Another successful CSNS show has come and gone! I personally enjoy attending this show as it is very well-organized, always busy and very well attended especially on Thursday, O’Hare is a centrally located airport with direct flights from most parts of the country, there’s usually no weather problems, and the show is in the convention room of the hotel where I’m staying so there’s no traveling between them – not to mention the Renaissance is a beautiful hotel with a really fun bar where many dealers and collectors go for social gatherings after the show!
So I left sunny OC for the show on Tuesday morning so I’d arrive in time for PNG Dealer Day set up the next morning.
I was very happy I had no issues or delays and arrived on time in Chicago early that evening where it was surprisingly warm.
I checked in, grabbed some dinner with friends, grabbed a glass of wine, and headed off to bed.
Set up for Dealer Day folks was at 9am and there were probably around 50 dealers and there was several hours before the rest of the dealers would be let in for regular set up so there was plenty of time to set up my booth and do some early “shopping.” I really enjoy Dealer Day, not just because I can do some early buying, but because it’s very casual, I can take my time setting up, and you don’t have to wait in line at a dealer’s table to see/buy coins.
Sam Ernst was one of the busy CSNS folks making sure everyone had what they needed.
The Coin Show Podcast folks
A couple weeks ago at the PNNA Tukwila/Seattle show a customer brought me this very interesting heavy round metal piece with a backwards image of the reverse of an Indian cent depressed into it. I subsequently found out it was a counterfeit die, worth maybe a couple hundred dollars. I had never seen one before but it totally made sense. So I thought I’d share photos of it here in case some of you may not have seen one before either.
At 4pm that afternoon, the rest of the dealers were let in for set up until 8pm. So I got to do a little more shopping once they were set up. Here are all the coins I bought throughout the show, many of which were purchased that day.
I also bought a really nice, the scarce S-3 Mint State 1856 Flying Eagle Cent in PCGS PF55 (as most of you know, PCGS and NGC will only grade the 1856 Flying Eagle cent as “proof,” even though research has proven that the original estimated to be no more than 850 specimens of these Flying Eagle cents were produced for Congressional distribution and were struck with non-proof dies, while around 1,500 were restruck over the next couple years with proof dies (see Rick Snow’s Attribution Guide pgs. 27-50 for more details).
After all that shopping, I opened one of the bottles of wine I brought – a delicious 2016 Horse Haven Zinfandel that I bought while in Washington at the Delille winery outside of Seattle. I also had a couple dealer friends stop by with whom I shared the wine, and they too enjoyed its slightly fruity flavor.
That evening we went to Chicago Prime Steakhouse for dinner with Rick Snow, his son Kenny, Ron Mirr and his sister Karen. It’s one of the restaurants that most dealers go to at least once during the CSNS show!
We had a wonderful Mount Veeder cab that went very well with our steak – you really can’t go wrong with a Mount Veeder cab!
I had ordered the smaller “feminine” cut of their prime rib topped with a delicious garlic Parmesan crust, and couldn’t believe how large the piece was! I had plenty for lunch the next day, with quite a bit to share with my table neighbors, which they also enjoyed!
The next day (Thursday) I arrived at the show around 9am and by 10am, I was very pleased to see there was a nice large crowd of folks waiting outside the doors to get in!
I stopped by GreatCollections briefly and they were ready and set up for business!
Thursday I was busy behind my table with no breaks whatsoever all the way until about 3pm – which is a good thing! It was so busy that I didn’t have a chance to take many photos around the bourse floor. I had a very good selling day, as well as buying a few more coins.
Ron/Veep on the message boards stopped by and gifted me this amazing 1905 Indian cent celluloid charm spinner (Tag Bros. Live Stock Commission Co. from South Omaha, Nebraska) for my exonumia collection. He told me he found it among his collection and wanted it to go to a good home – which it very much did! I was thrilled and very grateful for Ron’s gift and very pleased to add it to my encasement collection! Thank you Ron!!
Alan Flint, the brother of a good friend of mine with whom I used to work when I was a litigation paralegal at my old firm Morrison & Foerster way back when and who is coincidentally a coin collector, has now become my good friend as well, stopped by to say hi and ended up buying a beautiful 1933 Lincoln cent in PCGS MS67 Red (OGH) in honor of his mother’s birth year.
A customer came by to buy a couple of certified Indian cents and had a stack of old coin albums partially filled with 1940’s+ Lincoln cents, most of which were problem-oriented or very low grade coins and no key dates. I told him they were albums that, if I were him, I would donate them to a coin club for kids to use to start creating their own collection. He agreed and gave them to me for that purpose. He also had partially filled Whitman albums with lower grade, some with problems, of Lincoln and Indian cents which had some value, so I gave him a price for those three albums which he used to help pay for the nicer high grade Indian cents he was purchasing from me. He then showed me three old Library of Coins Lincoln cent albums mostly full from 1940’s on. These albums are in great shape so I gave him a decent price for them, and we also added it to his credit towards the two Indian cents be was buying. He was very happy with the deal, and I subsequently donated the partial Lincoln albums to CSNS to give to on of their member clubs for their YN’s. I kept the others to go through when I got home and will probably take them to my local show to sell.
