Charmy’s Coin Show Reports

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Charmy’s Coin Show Reports

 
The following are my Coin Show Reports about my adventures of the various coin shows that I attend throughout the country. 
 

Charmy’s February 2024 LONG BEACH EXPO COIN SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

Once again, another Long Beach show has come and gone. For me, this show in particular seemed to fly by, from set up to tear down. I always look forward to and enjoy participating in the Long Beach Expo as I have many local friends and customers who stop by to see me. Although this show was well attended and we were very busy, I think partly due to the economy, retail business for me and several other dealers I spoke with was not as active as in past shows. However, I think everyone will agree that the buying side of our business was very active at this show.

As many of you know, a huge storm was set to hit California right during the Long Beach show. Luckily, it didn’t begin until after set up day! At the last show, my boothmate Rich and I discovered that it was much easier to unload and pack my one cartload out in front of the show across from the parking structure and enter through the front door, rather than arrive a couple hours early and wait in line to get in and unload in the loading dock area. So thank goodness it wasn’t raining during this unloading process!

Once inside, I found that I was the first dealer in line, so while Rich waited with my cart, I ventured downstairs to the trading room and did some early buying.

As it got closer to time for the doors to open to the dealers, there were quite a few dealers in the registration line and waiting by the doors to be let in.



My buddy James Sego also waiting for set up time

The Long Beach Expo was celebrating it’s “diamond” anniversary and had silver glitter decorations and balloons all around, especially at the entrance.

When the doors opened for the dealers since Rich and I were first in line, it was pretty eerie to be the very first person on the bourse floor!

This is what our booth looked like before we unloaded and settled in (since I am an advertiser/sponsor, they give us a special banner).

Now all set up (including my boothmate Rich’s case on the end of the front table)

Once my booth was set up, I walked around the show looking for want list items and coins for my inventory. In addition to several coins I bought at the trading room, I also bought these certified and raw Pretty Pennies throughout the show.

I was especially happy to add this beautifully iridescent toned 1955/55 DDO Lincoln Cent PCGS MS64 BN to my inventory!

Soon it was time to open one of the bottles of wine I had brought with me. I recently joined a new winery in Temecula called Doffo. The owner has several very cool vintage motorcycles displayed at the winery (which my non-wine drinking off-road motorcycle loving hubby appreciated). To me, their wine is one of the better wines in Temecula.

That night for dinner, a group of us went across the street to PF Changs for dinner. We all enjoyed the evening and the mai tais and food were good but I forgot to take photos!

Thursday morning we left for the show early as usual (Rich and I carpool) but, boy, was it raining pretty hard. We soon found out that the 710 Long Beach freeway off the 5 was partly flooded and everyone was being diverted off the freeway around the flooded area which created a very slow crawl. What normally takes us about 40 minutes took us over 2 hours to get to the show! Here are photos of the flooded areas.




The show opened at 10am on Thursday (the first public day), but we finally got to the show at 10:30, so we had to scramble to get my booth opened and ready for business (I am uncomfortable having no one at my booth once the public is let in). I was hoping the rain wouldn’t keep the public away, and it seemed it didn’t since the show soon was very busy with lots of buzz.


My good dealer friend Bob Holston was one of the first people to stop by – he even brought me this wonderful bottle of Justin Isosceles cab – he’s such a sweetheart!

Another dealer friend stopped by and showed me this interesting plaque of Lincoln he just won in an auction. He said it was a replica of the design created by Victor D. Brenner for the Lincoln cent.


My friend Alan Weinberg who collects all kinds of Americana, especially certain political memorabilia brought over a couple very interesting and scarce items he had just bought at the show. Even though the holder states the peace medal is a “restrike,” Alan believes the holder is in error.



He also picked up this very rare 1901 ribbon for McKinley’s Veterans of the Mexican War reception.

That afternoon I opened the other bottle of wine I had brought to the show – a Cab Franc from my favorite Napa vineyard, Del Dotto.

That night me, Rich, my friend Matt Chapman and Rick Snow went to Captain Jack’s restaurant on PCH in Seal Beach, about a half hour south of Long Beach.

They are known for their fresh and amazing seafood, especially their crab. The meals were absolutely delicious!



It’s a popular restaurant for other dealers from the show as well. Here is a group of folks from Stacks Bowers and Curt Mease from PCGS in the other room.

Thank goodness the rain had ended and Friday was clear and dry with no freeway flooding issues!


Just inside the entrance, each morning the Expo folks had carts of breakfast pastries for the dealers, this time there were various types of delicious scones


I took a few minutes to take some photos around the bourse – here are a couple of the beautiful ladies at PCGS

The PCGS Submission Lounge

Great Collections


GreatCollections’ very popular calendars!

David McCarthy working hard!

Very friendly representatives from Westgate Resorts (Las Vegas)

The U.S. Mint and their newest products for sale






PSA Representatives

Memory Lane, a local sports and entertainment memorabilia company

The kids’ Treasure Hunt table

A very popular table for collectors to visit!

One of my – and many others – favorite early copper dealers, Tom Reynolds

Americana Rare Coin out of Sacramento

Brian and Tom of Northeast Numismatics

My booth neighbors, Real American Treasure, have displays of old and rare PCGS and NGC slabs and memorabilia, including a very rare first generation NGC Styrofoam slab box which could hold exactly 13 slabs





This enthusiastic adorable young man came by my table to ask me about a penny collection given to him by his grandfather, and to fill some holes.

My good friend Matt Chapman showed me an AMAZING 1806 Half Cent error that was double struck rotated with a huge lamination (not a strike through as stated on the holder) he had just purchased for his collection!



Another good friend and customer of mine who collects PCGS AU58 Indian cents, including many varieties, showed me this very scarce 1888/7 (Snow 1) Indian cent from his collection in a PCGS AU55+ holder (which he tried to upgrade at the show). I’ve NEVER seen another PCGS AU55+ grade in any type of coin before, and couldn’t understand why PCGS wouldn’t have just given the coin a regular AU58 grade.

Pics from around the bourse




My awesome webmaster, Ryan Delane, stopped by for a brief visit!

Lil ol’ me!

Friday night Rich and I and our foreign coin dealer friends, Karl and Joanne, went to a wonderful Rombauer wine tasting dinner at L’Opera just up the hill from the convention center.



Of course, since I’m already a member of Rombauer (and have been for about 20 years), I absolutely love their wine – and the various courses of food were also delicious (since I’m not a fan of lamb, they substituted filet for me!







Saturday morning before the show opened to the public, I took time to view the very cool antique arms and other pirate treasure collection on display near the front of the room. Wow – there were some fantastic antique guns in this collection!




























If I have someone helping me at my table, I usually participate in the kids’ treasure trivia hunt whenever I can, and the Long Beach Expo’s kids’ event is very popular and very well attended (there were so many kids participating that I ran out of the penny packets I created). Here is a group of young cub scouts who stopped by for their coin trivia question.

Soon it was time to pack up and head home. My hubby and of course Penny were there waiting for me!

Overall, as I mentioned, the show was a great buying show, but the retail side was slow. In any event, as always, I had a great time and very much enjoyed being at this show. The entire Long Beach Expo folks really do work hard to make sure all the dealers have what they need, and that the public has a good time at the show with various drawings, interesting displays, and special events. By the way, the dealers noticed that security was much more visible at this show, including more police officers walking the show. It also looked like there were more security guards or at least more security guards in uniform. We dealers are very appreciative of this! And I at least didn’t hear about any theft issues at this show.

That’s about it. Next up – the McIntosh show in Sacramento, followed by the Buena Park show!

Charmy’s Big 2024 FUN SHOW REPORT w/tons of Pics!

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)!

Charmy HarkerThe Penny Lady®

Charmy’s IMEX Coin Show and Nashville Adventure Report w/lots of Pics!

Let me first say that Nashville is a great city with lots of history and a ton of fun things to do and see! And the Music City Center is a beautiful venue for a coin show. I knew when I signed up to participate in the IMEX coin show that there would be some “growing pains” but, as has been mentioned in various threads on this forum, this show had a few more bumps than usual. Even so, I think with some tweaks and twists, this show has the potential for being a very good show.


I’ve read several of the show reports already posted here and agree with most of the comments about the issues faced by both collectors and dealers which can be, and I believe will be, addressed for the next show. Gary and Steve are professionals and they really want this show to be a success, so I am confident they will figure out what works and what doesn’t and address the concerns that have been expressed by both dealers and collectors. So let me take a few minutes to discuss some of the “new show” issues first and then I’ll get into the fun and usual photo part of my show report!

SIGNAGE/MARKETING: There were not enough signs directing dealers to the dealer trading room and the security room, and even the Music City Center personnel weren’t aware of these locations and had to make several phone calls before they figured it out. It didn’t help that the security room location changed at the last minute (however, it was changed from one of the hotels to the convention center which was more convenient). Obviously, even using discrete signage for security purposes, this can easily be fixed by giving the dealers more clear location instructions/map, security phone number, and making sure the convention personnel have information on where the room is. Also, many dealers mentioned that they didn’t see a lot of marketing, especially around the city (billboards, local ads, etc.) Even preshow marketing, social media, magazine ads, etc. was either scarce or not consistent early enough which is so important, especially for shows.

REGISTRATION: These days, requiring ID’s from the public entering the show is common place at most large shows for security purposes, so this is a “necessary evil” that will NOT be going away. I understand they also had some mechanical issues with printing badges which slowed the process. All this can be cured and streamlined with a little more preshow preparation/training, earlier registrataion times, and sufficient personnel.

ENTRY FEE: Some large shows charge a fee, some do not. The main “pro” in charging an entry fee is (1) the ability to collect ID’s on who is attending a show that is housing hundreds of millions of dollars in numismatics, and (2) it tends to keep out non-serious collectors and street people just wandering in for something to do. The “con” is that collectors prefer to spend their money on coins and not on door fees – understandable – and they don’t want to wait in a registration line just to get into a show. However, personally, a $10 door fee would not deter me from entering a trade show if it was something I was seriously interested in. I think a compromise would make most folks happy: make the fee good for the entire show, and do not charge for YNs.

LOCATION: Having a show in the downtown area of any large city has its drawbacks and positive features. Yes it may be more difficult/expensive to find parking and may also be an inconvenient block or two away from the convention center. That is an issue to be considered by both dealers and collectors, and planning ahead, locating the closest/least expensive parking lot, and mapping out the most direct route can ease this somewhat. The positive is that city convention centers are near restaurants, hotels, attractions, easier transportation, and often the airport. For these reasons, deciding whether to attend/participate in downtown conventions usually ends up being a personal preference.

DEALER TABLE NUMBERS LISTED ON WEBSITE: I understand the dealer tables were still being set and changed even just before the show began. This caused the posting of the website dealer list to be delayed which frustrated both dealers and collectors trying to make plans for which dealers they wanted to visit. However, I think the website listing can be posted much earlier and updated as the tables change – an seemingly easy fix.

DEALER TRADING ROOM (Thursday 8:00am-4:00pm, extra fee for table): For the dealers, the pre-show trading room is a very positive and a popular aspect of any coin show, and this one was no different. However, the dealers I spoke with would have preferred that the trading room be in the main bourse floor (like Dealer Day at the ANA shows) rather than a separate room, and that a half day would have been sufficient with the second half of the day open to the public. Dealers I spoke with would have preferred the show open to the public at least part of the day on Thursday. This was an expensive show and we would have liked to have more time for public/retail like the typical Thursday-Saturday (or at least half of Thursday). As mentioned above, signage and more specific directions/maps if the trading room is separate from the bourse floor would have also been very helpful.

DEALER BOURSE SET UP DAY (Thursday 5:00-8:00pm): There were a lot of issues with dealer set up which can be fixed with better managing (maybe having a bourse manager specifically in charge of set up), more decorator time and clearer instructions to the decorators. Not having sufficient time to properly set up the bourse floor led to a host of other problems throughout the short set up time: show cases and even tables were not placed in several booths, not enough lamps and clamps, NO chairs were distributed, the carpet was still being laid as the dealers were trying to set up, and the curtains were not only unattractive and a nuisance but a definite security issue. Many dealers had their tables changed at the last minute with no notice – this was probably the most serious of the issues for the dealers. These problems made set up very stressful and awkward for many folks. However, I personally spoke to Gary Adkins (one of the show partners) about a couple issues I was having and he was listening and making notes from each of the dealers who had issues and was trying to correct them as quickly as he could. Considering how many problems there were, he was very kind and patient and was doing his best to make each of the dealers happy. I only spoke to Steve Ellswoth briefly about the lack of chairs as he walked by my table and he looked like he was running around trying to get issues resolved, and just said we’d have them by morning. However, many of the dealers discovered there was a huge stack of chairs in the back of the room so we just went and retrieved the chairs ourselves. By morning, luckily most of the issues had been addressed and fixed but many dealers felt they lost valuable time to buy and sell coins during set up time just trying to obtain the items they needed to set up.

BOURSE TABLE LAYOUT: I agree that it is much more convenient and easier to navigate straight aisles with straight cross-aisles rather than maze-like aisles (the newer bourse floor at Long Beach show has maze-like cross aisles). I believe the reason depends on the shape of the bourse floor, collumns that may be in the way, how many corner tables are needed, and trying to “squeeze” in as many tables as possible with sufficient/fire code/handicap compliant aisle space. However, I don’t know the reasoning behind why this particular show isn’t more t-like/square in its layout but hopefully the show owners will keep this concern in mind when laying out their next show.

SUNDAY DEALER DAY (extra fee for table): I left on Saturday and don’t know many dealers who had planned to participate in this so I have no information whether it was a success and worth the expense to the participants and/or show promoters.

