Coin Show Report , long and boring...

CNS/COINS Ohio State Coin Show report.

I attended this regional show on Saturday, Sept. 4th., 2004. It was
held in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. I live 100 miles north of
there, so I left home at 7:30am to try to make it in time for the
opening at 10:00.

I arrived precisely at 10:00 and had to wait in line for maybe 5
minutes.

There were approximately 85 dealers, placed in two meeting rooms and
in the hallways outside those rooms. There were two "Coin Stops",
tables where you could redeem coupons given to you when registering. I
received two of the new nickels for my coupons.

My mission was to seek out and purchase at least one better
date/variety US large cent and/or New Jersey copper. During my initial
walk through, I saw a few cents within my budget that would have met
my criteria, but I did not see any NJ coppers.

I did strike up a conversation with a very helpful woman behind a
dealers table. Turns out, she WAS the dealer. She was also a member of
EAC, as am I. We had a great discussion about the show and EAC, and
she was most helpful in pointing out other dealers who may have had
what I was looking for.

Continuing my initial walk through, I was elated to see that there was
a booksellers table, but my joy turned to consternation when I
realized his merchandise was covered and he was nowhere in site. The
dealer at the table next to him reassured that the bookseller would be
along shortly.

I made my way back to the main entrance, where I began what I call my
first "attempted buying trip." I looked at perhaps 30 coins at a half
dozen or so tables, but could not come to grips with any of them.

Back to the book sellers table, where much to my delight, I found him
open for business. He had over 10 titles that are on my list, so I had
to spend a half hour or so trying to decide which one to purchase. He
gave me some fairly good pricing on several of them, so I told him I
needed to think about it.

I headed for lunch to take a break and try to get a clear picture of
which book to buy. I made the decision to purchase Breens Encyclopedia
of Early United States Cents.

But first, I had to find at least one coin to take back home! I was
starting to get a little anxious. I went to a nationally known dealers
table and asked if he had any New Jersey coppers. He looked me over
and rather curtly told me that I had already looked at them. I assured
him that I had not seen them, as I had not been to a show where he had
a table in over 4 years. So with a heavy sigh, he pulled out a box of
2x2's and dug out maybe ten NJ coppers. Now I was getting excited.
After a quick glance at all of them, my excitement began to wane. They
were all pretty bad, even for NJ copper. There was a Marris 39-a that
was the best of the bunch, and priced reasonably. I told myself that
if I could not find anything better, either large cent or NJ copper,
that I would come back and buy it. I handed the coins back to him and
thanked him, but I might as well have been talking to the wall. He
must have had a bad night.

I decided to check for what I wanted with the dealers out in the
hallway . After several unproductive stops, I hit upon a gentleman who
had one NJ copper. It was in a 2x2 identified as "1787 New Jersey
Colonial Cent porous". I whipped out my handy dandy Marris phototype
plate, and after about 5 minutes determined it was a Marris 63-s. A
variety I did not have. No surprise there, as I have fewer than 10
percent of the varieties. He had it marked at $110, but before I could
even begin to haggle, he dropped it to $85, so I bought it.

Feeling a great sense of relief, I headed back to the book seller and
bought the Breen book. I spent perhaps another half hour shooting the
bull with the book seller, then decided to head out. The dealer I had
bought the NJ copper from flagged me down as I was passing his table.
He handed me a 2x2 and told me he had bought the coin inside last
week. It was a Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling. A nice looking
example, as far as I could tell. He showed me where he felt it had
been bent (to ward off witches) and then restraightened. Looking at
it, I couldn't argue with him.It had a scratch on it that probably
came from a careless metal detectorist. But a very cool item indeed.
While standing there, a younger guy approached and asked the dealer if
he still had that NJ copper piece for sale. My hand immediately went
to my pocket and I felt like Bilbo Baggins being approached by Gollum.
This guy was after my precious coin! I pulled it out and said, "You
mean this one?" He was very accepting of the situation and we struck
up a nice conversation about NJ coppers. Turns out we have both been
collecting them for only a short time and enjoying the challenge of
finding decent specimens.