Robert Julian, a renowned and amazing coin artist came by and gave me a set of drawings of some of his Lincoln cents. These post cards are beautiful and it is very difficult to tell they aren’t photographs of coins! He takes commissions for large scale drawings of collectors’ coins – Bob is an extremely talented artist!
When things slowed down later in the afternoon, and I was able to enjoy the wine I brought, I also opened the bottle of Silver Oak cab I had brought. It too was very popular with the folks I shared it with.
Another dealer brought over this delicious 2017 Faustino V Reserva Roja wine to share with me as well!
That evening the PNG was hosting a cocktail event at the Gather bar in the hotel for all the dealers on the bourse. They usually do this every year and it is a very fun and popular event! I had a great time too and took lots of photos as you will see!
This is me and my bff coin dealer friend – Brian Alty with Northeast Numismatics
Billie and Lori of Whitman/Greysheet
Mal and David of Alhambra Coins, and friends
PNG President James Sego and me
Another very dear coin dealer friend Dino Koromvokis and his wonderful wife Lisa
Me and PCGS folks
More very dear friends Karl and Joanne Stephens and Dan Sedwick of Sedwick Shipwreck Coins
Two beautiful ladies with coordinated outfits and one with very pretty stylish shoes!
More pics of various folks at the party
After the cocktail party, a group of us went to Perry’s for dinner – they are on par with Chicago Prime and had excellent steak and wine too!
After dinner, it was back to the bar which was still in full swing! I had a glass of wonderful Tawny Port, thanks to Brian, then called it quits and went upstairs to bed!
On Friday morning I took a few pics around the bourse floor before the public came in.
PCGS folks
NGC folks
CAC
Chris with Christal Clear Showcases
Billie and Lori (again) with Whitman/Gresheet
Mike from the Coin Show Podcast and his friend
Folks at Northern Nevada Coin
Central State folks hard at work!
Another very dear friend Larry Sekulich and his wife Linda came by for a visit. Larry also traded this amazing original St. Louis 18-page newspaper from August 1909 for a 1909 Indian cent for his nephew. Can you guess the significance that a 1909 newspaper would have for someone like me??? Yep, it has an article all about the new design of the penny to the Lincoln obverse and wheat reverse design!
A dealer also brought me this very cool Lincoln cent error since he knew I collected interesting penny errors. It has a major lamination that is barely staying attached to the coin, so I decided to make an offer. He accepted and I was happy to add it to my collection.
The rest of the Zinfandel and Silver Oak cab was poured and shared that afternoon. It got pretty slow by 5pm so I decided to close up and meet some dealer friends in the bar before dinner. However, we found out there was a huge Republican fundraiser formal gala in the ballroom between the convention center and the hotel and they also took over The Gather bar, so we ended up waiting in the small restaurant bar.
Friday night we went to Chicago Prime Italian (for a change) which has various delicious past meals and of course, some great wine!
Surprisingly, they also had a small room with some casino machines!
Saturday was typically slow, although I had a few very nice sales! Sadly, one of the dealers there had a very unscrupulous customer sell them a fake $50 Gold Eagle coin. He purposely waited for them to be busy and offered one of the younger dealers this gold coin in an “NGC” holder. The dealer didn’t take the time to inspect it until after the seller had left and he quickly discovered it was not only a fake coin but in a fake NGC holder. They quickly went looking for the guy but he must have headed straight to the door and took off. He graciously let me take pics to help educate folks as to what to look for.
Another one of my favorite customers stopped by to say hi and brought me one of the beautiful toned proof coins I had sold him a few years ago. Sadly, he is having eye problems and can’t see the small cents very well, and is focusing on larger coins. I was happy to have this gorgeous piece back in my inventory!
He also brought me a delicious bottle of Meiomi cab from the Lodi area of Central California. I have never had this wine before and was anxious to try it but I didn’t want to open it on Saturday just before heading home so I brought it back with me. And as a matter of fact, I’m having a glass as I write this show report. It’s on the more fruity side for a cab and is not as dry as most cabs, but is very delicious, easy to drink, and I’m very much enjoying it!
My flight was later in the afternoon on Saturday and by the time it was time for me to pack up, my whole area was already empty – I felt like I was on a deserted island! Just like last year, when I headed outside to wait for my ride, this beautiful goose was again nesting on a group of eggs on one of the planters right outside the convention center door!
I headed to the airport with my dealer friends Karl and Joanne since they were on the same flight to Orange County as me. I was once again very grateful that we had no flight issues whatsoever. Bye Chicago – for now….
Hello OC!
And Penny of course!
Although I won’t be at the ANA in Oklahoma City, I will be back in Chicago for the Great American Show in Rosemont in September! Hopefully, I’ll see some of you again there!