Charmy's 2024 CENTRAL STATES NUMISMATIC SOCIETY (CSNS) Coin Show Report w/tons of Pics! 1 1

[The Penny Lady]

This was my best Central States show ever! And many dealers with whom I spoke agreed that this particular show was one of their best CSNS shows as well. Cindy Wibker and the CSNS folks really did outdo themselves in putting on this show - from Dealer Day through Saturday! Also, as you will see, the hotel bar is a very popular meeting spot for dealers and collectors alike. I took a lot of photos of the various folks who were there each night, so be sure to check out all the pics to see if I captured any of you in my photos!

I left beautiful OC early on Tuesday very much looking forward to setting up at this show, seeing my friends, and enjoying my stay at the beautiful Renaissance Hotel.

I had a problem free, easy flight, and arrived in sunny Chicago that afternoon

I arrived at the beautiful Renaissance Hotel in the afternoon and settled into my room

Then I headed down to the bar for a nice glass of wine and a bite to eat

In addition to buying a selling, one of the most fun parts about attending the CSNS show at the Renaissance Hotel is that most of the dealers and many collectors like to gather at the hotel bar each evening after the show. It's a great place to see old friends and make new ones in the coin industry. It didn't take long for some of my dealer friends to begin showing up, including one of my favorite dealer friends, Dino Koromvokis!

Mitch Ernst (CSNS President), Chris Seuntjens (Crystal Clear Showcases) and Chris' friend were also enjoying a beverage (with a photobomb by Mitch's son Sam in the background!). Chris was very kind in sending over a glass of wine to me, so I ended up joining them at their table. We ended up talking about Chris's Crystal Clear showcases and I mentioned that I might be in the market to replace my heavy solid oak cases that I take to local shows with some lighter weight cases. So Chris generously offered to let me use his showcases throughout this show to see if they would fit my needs.

Wednesday was Dealer Day for which I signed up so I could get in early, set up my booth, and go "shopping" in a more casual, less crowded atmosphere. Here's my booth all set up with the new Crystal Clear showcases.

These are the coins I bought throughout the show, including a beautiful Pop 2 1955/55 Doubled Die in PCGS AU58+ CAC!

Some of The Penny Lady swag and the two bottles of wine I brought for the show - a Washington Chateau St. Michelle 2016 cab and my favorite Rombauer Zinfandel

Some CSNS "swag" they were giving out at the show

I also took a few photos around the bourse during Dealer Day

CNG Table with Billie (Greysheet) and Lori (Whitman)

Joanne (PCGS), Sam Ernst (CSNS Board Member) and Barbara Gregory (CSNS Centinel editor)

Another one of my favorite dealer friends, Brian Alty (Northeast Numismatics)

Curtis Mease (PCGS)

At 5pm, the rest of the table holders came in for set up

After the show that evening, the PNG and the Grey Sheet hosted a dealer event at the hotel bar so we stopped by before heading out to dinner

Ran into the beautiful NGC gals

We went over to Chicago Prime Italian for dinner

We had a delicious Napa Duckhorn cab with our dinner

Then it was back to the hotel bar for some more drinks and fun!

Thursday there was quite a crowd who streamed in when the show opened and soon the bourse floor had a strong buzz with all the business being conducted!

Here are some pics of the bourse floor throughout the day

Here are some cool things I found in various dealer cases throughout the show

Super rare early 1600's massive silver "cincuentin" coins in Bob and Carol Campbell's case

Lovely Carol Campbell helping out at their table

Some huge gold nuggets also in Bob's case

Very rare Indian cent coin "album" made in the early 1900's out of lamb skin with tiny pouches for each coin, including a "counterstamped" 1856 Flying Eagle

Rare Comic Book buttons at Justin Waddell's table

A complete set of "Beauties of the Cinema" cards from 1939 at Rick Snow's table

This very cool and extremely rare 1870 Die Trial Indian cent (this is 1 of only 2 known) made out of aluminum from of my personal collection that I sold to Rick Snow

A similar but less rare 1868 aluminum Die Trial Indian cent

Another rare piece - a beautiful 1869-S Doubled Die Obverse in PCGS MS64+ Red - only 1 finer (also in Rick's case)

A very cool multiple error $1 (double struck, broad struck and off center) found in James Sego's case

Some beautiful coins from the upcoming ANA auction on display at the Heritage table

GreatCollections folks

I ran into Ben Franklin

Chris Seuntjens (Crystal Clear Showcases)

The busy folks at PCGS

The equally busy folks at NGC

Curt Mease (PCGS) and Greg Allen hanging out at my table

Forum member Kendrick/KLIAO stopped by to say hi

That night a large group of my foreign coin dealer friends (including folks from Sedwick Coins who specialize in Colonial and shipwreck coins) went to Chicago Prime steakhouse and had a great time! The wine was delicious, the food was fantastic, and the company was wonderful!

This is my type of happy place - the wine room at the restaurant!

Then of course it was back to the hotel bar for more socializing....

Friday was another very busy day at the show. A dealer friend brought by this really pretty heart-shaped Indian cent Love Token for my personal exonumia collection

My dear friend Linda Hagopian (Larry Sekulich's wife) stopped by with a wonderful bottle of wine which we shared

Another friend Alan Flint (who is actually the brother of a friend I worked with for 17 years when I was a paralegal in Newport Beach) stopped by to say hi

A long time coin friend Mike "Noodle" Nottlemann also brought a nice bottle of wine to share!

