. Tom's a really nice guy, and he and I plus my lurker friend and Beboplawyer (also from NYC) had dinner.

 

Around 4PM, I got my hands on a really rare early half dime. It's raw and very nice looking. With the dealer's approval, I took it to PCGS for a walk through.

 

Late Fri evening, I get a call from TDN. I gave him my opinion on an important coin, and we discussed the censorship issue. I then had him log into the CU msg bd for me to see if I'm banned or not. (I'm not banned.)

 

Saturday:

 

By this point, I had sold a large number of coins but had yet to buy any besides the lovely group of low-grade circ Seated Quarters. I was actually sad...

 

I spent a lot of time talking to Jim McGuigan and Steve Fisher, and had Steve teach me a bit about handling early coppers. I drooled at a couple of gorgeous Capped Bust halves that McGuigan had.

 

I also stopped by Sheridan Downey's table and asked him a bunch of questions to try to educate myself on Capped Bust halves. Sheridan is one heck of a nice guy. He is always smiling, and he is the one dealer that made the biggest impact on me.

 

A few years ago, I sold him my collection of Capped Bust halves. It wasn't a good set because I formed it in my early days and I didn't know what I was doing. After I sold it to Sheridan, he then asked me if I wanted him to critique the coins. I assented, and learned how much premium he placed on luster. LUSTER. From then on, I value luster above all else. LUSTER, with eye appeal, marks and strike following in some order.

 

Anyway, once again, Sheridan was more than happy to answer my questions knowing that I was there to learn and not to buy.

 

In the early afternoon, I got the half dime back from PCGS. It had been BB'ed for altered surface. Oh, well. I returned the coin and thanked the dealer.

 

Still, I had not yet bought anything. The day was getting late, and I just happened to walk aimlessly toward Jim McGuigan's table. He immediately saw me and told me that he had a coin for me. It's an R.6 ED, BB-26 that came from a specialist's collection. (He upgraded...) My new coin is graded VF30 by NGC, is lightly cleaned but still retains fairly meaty surfaces for a ChVF specimen. I love it!

 

I go to the auction in anticipation of my double-sided PL TD as well as perhaps a few other Seated Dollars. Hah! I got one Seated Dollar (an 1853 that is a true slider, with nearly 100% luster and graded AU58 by NGC). This is one of the rare Seated Dollars that I felt was accurately graded by any service at the entire show (floor and auction)!

 

When lot 4390 (my TD) came up, I was smacked by the fierce competition from another dealer who was bidding on behalf of a client. The coin is a '76 I/II (PCGS MS64) and gorgeous. I figure that it's worth mid- to high-2's. It hammered at $4250. I felt that a $4.5K bid would not have won the coin, so I dropped out...

 

I did, however, pick up a really nice 1875-S TD in an old holder PCGS MS63. This coin is unbelievably high-end and looks better than most 64's I saw at the show. The luster is incredibly booming for a satiny specimen! Minimal marks too... It's even slightly better struck for the I/I variety.

 

Sunday:

 

I picked up my coins and came home.

 

All in all, I felt that the show had a marked dearth of quality material in the stuff that I care about. (Liz Coggin had a really nice ED for me, but I decided to pass as it wasn't a rare variety and she had it very fully priced. Dollarmike lucked out and bought a superb AU Large Eagle ED that had deep original toning but with enough booming luster that you can see it through the toning! I told him that if he passes on the coin, then he should let me know right away. I think my comment caused him to buy it. I was happy for him, but sad for me.)

 

The ED, SD and TD's on the floor or in the auction mostly sucked. Junk coins in PCGS, ANACS and NGC holders.

 

And, even the junky coins brought strong money (over Trends) in auction...

 

EVP

 

 

EVP

 

[Sunnywood]

Great report EVP !! Thanks !!

 

It must have been interesting hearing second hand that you were banned (and you weren't anyway !!). Reminds me of Franz Liszt coming to Paris after a two-year sabbatical, only to find out that he had been pronounced dead in the interim, and mourned with great memorial services !! And of course, there is the famous line, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." (Trivia: Who said that?)

 

Turns out it was just Greg (gmarguli) and dakra that were banned. And it raised quite a stir !!!! There was speculation that Laura was banned too, but of course that turned out to be nonsense.

 

Sorry you didn't find any better dollars ... I really wish I could have gone, but I couldn't get a dog-sitter.

 

Sunnywood

 

P.S. I'm not Greg ... this is Greg:

 

[jtryka]

Great report EVP! I love the reports from these big shows! Some day I will get to one of them, maybe Long Beach.

 

Sunnywood, wasn't it Mark Twain that said that?

[wayneherndon]

EVP,

 

Thanks for the fun read on Baltimore.

 

Can you (or someone else) point me to the 10% off deal and does anyone know if it will apply to Charlotte too?

 

Thanks,

 

WH

[GP_]

I was going to try to make it to this show, but once again it didnt work out, so thanks for the report! at least I can live vicariously through you

[EVillageProwler]

Wayne,

 

Any (paid?) Collector's Society member who submits to NGC gets a 10% discount if they fill out everything online.

 

Once you fill out the online forms and electronically submit, you'll need to print out two copies (one for yourself), and submit a copy along with your coins to NGC.

 

What I did was to do as much as possible online Wed eve (to get the 10%), then carried the coins to Baltimore and handed everything to them so I wouldn't have to pay for the shipping to their offices in Florida.

 

This is very important for any submission because I normally send coins via USPS Reg+Ins, and that takes time. And, NGC will FedEX overnight the coins to their office. Less time wasted.

 

Also, the savings becomes particularly relevent if we're talking about Economy submissions.

 

If you have any other questions about this, try the Ask NGC forum first. I believe there've been numerous posts about this matter. Or, you can always call NGC...

 

EVP

 

[Android]

Wayne,

 

If you are a member of the collectors society, and you submit online, you automatically get 10% off of your order. What EVP did was create his order online for the 10%, and then bring the print-out of the order to Baltimore, thus getting the 10% and saving on shipping charges.

 

Andy

[wayneherndon]

Thanks guys,

 

This is a great deal. Does it apply for any show that NGC attends?

 

WH

[keithdagen]

This is a great deal. Does it apply for any show that NGC attends?

 

Yes, print out the forms and you can turn the coins in to them and get the discount. Don't think that it applies for walkthrough rates, but if you are just dropping off regular submissions, the online form and discount is the way to go.

[gmarguli]

Wayne, the 10% off is available for any grading submissions at NGC. It doesn't matter if you mail the coins to NGC or drop them off at a show. All you need to do is fill out the submission form online. That's it. You've got your 10% off right then and there. How you deliver those coins to NGC doesn't matter to them or affect your 10% discount.

 

As far as I know, ALL shows that NGC attends they accect submissions there.

 

Hope that clears it up for you.

[EVillageProwler]

I want to make it perfectly clear that this idea that I used is one that I got from a recent post by Greg.

 

It was an excellent suggestion that Greg made, I picked up on it, and want folks to recognize that the wise folks across the street banned someone who posts without prejudice other than the intent to help.

 

Thanks, Greg!

 

EVP

 

[TomB]

Great report, EVP. It was a pleasure to meet you, BebopLawyer and the "lurker", to have dinner together while talking coins and to share some coins with each other. I agree that these types of posts are quite valuable for both those lucky enough to attend these shows and those who cannot make the shows. Since we all have a special niche in the numismatic market that we understand particularly well and pay some attention to it necessarily means that other areas are not focused on. Posts like yours help educate everyone willing to take the time to learn.