Hopefully Gary and Steve will see this (and the other show reports) and take note of the issues to help make this new show a GREAT show next time.

So now onto the fun part of my show report!

I’d never been to Nashville before so when I signed up to do this show I asked my hubby Lou if he’d like to go to Nashville with the caveat that he’d need to help me a little at the coin show. FYI Lou has never been to a coin show in all the years I’ve been doing shows so when he said he’d like to go, I almost fell off my chair!

While I made all the plans, hotel, flight, etc., Lou did a little research on the fun things to do in Nashville. We planned to get to Nashville a day early so we would have more time to see the city sites and visit some of their honky tonks! And since my birthday fell right in the middle of our trip, my kids gave me an early birthday present so I could feel like I fit in with the Nashville look!

So we packed our bags and headed to the airport together. It was super nice having my own personal “body guard” and baggage handler for a change as well!

We also decided to fly first class – again, another first for Lou!

We left sunny OC, flew through Dallas, and landed in Nashville late Tuesday night





We stayed at the Westin which was right across the street from the Music Center. When we arrived at our room, I was amused to see that the tv actually personally greeted me!

When the hotel noticed it was my birthday during our stay, they gave us free breakfasts and drink tickets to use throughout the week. So we had a nice leisurely breakfast on Wednesday morning, then took my coin bags to security and registered for the show. After we looked at a map of the city, we started out on our trek to see the sites of Nashville.

The weather in Nashville was amazingly warm in the mid-70’s – just like Southern California! We walked over to the infamous Broadway Street where all the main honkytonks are, and was surprised at how crowded the street was for a Wednesday at 11am. We went into the first one we saw (Rippy’s Honky Tonk) for some Nashville music and Bloody Mary’s.



Then we just walked around, looked into some boot stores and shops, took some photos, and just acted like the tourists we were!






There were bars and bands playing everywhere on both sides of the street, on every floor of 3-story bars. It was fun, noisy and amazing – a true party atmosphere! There are no cover charges and I understand most of the bands don’t get paid except for tips, so since I love music and the bands we heard were really good, I made sure to tip them generously.


We then stopped at Honky Tonk Central and went up to the second floor that looked out over the street so we could “people watch.”





There were several folks on the street who carried various handmade signs asking for help/donations, and this one was one of the more creative, yet honest, signs we saw!

We met this couple who told us that there was a live webcam across the street that faced directly toward us. So I logged into their website and sure enough, we were right there live on that website – here are a couple screen shots I captured of us looking toward the camera!


The last honky tonk we went to that day was The Lucky Bastard Saloon. The music was good, I especially enjoyed the rock and roll songs they played. It was very spacious and “warehouse” like and they also had a neat old motorcycle and a lot of signs posted all around.







The last place we visited that day was the Marathon Motor Works complex. Lou being a “motorhead” especially enjoyed seeing the Marathon museum. There are only a handful of complete cars remaining, and word has it that Jay Leno tried to buy one but Marathon wouldn’t let go of any of them.

From Wikipedia: “Marathon Motor Works was a brass era automobile manufacturer based in Tennessee. Southern Engine and Boiler Works founded in 1889 . . . established the factory in 1907. From 1909 to 1914, the company manufactured the Marathon automobile in Nashville, Tennessee, . . . and developed a gasoline engine and prototype automobile in 1906. Southern Engine decided to engineer and build every part of its automobile in-house. The vehicles had been marketed as Southerns at first, but another firm was using that name. In 1910, Marathon Motor Works was created to produce the Marathon automobile, named out of the enthusiasm for things Greek which had grown out of the 1904 Olympics.1909 saw a two-model lineup, roadster and touring car, powered by 35 HP 4-cylinder engines. Both were open bodies (tops were optional) and sold for about $1,500. By 1912 production reached 200 cars monthly.”










The Antiques Archeology store (owned by American Pickers) is also housed in the Marathon Motor Works complex. They had some amazing and interesting antiques for sale, but they were quite expensive yet fun to see.

















Then we headed back to the hotel where we met some friends for dinner. The Westin has the highest rooftop bar/restaurant in the city with a beautiful view of the Nashville.




Thursday was dealer day until 4pm, not to mention it was also my birthday! So I opted out of going to dealer day but I heard that business was brisk and active. Several dealers had purchased tables while many more were trading out of their bags – it was similar to what you would see at a PCGS Members Only Show. Some of the dealers reported that they did much more business during the Dealer Day than they did at the show.

After breakfast, Lou and I took a different route towards Broadway. We were surprised once again to see how busy downtown was so early on a weekday! These are pics we took along the way – the beautiful old buildings were especially neat to see!






We made our way to Printers Alley to listen to some Blues music – when we were dating, we often went to The Belly Up in San Diego to listen to Blues music, so it is always nostalgic for us when we get the chance to go to a Blues bar. The Bourbon Street Blues bar was highly recommended to us and definitely didn’t disappoint!






We went back to the hotel and changed for dealer set up – I decided to wear my birthday hat for the evening!

We were warned that the decorators were still setting up the floor, but we didn’t expect to see that several tables, cases, signs, lamps and chairs were missing from many tables, the unuual green curtains behind the tables, etc. However, many dealers ended up taking care of their own issues by finding chairs, lamps, cases, and tables from unassigned tables with no signs, and chairs stacked up in the back of the room as mentioned above. They were out of clamps for several of the remaining lamps, so someone got creative and handed out boards that you could slide under the cases that had holes drilled in to stick the lamps in!

On top of all the set up issues, we had early dinner reservations for 6:30pm (since a few of our friends had to travel an hour or so back to where they were staying), so we only had 45 minutes to set up and then search for coins – for me it was a whirlwind and a bit stressful, but I made the best of it. All in all, most folks got squared away, set up, and more dealer trading got underway. I was very pleased to find a beautiful group of Pretty Pennies from several of my favorite dealers, including this gorgeous 1914-D in CAC Cert MS64 RB!


After set up, we headed out to dinner (and to celebrate my birthday) with friends/dealers at The Stillery in Midtown. I was so excited that I was finally going to see my very awesome and sorely missed BFF Cindi Snow who used to work the shows for ANACS and who I haven’t seen in several years since she moved to Nashville – YAY!

Lou, James Sego, Steve Cummings and Cindi Snow (not pictured were Dave and Deanne Floyd and their son Carter)

They had a great band playing country and rock and roll music. Cindi had secretly told the band that it was my birthday, so the band and entire restaurant/bar sang happy birthday to me!

For dinner we shared fried pickles, jalapeno-bacon rangoons, mac and cheese with fried chicken pieces, and batter catfish and chips – I could feel my arteries clogging up just looking at those dishes!


After dinner, we walked down the street to an ice cream shop for dessert. Cindi had also secretly told the ice cream servers it was my birthday so they also sang to me!


I am so thankful to all my friends (and family), my hubby and especially Cindi who really made me feel special for my birthday (including all my Facebook friends who posted on my timeline) – I had a blast! Next day it was time to get down to business!

Friday I headed over to the show early so I could do a little more shopping and take photos of the show, while the hubby took off to do more site seeing via the hop on/hop off bus. Here are some photos I took around the bourse.

The US Mint




The CAC table

ANACS

Amanda and Billie, the beautiful Greysheet Gals

PCGS

The public in line at the registration table waiting to get in



Steve Forbes officially opened the show at 10am, though there were still many folks in the registration line so there wasn’t the usual “rush” of people flowing into the show at the same time.



A few pics from around the bourse on Friday afternoon


One of the stops on Lou’s bus tour was the Music City Center so he popped in briefly and of course I put him to work!


My friend George Huber/VDB Coins stopped by to say hi and chat but didn’t want his face show so he let me take this pic of his shoes!

Abe and me

Tom Sparks is a Short Snorter expert and had an AMAZING display of Short Snorters at the back of the room.

Short Snorters are historic and a very fascinating and fun (and usually not too expensive) part of numismatics! A short snorter is “a banknote which was signed by various persons traveling together or meeting up at different events and records who was met. The tradition was started by bush pilots in Alaska in the 1920’s and subsequently spread through the growth of military and commercial aviation. If you signed a short snorter and that person could not produce it upon request, they owed you a dollar or a drink (a “short snort”).” Short Snorters were usually signed on whatever type of banknote was available at the time, including foreign notes from whatever country they were in at the time. Many were taped together, and rolled up with some rolls consisting of 20, 100, or more notes. There are many Short Snorters signed by famous people such as Bob Hope, John Wayne, and famous WWII generals, etc. I had one signed by John Wayne on an Australian note when he was on tour with the USO in Australia in 1942, and one with Jack Benny’s signature. I eventually sold them to Tom a while back. Check out Tom’s website here – it really is interesting and very fascinating! https://shortsnorter.org/

Tom also had on display a Short Snorter that consisted of I believe he said over 120 notes taped together with many famous dignataries from WWII (borrowed from Jeff Garrett).











I came across a few of unusual and very cool coins


Amanda/Grey Sheet stopped by and we shared some of my Rombauer Zinfandel.

The attendance on Friday was on the low side for this size of a show, and many dealer reported very low to less than average sales. As I mentioned earlier, several dealers said they did more business on Thursday during Dealer Day. On Friday, I had very low sales; however, I had already anticipated this show being more 80% vacation and 20% business, so although I was hopeful, I was not that upset by the low volume of sales – but I partially made up for it by purchasing some great coins.

Lou was off to dinner with an cousin he hadn’t seen in many years, so I had drinks right across the street from the Music Center with Billie and Amanda, and Rick and Kenny Snow while we waited for our dinner reservation. Again, we really enjoyed some great music that was playing at that bar!

It had been difficult getting dinner reservations for parties of 6 or more in Nashville on a Friday night before 8pm, but I managed to find a very good restaurant that could accommodate us at 7:30pm. There were six of us and we ended up getting reservations at the Southern Steak and Oyster restaurant in downtown. We were sitting at the bar waiting for the rest of our group. This was the lady that was sitting next to us – she was a hoot!

There was a guy behind the bar who’s only job it seemed was shucking clams and wow, did he know how to do it very quickly!

Along with Rick and Kenny, I had dinner withRyan Delane of Interfanatic (he created and maintains my website) and his beautiful wife Edenia.


Lou was going to join us but he and his cousin ended up going to a honky tonk where his cousin’s friend was playing. The food at Southern Steak and Oyster was really good, as was the atmosphere They had photographs of famous people hanging up all over the restaurant.




Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the show. We originally had a 5pm flight but unfortunately the airline moved our flight home to leaving Nashville at 1:30pm. I was very frustrated because we basically had to go to the show, pack up around 10:30, and leave for the airport by 11:30am, so that meant I didn’t have much time to sell coins in that short time. However, based on sales on Friday, I really didn’t expect that I would have done much more business on Saturday.

So off to the airport we went. TSA wanted to see in one of my bags, so off to private screening we went. Luckily all they did was open each of the coin boxes, took a cursory view of their contents, closed them up and released my bag to me. Then we grabbed a quick drink and bit to eat, and waited for our flight. Whenever I leave a large show, I usually run into a coin dealer or two, or some of the crew from PCGS going back to Orange County, or Heritage going back to Dallas since that is my usualy connection on American Airlines. This time I ran into Dave Hall of Alhambra Coin, so we waited for our flight together. Interestingly, he was seated directly behind me on the plane and made sure I knew he was there with a kick or two of my seat!


Lou really enjoys looking out the window of the plane so he always got the window seat!

Our son picked us up at the airport and we arrived home safe and sound. Our kitties were super glad to see us (wink, wink), as you can see by Penny’s excited expression!

We really had a great time in Nashville, and I look forward to giving the show another try next year.

Next up: Sacramento Coin Show this weekend, then the Las Vegas Palace Station in December (sorry, won’t be attending the Baltimore show).

Charmy’s September 2023 LONG BEACH EXPO COIN SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

As usual, I always look forward to the Long Beach Expo as it is basically “in my backyard” and I have many local customers who do their penny shopping at my table, plus I get to sleep in my own bed at night and I don’t have to deal with airport travel, delays, connection cancellations, bags going to London, etc.!

Even though I had a good show, bought several nice coins on Wednesday during dealer set up, and was very busy on Thursday, this show was noticeably less attended than other Long Beach shows over the past few years. Many dealers I spoke with said they had a very slow show, especially on Friday. Some of the comments I heard from dealers and attendees were:

(1) this show was not as marketed as well as it could have been, with minimal advertising,
(2) no one liked not having to use a QR code to access the show program, they would rather have a physical program
(3) the very slow internet and poor phone connections throughout the bourse was a HUGE problem (it also didn’t help collectors access the QR code that would enable them to find the dealers they were looking for),
(4) the $15 parking fee is a continued issue,
(5) the $10 entrance fee expecially on a sparse Saturday bourse floor, and
(6) the usual complaints about the vacant tables on Saturday.

In spite of the above, this show was much more well organized than the past couple shows, with no major glitches (time delays, missing cases, sign issues, etc.). In spite of the above issues, I think PCGS tries very hard to make this a very successful show. For me, this is a very fun show, with lots of familiar faces, both dealers and customers, and I am always able to find some great new material for my inventory.


Set up went very smoothly and quickly, so I was able to get out and about searching for coins pretty quickly, and found several great coins for my customers and my inventory. These are the certified coins I acquired throughout the show, including two AMAZING and GORGEOUS Proof Indian Cents:



I also bought a couple groups of some much needed raw coins, several of which I will send in to get certified:

I also took a few photos around the bourse during set up day

PCGS was consistently busy throughout the show


Gary Adkins at the PCGS table

PCGS had on display the All Time Finest Gilded Age 1880 Proof Set with Gold



Eeven though there was a guy with a cart of various cocktails and beverages for sale going around the bourse, after I finished setting up and looking for coins, I opened a bottle of my go-to favorite Rombauer Zinfandel.