With all that wine (and my tunes playing on my little Bose boombox and a box of Cheez-Its), we had quite the party at my table late Friday afternoon!

After the show, a group of us just went over to the hotel restaurant for dinner - they have some very good dishes.

Then back to the hotel bar for one last hurrah!

Justin Waddell, me and James Sego

More coin folks!

Joe Paonessa was making coins using a handpress and Rick Snow took a video of Joe in action and sent it to me. I couldn't figure out how to upload a video so I took some screenshots.

Soon it was time to pack up and head to the airport. As much as I look forward to attending these shows, by the end of the week, I look just as forward to getting back home. As I said it was a great show, very busy, lots of fun and very successful. The only tiny glitch for me was that they made a typo in the show program for my table number, and a few folks who finally found my table told me they had a hard time finding me since the wrong number was printed by my company name. That is a frustrating mistake for us dealers, but the show folks did what they could to make it right and asked the people at the "wrong" table to redirect people back to my table, so it worked out just fine.

As we were waiting for our car to take us to the airport, right outside the convention room was this beautiful duck sitting on one of the cement flower planters. She was nesting on half a dozen eggs!

We made it to the airport, no problems and no delays with an easy straight flight home. Bye Chicago - just until August when I come back for the ANA in Rosemont!

Of course, penny was home waiting as usual!

Next up - the Long Beach show in June, followed by my local Buena Park show.

p.s.
Sunday was Cinco de Mayo - and the 33rd anniversary of my engagement to my hubby Lou, so of course we had to celebrate in style with some great Mexican food and margaritas!

Charmy HarkerThe Penny Lady®

Edited May 8 by The Penny Lady

[GoldFinger1969]

Thanks Charmy....pics not showing up for me, anybody else having trouble ? 

[Sandon]

    As usual, the author has provided a nice photo essay about a convention I'm not able to attend.  The photos don't automatically appear on my computer screen. I had to click the first photo in each group to load them and advance through them one by one.

   I would like to note that the "beautiful duck" isn't a duck. It's a Canada goose.

[The Penny Lady]

Sorry about the photo issue, I have no idea how to correct it. However, here's a link to the show report on my website if that makes it easier to see the photos:  https://thepennylady.com/charmys-coin-show-reports/

And duly noted about the goose.

Edited May 8 by The Penny Lady

[CIII]

Thank you for sharing.  That duck almost looks plastic!  :-)  

[powermad5000]

Removed.

Edited May 9 by powermad5000

[GoldFinger1969]

Power, what specific coins were you trying to sell and did not receive what you consider a fair price on ? 

And I'm a bit confused....why was what you were looking to sell given such lousy bids ?  Why are the Greysheet's prices so far off online prices in your view ? 

This is totally new to me.  I knew prices varies source-to-source, but nothing like the % you imply. 

[The Penny Lady]

Powermad5000, my show report thread is NOT the place to air your grievances about dealers, coins, prices, etc. I respectfully ask you to please start your OWN thread if you wish to discuss these issues any further. Thank you.

[powermad5000]

Ok

[GoldFinger1969]

 

Bumping this ahead of the Spam/Malware Threads that have now moved from Currency to Coins. 

[RWB]

Kind of nice to have just the file names so we can scroll through and select just the subjects of interest.

[Henri Charriere]

On 5/8/2024 at 8:45 PM, The Penny Lady said:

Powermad5000, my show report thread is NOT the place to air your grievances about dealers, coins, prices, etc. I respectfully ask you to please start your OWN thread if you wish to discuss these issues any further. Thank you.

As a member, I wanted you to know that for those of who cannot indulge in your pursuits, just how much we appreciate living through your experiences vicariously.  There are those of us who really look forward to receiving your latest on-site reporting.  It's an awful lot of work and I truly believe you've outdone yourself this time. P.S.  Thanks for including Penny in your itinerary.  She is truly gorgeous.

 

[Rod D.]

The Arizona “potato” nugget is stunning. Thank you! 

[mlovmo]

I bought a nice 1909s Lincoln Cent from Charmy.  She even helpfullly explained how it was a Class III DDR (VDDR-003).

[GoldFinger1969]

Charmy, did you and other dealers see more traffic/volume compared to previous CSNS shows (or recent shows like FUN/Long Beach)....or did you see more spending from similar traffic as before ?  

My astronomy club had our annual space expo a few weeks ago...attendance down (because of the Total Solar Eclipse) and some vendors were wary....but many had their best weekend in years as even reduced sales volumes were offset by much larger purchases.  One vendor told me she did more than the previous 2 shows combined and was wondering on set-up Friday if she should have even come this year !

Edited May 10 by GoldFinger1969

[ldhair]

Thanks Charmy. Great report. Wish I had been there.

[zadok]

...as always, Charmy is top shelf....

[GoldFinger1969]

I would think that attendance and spending should be UP because of the post-Covid effect we have seen elsewhere (such as in my other hobby, astronomy).   Some of you have no idea what has happened with attendance at star parties for example -- it's nuts !! 

Hopefully, we see a slower gradual boost to our little niche. 

 

Edited May 10 by GoldFinger1969