Charlotte, NC ANA National Money Show Report

[gedis3]

Just rolled back in, and I don't have but a few minutes before a dinner date -- I'll go a bit further in depth later tonight when I get back.

 

Let me preface all this with the fact that this is my first "big" show, and I realize there are much larger ones out there -- but up until now I have only been to local club shows, so it seemed pretty big to me...

 

Lots of things to see at the dealer tables, I noticed a proliferation of Slabbed Morgans -- I think you have to have at least 30 of them in your display to get a booth... .

 

Most of the dealers I talked with seemed pretty pleasant and chatty -- they said that it had been pretty slow so far, they were holding out hope for Saturday to a be a better day -- the weather and St. Patty's Day might work against them a little, but I'm going back tomorrow, so I'll be able to compare and contrast the crowds.

 

I mostly stuck to the budget area as far as looking for things to purchase, trolled the entire floor with what I was trying to sell... well, as much as I could hit in the time allowed.

 

Exhibits were interesting, some fascinating stuff that you will probably never see outside of a museum or one of these shows... I'll go into a bit more detail on those later.

 

Food options on the Bourse looked lame, I took a pass and hit the Italian place across the street... uberlicious calzonage.

 

For those aware of the tale of the Bearded Goddess, NGC gave it a thumbs down -- said the scratches and a very old cleaning were the killers -- so no slab for The Lady. I did get a couple of nice offers for it, but it is still in my possession for now. The Capped Bust Nut Club meets tomorrow, we'll see what happens there, it might end up on the 'Bay before it is all over, I'm waffling on that... I wanted to put it in the hands of a good dealer or a collector, not just someone with a wad of money that wanted something rare and had no appreciation for the coin itself.

 

ALSO -- Be aware for those of you that were considering walk-throughs from NGC, one of the graders had an emergency, so they are unable to do at-show slabs. They will take possession of the coin if it passes initial muster and transport it back to the home office on Monday, give it priority slabbing and ship it back to you at their expense, or bring it to the Baltimore Show for you if desired.

 

That's all for now, a few more details when I get back from dinner.

[DirtyGoldMan]

Thanks for the show report.

[MunkyMan95]

Thanks for the report! I'll be there Saturday and Sunday!

[gedis3]

Man that was a good dinner! 2 bottles of wine, a 12oz Prime Rib and all the Greek Goodies that I have come to expect at Zorba's but can't pronounce... I think they call it the "300" special -- I opted out of having the guy in a leather Speedo kicking me in the chest and knocking me back into a pit. If you make it to Columbia, SC -- specifically the Irmo/St. Andrews area, that's the place to go.

 

Ok.. a few details from the show.

 

I was only there for a few hours, about 1:30pm to 4:30pm -- but I tried to make it by each dealer's table to scope out what I could in a limited amount of time, I wanted to get out of there before the gridlock on I-77 set in.

 

One thing that sticks out in my mind is that there were a few booths that only had a few coins in the displays -- they may have had more stashed away, but I would think that if I was throwing down a small stack of cash to get a booth, a hotel room, plane tickets, etc. etc. -- I'd have just about everything I owned out there trying to hook a buyer. Granted, these smaller displays were skewed toward the high-end PCGS/NGC Certified Gold Coins, so I guess when you have a couple of hundred grand tied up in 30 coins, that's all you have to show to be impressive, eh? Different Strokes.

 

There is definately a dividing line among the dealers:

 

The mid to low-enders that are dressed like Joe Average -- some even leaning toward the Geeky side (yeah, I saw some pocket protectors...guys, fountain pens have been extinct for years, time to retire the pocket condoms.) and they had the coins that I tend to gravitate towards -- a little of everything and then some, mostly in 2x2's with a few slabs mixed in. Some of them are specialized in a particular series, there is one booth that is almost entirely Large Cents.. some really nice ones too, and almost none of them slabbed. Most of these dealers seemed nice enough and engaging when approached, but not pushy, and they pretty much let you look in silence without any hassles. All of them were happy to pull whatever out of the cases and let me get a closer look if something caught my eye. I showed a few of them the Goddess to see if they were interested, most said no -- a few made respectable offers -- one tried to low ball the snot out of me, but he may have not known what he was looking at and thought it was a plain jane 1807... they are sorta rare, you know...