That night we decided to try a new restaurant, La Traviata which had some very good reviews.


The owner of the restaurant, Mario, cheerfully greeted us as we entered the restaurant, was very friendly and gracious.

My boothmate Rich and I arrived early so had a cocktail at the bar. The bartender was also very friendly.

We ordered Hendricks and tonic but since they were out of Hendricks, the bartender suggested this “135” gin that I hadn’t tried before. It was delicious!

Soon the rest of our party arrived.

Ron Guth and his friend Zack

Karl and Joanne Stephens

Me and my boothmate Rich Wogoman

We brought our own bottles of our own wine for dinner – even with sharing some of our wine with the owner, other than the white wine, we weren’t able to finish any of the other bottles of wine.

They had several items on the menu that looked delicious

I had the chicken and palento with asparagus which was very yummy

They also had a sausage and pasta dish that was very tastey

Dessert

When I arrived at the show about 9:15am on Thursday, I was very pleased to see there already was a long line of folks waiting to register and get into the show!



The beautiful ladies at PCGS were already for the throngs of folks who would soon be lining up to submit coins!

Early birds were already keeping PCGS busy

The doors opened at 10am and it look quite a while before the line of collectors streaming in slowed down!


Soon the bourse floor was buzzing with activity


Mark and Chris from PCGS Marketing stopped by to ask if I had anything special that they could put on their website. I showed them the stunning colorfully toned1903 PCGS PF66 RB Indian cent I had just purchased (posted above).

It was a very busy Thursday, and I was very pleased with my sales. After things died down in the later afternoon, we hopened one of the bottles of leftover wine from dinner the night before.

That night since we were dining by ourselves, Rich and I went to our favorite easy yet tasty restaurants, PF Changs, which is right across the street from the convention center. We just ate at the bar – I had a delicious MaiTai and my favorite pot stickers, Mongolian beef and pork fried rice – mmmmm!




Friday we arrived back at the convention center a little early since I had some work to do. I needed to prepare and make a list of my new coins and other recent coin purchases that another dealer would be taking to my coin photographer, Todd Pollock, for coin photos since they live in the same city. Plus I had a customer who bought a lot of my raw Indian cents for three sets he was putting together and pretty much cleaned me out of many of my lower grade better dates so I wanted to see if I could find some replacements before the show opened. Once I got that taken care of I walked around the bourse and took several photographs before the public came in.

The US Mint was set up in the back of the room




PSA was set up right next to them


A guy was submitting several signed guitars for PSA authentication, including this beautiful Credence Clearwater Revial signed guitar


Some neat sports memorabilia at one of the sports booths

Coins on display at GreatCollections


David McCarthy and Christopher Bryan (fun-fact: he’s a decendant of William Jennings Bryan) and their respective books!

Chris specializes in all the rare old certification holders and showed me this 1921-D “Presentation Piece” 9th Dollar Released from the Denver Mint in a rare old Regency “coffin” holder including the original 1923 B. Max Mehl Auction catalog that featured this exact coin in its auction! It was truly amazing to see this!

Larry Shapiro (LSRC)

Alhambra Coin

Larry Shapiro (LSRC)

Tom Johnson and Just Waddell

The guys from Whatnot Coins (one of the big bourse sponsors)

Vikings Provisions



Bourse floor




Even though I had a few decent sales on Friday, overall it was very slow, one of the slowest Fridays I’ve had at a Long Beach show. So I was able to catch up on some of my show paperwork that I usually do when I get home.

We went to our usual Friday night dinner place – King’s Fish House – just up the road on Pine Street. Before we went in to the restaurant there was a comotion right across the street so we stopped to see what was going on. It was 4 people, including a female, screaming and fighting and punching each other. Wow! We watched until the police showed up, at which time they all ran off in different directions, including one of them who took off like a jack rabbit right in front of us. Even though the parties involved looked like they were probably homeless, it was crazy to witness such street violence first-hand. It did give us some interesting dinner conversation.

A dealer friend for whom I had done a favor brought me a bottle of Paso Robles Austin Hope cab which I hadn’t tried before. I heard from several other people that it is a delicious wine. So I took it to King’s Fish House where we do our usual Friday night wine tasting (they are one of the few restaurants who don’t charge a corkage fee). It was very delicious and was my favorite wine that evening!


I had my usual macademia nut crusted halibut – which was very delicious!

Saturday was the Pirate Treasure Hunt for kids, in which we usually participate – it keeps us very busy, that’s for sure.

Here I am all ready for the rush of the mini pirates!

We usually get about 60-70 kids each time, and we pass out old Lincoln cents after the kids make their guess to a given coin question. The kids seem to have a lot of fun, though many of them are pretty young and need a lot of coaching. But I try to take the opportunity to give some background and explanation about the Lincoln cent. However, some of the kids are very savvy and and knowledgable already! Here are a few of the kiddos who stopped by my table.



In between taking care of all the little pirates, I actually had quite a bit of busiess, which even with my boothmate was sometimes hard to manage, but all well worth it! I hope we were able to entice or help at least once little kiddo to continue to develop their interest in coins.

Soon it was time to pack up and head home. Once I arrived home, my hubby was there to greet me and help me unload, but my chubby little Penny did not seem that excited to see me!

Next up: the Buena Park Show this weekend, then the Seattle/Tukwila show Oct 6-9.

Charmy’s 2023 ANA PITTSBURGH WORLD’S FAIR OF MONEY SHOW REPORT w/Tons of Pics!

WOW! What a week it was! This was one of the busiest shows I’ve attended, both coin-wise and social activities. That’s one of the great things about attending an ANA WFM show – there is no shortage of events, banquets, classes, meetings, and activities in addition to buying and selling coins. I had something pre-planned each night I was there, and enjoyed every minute (well, maybe not so much the rain during the ballgame!). I also found a lot of new Pretty Pennies for my inventory, much more than I thought I would. I also didn’t hear any grumbling as far as how business was for other dealers. The only hard part is that by Friday or so, everyone is usually tired from being there since Sunday, all the activities and, not to mention, staying out too late every night!

Even though I had an almost comical set of events on my trek back home from the show (my adventures are outlined in this separate thread I posted a couple days ago https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1094478/i-made-it-back-from-pittsburgh-but-my-bag-took-a-detour-to-england#latest, I was also very grateful that the issues I had with my flight/luggage occurred on the way BACK from the show, rather than on the way TO the show!

So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine, or a cocktail as this will be a lengthy report with lots of photos!

I am always excited to be able to participate in an ANA WFM show, and having not been to Pittsburgh in several years, was looking forward to visiting this beautiful city again. I even saw an ad for the show on CBS Sunday Morning’s Calendar of Events.

This is me very happy to be headed to the ANA WFM Show!

I left OC on Sunday so I could be sure to get there in time for Dealer Day on Monday morning – that’s when I usually do most of my buying throughout a show. This is me so happy to be headed to the show!

Leaving OC

Landing in Pittsburgh

There was this sign above the moving walkway in Pittsburgh that cracked me up! It reminded me of the Walking Dead Walkers and the song “Stuck in the Middle With you” combined…

“Walkers to the left of me, Standees to the right, Here I am stuck in the middle with you…..”

Ok, I digress… back to the show report. On my way to baggage claim, there was a really cool huge dinosaur skeleton at the bottom of the escalator that I was surprised to see at an airport.

View of the city from the taxi on my way to the hotel

I like staying at the host hotels since it’s usually closest to the convention center, and makes it easy to meet up with my coin dealer friends. This was the beautiful view of Pittsburgh from my room.

Even though it was late, I hadn’t had any dinner so I went down to the bar to grab a bite. I was surprised to see it was quite crowded with dealers who had also flown in that day. I ran into Alan Rowe (of Northern Nevada Coin) and Greg Allen and joined them for a drink and a bite to eat at the bar.

Got up early the next morning and took the walkway to the convention center to set up for Dealer Day. At one part of the walkway, it goes directly over the middle of the bourse floor and you get an awesome view of how huge the show was! This is a photo I took of just half of the bourse floor.

These are ANA photos of both sides of the bourse floor


Beautiful views of the river






The ANA folks still working hard putting the bourse floor and museum exhibits together



There was quite a group of dealers waiting to set up for Dealer Day!


Dealers streaming in heading to their tables for set up

AS I walked around hunting for coins, I checked out this amazing collection of Don Kelly’s “Transit Set” of Flying Eagle and Indian cent Patterns that Rick Snow had for sale





This is the group of coins I bought during Dealer Day and throughout the show

I also bought and sold this beautiful scarce key date 1877 Indian cent PCGS MS64 RB – I haven’t seen one in a rattler holder with a CAC sticker on it before!


I also found a very cool and interesting error that I hadn’t seen before. It’s an 1862 Copper Nickel Indian cent with a planchet rolling error. When the planchet sheet was created rollers were used to smooth it out, but on this particular sheet, it wasn’t rolled out smoothly and left raised lines on the planchet sheet, which created several interesting lines on this coin (I used different lighting to try and better capture the lines on the coin).







After the end of a very busy day, it was time to open a bottle of wine. I brought two bottles of my go-to favorites, a Caymus and a Rombauer Zinfandel. I started with the Caymus which was delicious, and didn’t last past Tuesday since I shared it with several friends and dealers.

After the show closed on Monday, I participated in the ANA’s Pirates vs. Braves baseball game event on the rooftop of the PNC Stadium.

The ANA had arranged for a couple buses to take us to the event.

View of the river from the bus on our way to the stadium

Statue of Honus Wagner in front of the stadium

It was a beautiful evening for a ball game….










until it began to rain and the wind started blowing the rain into the covered rooftop patio!



The game was stopped after the 5th inning for the rain, the Pirates were ahead 7-5, so the ANA arranged for one of the buses to take those who wanted to leave back to the convention center, including me! Another busload of folks stayed to watch the game which started up again after the rain let up. The game went until after 10pm and the Pirates ended up winning 7-6.

Back at my hotel I was just going to head back to my room but I ran into Billie (from the Grey Sheet), Matt Dinger and several other coin friends, and I couldn’t resist having a nightcap with them, even in my drenched state!

I arrived at the bourse early Tuesday morning, did some paperwork, and decided to take some photos around the bourse while it was relatively quiet and before the public was let in that afternoon.

The fun Grey Sheet folks were only one table away from me


They were giving away these cute glass shot glasses to celebrate their 60th anniversary


Andy is amazing and works really hard at GreatCollections

GreatCollections had the fabulous Elite Collection on display










The beautiful two 1921 St.-Gaudens were on display


The Battle Creek Rainbow Collection at Bob Campbell’s (All About Coins) table

The U.S. Mint was still setting up


eBay’s table

Roundtable Trading/Coin Dealers Helping Coin Dealers table

Stack’s Bowers displayed the Sydney F. Martin Part V Collection


PCGS was busy as usual!



Kevin Lipton Rare Coins had a beautiful statue of Miss Liberty on display at their booth



Acclaimed US Mint Artist Emily Damstra was on hand at the ANA 2023 Pittsburgh World’s Fair of Money to sign her new print inspired by Augustus Saint-Gaudens statue of Victory. The image of Lady Liberty on the Saint-Gaudens Gold Double Eagle shares the same muse as this statue, Harriette Eugenia Anderson. Damstra’s art displays a likeness of Anderson along with her trademark touches of nature.

Daniel Sedwick and Connor Faulk at Daniel Frank Sedwick Auctioneers – they deal in colonial coinage of Spanish America, shipwreck coins and artifacts of all nations

This is a very cool and scarce celluloid encased 1901 Indian cent I bought at the show for my personal encased collection. It’s in pristine condition with vibrant color.


The ANA members were let in at 1:30 and the non-members were let in at 2:00. There was a long line of folks who streamed into the show.





Tuesday was also very busy and flew by. I don’t think I ever even left my booth after the public was let in. It was a really great day. I didn’t even open the bottle of Rombauer until late in the day!

Tuesday evening we had tickets to the PAN dinner at LeMont Restaurant which is a 5-star restaurant on top of Mt. Washington. They also had a bus to take us to the restaurant.



LeMont has a stunning view of downtown Pittsburgh.






There were about 200 people who attended this event!







There was even an orchestra!

Abe, George and Ben also made an appearance




Kim Kiick, ANA Executive Director, and me

Dr. Ralph Ross, Past ANA President

This beautiful St. George and the Dragon artwork and coins were being auctioned off that evening

This young lady, a future American Idol contestant, sang a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner

Stunning view of the city from LeMont at night

Some souvenirs from the evening’s event



After dinner, we went back to the Westin where the bar was going strong with many dealers! This is me and Dave from Alhambra Coin Center

Eric Roth (Coin World) and Curtis Mease (PCGS)

Wednesday morning came early (as all mornings do with the 3-hour time change)! Good morning Pittsburgh!


From the walkway again, showing all the tables set up – my red sign and table stand out a bit in this sea of dealer tables!


I have seen the extraordinary Tyrant collection at other shows in the past, but I never get tired of viewing this amazing exhibit which was set up in the ANA’s museum area, so I took some time while the show was still quiet to take photos






























Flags of various countries in the World Mint area

More folks set up at the show!

The wonderful, friendly and also hardworking folks at NGC

PWCC Marketplace

Peter Treglia (Stacks Bowers) – Peter is a fellow classic car lover!

