Santa Clara show report

[SkyMan]

The Santa Clara show was fun socially and for looking at coins, and mediocre to poor for purchasing coins for me. In no particular order I met these board members from ATS: Becoka, CarlWohlforth, Coingame2000, Poorguy, Prenum, Sanction II, and WTCG, along with a variety of members from my local coin club. Carl, Kevin (Sanction II) and I got together on Friday for a little show and tell. Wei dropped by while we were there so that was nice. Carl has some really nice proof Jeffersons from the 1936-42 era. Unfortunately he had to leave early. Kevin is a cameo Frankie Junkie, so as two peas in a pod, it was fun to shmooze about that. He brought his raw set, which is VERY nice. He also brought his type set which has a bunch of very nice coins, with a toned Peace dollar that is very tasty. The dealer board members all had assorted fun goodies at their tables.

 

As to purchasing coins, on thursday I started the show by paying off a dealer for 6 toned Frankies he sent me earlier this month. I saw some very nicely toned Frankies at a couple other dealers tables, but the bottom line was too much. There were several other coins that were quite pleasant, notably on thursday a MS64 1917-P Type 1 SLQ, with pleasant toning, but again, the bottom line was too much. I spent a whopping $10 total that day on a BC coin... No, not a Battle Creek, a raw British Columbia 1858-1958 Centennial dollar in AU. It's got a fun totem design on the reverse.

 

On Friday, I purchased 3 raw 1958-D coins from an original mintset. Two Frankies (one obverse toned and one reverse toned), and 1 reverse toned Roosie. The Frankies are real firecrackers in iridescent green and red. The Roosie has the same color, but is somewhat less in your face. Unfortunately the Frankies aren't the cleanest of coins. The reverse toner is 65 with FBL, but there are enough dings in the lines that I'm not sure it will slab FBL. The obverse is a solid 64, but I'm hoping it'll go 5 'cause the color is pretty amazing. It will not FBL. Due to the 2 coins having the same toning I submitted 'em to NGC to put in a paired coin holder. The Roosie is a solid 65 with claims to 6, but I'm just keeping it raw.

 

One thing that was fun was that when the Kellogg $20 specimen (PCGS SP69) was taken out of it's plate glass enclosure for the night I was right there and the person holding it asked me if I'd like to see it. Welllllll, duhhhhh!!! Of course! It was fun to hold in my hand and put it under the loupe. I really liked the reverse.

 

Friday night I bid on a couple of toned Morgans at the Superior auction, but got beaten on 702 and blown out of the water on 709.

 

Saturday was mainly a day for trying to find a nice type coin for my type set. I was sitting at a dealer's table (the dealer specializes in Type coins in the under $2,000 range) checking out some coins, and got into a conversation with the dealer and the other customer who was there before me, about cracking coins out of their slabs and keeping them raw. I mentioned that when I originally was putting together my Frankie cameo set I cracked the coins out of their holders and put them in a custom designed Capital Plastics holder. I was STUNNED at what the customer then began pulling out of his bag. First, this gentleman pulls a VERY nice PR65Cameo 1950 Frankie out (all his coins were PCGS slabbed). I didn't have any cameo Frankies on me but I did have some good stuff in my box so I pulled out my cameo Walker. So then this guy pulls out the best example known (can't remember the grade) of a die marriage of a DBHE quarter, 1807(?), and for chump change throws in an AU58 High Relief Saint. I pulled out my toner CBH, so he pulls out this 1880 PR63Cameo Morgan that sure looked a heck of a lot better than the grade. Making a long story short he and I kept pulling stuff out, with his piece de resistance being a 1798 DB dollar in AU58 that was frigging HAMMERED. This coin literally had puffy cheeks and the bust looked like it was going to explode. We moved our stuff away from the dealers table to an empty table, where this gentleman pulled out his raw typeset. Let's just say there were some goodies in there. Then he pulled out his GOOD typeset. At that point the call of nature struck him and he got up and was going to leave all his coins with me to look at while he took a leak. I couldn't believe it, here was a guy I had met half an hour to an hour before and he was going to leave $100,000+ worth of coins with me to look at while he went off to take a leak. I told him I felt uncomfortable about him leaving the coins, but got his name and number, and am going to (a) try and hook up with him again, and (b) try and get him to join our local coin club.

