Wow, what a show! This show was a whirlwind for me and I couldn’t believe it was over when it was time to pack up on Saturday. Most dealers I spoke with said they too had a very busy and successful show. For me, quality pennies seem to be remaining strong, even in this slightly softer market. I think quality pieces in any denomination are garnering strong prices, particularly those in the new CAC holders. I found a lot of beautiful Pretty Pennies for my inventory including a scarce 1873 Double Liberty Indian cent in PCGS AU58+, a very cool Indian cent error for my collection, and some gorgeous encased Indian cents and pocket mirrors for my exonumia collection. I also enjoyed seeing several of my regular friends and customers, as well as many folks I only get to see and talk with at this show. As usual, the FUN show is a great start to the New Year!
(photos courtesy of the Orange County Convention Center website)
I left sunny Orange County, California, for sunny Orange County, Florida early Tuesday morning, flying through Houston.
As we were boarding our plane to Orlando, I noticed the seating configuration was very different. The first class section had pod-type seats which I had never seen before. We were told that there were several 767 international airplanes that were in Houston for mechanical updates and repairs that needed to get back to Orlando, so we were given one of those planes. Since I had a first class seat, I had one of those amazing pod seats! It was so roomy and private that I wished the flight was actually longer! I even found a penny (face up) on the floor when I entered my pod! There was plenty of leg room, my own table, a larger tv screen (I watched the Barbie move during my flight), and the seat laid all the way down. I was in heaven!
I arrived in beautiful Orlando just as the sun was setting.
I checked into the Hilton, one of the host hotels, grabbed some dinner, and settled in for the night. I happened to have a beautiful view of the pool outside my window
This is the daytime view outside my window
Set up at the convention center was at 2pm, so I headed over to the North Concourse early to register and check in with some of my dealer friends.
(photos courtesy of the Orange County Convention Center website)
When it was just about time for set up, there was a very large crowd of dealers gathered in the lobby.
Set up day is the day I do my searching and hunting for new Pretty Pennies for my customer want lists and general inventory. In addition to going “shopping” at other dealer tables, (except for Long Beach) I set up at most large shows by myself, so I am very fortunate and extremely grateful to have several dealers, as well as customers, come to my table with their boxes and handfuls of pennies for my consideration.
These are the coins I found during set up day, as well as throughout the show, which included this beautiful scarce 1873 Double Liberty Indian cent in the coveted grade of PCGS AU58+
Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I come across a piece or two for my personal collection. However, at this show, since many folks know that I collect various penny exonumia and Indian cent error coins, I had several interesting pieces come to my table, including those mentioned above that I ended up purchasing.
This 1868 Indian cent struck thru error is pretty scarce, and I’ve never seen one like it before. A dealer who had seen my website where I post my personal collection, including my Indian cent errors, couldn’t make it to the show gave this error cent to another dealer to show me. I examined it carefully, saw that it had a piece of silver metal that “fell” onto the blank planchet or planchet strip and got struck into the Indian cent. The metal piece even has part of it that wraps around the rim of the coin. It’s a very fascinating error. I showed it to Jon Sullivan (an error expert), Rick Snow, and Chris Pilliod (a metal expert) who all said it is very unusual and a fascinating piece. We all speculated that the piece of metal is most likely silver, but the coin would have to be removed from the holder and tested to determine the specific metal content. I was thrilled to be offered this “WOW” error coin, and was very happy to add it to my error collection.
A dealer friend who very well knows my exonumia collecting interests and from whom I’ve purchased many encased cents brought me several beautiful gem encased Indian cents, an encased celluloid Indian cent, and a couple Lincoln cent pocket mirrors. I have over 150 encased Indian cents and pocket mirrors, yet I didn’t have any of these in my collection. So, I once again, I was very happy to add all of these beautiful pieces to my collection.
I brought one of my nicer cabs to enjoy at the show, and to share with my friends. It was a Piazzo Del Dotto cab from Napa and I can say that it didn’t last very long!
After set up day, I went to dinner with some of my “regular” group, Karl and Joanne Stephens, Don Chinnick and Wolfgang Meirer. We went to an amazing steakhouse restaurant, Charley’s Steakhouse, where Don treated us to some amazing wines he had brought and shared with us.
They had a beautiful selection of steaks to choose from.
Delicious bread and a very tasty meatball appetizer
A couple of our steak dishes
I arrived at the show early on Thursday to get organized and ready for the “throngs” of folks who I was hoping would make it to the show! And we were not disappointed!