Todd Pollock (BluCCPhotos) has been my coin photographer for over 15 years and used to take coin photos on site at coin shows but with a young daughter at home and other endeavors, he no longer attends coin shows. However, since he is involved with Ian Russell/GreatCollections’ very popular new MyCollect.com https://mycollect.com/, he attended this show to answer questions and help promote this project. Todd also brought me (and several other friends) this delicious peach cobbler he found at a bakery not far from the convention center!


The GreatCollections crew!

Soon it was time once again for the public to come in



I picked up this neat Indian cent cut out for me exonumia collection

Tom Warner (Tom147) stopped by and picked up a few raw Lincoln cents for his collection!

Todd (PursuitOfLiberty) stopped by to say hi

In the late afternoon, the PNG hosted a really nice and much appreciated full bar on the bourse floor for the dealers



After the show ended, I was invited to a reception at the opening of a new coin store in town, Olevian Numismatic Rarities. They are just finishing up construction on a beautiful coin shop and had a wonderful array of hors’ devours and beverages.







After dinner, I went over to the Rivers casino (only a few miles away) and enjoyed playing my favorite game, Ultimate Texas Hold-up (a table game in the black jack area where you play against the dealer with a lot of bonus/side bets). I also played my favorite slot games, Buffalo Stampede and Dragon Link. Then it was back to the hotel where I once again found the bar full of my coin dealer friends!

This is Alan from Northern Nevada Coins photo bombing me and Wade (PWCC) , along with Tony also from Northern Nevada Coins


Thursday was slower than the previous days but still quite busy. Here are some photos of the bourse taken from my booth area





More coin dealer friends – here is my favorite penny exonumia finder, John Kraljevich, who often has an envelope of penny surprises he puts aside for me!

A group of fellow copper lovers, mostly British copper – includes includes Jeff Rock (the president of the CTCC), Gary Groll (specializes in Condor Tokens), Merfyn Williams and Jerry Bobbe (copper specialist)

Always cheerful and amazing Paul at ANACS

Larry Sekulich and his wonderful wife Linda – Larry was my exhibit instructor several years ago at the ANA Summer Seminar and he and Linda have since become my good friends. They collect ancients and Larry had just bought this fascinating piece depicting Elizabeth I for Linda’s birthday



The CAC table was not far behind me and they were giving away sample slabs. My friend Chris Simpson who works for them, brought over a few for me. They stack very well and are very nice looking slabs. I understand are a bear to break open and don’t fit in any of the current TPG boxes, but that they are developing their own box that will fit all three different TPG coins.


I put together a Power Point presentation on Indian Cent Errors and Varieties from my personal collection and gave my presentation at the Fly-In Club meeting.

I even brought several of the pieces in the presentation so people could examine them in hand. Here are pics of a few of them

















We videotaped the presentation and it is posted on YouTube here (it’s 36 min. long): https://youtu.be/B6u1iQLopxc thank you to Rick Snow for videotaping my presentation and Greg Bennick for editing it. I apologize that I keep looking to the right (instead of into the camera) as the audience was mostly to my right so I was trying to speak to them. Anyway, if you watch it, I hope you may learn a little something about errors and varieties!

Since we had consumed the two bottles of wine I had brought with me, Rick’s son Kenny had volunteered to go to the wine store near the hotel and pick me up a bottle of wine. He Face-Timed me while at the store and I chose this 2017 Rodney Strong Reserve Cab, which I opened Thursday afternoon and turned out to be really nice.

Thursday night I had dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto up on Washington Hill with my foreign coin dealer friends, Karl and Joanne Stephens, and Wolfgand Meirer, Don Chinick and Al Boulanger


This was one of the BEST restaurants I have eaten at, and I highly recommend it! The food was over the top good, the wine was excellent, the service was exquisite, and the view was amazing! I had the Lobster Romano which was two egg batter crusted lobster tails with a lemon butter sauce – it was excellent!












This is the beautiful view from the restaurant taken at night before we left

I very highly recommend dining at Monterey if you’re ever in Pittsburgh!

Friday was pretty slow for the most part, which is pretty usual for a show this long. I had a little more time to see if I could find more coins and take more photos around the bourse. Here are a few of my favorite fellow female coin show ladies!

Cindy Wibker (former FUN Convention Show Coordinator)

Lisa Koromvokis (Ace of Coins/Dino’s wife)

Katie Williams (current FUN Convention Show Coordinator)

Kathy Freeland (fellow ex-WIN board member) – Kathy also has her hands in several other clubs, too many to list!

I came across this interesting box on display – it’s the only known U.S. Mint Die box which was used to carry dies in


A new female numismatic group as been formed called “Women OF Numismatics” and I’m sure will have fresh ideas in helping to promote women in the field of numismatics

Ben and George were making their rounds and stopped by to say hi!

My friend Matt was up on the walkway on his way to catch his flight, so he phoned me to say good-bye and took a picture of me waiving to him!

Well, once again, I had no wine as the bottle of Rodney Strong I had bought was readily consumed by many folks! So my friend when I had dinner Thursday night with my foreign coin dealer friends, Al said he had brought an extra bottle of wine, so I bought that one from him. It was a 2014 Immortal Cab that I hadn’t tried before, and it was delicious!


Friday night was the ANA’s big bash banquet held at the Westin where they give out special awards and swear-in the new ANA board. It was a really nice event, and a more relaxed atmosphere to mingle and talk with more folks.








My friends Neil Ulrich and Bob Campbell proudly displayed the friendly hello kisses I gave them on their cheeks!


For a “rubber chicken” banquet meal, food was pretty good too!

Ian Russell received the Dealer of the Year Award so his whole group was there to help honor him, including Todd and his dad Roger – I think this is the ONLY ANA banquet Todd has ever attended – doesn’t Todd look thrilled to be there!!

Saturday was a slow as usual, and a lot of folks were packing up to catch flights and try and beat the storm that was coming that afternoon. I sold a few coins, most notably at the last minute while I was packing up, I sold this beautiful 1955/55 Double Die that had provenance as being found in an original vending machine cigarette pack from the mid 1950’s! I was sad to see it go, but it was going to a very appreciative collector!


Before I left for my flight I was notified that it was delayed and that I would miss my connecting flight to Dallas, so I got on the phone to reschedule but was put on hold for over 45 minutes. So at the same time I was on hold I searched for a new flight myself and found one last seat on a flight to OC and snatched it up. So long Pittsburgh, till next time….


As we were taxi-ing out of Pittsburgh, I noticed a bug on my window and thought about the old saying, “I’d hate to be a fly on that wall” he he he!

So, since I booked my connecting flight from Dallas to OC separately from my original flight, I had to retrieve my bag at baggage claim once I got to Dallas, recheck it in at the ticket counter, then go through security again! Such a hassle but still worth getting on a flight that would take me home that same day. I heard that many coin dealers either got stuck overnight in Pittsburgh or their connecting city, so I felt lucky to be on a flight home.

However, when I arrived in OC and went to retrieve my bag, I discovered it never made it – I have an Apple Airtag in my bag and discovered my bag was stuck in Dallas for quite a while. As mentioned above, I posted on another thread the saga of my bag’s separate travels across “the pond” and back, then getting stuck back in Dallas again missing two more flights to OC.

It finally arrived late Monday night and I was there at the airport waiting for it to slide down the baggage shute onto the carousal where I quickly grabbed it – I was never so happy to see a piece of luggage before!

As usual, my hubby and chunky kitty Penny were waiting for me when I got home – you can see how excited Penny was to see me!

So that’s it for this show – next up is the Palace Station Show in Las Vegas next week, followed by the Long Beach and Buena Park shows in September!

Charmy’s June 2023 LONG BEACH EXPO SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

Another Long Beach show is in the books! As you all know, the summer shows are usually smaller and less attended than the fall and winter shows, as was the case with this June Long Beach show. It also didn’t help that it coincided with the EAC Convention which happened to also be on the west coast in Portland, as well as the ANA Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs. As a result, there were more empty tables at this show than even other June Long Beach shows. That being said, the Expo folks still did a great job getting folks in the door, having some amazing exhibits, and even with a parking glitch which they had no control over (the parking structure closest to the show was bought out by another event and everyone had to park further away), they did their best to make sure things ran as smoothly as possible. I ended up having a very good show, bought a bunch of new Pretty Pennies including two amazingly toned beauties that you are posted further down, and had a ton of fun seeing everyone and of course wining and dining!

What a beautiful sunny day it was as my boothmate Rich and I drove to the convention center!


We arrived at the loading dock early on Wednesday, went inside to register and pick up our ribbons.

Then we waited for them to finish setting up the bourse floor.


By noon there was quite a crowd of dealers waiting to get in at the front door


Set up went smoothly and I was soon scurrying around looking for coins for my customers and my inventory. This is the pile of coins I acquired throughout the show.

And I am so thrilled to have been able to acquire two of the most beautifully toned pennies I’ve had in a long time! The 1905 actually matched my sparkly fingernail polish, and the 1942 is even the CoinFacts plate coin (of course, they came with pretty hefty price tags too)!


Before we headed out to dinner, we opened up a bottle of Oso Libre Quixotic Estate Cabernet from Paso Robles. I’m a wine club member at Oso Libre and really enjoy this particular cab.

Soon it was time to head out to dinner at our favorite Wednesday night place – a great “locals” seafood place of Pacific Coast Highway in Seal Beach called Captain Jacks Seafood. This place is right on on the channel, is so very charming, has a great atmosphere, and is very popular with local residents.



We arrived a little early so we had some cocktails at the bar while we waited for our table. We chatted with the folks sitting next to us and just enjoyed the wonderful friendly atmosphere.




And the food was AMAZING!


That little pile next to the steak is what’s left of the lobster tail which was really delicious!

Thursday morning we arrived back at the convention center ready to go!

Me and my fantastic bff boothmate Rich – I’ve known him for over 20 years and we’ve been doing local shows together for almost that long. He makes doing the shows even more enjoyable!

I checked the lobby just before opening, and it was great to see so many folks anxiously waiting for the show to open!


I took a few pics around the bourse before the public was let in






When the doors opened to the public, it didn’t take long for me to get really busy – yay!

Soon my wonderful talented webmaster Ryan and his wife stopped by my table to say hi. Ryan set up my website a few years ago and maintains it for me. He does such a fantastic job, is always on top of things, and is the nicest guy. If any of you are in need to a new or upgraded website, I highly recommend Ryan!

Then my good buddy Ron Guth came by to say hi – it’s always a pleasure chatting with Ron!

Hardworking vest pocket dealer Eric Lindholm hunts down some beautiful coins and brings me any pennies that he finds

When things finally slowed down a bit, I took a few minutes to see the amazing Central America Ship of Gold display. I remember when it was first displayed at the Long Beach show probably 10 years ago or so, everyone who saw it was in awe. There are so many neat historical things to see and read about. I especially liked seeing the largest surviving gold bar from the California Gold Rush on display! This was taken from a Facebook post by Adam Crum (with his permission):

“A National Treasure! The largest surviving California Gold Rush monetary ingot. Literally a document made of gold mined by the pioneers that came from around the world to San Francisco in the 1850s. The colossal 64 pound Eureka Bar is the single most valuable artifact recovered from the Ship of Gold treasure that sunk in a hurricane in 1857. It is insured for $10,000,000 and you can see this along with many other artifacts in Long Beach, CA. The National Treasures Tour will travel the globe over the coming two years. The brilliant man I am pictured with is Bob Evans, the co-discoverer of what Life Magazine called the ‘Greatest Treasure Ever Found.'”




















The sports tables and the baseball card submission area was set up not far from the Ship of Gold display, which always looked very busy.


And the PCGS table was also consistently crowded with folks and dealers submitting and/or picking up their coins!





The ANACS table was on the row right behind my table and was also consistently busy. The ANACS guys are super friendly and helpful and often refer their customers with penny questions over to me, for which I am very appreciative (I think I should be put on salary :wink: ).

The great folks at GreatCollections were also consistently busy!

James Sego and his helper Gary

Heritage was also quite busy throughout the show.

The hardworking gals at the LB Expos Information Booth

Later in the afternoon, my sweet friend Nara Schuch (John Schuch’s daughter-in-law) brought over a very different type of beverage for me to try. It’s called Heidrum Sparkling Mead. It was very tasty, had sort of a honey beer flavor.


As nice as the mead was and I was tickled to try something different, I have to say that I still prefer my wonderfully magical wine! So we opened one of the most smooth and velvety wines I’ve had – Caymus Cabernet Sauvignons (I brought the 2020, but the 2018 is a super amazing wine but also 3 times the price!).

Even though PF Changs is a chain restaurant, we all really love their food and they are located just across the street from the convention center right next to the harbor, so that’s where we ended up Thursday night – with Rick Snow and his son Kenny.

Friday was much slower than Thursday, but I still had some good sales and a few more purchases and stayed busy most of the day. Later I was out and about and took some more photos around the bourse floor.





Curt Mease/PCGS had more interesting old PCGS items on display in his case





The folks in the booth across from us sell a lot of different types of bullion, including copper. They had these really cool little solid copper dice, so I bought a few pairs. I liked them so much that I ordered a batch that will have “The Penny Lady” imprinted around the single dot die.

Friday afternoon we opened a new type of wine that I hadn’t tried before but came highly recommended. It was Napa Joseph Phelps cab and was delicious – not quite as good as the Caymus, but would have gone very well with a nice steak.