That was enough for me, I headed out he door and up the road. Of
course, the OSU football game had just finished and traffic was a
mess. But that’s ok, because it was my birthday and I was feeling
pretty good.






--
Joecoin

Copper is as copper does.

Great trip report - thanks! So, did you end up getting the Pine Tree
Shilling?

zax

"joecoin" wrote in message
.95...

CNS/COINS Ohio State Coin Show report.

I attended this regional show on Saturday, Sept. 4th., 2004. It was
held in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. I live 100 miles north of
there, so I left home at 7:30am to try to make it in time for the
opening at 10:00.

I arrived precisely at 10:00 and had to wait in line for maybe 5
minutes.

There were approximately 85 dealers, placed in two meeting rooms and
in the hallways outside those rooms. There were two "Coin Stops",
tables where you could redeem coupons given to you when registering. I
received two of the new nickels for my coupons.

My mission was to seek out and purchase at least one better
date/variety US large cent and/or New Jersey copper. During my initial
walk through, I saw a few cents within my budget that would have met
my criteria, but I did not see any NJ coppers.

I did strike up a conversation with a very helpful woman behind a
dealers table. Turns out, she WAS the dealer. She was also a member of
EAC, as am I. We had a great discussion about the show and EAC, and
she was most helpful in pointing out other dealers who may have had
what I was looking for.

Continuing my initial walk through, I was elated to see that there was
a booksellers table, but my joy turned to consternation when I
realized his merchandise was covered and he was nowhere in site. The
dealer at the table next to him reassured that the bookseller would be
along shortly.

I made my way back to the main entrance, where I began what I call my
first "attempted buying trip." I looked at perhaps 30 coins at a half
dozen or so tables, but could not come to grips with any of them.

Back to the book sellers table, where much to my delight, I found him
open for business. He had over 10 titles that are on my list, so I had
to spend a half hour or so trying to decide which one to purchase. He
gave me some fairly good pricing on several of them, so I told him I
needed to think about it.

I headed for lunch to take a break and try to get a clear picture of
which book to buy. I made the decision to purchase Breens Encyclopedia
of Early United States Cents.

But first, I had to find at least one coin to take back home! I was
starting to get a little anxious. I went to a nationally known dealers
table and asked if he had any New Jersey coppers. He looked me over
and rather curtly told me that I had already looked at them. I assured
him that I had not seen them, as I had not been to a show where he had
a table in over 4 years. So with a heavy sigh, he pulled out a box of
2x2's and dug out maybe ten NJ coppers. Now I was getting excited.
After a quick glance at all of them, my excitement began to wane. They
were all pretty bad, even for NJ copper. There was a Marris 39-a that
was the best of the bunch, and priced reasonably. I told myself that
if I could not find anything better, either large cent or NJ copper,
that I would come back and buy it. I handed the coins back to him and
thanked him, but I might as well have been talking to the wall. He
must have had a bad night.

I decided to check for what I wanted with the dealers out in the
hallway . After several unproductive stops, I hit upon a gentleman who
had one NJ copper. It was in a 2x2 identified as "1787 New Jersey
Colonial Cent porous". I whipped out my handy dandy Marris phototype
plate, and after about 5 minutes determined it was a Marris 63-s. A
variety I did not have. No surprise there, as I have fewer than 10
percent of the varieties. He had it marked at $110, but before I could
even begin to haggle, he dropped it to $85, so I bought it.