 

The other end of the dealer scale is what I started referring to as "The Suits" the reason is pretty obvious. These were the guys with only 20 coins in the display, all of them certified MS60-something and almost invariably Gold or Morgans dominated the table. They had cool names for their companies, most of them had the word "investment" in it somewhere... these guys just plain turned me off, the same way cheesy car dealers do. Just not the kind of people I like to deal with.

But hey, that's just me, I guess if I were in the market for Slabbed Gold I'd have to reconcile that, but I'm not, so I won't.

(Stand by for a mini-rant)

I tried to show a couple of them the Goddess, but the first question out of their mouths after I asked them if they were buying was "Is it Slabbed?" Not "What kind of coin is it?" or "Sure, let me take a look..." I didn't even get Her out of my pocket or tell them what it was I was selling before they were shaking their heads no.

 

Good way to miss some nice coins, dipsticks. I guess they can afford to be picky... but it doesn't seem to be a good way to run a booth. I'd want to see anything that was wandering around the floor if it came my way.... you can at least take a look at it and say "Sorry, not interested but nice coin." Something... anything... but to dismiss it before you even know what it is based on the fact that it's not wrapped in plastic, well... that's just plain nuts. I guess I should have said something smartass like, "Oh, you don't want to broker this 1913 V Nickel I found in my grandpa-that-used-to-work-at-the-mint's dresser for me? Ok, check ya later." ...and left them guessing.

 

After a couple of those, I just started avoiding anyone in a necktie... not only did they blow looking over an R5 coin for themselves, they prejudiced me against the entire flock of suits. I'm not usually like that, so maybe tomorrow I'll give a few more a try and see what happens... I don't hold out much hope.

 

I sorta buzzed through the exhibit area -- picked up pamphlets and other stuff, it is all in the back seat of the car waiting for the kids to paw through on the 90 minute trip tomorrow morning. I expect they will be total coin experts by the time we get there, perhaps one of them can fill in at the NGC table so they can knock out some walk-throughs. Most of the exhibits were impressive, some more than others... the one's that stick out the most were the City of Charleston (SC) Free Badge display, The Labors of Herakles, Southern Chauffeur Badges, and oh yeah -- the previously mentioned 1913 V Nickel in the Walton Collection. There was also a nice display of various items from the Columbian Exposition. I will be spending more in depth time there tomorrow with the kids. One is studying Western Expansion in school and is interested in the Westward Journey Jefferson Nickel display, the other is learning about the Roman Empire, and she wants to gander at the "De Vita Ceasarum" display of Roman coins with 11 different emperors on them.

 

Ok, that's all for Day 1 -- Gotta hit the hay!

 

Will post another update when we get back tomorrow.

[WoodenJefferson]

~ I opted out of having the guy in a leather Speedo kicking me in the chest and knocking me back into a pit.~

 

I still don't know what in the Sam Hill your talking about here, but if that's on the menu just where in the heck were you eating?

Even the guy on the Travel Channel"Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" would have to pass on that entre'

 

Anyway, great show report...good luck on the Goddess.

[gedis3]

~ I opted out of having the guy in a leather Speedo kicking me in the chest and knocking me back into a pit.

 

Movie Reference --- "300" -- See Trailer by Kicking here, errr... clicking... watch closely about 1:20 into trailer #2.

 

Awesome movie -- I give it 32 Thumbs Up on a 20 Thumb Scale --- Don't take the kids.

 

[gedis3]

Ok -- Rolling out for Day Two. I'll file another report this evening, maybe with a few pictures.

[Conder101]

I guess I should have said something smartass like, "Oh, you don't want to broker this 1913 V Nickel I found in my grandpa-that-used-to-work-at-the-mint's dresser for me? Ok, check ya later."

Never mention the 1913 V nickel, they'll know your blowing smoke. Make it something expensive but plausible (and hopefully something they know enogh to recognize as such.)

Something like "Not interested in 1797 half dollars? Oh well!" "Don't want Turban head gold? Guess I'll try someone else." (If you happen to know they have a rival that they really don't like, insert that nane for the someone else.) "Ok, I guess Stellas must not be worth that much."

 

Of course these only work if you haven't already told them what you really have.

 

As for the tables that only have a couple items in their case, and which are usually vacant. Those dealers are only there to work the floor and deal dealer to dealer. They have no interest in retail business. They have a table so they can buy from other dealers who are only there to work the floor as well as dealers with tables.