After the show on Friday, we headed to our usual Friday night dinner spot, King’s Fish House. Since it was just the two of us, Rich and I just had cocktails and dinner at the bar. It was quite charming and nice. Their macadamia nut crusted halibut is still to die for!



When we left the restaurant it was still light outside – and such a beautiful night!


Saturday was the usual slow business-wise, but we were on the kids’ Pirate treasure trivia hunt trail so we kept quite busy most of the day talking to kids (and even a couple of big kids) about their trivia question and handing out pennies.


Time flew by those few days and soon it was time to pack up our booth and head out. When I look at what I have to pack up, compared to other boothholders, like Heritage, I am grateful that I don’t have to deal with the amount of inventory and booth material as companies like Heritage does!

So we loaded our cart, packed up the car and headed home. Since my hubby is on a long road trip travelling across the country and back with a childhood friend visiting several of their high school friends who have moved all over the country, as well as trying to visit as many national parks as they can, Penny was happy to have a human to harass!

All in all it was a very good show, especially buying-wise for me. As I mentioned, I really enjoy participating in the Long Beach show partly because it’s in sunny Southern California and easy for me to get to, but mostly because I have a lot of friends and regular customers who stop by to see me. Pennies are still very popular and the penny market is very strong, for which I am grateful.

So after 4 busy days, when I got home and put everything away, I grabbed a cool delicious glass of Justin Viognier, turned on the tunes and enjoyed the sun setting on the porch – pure heaven!

Next up: The Coinarama show in San Diego the end of July, followed by the ANA in Pittsburgh!

 

Charmy’s 2023 CENTRAL STATES (CSNS) COIN SHOW REPORT w/Lots of Pics!

It’s been a couple days since I returned from the Central States show in Schaumburg and I’m still trying to dig out from all the coins I sold and purchased, as well as the dreaded paperwork that always follows after a large coin show. There was so much activity at the show this year, starting for me from the Greysheet reception on Tuesday evening all the way through the end of the show. I was busy at my table almost consistently throughout each day, then grabbing a quick drink with friends right after the show, then attending social events and dinners each evening, followed by more gatherings at the hotel bar after dinner events! Big kudos and applause to Larry, Mitch, and all of their staff and helpers who made this show the huge success it was!

I left OC early on Tuesday, so I could be in Chicago for the preshow social event sponsored by Greysheet, Cabrella Shipping Insurance and Whatnot.



Landing in Chicago!

This is a pic of the iconic beautiful changing colorful lights at the O’Hare airport

I arrived at the beautiful Renaissance Hotel where the show is held and where many dealers and collectors stayed.


After checking in and taking my bags to security, I joined my foreign coin dealer friends Karl and Joanne in their hotel room for a glass of wonderful aged Viognier wine before dinner.

After dinner, we headed over to the hotel bar for the dealer reception where many dealers had already gathered.









It was a fantastic event, and everyone had a blast – thank you Greysheet, Cabrella Shipping Insurance and Whatnot!

I made a contribution to CSNS and became one of the several “sponsors” of the show which meant that we could set up and get into the show an hour earlier than other dealers. I really enjoyed this extra “quiet” hour each day as it allowed me to get some work done at my booth which I happily took advantage of!

Wednesday was PNG day so I headed over to the show early to do some “shopping”! There was lots of signage throughout the halls and bourse floor.

This year they had set up a room on the second floor above the bourse floor for dealers who had lesser expensive inventory, and for Sunday only dealers. This is their room before set up.


There were quite a few PNG dealers set up and I bought a lot of coins that first day. These are all the coins I bought throughout the show – as you can see, I found several awesome Pretty Pennies!


I also found some nice coins to add to my raw coin inventory

PNG day ended at 2:30 and the sponsor dealers were let in at 3:00, then all dealers were let in at 4:00pm for set up. The CSNS folks left at each dealer table a nice little goodie back that included a great small bottle of window cleaner and a cloth for the cases, and these cute little M&M packs sponsored by Mitch Ernst and his family!


I was so happy to see my very good friend and ex-fellow WIN board member Cindi Wibker who is now retired from running the FUN show but was recruited to help out with the CSNS show

Billie and Amanda at Greysheet were all set up and ready to go!

After I finished setting up and making my rounds, soon it was time to open one of the bottles of wine I had brought. I usually bring my more favorite bottles to share with some of my customers and fellow dealers. And one of my favorites is this Cab from Del Dotto vineyards in Napa.

My friend and fellow dealer James Sego and PNG board member had an extra ticket to the PNG dinner so I was very happy to be able to attend this prestigious event which was held at Maggiano’s on Wednesday evening.

There were lots of coin world “dignitaries” and some special honorees who received awards for their contributions to numismatics. Robert Brueggeman was retiring after serving as its Executive Director since 1995, and was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award from Kevin Lipton.

From the PNG website:

“Bob has been PNG’s Executive Director since 1995. Under his guidance and leadership over the past 28 years, the PNG has helped support the industry, its member dealers, and the general public. The PNG has also been helpful in providing scholarships to young numismatists to help advance the professional side of the business and continue the legacy of the Professional Numismatists Guild,” said PNG Board member James Sego who co-chaired the Lifetime Achievement Award selection with PNG Board member John Brush.

Bob and his wife and daughter Tina

John Feigenbaum will succeed Brueggeman as the next PNG Executive Director.

Cindy Wibker, who recently joined the Central States Numismatic Society convention team after 30 successful years as Convention Coordinator for Florida United Numismatists, received the Significant Contribution Award for her exceptional dedication and beneficial contributions to the hobby and profession.

It was a wonderful event, the food was amazing, and it was especially great to see everyone!















Then, of course, it was back to the hotel bar for more coin dealers just having some fun!













For some reason, on display right outside the hotel bar was this neat old LC Smith Secretarial typewriter and ship’s bell.

After all that socializing, Thursday morning came too soon! But as usual, I arrived early at the show, took care of some paperwork, processed some of my newps to show to customers, and got ready for the anticipated large crowd that had begun gathering in the lobby! I quickly snapped a couple shots before folks began streaming onto the bourse floor.


After the show opened on Thursday, sadly there was an announcement that long-time coin dealer Tim Lapointe had suddenly passed away Wednesday night after set up from a heart attack. I didn’t know him personally but had seen him at many shows. My prayers are with his friends and family.

@keyman64 was one of the first forum members to stop by my table and say hi

This is Bob who is a very enjoyable and fun customer of mine who loves beautifully toned Indian cents. He likes to charm me with wonderful bottles of wine – which works every time! I showed him some of my new purchases and of course he picked out one of the most beautifully toned Indian cent proofs I’ve ever owned!

This is Gary Minsey – he showed me this AMAZING and super rare 1795 dollar he had purchased a while ago. He wanted to compare it to the one on display at the show. He said they were both very similar in condition and he was very curious to see what it would bring at auction.



Current ANA President Dr. Ross and his lovely wife Phyllis stopped by and said hi. Phyllis is running for ANA Board of Governors

The helpful CSNS folks at the Message Center

Security was very tight at this show, and security guards and police were very prevalent throughout the show, especially at the door. This security guard was at the front door and was very serious about doing his job, and was very friendly as well.

I did acquire a few interesting pieces for my own personal collection – this is an really neat double struck in the collar Indian cent that I bought on Thursday. The second strike is rotated more than 90 degrees!



I found an encased 1926 Lincoln cent in a scarce bell-shaped aluminum encasement from Washington D.C.


A customer came up to my table and offered me this beautiful uncirculated 1858 LL Flying Eagle cent that he said he’d had in the back of his drawer for years. I don’t usually care much for coins struck through grease filled dies but this one is so dramatic with so much detail missing on both sides that I was happy to add it to my collection (I sent it to PCGS to be certified). At first I thought it might have gotten this way from being struck on a tilted die since the date is still pretty sharp and the rest of the coin shows little detail, but since all of the denticles were fully struck, I believe it has to have been struck through greased filled dies, including the reverse.


Thursday was soooooo busy almost the entire day that I never left my table so I wasn’t able to take many photos around the bourse floor. My sales on Thursday were more than any other one day of any show! By the end of the day I was so exhausted (I’m sure staying out late Wednesday night had a little something to do with that). So it was pretty late in the afternoon when I finally poured a glass of what was left of the Del Dotto Cab. After things died down at the end of the day, a couple of my dealer friends stopped by so I opened the other bottle of wine I had brought – a Justin Zinfandel. I belong to Justin Winery out of Paso Robles. This Zinfandel is delicious and very different from other Zinfandels I’ve had, it’s sort of spicey and on the dry side, very delicious.

Thursday night we went to Chicago Prime Steakhouse for dinner. It is one of the best steakhouses I’ve ever been to! It’s a bit pricey, but once in a while it’s nice to splurge, which is why we ordered this wonderful bottle of Stag’s Leap to go with our steak!




After the Stag’s Leap was finished, we had a delicious bottle of Prisoner

I ordered the beef wellington which was amazing – I could only eat one of them so I had the second one for lunch the next day!

Here are some of the other delicious dishes that were ordered at our table



After dinner on Thursday, of course we went back to the hotel bar for a nightcap – or two!









Nara Schuch (wife of Steven Schuch) and I discovered we both like good tequilas so we asked the bartender to recommend one. He recommended this Gran Coramino Anejo tequila and it was absolutely delicious! I was surprised that it had a bit of a sweet flavor and was a very smooth sipping tequila. I really enjoyed it and it made for a nice nightcap.

Friday morning I took the opportunity before the public was let in and I got too busy to walk around the bourse and take photos of the displays, dealers and vendors.

PCGS

NGC

Doug Davis of Numismatic Crime Prevention

Daniel Frank Sedwick who specialize in Latin American Shipwreck Coins, etc.

David Lawrence Rare Coins

When I walked over to the DLRC table, John flagged me down to look at some large cent coins, which I examined. I asked what was special about them and he told me they were counterfeit! I couldn’t believe it, they were so well done that it was really hard to tell. Jack Young who is an expert in detecting counterfeit coins was showing John several coins that had actually gotten past the certifying companies and were still in their holders. Jack also showed me why these coins were actually counterfeits, and I can tell you, unless you knew exactly what to look for, they would have gotten past most dealers and collectors and even some experts. It’s very, very scary how good these counterfeiters really are!

Believe it or not, these are all counterfeits!



I also went by the GreatCollections table and took pictures of the coins they had on display, including several HUGE rarities!










During the show on Friday, a dealer offered me these two amazing freshly graded 1909-S VDB cents that he bought raw from an old estate and had graded on a walk-thru at this show. These two beauties hadn’t seen the light of day in many years! One graded PCGS MS65 RD and the other graded PCGS MS66 RB, so of course I just had to have them!

My longtime friend Mike Noodle who co-hosts The Coin Show podcast stopped by and brought me this special bottle of hot sauce he created – I know my hubby will love it as he’s into very hot hot sauce!


A very kind and thoughtful customer friend engraved this key chain especially for me – I love it!


My dear friend Linda Hagopian and wife of my old “How to Create a Winning Exhibit” Summer Seminar instructor Larry Sekulich (who stopped by earlier) came by to say hi – it is always great to chat with her and share a glass of wine together – we finished off the last of the Justin Zinfandel!

That night I went to dinner with my “dark side” friends from Daniel Frank Sedwick and Karl and Joanne Stephens. We tried a new steakhouse called Perry, and we were not disappointed! They had excellent food and a great wine list.








Throughout our dinner, we had three different wines so they gave each of us three different wine glasses, which practically covered up the entire the table!



This time I had lobster and pasta with a small filet, and we had a lot of different very tasty side dishes as well. Everyone really enjoyed their dishes.





After dinner we all had a wonderful Port wine which was a perfect ending to an amazing meal!

With such a large party, we ended up not leaving the restaurant until almost 10pm, and when we got back to the hotel, the regular hotel bar was closed for a private party so some of the dealers had moved to the smaller bar. A couple of my friends were there and we had one drink, then called it a night.

Saturday morning I took my time getting to the show as I knew once I was there I basically needed to pack up and leave since I had an early flight home – I couldn’t get a later flight without having to make a connection. I did manage to take a photo before I left with my favorite coin show couple – Dino and his lovely wife Lisa!

It was raining on Saturday but luckily not too hard with no tornado warnings like last year that delayed many flights including mine! I made it to the airport with no problems, and and settled into my seat for my 3 1/2 hour flight home.


Here are several pics I took from way up high, including several of the Grand Canyon as we flew right over it!






And these are pics of the two historical huge WWII Blimp hangars at the old Tustin Air Base which is located just east of the OC/John Wayne Airport.

My hubby is once again helping out his friends at the NORRA 1000 Mexican Baja race (no, not racing – just pitting and chasing for his friend), which always occurs the same time as the CSNS show, so my son picked me up at the airport. It is always nice to get home after a week of activities and late nights. On Sunday, I began working on my new purchases and of course, there was cutie Penny trying to make sure I noticed her by taking over one of my coin boxes and checking out what all those plastic things are!


So I have to say, this was a really good show, with tons of pre-show marketing, very busy, with lots of great sales and purchases, plus the added benefit of extra social gatherings. I already signed up for next year’s show and expect that it will be a very successful show as well. Most everything at this show went very smoothly, with only a couple tiny glitches that I’m sure Larry and crew are aware of (the various show times for dealers and public was a bit confusing, plus there were no dealer table numbers posted on the website just before the show). The CSNS staff deserves huge credit for everything they did to make this show as successful as it was – thank you very much, we appreciate all you did!

Next up: My local Buena Park show and then the Long Beach show in June!