Feeling a great sense of relief, I headed back to the book seller and
bought the Breen book. I spent perhaps another half hour shooting the
bull with the book seller, then decided to head out. The dealer I had
bought the NJ copper from flagged me down as I was passing his table.
He handed me a 2x2 and told me he had bought the coin inside last
week. It was a Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling. A nice looking
example, as far as I could tell. He showed me where he felt it had
been bent (to ward off witches) and then restraightened. Looking at
it, I couldn't argue with him.It had a scratch on it that probably
came from a careless metal detectorist. But a very cool item indeed.
While standing there, a younger guy approached and asked the dealer if
he still had that NJ copper piece for sale. My hand immediately went
to my pocket and I felt like Bilbo Baggins being approached by Gollum.
This guy was after my precious coin! I pulled it out and said, "You
mean this one?" He was very accepting of the situation and we struck
up a nice conversation about NJ coppers. Turns out we have both been
collecting them for only a short time and enjoying the challenge of
finding decent specimens.

That was enough for me, I headed out he door and up the road. Of
course, the OSU football game had just finished and traffic was a
mess. But that's ok, because it was my birthday and I was feeling
pretty good.






--
Joecoin

Copper is as copper does.

"zax" wrote in news:413bb467$0$19718
:

Great trip report - thanks! So, did you end up getting the Pine Tree
Shilling?

zax

"joecoin" wrote in message


Oh no, it was my birthday. If I had bought the Pine Tree Shilling, it
woulda been my funeral!

--
Joecoin

Copper is as copper does.

Very enjoyable report. Thank you for the post.

--Keith


"joecoin" wrote in message
.95...

CNS/COINS Ohio State Coin Show report.

I attended this regional show on Saturday, Sept. 4th., 2004. It was
held in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. I live 100 miles north of
there, so I left home at 7:30am to try to make it in time for the
opening at 10:00.

I arrived precisely at 10:00 and had to wait in line for maybe 5
minutes.

There were approximately 85 dealers, placed in two meeting rooms and
in the hallways outside those rooms. There were two "Coin Stops",
tables where you could redeem coupons given to you when registering. I
received two of the new nickels for my coupons.

My mission was to seek out and purchase at least one better
date/variety US large cent and/or New Jersey copper. During my initial
walk through, I saw a few cents within my budget that would have met
my criteria, but I did not see any NJ coppers.

I did strike up a conversation with a very helpful woman behind a
dealers table. Turns out, she WAS the dealer. She was also a member of
EAC, as am I. We had a great discussion about the show and EAC, and
she was most helpful in pointing out other dealers who may have had
what I was looking for.

Continuing my initial walk through, I was elated to see that there was
a booksellers table, but my joy turned to consternation when I
realized his merchandise was covered and he was nowhere in site. The
dealer at the table next to him reassured that the bookseller would be
along shortly.

I made my way back to the main entrance, where I began what I call my
first "attempted buying trip." I looked at perhaps 30 coins at a half
dozen or so tables, but could not come to grips with any of them.

Back to the book sellers table, where much to my delight, I found him
open for business. He had over 10 titles that are on my list, so I had
to spend a half hour or so trying to decide which one to purchase. He
gave me some fairly good pricing on several of them, so I told him I
needed to think about it.

I headed for lunch to take a break and try to get a clear picture of
which book to buy. I made the decision to purchase Breens Encyclopedia
of Early United States Cents.

But first, I had to find at least one coin to take back home! I was
starting to get a little anxious. I went to a nationally known dealers
table and asked if he had any New Jersey coppers. He looked me over
and rather curtly told me that I had already looked at them. I assured
him that I had not seen them, as I had not been to a show where he had
a table in over 4 years. So with a heavy sigh, he pulled out a box of
2x2's and dug out maybe ten NJ coppers. Now I was getting excited.
After a quick glance at all of them, my excitement began to wane. They
were all pretty bad, even for NJ copper. There was a Marris 39-a that
was the best of the bunch, and priced reasonably. I told myself that
if I could not find anything better, either large cent or NJ copper,
that I would come back and buy it. I handed the coins back to him and
thanked him, but I might as well have been talking to the wall. He
must have had a bad night.