 

The "suits" on the other hand will do retail business, but they really only want to deal with people doing five figure deals, maybe the occasional small fry mid four figure one. I also find these people insufferable and wouldn't deal with them even if I hit the lottery and had an "unlimited" bankroll.

[DaveG]

Some of the "suits" are more coin traders than they are coin dealers - they may be looking for easily tradeable PCGS/NGC slabbed material that they can buy and sell using the Gray Sheet.

 

Don't let it prejudice you against all the "suits" - some of them are very expert numismatists. You'll learn who's what after a bit of exposure.

[WaxonWaxov]

The most exciting part of the day for me was I was walking by some booth and heard the 'owner' of the booth say to the person on the outside, who happend to be wearing a dealer badge.. "that's insulting! get the hell away from my table!"

[WaxonWaxov]

Nobody.. repeat NOBODY was interested in NGC First Day slabbed Washingtons

[gedis3]

Some of the "suits" are more coin traders than they are coin dealers - they may be looking for easily tradeable PCGS/NGC slabbed material that they can buy and sell using the Gray Sheet.

 

Don't let it prejudice you against all the "suits" - some of them are very expert numismatists. You'll learn who's what after a bit of exposure.

 

Yeah, I dig that... seems if they have "asset" or "investment" in the name of the business, it's a pretty good bet that they don't want to deal with you on anything under 5 figures.

 

I finally found one in a tie that didn't seem like it was cutting off the circulation to his brain. Liked the Goddess, didn't want it tho... but was willing to at least check it out and talk to me a bit about some of the other things he had in the case. Said he might know someone that would be interested and would give me a call tonight or tomorrow if they were... or better yet, if they were not, so as to not leave me hanging.

[gedis3]

The most exciting part of the day for me was I was walking by some booth and heard the 'owner' of the booth say to the person on the outside, who happend to be wearing a dealer badge.. "that's insulting! get the hell away from my table!"

 

I have a similar tale... I was walking up to one and the dealer said to someone that was walking away, "DON'T COME BACK IF YOU DON'T BRING A BETTER OFFER, TIGHT WAD!" then balled up a pricelist and threw it at him... niether of them was laughing, the tension was thick.

 

Dude was apparantly trying to talk the dealer down into $600 on a $1000 coin and wasn't willing to come up at all... tied the dealer up for like 15 mins and wouldn't budge. It was a very nice coin that should have easily fetched $1200 and he already had it marked down $200... he told me later he would have taken $850 for it if the guy had been willing to negotiate and not steal.

 

Ya gotta be a flexible or just let it go, folks!

[gedis3]

I'm beat, will work up a day two report tomorrow. Here's a shot of the bourse from the observation window...

 

[123cents]

George, Did you show Osburn your 1807 Bearded Goddess? He was suppose to be at the show. I bet he would be interested in your coin. I don't know how much he would offer.

[Fergie]

Hey gedis3

 

I really enjoyed reading your report, very excellent job.

 

Thanks, Fergie.

[Elbesaar]

Nice write up. Looking forward to the continuation.

 

Just an observance, from the image of the Bourse, it looks empty.

Was it like that most of the time - or - was that shot taken early

on the first day when everyone was setting up ??

[gedis3]

Picture was taken early on Day 2... we got there about 10:15am -- the crowd inside was light for the first hour or so because of the St. Patty's day parade a block over... they were using the area around the Convention Center as a staging area. If you were coming from the North Side of Charlotte, you got jammed up pretty hard... from the South, not so much. The parade started at 10:30ish -- so by 11 the staging area was cleared out and people were able to get to the Convention Center. Problem was they all got there at once, so the registration line backed up pretty fast.

[gedis3]

Charlotte, NC ANA Money Show 2007 ~ Day 2.

 

We arrived in Charlotte at about 10am, which also happened to be the same time that the Charlotte St. Patty's Day Parade was about to kick off. It was a block North of the Convention Center, but they were using the parking lots to the south of the parade to stage the floats, trailers and more Golden Retrievers than you have ever seen on one pile. For some reason the Golden Retriever Club has a large presence -- I didn't see one Irish Setter, which would seem the obvious choice for a St. Patty's Day parade -- I guess they were already in the Pubs drinking pints. There were 2 Irish Wolfhounds in the pile, they were easy to spot -- they had about the same number of handlers as the UnderDog balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Those dogs are freakin' HUGE.