 

_______________________________________________________

Charmy’s March 2023 ANA PHOENIX NATIONAL MONEY SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

It’s been a while since I’ve attended an ANA National Money Show mostly due to conflicts, but not having any conflicts and being only one state away made it an easy decision. And I’m really glad this one fit into my schedule as, not only did I have a really good show buying and selling, but I had so much fun getting together with different friends for dinner at new restaurants in a different city! I also found a VERY COOL coin for my personal collection – as you will see further down.

Even though it’s only a 6-hour drive, I decided to fly since the hotel parking was expensive as is gas, and because it’s only a 1-hour flight. I arrived early on Tuesday and was surprised at how cold it was, but I and was happy to be back in Phoenix as it is a very pretty city and I hadn’t been there in quite a while.

Took a quick Uber ride to the Hyatt downtown which was right across the street from the main convention center.

This is the view from my room.


After settling in, I went to drop my bags off at security but soon found out that there was a glitch in our dealer paperwork as the ANA had forgotten to change the location of the security room from last year’s show in Colorado Springs! However, thanks to a very kind and resourceful concierge man at the main convention center, I soon found that our security room was in the South Building a couple blocks away on 3rd Street.

So I headed there and checked my bags into security. Since many of my friends hadn’t yet arrived in Phoenix, I decided to try my luck at the Talking Stick casino which was about a 1/2 hour Uber drive away. I had a lot of fun playing various table games and slots, but didn’t come out ahead in the end.

Set up wasn’t until 1pm on Wednesday but I headed over early to meet up with some of my dealer friends. Security was definitely beefed up for this show as I was approached as soon as I walked into the building and asked why I was there since I hadn’t yet put my badge on. Once we were let into the bourse floor, it didn’t take long for me to have my booth in ship shape order so I could walk around and do some shopping.

At one of the first dealer booths I stopped at, I was very surprised to see a Flying Eagle cent in a DOILY HOLDER – OMG! I have several Indian, Lincoln and even Two cent pieces in Doily holders, but I had never seen a Flying Eagle Doily and had to contain my excitement. Of course the dealer knew what he had and wanted a hefty premium for this piece, but after a little wheeling and dealing, we settled on a price and I was thrilled to put that beautiful little guy in my pocket so I could take it home and add it to my personal collection!


Back at my table, I had a dealer friend, Zachery Lauer, stop by and offer me this super rare 1944 steel cent. Although I would love to have added this amazingly rare piece to my inventory and/or personal collection, it wasn’t quite in my budget.


Always enjoy seeing my dealer friends – and James Sego is definitely on that list!


As I was hoping, I ended up finding several pieces for my inventory – these are pics of all the Pretty Pennies I found throughout the show:



Soon it was time to open one of the bottles of wine I brought – I decided to go big on my first day at the show with this wonderful bottle of Caymus cab! It didn’t even make it through the end of that day as it was shared with several dealer friends.

End of set up day

That night I had dinner with a couple of wonderful lady friends from the Grey Sheet that I had gotten to know over the last few years at the shows – they are fondly known as The Grey Sheet Ladies, Billie and Amanda Blattel!

Amanda had made reservations at a steakhouse that I hadn’t heard of until I arrived in Phoenix called Steak 44 – and then I discovered it is one of the very best steakhouses ANYWHERE – and we soon discovered that was NO exaggeration! Steak 44 was truly amazing in every way – the food was fantastic, the wine was wonderful (we ordered more Caymus), the service was top notch, and the dessert was absolutely delicious! And the great company weas the icing on the cake – we ended up chatting and staying until almost closing time!






I had a bone-in filet with a butter truffle sauce that was SO TASTY AND AMAZING! We also ordered truffle cheese au gratin potatoes along with delicious creme brulee corn (yes, we didn’t spare the carbs)!

Then came the dessert menu – each one of them sounded so yummy that we decided to try three different ones, and they did not disappoint! My favorite was the red velvet bread pudding!

This truly was one of the most delicious meals I’ve had – the special sauces were so flavorful and really made each dish that much more tasty. I am so grateful to Billie, Amanda (and John/Greysheet) for treating me to such a wonderful and memorable evening – thank you, thank you, thank you!

After dinner, we went back to the Hyatt and saw some other dealers at the bar, including Mary Lynn Garrett, so we stopped for a quick nightcap.

The show opened to the public Thursday morning (photo courtesy of the ANA)

It didn’t take long for the show to become quite crowded with lots of buzz


Rich/Cladiator stopped by first thing and was very kind and gracious to bring me this wonderful bottle of Rodney Strong cab – which is where his wife works – thank you Rich! I opened it later that day, it was very yummy!


Doug Davis of Numismatic Crime Prevention does a fantastic job getting information out about numismatic crime around the country and how to help prevent it. I wholeheartedly support and praise Doug’s efforts, and he was kind enough to stop by my table to thank me for my support and gave me this very cool Numismatic Crime medal.


During the show I bought a “pile” of miscellaneous pennies from a man who had inherited them from his dad and just wanted to sell them. They were mostly low grade Indian and Large cents, with a few inexpensive Lincoln cents thrown in. Included in this group was an interesting Robert Kennedy token that I hadn’t seen before. I looked it up and though it’s not rare, it wasn’t that common either.


I was very busy the entire day, including late into the afternoon. In between sales, I had people offering me lots of pennies for sale as well. It was great being that busy, but I didn’t have time to take many photos of the show. However, I made up for it the next day as you will see.

Thursday night I went to dinner with my friends Karl and Joanne Stephens at, coincidentally, another steakhouse, Mastros. It too was delicious and the service was great as well. To start with, we enjoyed this nice bottle of Albarino, followed by a Seven Hills Merlot.


It happened to be Karl and Joanne’s anniversary so our waiter brought us this delicious butter cake to celebrate

After I was dropped off back at my hotel, once I again I ran into a group of friends at the bar (which happens to be right on the way to my room), including Billie and Amanda, so I joined them for a nightcap before heading up.

Friday morning when I arrived at the show, I made sure to tour the entire bourse before the public was let in so I could take photos of some of the very cool exhibits, the museum displays, etc.

Collector Exhibits












ANA Museum Rarities – including the very famous 1943 Bronze cent!

















PCGS

NGC

GreatCollections

Kenny (in charge of PPI Security) and Sam (ANA Conventions Coordinator)

My friend Matt Chapman and one of his new purchases

These are two very unusual, very low grade proof coins that you don’t often see!

Misc. photos around the bourse




Me and Ben

Couple of very cute kids who stopped by my table

Dealer friend from Tucson, Arizona, Tony Tumonious

Rick Snow and his son Kenny

Me and a fun group of YN’s – Harrison, Beagles, Matthew Pavia, Jesse Vargas, Ryan Lange, Jack Smith, and Payton Lindeman

Some pics around the bourse



Soon, it was once again time to open one of the other bottles of wine I had brought with me – a delicious bottle of Del Dotto Pinot Noir from Napa – Del Dotto is one of the wineries I belong to and is my most favorite winery in Napa!

While I had several good sales and bought more material, as usual Friday’s show was not as busy as Thursday’s was.

Friday night I had another very fun time and went to dinner with a different crowd than I usually hang out with. Steven Schuch and his wife Nara had invited me to go to dinner with them, and Steven’s brother John Schuch, Jr. who works with Northern Nevada Coin, and Chuck Hayes and Ashlee of Erie Gold Exchange also joined us. We went to Blanco Cocina and Cantina right near the convention center. It was a highly rated Mexican food restaurant and it too didn’t disappoint.

Nara and I arrived first and decided to start off with a margarita along and a shot of tequila recommended by the bartender.



Our bartender was a wonderful young lady who enthusiastically chilled our shots before pouring them.

Here’s the menu – I had the carnitas tacos which were amazing!

My hubby does a lot of research on all sorts of brands and types of tequila and he and I both really enjoy Don Julio 1942, so after dinner we had a shot of that too!

Our very fun group!

Saturday is what I call “family day” where there are much more families and kiddos perusing the bourse floor. I also have a lot more people stop by who have “handfuls” of pennies and want to know if they have anything of value, or some folks who found an unusual anomaly on a penny and think it may be very valuable, or folks who inherited a can or box or bag of pennies and would like to know which dates to look for, etc. I usually encourage them to get a Red Book and explain how it works so they can learn for themselves which dates have more value over others. And those who are interested in the anomalies and varieties, I tell them about the Cherry Picker’s Guide. So Saturdays I spend a lot of time trying to educate these families so they have a better understanding of what to look for in the coins they inherited.

In between these encounters, I was happy to have a few large sales! Then soon it was time to pack up so I could catch my gratefully brief flight home!

At the airport, I sailed through TSA and headed to my gate. I didn’t find any regular restaurants near my gate to grab a bite but discovered what they call a “pop up bar.” It was actually quite nice, with a small menu of various food items and bottled/canned beer and wine.



Soon I was home safe and sound – and of course Penny was there to greet me!

Next up: The Buena Park show this weekend, then the Las Vegas Palace Station show in 2 weeks!

Charmy’s February 2023 LONG BEACH EXPO SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

As always, I love attending the Long Beach Expo as it is not too far from where I live and I can go home each night, not to mention I have a lot of local customers that I look forward to seeing and catching up with. And the weather was fantastic the whole week, bright and sunny – typical SoCal weather!


This very cool huge penny statue is just down the street from the convention center (photos courtesy of Matt Chapman).



This was one of the busiest Long Beach shows I’ve attended. The Long Beach Expo folks did a great job marketing and getting the public in the door, and not just sports fans but also many serious coin collectors. There were a few set up glitches (new process of obtaining ribbons, late entry time, no chairs/lamps, some tables not quite set up), but the facility vendor worked very diligently to make sure everyone had what they needed and everything sort of fell into place and worked out just fine. And from what I could tell, the show personnel was very eager to accommodate all the dealer’s needs. Each day was very busy and crowded and many of the dealers I spoke with said it was one of their best Long Beach shows.

So since the Expo introduced a new policy of picking up ribbons at the show (rather than mailing them out as they’ve done in the past), we arrived early on Wednesday to allow extra time to collect our ribbons, but it ended up being a very quick process with not much of a line at the registration booth.

I took a few photos of the lobby area when I arrived and since it was pretty early still, there weren’t many dealers there yet.




At 11am, they opened up the loading dock, we drove in, unloaded, waited for the noon dealer set up time, and after a brief delay, we were let in to begin setting up our booth.

Although they’re not copper, I decided to sell this large group of beautiful silver rounds that I had collected since the 1980’s. I always had an interest in and enjoyed learning about Native American history so I began collecting silver rounds depicting various Native Americans, chiefs, buffalos, and wolves. With all the other things I still collect (Indian and Lincoln cents, various penny exonumia and Condor tokens), I decided it was time to part with these. Many are scarce and hard to find.

After my table was organized and all set to go, I left my booth buddy Rich in charge for a few minutes so I could do some shopping! Along the way, I came across this AMAZING group of 1877 Proof sets at Bob Campbell’s table. Three of them were even housed in 1957/58 scarce old blue tinted holders. All I can say is WOW!

Bob also had a gem 1909 Cent set – what a beauty!

He also had three other proofs sets; unfortunately, one of the sets was reprocessed – can you guess which one!

I even managed to find a few pieces for my inventory – these are all the coins I acquired throughout the show – these and many other Pretty Pennies are posted on my website: https://thepennylady.com/

Soon it was time to open one of the bottles of wine I brought. This 2014 Ceres Zinfandel was smooth, very nice rich and fruity.

For dinner, we went up the street to L’Opera which has some great Italian food, as well as steak and seafood.

Ron Guth and Karl Stephens

My bff Joanne Stephens

My “coin show husband” Rich Wogoman and me

We each brought a nice bottle of wine – each bottle was really good and went well with our meals!

I had my favorite, chicken piccata

And their desserts were delicious!



Thursday morning when I arrived around 9am, there already was a line forming at the registration area



I took a few minutes to view the beautiful Tyrant display before the public came in.







Even though these pictures were taken later in the day, the show was still very crowded and quite active



My boothmate, Rich’s brother came to the show with his adorable 6-year old grandson who was excited to buy some Pokemon cards.


Rick Snow showed me a STUNNING fresh new 1955/55 Doubled Die PCGS MS65 RED that he had just purchased – it’s the nicest one I’ve ever seen! I love knowing that coins like this beauty still exist and being able to see them in hand.

I brought a special bottle of wine to share with a few select folks – it was a wonderful 2017 Justin Isosceles Reserve Cab (out of Paso Robles) and was fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed by each of us! This is one wine I highly recommend for special occasions, as it is on the pricey side (but since I’m a member of Justin, I get a bit of a discount).

That night after the show we went to Captain Jacks in Seal Beach – though a bit pricey, it’s a wonderful locals seafood restaurant/bar on Pacific Coast Highway and has some of the best fresh seafood around. Also, it was my friend Matt Chapman’s birthday so it was a nice place to celebrate his birthday.




Me and Matt

Rich Wogoman and Ron Guth

Thank goodness Rich and I split the prime rib – it was HUGE!


Matt and Ron had the crab which is what Captain Jack’s is known for

This beautiful old Packard happened to be parked right outside on PCH – I do enjoy seeing old classic/vintage automobiles.

I stopped by the PCGS table on my way in Friday morning – they were busy as usual!





Paul at the ANACS table

One of my favorite (quite buff) SoCal dealers, Walt Ankerman

@ElmerFusterpuck stopped by and bought a beautiful 1935-S which was the last coin he needed for his set!

That night we went out to our very favorite staple Long Beach show restaurant just up the hill – King’s Fish House.

They offer free corkage so we usually bring 3-4 bottles of wine and enjoy sampling each bottle!

