Coin Show Report - Clifton, NJ

[DaveG]

I went to the monthly, 30-dealer show in Clifton today. As I've mentioned before, this show has certainly improved over the past few years - better merchandise, a few more dealers, etc.

 

Today, the show seemed a bit quiet. I didn't see the usual wholesalers today and there were three or four regular dealers missing, although their tables were occupied by newcomers. Ira Meltzer was back, after a two or three month absence. His inventory was somewhat depleted, though and he remarked on the trouble he's had replacing it. He also commented that he would be spending tomorrow changing his prices, after the Grey Sheets "went crazy" (lots of 'plus signs' for the Bust and Seated halves in G to AU in particular in the Quarterly II that came out on Saturday).

 

Generally speaking, I'd say the show today felt a little "tired" - which is not surprising, considering that it has been a busy spring. I'd say that traffic was off a bit, though it is nice to be able to get to a dealer's table without having to knock someone out of the way!

 

As for new purchases, I didn't see that much that was interesting, although I did pick up two Mercury dimes for my Dansco set: a 1919-S in VF and a 1929-S in XF.

 

The big excitement of the day, however, came when I noticed an elderly gentleman who was sharing Norman Cornish's table. He had a stack of Numismatic Scrapbooks with a sign: "50 cents each; buy five and get a sixth free". When I started flipping through them, he said "I've got a whole box full. My wife told me to get rid of them, in fact, she said not to come home with them. If you buy a bunch, I'll go down to a quarter each." I thanked him and proceeded to walk around some more. When I was ready to leave, I went back to him. It didn't look like he had sold any, so I asked "How much for the whole box?" He said that 25 cents each was the best he'd do, so we counted them quickly and he let me take the box of 115 issues for $28!

 

I've taken a quick look through them. They seem to run from the late '50s to the early '70s. I've already spotted an article by RW Julian on the Dahlonega Mint, as well as one part of a serialized version of Breen's monograph on half eagles (apparently it was published in the Numismatic Scrapbook as well as a stand-alone publication before being incorporated into his Encyclopedia). I think my first task will be to sort them into chronographic order before I start to really go through them.

 

When I got home, my wife (understanding though she usually is) took one look at the box of Scrapbooks and declared "That box doesn't come into the house. It can stay in the garage and you can bring a few copies into the house at a time - but they better not pile up!" Oh well, it looks like I'll be spending a lot of time in the garage in the near future!

[cpm9ball]

Dave,

 

Good report.........great find!............big doghouse!!!!

 

Chris

 

PS. Please try to keep us posted on the interesting articles.

[truthteller]

Thanks for the report. Seems like the market is taking a breather or showing signs of a correction.I talked to a midsized dealer on Wednesday and they were surprised at the poor public attendance at Central States. Some of the better spending collectors who usually buy from them didn't show up this time.

 

 

 

 

TRUTH

[TomB]

The Numismatic Scrapbook find is pretty cool, Dave!

[michael]

superb coin report and a cool score on those mags i see information in them are worth their weight in gold