 

Most of the slabbed type stuff on the floor was mediocre for the grade or SUBSTANTIALLY above graysheet ask if the coins looked nice. Towards the end of the show I found a decent 1914 PCGS MS64 Barber dime for just over graysheet, so that was my lone purchase for the day.

 

A lot of the dealers that I talked to said that the action on Wednesday was hot, and thursday morning moved along nicely. By thursday afternoon things were dragging and friday was a dead day. Saturday was supposedly slow. Of course there were several other dealers saying that they had had a good show, so I think a lot of it had to do with what the dealers had in their inventory or were looking to find.

[rbrown4]

Sy,

 

Thank you for the detailed report. Some interesting times it sounds like and the opportunity to see some nice coins from the one gentleman.

 

Thanks for sharing the information.

 

Rey

[rrantique]

Thanks for the report Sy, your Saturday events had me drooling on the keyboard.

[123cents]

Great report Sy. Very enjoyable reading. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[MunkyMan95]

and the bust looked like it was going to explode

 

[robec1347]

What a great report, Sy!! Very entertaining and visually, I could picture your experience at the dealers table like it was a movie.

[TomB]

What a fantastic experience that must have been to share your boxes of coins with one another. I'm certain you look forward to this gentleman joining your club.

[physics-fan3.14]

Battle of the Coin Guys. Great report.

[Fletcher]

Nice report ... here are my two cents worth ...

 

... I spent about 5 hours there. It was a very interesting show today ... although Dealer day was officially yesterday, it seemed like most of the business being done today was dealer to dealer. In fact, many of the dealers there had nothing in their cases but had other dealers sitting at their tables going through boxes of coins ... it was interesting to watch the brotherhood at work. As far as material, this was the most diverse show that I have been to so far ... everything was there, it was high quality, and there was a bunch of it. I even saw a MS64 Libertas medal that I almost bought ... but I was there for two coins, and I had to see them in hand before I considered anything else. I could have spent a lot more money today than I did. The only area that seemed in short supply were colonials ... I had my Fugios with me and three dealers tried to buy them for full retail on the spot ... interesting. I met a few forum members in person for the first time today: Brandon and Adrian from Anaconda, Regulated, Becoka, and StepHunter ... all great guys and it really is nice to meet these people in person finally, it puts a warmer spin on informal online transactions. They all seem like guys that I could hang out with and sling back a few. Nice to meet you guys ...

 

Having viewed the two coins that were the focus of my trip, and having viewed several other equally graded specimens that did not compare, I bought them both and, even though I paid strong money for them, I feel that I got a heckuva good deal. All in all, it was a great show.

 

 

1793 Chain Cent PCGS XF40

 

1795 $1 3 leaves PCGS VF35

[123cents]

Those are two fabulous coins Fletcher.

[SkyMan]

Sweet looking coins Fletcher! I'm sorry we missed each other on thursday.

 

 

Battle of the Coin Guys. Great report.

 

 

Yeah, I was pretty glad I had my A box with me. Here are some of the coins I showed him...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and an 1802 DBHE Dollar in (rattler) MS61 (most dealers that have seen it agree it should MS63 when/if re-slabbed).

 

You should have seen the other guy's Dansco album of Flowing Hair/DB dollars. It was SWEET!!!

[jesbroken]

Thanks, Skyman. Without yours and others accounting of their experiences and purchases a lot of us would not have an idea of the interaction of the various coin shows. I can only imagine your experience with the gentleman with his box of coins. That must have been a chart busting moment. I hope you meet again and maybe get him on the forum as I would love to see some of his coins, especially the bust coins.

thanks again.

[ant]

wow that 1893 is smoking hot!!! gr8 find

[rbrown4]

Sy,

 

Thanks for the follow up with pictures, I like the items from your "A Box". Those are very nice coins, I especially like the 1829 Half and 1938 Half - WOW.

 

 

Great Stuff.

 

Thanks,

 

Rey

[CarolinaCollector]

Awesome coins Fletcher!

 

Great show reports.