I always have their macadamia nut crusted halibut – it is the best!

It’s a very popular restaurant with many other dealers as well – this is Bob Campbell and his crew who were seated right across from us.

Saturday I had to manage my booth alone as Rich had a prior commitment. It was difficult at times since I’m on the kids’ Treasure Hunt trail, but it sure made the day fly by. I gave out over 80 penny gifts to the treasure hunter kids who stopped at my table to get the answer to my numismatic treasure trivia question! It was great to see so many kids participating! And in between, I even had several decent sales.



I also had the more than usual amount of folks asking for my opinion on the pennies that they found searching rolls. I saw a couple counterfeit pennies, including TWO 1943 counterfeit copper cents, and several handfuls of pennies with tiny anomalies that they thought made their penny worth a lot of money, but I had to tell them to just spend them. There was also this gentleman who stopped by my table to show me some coins and he had an actual shopping cart!

All in all, it really was a very good show and, as always, I had a great time seeing cool coins, chatting with old friends, and of course buying and selling pennies! Also as usual, it’s always good to head home at the end of the show to my hubby and cutie-pie Penny!

Next up: The ANA National Money show in Phoenix (March 1-4), followed by the Buena Park Show (March 11-12).

CHARMY’S 2023 FUN SHOW REPORT w/Tons of Pics!

WOW! What a show it was!! This was one of the busiest shows I’ve had in a long time. Even though there were some very minor glitches on dealer set up day, the show was fantastic, with tons of public on both Thursday and Friday. Even Saturday was surprisingly busy. As many dealers commented, prices are higher especially on better quality, tougher date coins – and it’s harder to find the tougher dates in better grades. However, on dealer set up day and throughout the show, I was lucky enough to acquire several nice Pretty Pennies, including an 1856 Flying Eagle cent and three scarce Flying Eagle and Indian cent pattern pieces. The days flew by – it was simply a GREAT show!

As always, each January I very much look forward to the FUN show – this show always seems to start the year off with a bang! I got to the airport early on Tuesday, sailed through TSA, and had lots of extra time before my flight so I grabbed a refreshing Bloody Mary before I began my long trek to Orlando.

I was a little apprehensive about my flight after hearing the airline horror stories over the previous few days, but the only glitch was a a 1/2 hour delay leaving cloudy Orange County.


My only concern was that my layover in Houston was less than an hour, but luckily the gate we arrived at was only a few gates away from my next departing gate which had just begun to board when we landed so I made it just fine. However, when I boarded my flight I asked the flight attendant if our bags from that flight would make it to this flight, and he said “they most likely arrived before you did!” And what do you know, I looked out the window and I saw my bag being loaded onto my plane!

I arrived in Orlando with no problems, checked into my hotel, grabbed a glass of wine down at the bar where the CHUBB Insurance Group was having a huge gathering, then I headed to bed!

After sleeping in a bit, I headed over to the convention center. This was the view from my room.

Set up was at 2pm on Wednesday but I arrived there early to grab my ribbon and to see if there was any dealer trading – which there really wasn’t much of since the FUN Board doesn’t allow dealers to rent pre-show trading rooms at the convention center. So I just caught up with several dealer friends whom I hadn’t seen in quite a while. By the time the bourse was ready to open, there was quite a crowd of dealers waiting to get in!




Set up went smoothly, and then I began my hunt for coins for my customer’s want lists and jus to add to my inventory. I did find a few pieces that a couple of my customers had been looking for, but mostly found coins to fill in gaps in my inventory. These are the coins I acquired throughout the show including the three patterns cents and the 1856 Flying Eagle cent.


When I got back to my table, I was happy to see these two long-time forum member friends whom I had seen in quite a while!

@ldhair and @spacehayduke

And my very good ex-FBI now coin dealer buddy Neil Ulrich

In the afternoon, I opened a bottle of this 2014 Williams Selyem Zinfandel – it was very yummy and was shared with several friends!

After a very busy set up day, soon it was time to head out to a nice relaxing dinner! We headed over to Maggiano’s and had some awesome food and a wonderful time!





I had a glass of bought 2020 Caymus cab which I’ve had several times and is always amazing. It was so good and the restaurant price was surprisingly inexpensive so I bought a bottle to take to the show!


Neil and I had ordered the chicken piccata and, and after the other two people at our table had received their dinners, the server accidentally gave away our dinners to the table next to us who happened to order the same two dishes. So the waiter gave us TWO complimentary platters of various desserts.

I have to say, despite this minor glitch, the service at Maggiano’s was truly over-the-top.

A couple pics of the bourse on Thursday taken from my table when I had a few seconds to breath!


I was able to pick up a few pieces for my personal exonumia collection – a few hard to find penny pocket mirrors and a scarce celluloid encased Indian cent.







I enjoyed chatting with a few more forum members who stopped by to say hi!

Rick/ @Barberian

Greg/ @keyman64

Ed V.

I brought with me a special bottle of 2014 Eighty-One Justin Cab. I’m a Justin reserve wine club member and I received 6 bottles of this special limited edition wine shipped to me in a wooden crate wrapped in tissue paper. I had been storing it for a few years and this was the first time I opened one of these bottles. Boy, was it amazing! So smooth, full bodied, with hints of blackberry and chocolate – I believe it’s the best wine Justin has produced!

One of my customers and a fellow forum member, Steve Feiertag/ @winesteven contacted me before the show to see if we could get together for dinner one evening so we set up to meet me and a few other coin dealers at Del Friscos Double Eagle Steakhouse on Thursday night. Knowing how much I love wine, Steve wanted to share one of his special bottles of wine with us – he brought an “otherworldly” bottle of 2015 Sine Qua Non Syrah Trouvre L’Arene with an AMAZING 100 pt. rating! WOW! It was sooooo delicious, it easily lived up to its perfect rating! Steve even shared wine tasting notes with us which describe in great detail how truly wonderful this wine is.



Even though there could be no wine that we could order that would compare with Steve’s wine, we ordered a bottle of 2018 Mt. Veeder O’Shaughnessy cab off the menu and, while it didn’t quite compare to Steve’s wine, it was very delicious (and pricey at $350!).

The wine went very well with this bone-in ribeye!




By the way, did I mention that, other than the extra bottle of wine we ordered, Steve picked up the entire dinner tab! Boy, it would be hard for me to find a more kind, generous, interesting fellow coin and wine-loving man!

Steve, me, Neil Ulrich and Ron Mirr

Friday morning I took the opportunity to go around the bourse floor and take some photos before the public was let in, including viewing the great exhibits that were on display.

This is Steve Fieretag/ winesteven’s exhibit that deservedly won People’s Choice














Billie/The Grey Sheet is always a delight to chat with!

Hardworking folks at PCGS!

Also very hard working folks at NGC (David Lange – we miss you!)

Great group of folks at ANACS!

Abe and friends

Young page girls trying their hands at the Kids’ Zone wheel

I also stopped by the GreatCollections’ table to check out the fantastic Stuart Blay Lincoln set that is set for auction in a week or so. Another WOW which isn’t even enough to describe these top pop coins!







I attended the Fly-In Club meeting with Chris Pilliod and Rick Snow, as well as several other club members. Although I couldn’t stay for the entire meeting, Chris was giving a talk about Indian cent metals

Photos taken around the bourse floor

Greg/ @Walkerguy21D also came by to say hi

Steve stopped by again in the afternoon and I was happy to share some of my special Justin Eighty-One with him.

My friends Connor and Dan Sedwick with a European percussion cap pistol from the late 1700’s-early 1800’s that they had just acquired (you may recognize these two from my many dinners in Baltimore in the wine cellar of the Black Olive restaurant)


Friday afternoon, a dealer friend Richard Gross stopped by my table and showed me a very cool and very RARE S-2 1793 Chain Cent. I was thrilled to see it and immediately thought that this might be something my friend Matt Chapman might be interested in. Interestingly, this particular coin is pedigreed to Chapman from 1885 (no relation to Matt as far as we know). So I asked Richard to wait a minute while I called Matt to see if he was still at the show and if he wanted to come and take a look at this amazing coin, which he did! So after examining the coin Matt told Richard he was interested. They then went back to Richard’s table to work out the details. I subsequently discovered that they did indeed make a deal and Matt is now the proud owner of this amazing piece of history!


This is a picture of the 1885 photograph of the exact same coin!

And this is the write up about this coin that Matt gave me:

_1793 Chain “AMERICA” cent, Sheldon-2, Wide Date
Pedigree: ex. Chapman (5/1885)

Interesting not only for being the first die variety with the AMERICA fully spelled out on the reverse, but also for being the rarest die variety of the four with an assigned rarity of 4+. This very coin was owned by none other than Henry and Samuel Chapman and was sold in May of 1885 as part of their collection by a third-party auction firm. Henry and his brother Samuel were born in 1859 and 1857 respectively and began selling coins as dealers in 1878. The pedigree is unusual since in most cases, merely brokering coins as a dealer does not warrant a pedigree in the strictest sense. It was only because a third party auctioned the coin and attributed it as having been owned by Chapman that allowed the pedigree attribution. The auction sale price was $23!

The coin itself is actually quite light colored for the type, and the reverse shows several planchet voids and fissures as is typical. The surfaces are hard and glossy. NGC has assigned a grade of AU53 to the coin, and my EAC grade is sharpness 50, net 45. What’s really amazing is that until now, the coin has resided raw in a private collection, and has only now been graded for the first time! Before now, the only photos of the coin are from old auction catalogues. Up until now, the only idea of the coin’s quality had to be gleaned from these old photos, or photos of photos. According to the photo in Numistudy, the coin was only assigned a grade of sharpness 40, net 30.
_

It’s a fascinating coin with a great pedigree! So pleased for Matt that he was able to acquire this historical piece!

On our last night in Orlando I went to the Capital Grille with my foreign coin dealer friends – another restaurant with some great food! We brought our own wine which we all enjoyed.










Gary Braisted allowed me to use these two photos taken of him and the granddaughter of Astronaut Alan Shepard, Laura Shepard Churchley and Gary with Astronaut, test pilot and jazz musician Winston Scott who were at the show


Saturday was a surprisingly busy day too. From what I could see, not many dealers had left on Friday and the bourse was still quite full. I had quite a few decent sales before I had to pack up and head to the airport. So long til next year!

It was really good to finally get home to my dear sweet hubby and my adorable chubby Penny!

Participating in opposite coast coin shows is very wearing and tiring due to the long flights, changing planes, and especially the time change. But I really enjoy attending such a successful and well-organized show as the FUN show, finding beautiful coins, making decent sales, seeing my friends, and dining at great restaurants with good people – so I definitely look forward to going back next year!

Next up: The Long Beach show on February 1-4 and the ANA in Phoenix on March 1-4, 2023.

Charmy’s September 2022 LONG BEACH SHOW REPORT w/Lots of Pics!

Once again, it was time for my favorite coin show – the Long Beach Expo!

During this show, however, I didn’t have any helpers due to some family obligations, so for the first time since I’ve been setting up at the Long Beach show I was by myself. For security reasons, I don’t usually like to work a corner table at a major show by myself, and while I was super busy and tried not to leave my table much, everything worked out just fine. I also made sure my security camera and warning sign were clearly visible. As a result of not having a helper, I wasn’t able to leave my table very often during the show so I didn’t take as many photos as I usually do. However, when I did need to take care of something away from my table, I called a friend who was walking the show and he would help me, and so did Angel Dees’ wife, Allyne – she was a super sweetheart and would sit at my table while I dashed away for a few minutes. It’s really wonderful to have good friends in this business who don’t mind helping out!

So Wednesday was set up as usual, except that we’ve been having unordinary hot and humid weather which made set up day very uncomfortable especially since there was no air conditioning in the hall while the loading doors were open. No matter, after I finished setting up, I locked all my cases, and made a quick run around the bourse to do some “shopping” during dealer day. While I didn’t buy as much as I usually due throughout the show, I managed to find several nice Pretty Pennies for my inventory and for some customers. I even sold a few of my new purchases before the end of the show. These are most of the coins I found at the show, including a nice group of raw coins:

One of the coins I bought and quickly sold during the show was this scarce 1856 Flying Eagle in PCGS VF25!

Also, a few days before the show began I bought this awesome double struck Indian cent for my personal collection!



Soon it was wine time! This time I brought a special Domaine Chandon Pinot Meunier – it’s a lovely delightful light red wine made by the same folks who make Dom Periognon champagne.

Thursday morning I arrived back at the show right at 9am so I could take care of a few things before the public weas let in at 10am. Then shortly before the show opened I took these photos of the very long line of folks waiting to get into the show – the line went all the way down the hall, out the door, and around the side of the building!








When the show opened, folks steadily streamed in and soon the bourse was buzzing with lots of energy. A long line began to form at the back of the room where the PSA and sports tables were set up. I was so very busy on throughout the day that I never even left my table the entire day! I was very slammed almost consistently all day, which is a good thing. By the way, one of the most popular things at my table is this “Treasure Box” where I have various low-value items that I’ve acquired over time, including several 1933-34 Chicago Expo elongated pennies, packets of various Lincoln and Indian cents, several tokens and penny souvenir-type items, a couple old Indian cent Avon cologne bottles, and the most popular item is a packet of the 8 2009 P/D Lincoln bicentennial cents that I pulled directly from rolls and put together with a little picture of the 4 different designs. I usually sell quite a few of those little packets at each show I bring them to.


These guys even found something from my Treasure Box!

