Coin Show Report - Parsippany, NJ

[DaveG]

Today I attended the first-Sunday-of-the-month, 80+ dealer show in Parsippany, NJ. As I've mentioned in the past, this is a very active show with a wide range of material on offer. This show has a main room with about 80 dealers in it and a side room with another half-dozen dealers, including a book dealer.

 

I've had a cold this week, so it was a bit hard for me to gauge the tone of the show - certainly it was as crowded at it usually is (hard to get down the aisles most of the time), but I thought the show was a bit subdued today (perhaps it was just me). I saw most of the usual wholesalers, but a couple of the usual retail dealers seemed to be missing. There seemed to be the same amount of business being done as usual. I saw Michael Fey and Jules Karp among the crowd.

 

As I came in the show I saw Across-the-Street board member MrEureka (Andy Lustig), who was walking the aisles, accompanied by Aki. Andy looked happy and Aki (who was on the floor) looked very pleased with himself - Andy said it was because he had had bacon and eggs, but I think it was because Aki was doing a lot of business right under Andy's nose (well, actually, under his kneecaps)!

 

Most of the usual folks from my coin club, the New Jersey Numismatic Society, were there, so I said "hello" to a couple of people.

 

I had a nice chat with Across-the-Street board member ScarsdaleCoins (Jon Lerner), who still had his wonderful, very original looking, PCGS AU-55 1800 half eagle. Jon confessed that the coin was really an "auction coin" or else a "FUN Show coin", but that he would be happy to hold onto the coin for a while, if he had to. (Personally, I have a strong desire to sell half my collection to buy that coin!)

 

I also chatted briefly with Across-the-Street board member njcoincrank, who showed me the double eagle mint bags that board member TomB mentioned seeing at Baltimore. Interestingly, each was numbered (I presume to facilitate inventory). njcoincrank said that mint bags for gold coins were very uncommon (he speculates that they were destroyed after use), while mint bags for smaller denominations were pretty readily available. I showed him a 1942 Philadelphia cent bag ($20) that I had acquired while on vacation in California last week [for the princely sum of $7!]. The gold bags were heavier weight canvas, but essentially the same dimensions as the cent bag. njcoincrank said that the cent bag would probably sell for $20-$25, while the gold bags fetched BIG money.

 

By the way, does anyone know when the Mint switched from $20 bags of cents to $50 bags of cents?

 

I had the opportunity to flip through David Akers' 1975(?) book on gold patterns - lots of nice pictures, many in color. The book was being offered for $30, but I had to pass (so many books, so little money or storage space!)

 

Dealer Tom Hyland had a lot of copper today, including a bunch of Jules Reiver coins in NGC slabs.

 

I saw a couple of Bust halves that I almost bought, but nothing else grabbed my attention today. (Having spent rather heavily over the past couple of months, I have a bit of a numismatic "hangover.")

 

All-in-all, it was a fun show

[123cents]

Very interesting show report. Thanks for posting it.

[IGWT]

Thanks for the report!

[Wihlborg]

Thanks for the report Dave. I wish I could have made it myself, but I had to work. Hopefully, I'll get to see you and Tom at the GSNA show.

 

John