 

Because of the outside jam ups, there weren't a whole lot of people there when we got in -- while the wife and kids were getting registered, I took the above snap shot of the Bourse... Pretty light crowd in the pic, but it picked up pretty fast -- by 11 or so it was jumpin'.

 

The kids got the ANA Trivia Sheets, and we headed out to dig up the answers from the various booths that were marked with the orange signs... a treasure hunt of sorts. At the end of the trivia hunt you turn in your sheet at the ANA booth for a Slabbed Coin, supposedly. Turns out they had an unusually high number of kids doing the hunt, so they were out of Slabbed Coins by the time we got done, they got a 2-sided Brasher Doubloon jigsaw puzzle instead, and they were a bit disappointed at the end, but the process was rewarding -- they learned some neat stuff, and about half of the stops at the different tables, the dealers gave out freebies like wheat pennies, buffalo nickels, tokens, funky oriental paper money, etc.

 

My oldest daughter ran into Lord Marcovan from the PCGS Boards who was wearing a vest and top hat covered with holed coins pinned to the fabric. She stopped him and let him know how cool she thought his vest was, she has this thing for holed coins and coin related jewelry... and he gave her a New Prez Dollar in a 2x2! It was the highlight of the show for her.

 

We did the gold panning thing, and it was pretty cool, we came away with 8 or 9 small flakes of gold for 20 mins of work. The kids decided that panning for gold as career was probably not the best way to go... I'm glad they didn't come up with a big nugget, or I would probably have trouble getting them to go to College in a few years. The youngest has the metal detecting bug pretty bad, and has decided that archaeology and treasure hunting is gonna be her "job"... I have a 10 year old Lara Croft -- Tomb Raider on my hands. We are going to take a day-trip to the Reed Gold Mine this spring / summer and check it out first hand.

 

They carefully examined and judged the exhibits and oooo'ed and ahhhhh'ed over the Walton V Nickel. Savannah (oldest -- 11) judged the Roman Coin exhibit the best, Emily (youngest -- 10) decided that the Columbian Exposition display was the best and most interesting, paticularly the hinged halves that had secret compartments inside.

 

I split off from the wife and kids for a bit to show the Bearded Goddess to a few more dealers, and didn't get anyone that wanted to come up to what I wanted out of it, but most of them were more than happy to have gotten a look at it, I suppose one of those doesn't come floating around the Bourse in a 2x2 very often... they probably get tired of looking at the same old Morgans all day and having to say no -- at least I gave them something different to say no to.

 

I met back up with the Girls and we headed out to meet with a sales rep for the medical equipment that my wife uses, and he took us to lunch. Since they talked shop, he picked up the tab on the company... nothing wrong with a free lunch, and it wasn't hot dogs on the Bourse -- after a couple of Killian's Reds and an oversized Turkey Reuben I was almost ready for a nap... stepping back out into the 40 degree weather and 40 knot winds blowing between the skyscrapers for the walk back to the Show woke me right up.

 

We finished up the Treasure Trivia Hunt and were met with the previously mentioned disappointment -- the kids were really looking forward to getting their first slabbed coin. Perhaps we should have finished up the hunt before the lunch break and they would have scored, hindsight is 20/20. We tripped across the Hobo Nickel table on the far side of the hall and the girls decided that they were going to save up and get one. They are fascinating pieces of coin art, and some of them are real masterpieces.

 

I took a few more laps around the bourse to show the Goddess, but by now the crowd was getting thick and it was tough to find any tables that didn't have a few people waiting. After about 5 or 6 more dealers talking a look at it, I still had no luck in getting my price, so I think she is going up on the 'Bay with what I want out of her as the reserve and we'll see what happens... she'll probably be the only one up at the time, so there won't be much competition, right?

 

Picked up a Cherrypickers guide book and some supplies on the way out -- then rounded up the wife and kids to make for the exit... we were pretty beat, and they all passed out before we were 10 miles down the road.

 

All in all I'd say it was a good experience for my first "big" show, didn't get my Goddess sold, but I think maybe my hopes were set a little too high for "hitting the jackpot" with it... I'm a little more realistic now, and that is a good thing. I was thinking it was too good to sell on the 'Bay, and it probably isn't.