I decided to check for what I wanted with the dealers out in the
hallway . After several unproductive stops, I hit upon a gentleman who
had one NJ copper. It was in a 2x2 identified as "1787 New Jersey
Colonial Cent porous". I whipped out my handy dandy Marris phototype
plate, and after about 5 minutes determined it was a Marris 63-s. A
variety I did not have. No surprise there, as I have fewer than 10
percent of the varieties. He had it marked at $110, but before I could
even begin to haggle, he dropped it to $85, so I bought it.

Feeling a great sense of relief, I headed back to the book seller and
bought the Breen book. I spent perhaps another half hour shooting the
bull with the book seller, then decided to head out. The dealer I had
bought the NJ copper from flagged me down as I was passing his table.
He handed me a 2x2 and told me he had bought the coin inside last
week. It was a Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling. A nice looking
example, as far as I could tell. He showed me where he felt it had
been bent (to ward off witches) and then restraightened. Looking at
it, I couldn't argue with him.It had a scratch on it that probably
came from a careless metal detectorist. But a very cool item indeed.
While standing there, a younger guy approached and asked the dealer if
he still had that NJ copper piece for sale. My hand immediately went
to my pocket and I felt like Bilbo Baggins being approached by Gollum.
This guy was after my precious coin! I pulled it out and said, "You
mean this one?" He was very accepting of the situation and we struck
up a nice conversation about NJ coppers. Turns out we have both been
collecting them for only a short time and enjoying the challenge of
finding decent specimens.

That was enough for me, I headed out he door and up the road. Of
course, the OSU football game had just finished and traffic was a
mess. But that's ok, because it was my birthday and I was feeling
pretty good.






--
Joecoin

Copper is as copper does.

Thanks, Joe, for the not-overly-long, not-boring-either coin show report.


Anka

joecoin wrote:

I attended this regional show on Saturday, Sept. 4th., 2004.

Allow me to join the crowd and thank you for your report.

I did strike up a conversation with a very helpful woman behind a
dealers table. Turns out, she WAS the dealer. She was also a member of
EAC, as am I.

And who was she? Did you get her card, anything with the shop name on
it? If you always do that you will remember later who you talked to.

... I was elated to see that there was a booksellers table ...

John Burns? A really big guy? Lots of old books? Or did the seller
have lots of new books? Help us out here.

... asked if he had any New Jersey coppers. He looked me over
and rather curtly told me that I had already looked at them. I assured
him that I had not seen them ...

Yup. Been there.

... It was in a 2x2 identified as "1787 New Jersey
Colonial Cent porous". I whipped out my handy dandy Marris phototype
plate, and after about 5 minutes determined it was a Marris 63-s.

Ah, "the dealer's curse." Dealers are forced to be generalists. Yes,
there are those who narrow their field a bit. You have "ancients" and
"paper" and so on. However, (a) most dealers do not and (b) even
those are very broad areas. So, dealers only know a little bit about
everything. Collectors specialize. Collectors have the time to worry
over attributions and compare dies and nonsense like that. So, the
dealer calls it a 1787 New Jersey Colonial Cent and you call is Marris
63-s. He is happy to sell it, of course.

He had it marked at $110, but before I could
even begin to haggle, he dropped it to $85, so I bought it.

See? Sold for less is better than unsold for more.

He was very accepting of the situation and we struck
up a nice conversation about NJ coppers.

Did you expect him to throw a temper tantrum, or assault you for the
coin? He might have been doing both of those _inside_ but at least he
had his manners glued on well enough. It works out better that way
for everyone.

I made two of the shows in Dublin when we lived in Marysville. It was
always a good time for me, seeing old friends and making new ones.
Your 85 tables were a bit larger than I remember it, and apparently,
they are growing, which is good, of course.

Michael
ANA R-162953

(Michael E. Marotta) wrote in
om:

joecoin wrote:

I attended this regional show on Saturday, Sept. 4th., 2004.