[CarlWohlforth]

I was so happy to meet both you and Sanction II. That was a great story about the dude who was going to leave his valuable coins while he hit the head!

 

You absolutely must get me, or someone else, to get new photos of that cameo Walker. It looks way more frosty in person than in those photos. Even the sun shows a tad of frost, which is the first sun I've seen to show any hint of frost at all.

 

I enjoyed your Bust Half too... I'm sorry I had to rush off to pick up my daughter from school. It is clear I missed out on many neat coins. I showed all the coins I brought so I couldn't have contributed more unless I made a run home...

[Bruceswar]

Carl if you get a chance to photo that 1938 Proof Cameo. Good luck!! It is a monster. I took those photos along with some others. It is harder than it looks. Nice report and sweet coins all!!

[bsshog40]

Beautiful coins. I like the half, and the DMPL Morgan, and....

[SkyMan]

Carl, it was great to meet you. Your nickels were very nice! They had more than a hint of cameo contrast to them.

[rrantique]

Post deleted by rrantique

[CarlWohlforth]

No offence to you Bruceswar. I am never satisified with my photos and many people get much better photos than I. It is just that Skyman's half really took my breath away. You could blast the contrast and get something like RRAntique posted, but that coin deserves the very best!

 

Skyman and Scantion II remarked about my early Jeffs. I am trying to get proof Jeffs dated '38 to '42 with decent cameo contrast. I have three. None have enough contrast to warrent a cameo designation in my opinion, but they have those watery fields and the devices do contrast with the fields. I'd like to buy more.

[rrantique]

Post deleted by rrantique

[rbrown4]

Beautiful all the way around. Cameo, Cameo where for art though Cameo.

 

Fantastic. And what perfect timing for hooking up my new 17" LG Flatron Monitor.

 

These coins are lighting up my office they are so bright and vivid.

 

 

Rey

[SkyMan]

Carl, I'm VERY happy with Bruce's images of the Walker. Due to the design and the cameo contrast it's basically impossible to get the whole design on one side to show up as cameo as possible. Here's another image by Bruce that shows more of the contrast of the sun (and the rock on the reverse), but see how you don't get as much cameo contrast on the central devices?

 

 

Of course, it is always interesting to see how different people pick up different aspects of a coin. So yup, you might get a shot at it. Bob has expressed an interest too.

 

In any case I look forward to seeing you again in the future.

 

BTW Bobby that's not a DMPL that's a proof. It's a rattler PR65, and the general consensus of dealers is that it should grade out nowadays as PR66Cameo (with more than a couple saying DCam, although I don't think it would DCam). The white flecks in the fields do not exist, they are an artifact of imaging.

[rrantique]

Carl, I'm VERY happy with Bruce's images of the Walker. Due to the design and the cameo contrast it's basically impossible to get the whole design on one side to show up as cameo as possible. Here's another image by Bruce that shows more of the contrast of the sun (and the rock on the reverse), but see how you don't get as much cameo contrast on the central devices?

 

I think Bruce takes some fantastic photos,lots of work to get those cameos

[CarlWohlforth]

Even if I can't get a better photo of the '38 I sure would love to try!

 

That Proof Morgan does look DCAM in the photo. I didn't see that coin in person so can't say what I think it should grade, but it seems clear that SkyMan has access to awesome coins so I will certainly defer to his opinion.

 

BTW I like the 2'nd set of Walker photos better than the first set.

[SkyMan]

That Proof Morgan does look DCAM in the photo. I didn't see that coin in person so can't say what I think it should grade...

 

I do hope you are looking at the original image I posted of the Morgan, not Irvin's juiced/contrasted to the max play image. Anyhow, when we hook up again I can bring the Morgan and you can make up your own mind.

[Bruceswar]

Carl no offense taken. That coin is a monster to photo. I suggest if you get the chance to photo this coin. Skip any attempts indoors and head straight outside. Your best shots will come from in hand in the shade. This is just one of those coins that is a true monster to photo. Had a figured out that little trick for these very tricky cameos those shots would have been different. I toyed around with the lighting on this as much I knew how. I also took this coin outside and used the sunlight. It is just that hard to get it all in one photo. Good luck if you get the chance.

[toyonakataro]

Great show report and some great coins you guys