Petoskey Coin Show Report

Having maintained my membership in the Livingston County (Howell,
Michigan) Coin Club while moving all over these past five years, this
month's club newsletter told me of a coin show in Petoskey. It was
only 50 miles from where I am now, so I went.

About eight dealers had set up, about equal between coins and stamps.
The stamps were beyond my ken -- though I did inquire after a few
issues and I did buy a post card. The coins were almost completely
mainstrean US Type, with no modern commems, state quarters, foreigns,
etc.

I did meet a new coin dealer named Jason Michelson of Northern
Michigan Rare Coins in Petoskey. I also met the president of the local
club, Richard Luther, owner of University Coin Shop, Harbor Springs.
The contrast was interesting.

Jason is a young guy. He is an ANA member. He loves to talk about
coins. He lowered the sticker price of every coin I asked about. I
spent about $20 on Buffalo Nickels, Liberty Nickels, and Indianhead
Cents all of which I will give away at an upcoming family reunion.

Richard is an old guy. Richard refused to budge on price, not that I
asked him, but I watched other people asking. He is not an ANA
member. I tried to sell him on joining and he kept telling me that
there were no benefits for the money. Then, he got cherrypicked by
some young guys who cited the Breen Half Cent/Large Cent Encyclopedia
to each other sotto voce.

I bought tickets for the hourly drawing, making sure with the clerical
labeled SECURITY that I had to be present to win. The drawings were
not held hourly and when one was finally held, the winner was not
there, so they set aside the prize for him.

The exhibits were judged by open voting of the attendees. Stamps were
one category and Coins were the other. Most were of "Old Stamps" and
"Old Coins." I voted for "Composers." I was impressed with the
balanced design and the workmanlike neatness of the layout. I also
gave a nod to the way the material drew a tidy circle around a broad
subject.

Basically, this was like an ANA show, only 98% smaller. Most of the
dealers were no fun, but I met one guy who has a passion for it. Most
of the material was the same old stuff, but I found some bargains. I
had a good time and I would go again.

On Mon, 4 Aug 2003 21:50:52 -0400, "Steve"
wrote:

Thanks for the post, I wondered what that show must have been like.

I'm sorry I missed that show too.

--

Coin Collecting: Consumer Guide: http://rg.ancients.info/guide
Glomming: Coin Connoisseurship: http://rg.ancients.info/glom
Bogos: Counterfeit Coins: http://rg.ancients.info/bogos

"Reid Goldsborough" replied in message
...


I'm sorry I missed that show too.


I wasn't being snobbish, I appreciated the post.
Steve

(High Plains Writer) wrote
I spent about $20 on Buffalo Nickels, Liberty Nickels, and Indianhead
Cents all of which I will give away at an upcoming family reunion.

So, I am showing them to my father-in-law, telling him that we will
split them and we can both give them away and I see one of the
Buffalos and I say, "Oh, that's pretty nice. I think I'll keep that."
And then I want to just scoop them all up and say I will keep them
all! But I got a grip. I even gave up the nice one. Sheesh...
collecting! what a way of life.