"Keith Fletcher" writes:

I just know I'm going to get blasted for this, but:

Not from me. :-)

Robert does a pretty good job of getting close to lying w/o techinically
lying. Or if he lies, it's the standard politician's way way of lying: 'to
intentionally mislead or leave a wrong impression', def no. 2 in my
Websters. This is no different from any attack ad you see from *either* of
the political parties' advocates (e.g., 'I'm a swift boat veteran and I
served with John Kerry' ... while that statement is technically correct, it
turns out 'served with' simply means 'was somewhere in Vietnam at the same
time and never even saw the guy.') If we are going to go after people for
lying, I'd rather we go after those ()*$)() political hacks who feed that
crap to the ignorant, who then eat it up.

Chambers is a great salesman, and that's it. He's as American as apple pie.
If he can sell a thing for twice what it's worth, well ... that's good
capitalism. In the big scheme of things, he's much more honest than many of
the spin doctors we see on TV or hear on radio. Think Rush Limbaugh --
let's get that fat liar outta here -- or Sean Hannity. Or Al Franken. They
do a hell of a lot more damage to this country, and lie more blatantly, than
does Mr. Chambers with his over-priced coins.

I was going to flame a little here, but Keith plays no favorites (everybody
from ultra-liberals to ultra-conservatives lies in the political arena). I
wouldn't necessarily say Robert lies as much as stretches the truth.

Chambers likes to compare his prices to 'The Leading Numismatic Catalogue.'
The truth is, that Littleton catalogue he shows does have the prices he
claims, and probably is indeed the 'leading numismatic catalogue.' He often
uses the fact that low value coins -- VG walkers, for exmple -- are indeed
listed w/ a substantial premium in most catalogues, but only because it is a
pain in the neck to have to keep that common stuff around. Thus the
oft-mentioned and in me, fear-inducing 'numismatic avalanche' (Ouch! That
would hurt!)

One thing he and Paul are pushing this weekend is bulk silver, "Full 16-ounce
pounds." What they never mention is, are you getting 16 ounces of coins per
pound or 16 ounces of silver (which would be a little more than 16 ounces of
coins).

I for one would miss the show if it were gone (though I've never bought
anything from it).

I watch mostly to see what's out there. If it weren't for Coin Vault, I'd
never have known about the "This old man hoarded everything he could get his
hands on and we bought it cheap and are passing the savings on to you."
They've got some nice Morgans up this weekend, but way over-priced. Still,
it's nice to see MS Morgans (and Peace dollars, for that matter) that aren't
bag marked.

Plus I have a thing for Julie Tello. It's her voice.

And this is "Manly Man Weekend" on S@H. So where are the babes? :-)

I think sometimes we don't give people enough credit. I remember that when
I discovered that my first big purchase -- an 1880-s Morgan graded by ACG as
MS-67 -- was not really MS-67, I felt like a fool. But rather than leave
the hobby, I knuckled down and learned something about it, and I have since
done quite well.

One thing I suspect is that some would-be collectors are watching, realizing
they can't afford some of the stuff they want (even with the "stretch pay"
option), go to their local coin dealer or online auction site, and see that
they could get what they wanted for less.

I suspect many people are being brought into the hobby by Chambers and that
most of them eventually wise up and purchase their coins elsewhere. His
show is a net plus, in terms of adding collectors. Heck, I think it is a
HUGE plus. I can think of no other way that coin collecting can get such
wide publicity and reach such a large market.

Bob is OK in my book.

Agree.

Lying politicos are not OK, nor are the fools who believe them.

--Keith

Jerry