Allow me to join the crowd and thank you for your report.

I did strike up a conversation with a very helpful woman behind a
dealers table. Turns out, she WAS the dealer. She was also a member of
EAC, as am I.

And who was she? Did you get her card, anything with the shop name on
it? If you always do that you will remember later who you talked to.


I don't believe I am at liberty to say who she was without her
permission. You bet I got her name and contact info! I would be remiss if
I did not obtain a card from every dealer at any show I attend.


... I was elated to see that there was a booksellers table ...

John Burns? A really big guy? Lots of old books? Or did the seller
have lots of new books? Help us out here.

Again, I don't feel comfortable dropping names. There is maybe just the
slightest possibility that it was a really big guy with lots of old
books.

... asked if he had any New Jersey coppers. He looked me over
and rather curtly told me that I had already looked at them. I assured
him that I had not seen them ...

Yup. Been there.

If I was tempted to positively identify anyone by name in my post, it
would be this guy. He walks on water in certain numismatic circles, but
he was just a pompus arrogant jerk, IMHO.


... It was in a 2x2 identified as "1787 New Jersey
Colonial Cent porous". I whipped out my handy dandy Marris phototype
plate, and after about 5 minutes determined it was a Marris 63-s.

Ah, "the dealer's curse." Dealers are forced to be generalists. Yes,
there are those who narrow their field a bit. You have "ancients" and
"paper" and so on. However, (a) most dealers do not and (b) even
those are very broad areas. So, dealers only know a little bit about
everything. Collectors specialize. Collectors have the time to worry
over attributions and compare dies and nonsense like that. So, the
dealer calls it a 1787 New Jersey Colonial Cent and you call is Marris
63-s. He is happy to sell it, of course.

I can't speak to this dealer in particular, but perhaps some of them know
the very rare varieties by sight and can therefore ignore the common ones
by exclusion?

I don't call it Marris 63-s, my documentation does. Without my handy
dandy chart I call it the same thing he does. Maybe in a hundred years I
will be able to attribute from memory. Wouldn't that be nice.


He had it marked at $110, but before I could
even begin to haggle, he dropped it to $85, so I bought it.

See? Sold for less is better than unsold for more.


Being a small business owner for 18 years I can assure you, truer words
were never spoken.


He was very accepting of the situation and we struck
up a nice conversation about NJ coppers.

Did you expect him to throw a temper tantrum, or assault you for the
coin? He might have been doing both of those _inside_ but at least he
had his manners glued on well enough. It works out better that way
for everyone.

Well, he was your stereotypical coin collector. One eye went east, the
other pointed north. He had on last weeks shirt, last months pants and
God only knows what underneath. He had a couple pieces of metal sticking
out of various parts of his head. A beat up old leather portfolio and a
wallet connected to his rope belt by a chain, with a Harley logo on it.
My spider senses were tingling.


I made two of the shows in Dublin when we lived in Marysville. It was
always a good time for me, seeing old friends and making new ones.
Your 85 tables were a bit larger than I remember it, and apparently,
they are growing, which is good, of course.

Yes, for me it was a larger show. I am bourse chairman of our local clubs
annual show. We sell from 20 to 25 tables a year.

Michael
ANA R-162953




--
Joecoin

Copper is as copper does.

joecoin wrote:
I did strike up a conversation with a very helpful woman behind a
dealers table. Turns out, she WAS the dealer. She was also a member of
EAC, as am I.
And who was she? Did you get her card, anything with the shop name on
it? If you always do that you will remember later who you talked to.
I don't believe I am at liberty to say who she was without her
permission.
Again, I don't feel comfortable dropping names.

To me, coin dealers are in business and if you have a good experience,
you benefit them and us by reporting it. I always drop names. I
prefer not to identify dealers when we do not get along well.
Positive interactions are always good news. Again, my preferences are
my own, of course.

Michael
ANA R-162953