The FUN show board at the ribbon cutting ceremony
Tony Swicer, President
Bob Hurst, Vice President
Tom Uram, ANA President
The “throngs” were indeed waiting to get into the show!
I got very busy right from the beginning showing coins to folks, and didn’t even get away from my table until later in the day. I was able to take some photos around the show in the early afternoon. Some of you may even see yourself among the crowds!
Several forum members stopped by to say hi and check out my inventory, but I didn’t get many photos of them, but here is
Ron/On_The_Crag
Soon it was time to head out to dinner. I made plans with another of my usual group – Rick, his son Kenny, Neil Urich, Ron Mirr and his sister Karen. We went to Maggianos for some good wine and Italian food!
The next morning I had an early breakfast awards ceremony at the convention center. I was nominated for and was deeply honored to receive the 50th annual Numismatic Ambassador Award at the FUN show yesterday. This beautiful plaque was given to me and 4 others (Bruce Benoit, David Frank, Sam Gelberd and Jeffrey Rosinia) for our contributions to the hobby.
I also won this coin as a door prize
A collector stopped by my table to show me this 1874 off center Indian cent he acquired. It used to be a museum piece and had the museum number actually written directly on the coin. He found an article depicting this exact coin. The number has since faded but can still be seen on the blank off center part of the coin.
Amanda and Billie – the Grey Sheet gals (as I fondly call them) – were just one table away from me. I always enjoy their company and finally took a moment to snap their photo for my show report. They are such charming, witty, and beautiful ladies, I’m just sorry I didn’t have a chance to spend more time with them during this show.
Matt/ChangeInHistory came by to say hi
On Friday we heard some loud cheering and clapping at the front of the bourse floor, and we later found out that security had apprehended a jerk thief who had stolen a lot of gold coins. He resisted the security guards, tried to punch them, so they had to throw him to the floor, a security guard put his knee on him to restrain him, then threatened to taser him. As the guy was caught, he threw all the coins he had stolen onto the bourse floor (which they were able to gather every one of them). A large group had gathered around, and once he was caught, everyone cheered. This is a photo of the creep!
Thursday was also extremely busy and I wasn’t able to get away from the table much to take photos. It was after 4pm when things finally slowed down and I was able to open the second bottle of wine I had brought – one of my very favorites, a Rombauer Zinfandel from Twin Rivers/Napa.
That night for dinner, I went with my foreign coin dealer gang to celebrate Karl’s birthday at Capitol Grill – a very popular steakhouse restaurant among the coin dealers.
Once again, Don Chinnick graciously treated us all to more bottles of his amazing wine!
The company was wonderful as usual, the food was delicious, and the wine was awesome!
It was Karl’s birthday, so the restaurant prepared a special dessert for him/us
Saturday morning I went to the show early so I could have some time to take pictures of the exhibits and around the bourse. It was raining when I got there but soon there was a huge downpoor that lasted about an hour. I hoped it wouldn’t keep collectors away from the show, but when the show opened, there was still quite a crowd waiting to get in.
In the exhibit area, I noticed the plaque of past Best of Show winners and saw my name from 2014!
There were several interesting exhibits but my favorite was the one on Two Cents. At the time I took the photos, they hadn’t announced this year’s winners so I don’t know which exhibit won Best of Show.
This is the panning for gold area, with a Mr. Ed as a mascot!
The spider press
CAC Table
NGC
PCGS (James Sego and Justin Waddell)
A dealer friend stopped by to show me a couple very cool/scarce pattern coins
GreatCollections were giving out their first calendars – very beautiful!
Even on Saturday, there was quite a bit of public at the show
But soon it was time for me to pack up and head to the airport. So long Orlando until next year…
This time I flew through Denver which was covered with snow and quite beautiful
My hubby had left for our place in Lake Havasu to do some repairs before it gets too hot, so only Penny (and our other old kitty Sierra) were there to greet me!
As I mentioned above, it was a great show, very busy, with lots of great material to buy, and many collectors hunting for material for their collections. If judged by this show, you wouldn’t know the coin market is supposed to be on the “soft” side. This was the first show run by the new convention coordinator, Katie Williams, and there were a few “new manager” glitches but nothing serious at all. The FUN show is still a very smoothly run very successful show, one I very much look forward to attending each year!
Next up, the Long Beach show (January 31-February 3, table 529)!