 

As my wife said as we were leaving -- "That was a lot of coins... seeing all of them in one place makes you realize how rare a really rare one is..."

[MrSpud-migration]

Cool report! I was a volunteer at the show (My coin club, Charlotte Coin Club, hosted the show). On saturday afternoon, right after the St Patty's Day Parade, they got something like twice the number of Kids in a few hour period than what had had been anticipated by the ANA for the entire 3 day show!!! We talked about this with the other clubs and got a backup YN treasure trivia together at the NCNA booth for the kids so they wouldn't be dissapointed. There were more kids at this show than I have ever seen at any show in the past, which is great. Many signed up with their parents to join the local clubs.

[pendragon1998]

Man that was a good dinner! 2 bottles of wine, a 12oz Prime Rib and all the Greek Goodies that I have come to expect at Zorba's but can't pronounce... I think they call it the "300" special -- I opted out of having the guy in a leather Speedo kicking me in the chest and knocking me back into a pit. If you make it to Columbia, SC -- specifically the Irmo/St. Andrews area, that's the place to go.

 

Wow, what a small world - I used to live off St. Andrews road and my (at the time, future) wife worked at Zorbas one summer during high school, years before we got married and moved out of state.

[gedis3]

Wow, what a small world - I used to live off St. Andrews road and my (at the time, future) wife worked at Zorbas one summer during high school, years before we got married and moved out of state.

 

Ha! That's what I call the "Columbia Syndrome" everyone that lives here or has lived here has less than 2 degrees of separation with just about everyone else in the world! -- It's the biggest small town in the USA, and having the Army's largest Basic Training base (Fort Jackson) practically inside the city limits seems to have caused almost everyone to come through here at some point.

 

We had dinner there with two other couples from our church as a way of getting to know each other a little better away from the pews. When we got there we had only given the obligatory passing wave as we came and went on Sundays -- After 2 hours at Zorba's we had discovered that half of two couples were from the same small town in Ohio, 3 of the 6 people had known a lot of the same people in high school but not each other, and 2 of us were related by marriage and didn't know it previously... the flip side of this is, you can't get away with ANYTHING around here without someone hearing about it -- keeps us honest.

 

Since you lived here, you know what I'm talking about... you can't escape the Columbia Syndrome no matter how far you move away.

[pendragon1998]

I'd say that's pretty accurate. We seem to have a knack for meeting Columbians in odd places. I once bumped into my best friend all the way down in Charleston purely by coincidence. The first week we were in Georgia, my wife met a guy I went to school with in Columbia. It's bizzarre where you seem to see people who used to live down the road from you.

 

By the way, if you like Zorbas, you'd probably like Grecian Gardens - we liked it better. It was on Sunset Blvd a short ways east of I-26.

[gedis3]

By the way, if you like Zorbas, you'd probably like Grecian Gardens - we liked it better. It was on Sunset Blvd a short ways east of I-26.

 

! -- The Midlands Coin Club annual banquet is at the Grecian Gardens next month!

 

Never had a bad meal at either one, the GG is a bit more crowded and the service is a little slower, but the food is equally killer -- you can't go wrong at either.

 

I just about live at the Greek Festival downtown when it is kickin'... I have to double my workout routine for a few weeks before and after -- but it's worth it.

[comicAL]

Hi, George

 

I really enjoyed your Charlotte, NC ANA Money Show 2007 daily chapter report!

 

That is great that you could take the wife and children to such a large show.

 

Let us know what you decide to sell the 1807 CBH Goddess on eBay!

 

AAJ

[gedis3]

Hi, George

 

I really enjoyed your Charlotte, NC ANA Money Show 2007 daily chapter report!

 

That is great that you could take the wife and children to such a large show.

 

Let us know what you decide to sell the 1807 CBH Goddess on eBay!

 

AAJ

 

Thanks! The kids are still going on about it and making plans to go to the next one that comes within driving distance. They both took their gold from the panning exhibit to school today and were the hit of the class.

 

The Bearded Goddess will be going on eBay Thursday in a 10 day auction, so it will end on Sunday April 1st probably between 9 and 10 pm Eastern -- start rolling your pennies!

 

To make it easy to find -- my eBay name is drudgemart, you can redirect to my storefront by going to www.drudgemart.com .net or .org. I'll also be posting the info on the Money Marketplace board here at NGC with a direct link to the auction once it is listed.

 

.