Sorry, but I was so busy on Thursday that I wasn’t able to take photos around the bourse. After the show, we went up the hill to La Opera Italian restaurant for dinner. They have wonderful Italian and seafood. Since we all wanted different wines, we just ordered by the glass. I enjoyed my favorite chardonnay, Rombauer!

Matt Chapman and me

Rick Snow and his son Kenny

I had their filet medallions with garlic wine sauce which was super tasty!

Matt had their halibut special which also looked very yummy

Rick and Kenny had their special lasagne

Then we shared some delicious desserts!

On Friday although the bourse filled up, as usual there wasn’t quite the same buzz as there was on Thursday. Luckily my helper was able to come to the show and work the booth with me on Friday, so I was able to get out and take some photos.

The PCGS Lounge where you could get assistance with questions, filling out forms, etc.

PCGS Folks at work!








The US Mint’s booth



The fun guys at the Whatnot booth


The ANACS table

Andy at the GreatCollections table and their awesome display of rattler coins up for auction


David McCarthy at Kagin’s table

The kids’ Treasure Hunt table


A table overflowing with loose coins for sale!

Friday we went to our regular Friday night dinner spot – King’s Fish House – which I love! Pine Street is lined with great restaurants and is quite a busy and fun street on Friday night.



Saturday was the usual family day, where I (and many other dealers) get lots of questions from new collectors, roll hunters, evaluation of inherited coins, asking how valuable their handful of wheat cents are, and determining if their 1943 copper cent is authentic. I usually get someone showing me their supposed “1943 copper cent” almost every show, however, I’ve never had someone show me an actual authentic one! It’s a lot of fun helping people, except for the ones that I have to tell their handful of wheat cents are only worth a few cents each or their coin is counterfeit, or that tiny anomaly on their penny that they hunted hours for doesn’t mean much or make their coin more valuable. This is also the day I usually get parents bring their kids to my table to help fill in their penny books. I really enjoy helping them find a penny they can afford to fill in one of the empty spaces in their book!

Also, I’m on the Treasure Trivia Hunt trail, so I get a steady stream of kids stopping by to answer a question (assigned to my table) so they can fill in all the blanks in their treasure trivia game, and then win a prize at the end. I usually have some sort of treat to hand each one – this time I gave out our Women in Numismatics lighted magnifiers we had left over. The kids seemed thrilled to get one of these. Here are some of the adorable kiddos who stopped by my table:


And I saw this guy walking around, guess he’s a bit of a Laker’s fan!

So soon enough it was time to start tearing down the booth and packing up. Once again, although their was a brief delay in dealers getting in for set up due to the some final issues with setting up the bourse floor, PCGS did a great job putting this show together and getting collectors in the door. Most dealers agreed it was a good show, though not quite as busy as the last one. I personally had a really good show, especially sales-wise.

A little OT, but the next day, an old friend from my past life as a litigation paralegal at Morrison & Foerster (1988-2005) was playing in a band at a local place in the canyon where I like to cruise in my 1968 California Special mustang, so I took the hubby in my mustang and joined another one of my old Mofo friends to see him play – it was a blast!




Next I will be packing up and heading to the PNNA Tukwila show in Seattle in just a few days for another go-round! In the meantime, my cutie pie Penny will be waiting for me!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Charmy’s BIG HUGE 2022 CHICAGO ANA WORLD’S FAIR OF MONEY SHOW w/tons of Pics!

Wow, another summer ANA show has come and gone! While it wasn’t quite the blockbuster show last year’s was, it was quite busy, very well attended, and flew by! I was busy every day, bought a lot of great newps, sold some of them and much more, spent time with some great friends, attended some club meetings, saw some amazing competitive exhibits, really loved viewing the rare and very cool coins at the ANA museum exhibits, and especially enjoyed the fantastic Central America artifacts display which I understand was being displayed in full for the first time at this show – photos of all of these exhibits you will see later in this report!

I did read some negative comments on another “show report” about certain aspects of this show, but I personally thought overall it was a very successful show and after speaking with several other dealers, they all felt pretty much the same. Everyone thought last year’s show, of course, was one of the best shows we’ve had in many years, but that this year’s ANA was still successful, busy, and well attended. Most dealers felt that having Heritage and Stacks auction lot viewing off site was inconvenient, but that was because GreatCollections is now the official ANA auction company (for which they pay a hefty fee) so it was my understanding that the other auction companies were not allowed to have onsite auction lot viewing as they were no longer “paying” for this privilege. Since there are some particularly nice lots in the Stacks auction that I am interested in, for this reason and since I don’t live very far from them, I made sure to do my Stacks lot viewing at their offices before the show.

As others have mentioned, the dealer day is an important part of a large show for dealers and will occur with or without the host show’s participation. And as a collector, I can understand the frustration with feeling like all the “good stuff” may be gone before the show opens to the public. But as you all know, along with auctions and some other avenues, this is one of the major ways we dealers acquire inventory. It is also especially convenient and generally more secure to have the dealer tables on the bourse floor rather than in separate rooms or at off site hotel rooms. It’s also a significant additional revenue for the ANA – when the PNG ran dealer day, they charged $500 per table rather than $250 fee the ANA charged. For me personally, it is also nice not to be rushed to set up and get organized, and much easier to be able to view other dealers’ inventory without interfering with their retail business.

One more thing I thought I’d address briefly what I know about the theft at the show that some of you may have heard about on dealer day where a case full of Rolex watches was stolen and the group of thieves (all caught on camera) just picked up the locked case, placed it upside down on a cart, and just walked off with it (the dealers had just taken a brief lunch break). They headed out some doors that were “guarded” by a convention worker but they distracted her and when her back was turned, the others pushed the cart out the door. It is believed they blended in with the other workers who were still on the floor moving/placing show cases at dealers’ tables, etc. Believe me, we were all in shock over this brazen and well-orchestrated theft and I’m sure there will be changes made all around as a result of this. Even though this was a terrible event and very frustrating for all concerned, I know it is being handled by all the parties and authorities involved, I really would prefer not to have this show report derailed or focused on this incident.

So with that being said, on with my report! WARNINGL I took a lot of photos throughout the week, especially of the ANA museum, the Central America exhibit, and the competitive exhibits – so go grab that cup of coffee or cocktail, sit back and relax, and hopefully enjoy a fun read and pictorial tour of my week at the Chicago ANA show!

I always look forward to attending the summer ANA show as there is so much to do and see, and so many coins to buy and sell, I very much enjoy attending this show!

I left sunny OC Sunday morning, flew over beautiful Catalina Island, and arrived in Chicago that evening with no delays or any flight issues whatsoever – yay!



I settled in at the hotel and went down to the bar for a quick drink and bite to eat. I happened to sit down right next to Kenny, the show’s security guard and very much enjoyed chatting with him. I’ve known him and seen him around at the all the major shows for years and he’s always been very friendly and helpful anytime I’ve needed anything.

He even highly recommended a very nice cab that I hadn’t tried before, which I really enjoyed!


Monday morning was dealer set up day and when I arrived I was really surprised to see how long the line was of all the dealers waiting to get in!



While I was searching for coins, I found a few
of what I call really “cool” coins that I took pics of




The 1825/4/1 Capped Head Left Half Eagle. JD-1, BD-1. Rarity-8 as a Proof (finest known) is truly awesome to see in person. It’s currently up for auction at Stacks Bowers. Now, I have no “skin” in this auction piece whatsoever, but when I got to hold it and view it, it truly is beautiful, rare, and amazing just to see in hand. Here is only a very small part of the auction description: “One of the most important offerings in the numismatic market of the 21st century, Stack’s Bowers Galleries is pleased to present a landmark early Proof gold rarity whose existence was lost to the collecting community for half a century. Its undeniable and universal Proof qualities, combined with the Proof-67 Cameo grade recently assigned by PCGS, confirm this extraordinary Superb Gem as the finest of just three Proof 1825 half eagles known.”

In very pale comparison to the above coins, these are a few pieces I picked up throughout the show for my own very modest but, in my opinion, almost just as cool, exonumia collection:

1912 The Navarre Deposit Bank encased Lincoln cent pocket mirror (from Alan Weinberg)

1902 encased Indian cent “Spinner” by Drovers Journal with its original ribbon – I’ve never seen one like this before!

A neat simple 1952-S sticker penny from Nelson’s TV in Palto Alto (from John Kraljevich)

FYI, sticker cents are relatively scarce as, in addition to the stickers losing their adhesiveness to the coin and eventually falling or wearing off, when the Secret Service discovered businesses were advertising on coinage, which is illegal, they contacted the advertisers and required them to recall/remove any coinage on which they had placed stickers.

So after I had set up, organized my booth, and finished my “shopping” for the day, you know what time it was – time for wine of course! However, since we were “wrapping” up our Women in Numismatics organization, I had brought several gifts for our board members and my bag was too full to bring my usual two bottles of my “beloved” wine. However, I was able to pack one small half bottle of what I call “emergency” wine from my favorite Temecula winery! (I asked a wine friend who was driving to the show if he would bring me a couple bottles that I could buy from him, which he gladly did!)

After the dealer show ended on Monday, I met a group of my foreign coin dealer friends at Gibson’s.

Of course, with Gibson’s wine selection, we had some great wines!


And some great food!


Not surprisingly, there were several other tables of coin dealers all around us!



I arrived back at the convention center early Tuesday morning so I could get some paperwork done, process my new purchases, and take some more photos around the bourse.

Here are the hardworking folks at NGC

PCGS folks were always busy as well!

GreatCollections, the ANA’s official auction company for the next 3 years, was front and center and had a lot of activity throughout the show!

John and Nancy Wilson are amazing longtime and very friendly numismatic ambassadors, eager to greet everyone attending the show!

The public was let into the show at 1pm, and boy was there a HUGE crowd gathered at the door when ANA Executive Director Kim Kiick welcomed everyone to the show!




Tuesday afternoon was really busy and I was happy to have lots of folks stopping by my table.

After the show ended, a group of us went over to a local pub, Five Roses Pub, which is in the park just behind the hotels across from the convention center.






After dinner, a couple of us headed over to the Rivers Casino which is right next to the airport and only a few miles away. By the end of the evening, I was happy to end up $50 ahead!

Wednesday morning was sadly my last Women In Numismatics (WIN) meeting. I’ve been president of WIN for the last 6 years, but after a year of thoughtful discussions and meetings, the board came to the conclusion that WIN had met its goals and felt it was no longer really necessary to have a woman-oriented numismatic organization.

This is the basic content of my speech which I took from my final President’s Letter that was just published in our last issue of “Winning Ways” which our editor, Dave Heinrich, artfully, carefully, and thoughtfully put together for us.

I can tell you it was very hard to get through my talk without tearing up and I had to pause a few times to gather myself as I will truly miss being a part of Women in Numismatics.

_”Women in Numismatics was formed in 1991 as a national non-profit organization that provided a networking and educational forum for female numismatists. Members have included new and established collectors, dealers, and those associated with numismatic-related organizations. WIN has encouraged fellowship among its members and promoted education through guest speakers and informative presentations. WIN has also provided educational opportunities to its members by awarding an annual scholarship to the ANA’s Summer Seminar in Colorado Springs.

Now, after more than 30 years of service to the numismatic community, WIN has accomplished its mission and achieved the goals it set for itself. With some sadness but also pride in what the dedicated members and officers of WIN have achieved over the years, the WIN Board of Directors has decided to dissolve Women in Numismatics as of December 31, 2022.

Over the years, WIN has done its best to educate, mentor and guide its members through the wonderful world of numismatics and I hope we’ve left it a little better off. It has truly been my honor to serve Women in Numismatics and its members over these past six years as its president. I am thankful to all those who have been a part of and supported WIN. I am also grateful for all the new friends I have gained through being a part of Women in Numismatics.

And even though WIN may no longer be a formal organization, I’m sure I speak for the rest of our board members, that we will still be around if any of you need any assistance or guidance with any of your numismatic endeavors. In particular, please know that I will be honored to continue to help with your numismatic needs. Just email me at charmy@thepennylady.com or call me at (949) 632-0414.

I’d also like to personally thank each of our WIN board members for all they’ve done over the years to help our organization achieve its goals and to help me through my tenure as WIN’s president. I could not have performed my duties without the assistance and dedication of each member of our board: Cindy Wibker (secretary and membership); Louise Boling (vice president); Kathy Freeland (publicity and member at large); Dreama Hurst (treasurer); Carrie Best (parliamentarian); Lisa Loos (publicity); David Heinrich (editor); and James Motley (webmaster). You have not only been my cohorts in WIN, but you have become my friends and I am so profoundly grateful for each of you.”_

During the meeting, we presented Mitch Ernst (President of Central States), Kim Kiick (Executive Director of the ANA), and Bob Hurst (President of FUN) each with a check for just over $3,000 to use for educational purposes. These funds were originally given to WIN by the Newman Foundation for us to use for educational purposes, so we thought we’d pass it on to these organizations who not only supported WIN and gave us free space and booths during their shows for our meetings and presentations, but these organizations also have excellent educational programs and WIN was happy to help support their educational platforms as well.

We also awarded our volunteer webmaster, Jim Motley, with a check for $250 and a special medal depicting the Patron Saint Isidore Of Seville Medal which is regarded as the “patron saint of technology.”

We also gave literary awards to Kathy Skelton Larry Sekulich for outstanding articles they authored for Winning Ways. And WIN will also make a $100 donation to the Ocean County Coin Club in NJ in memory of Kari Brower who passed away recently and who was a prolific author of numerous articles for our WIN publication.


At the end of the meeting, I presented each of our board members with a special Yeti WIN mug I had made to thank them for all their hard work and dedication to WIN. As I mentioned above, I could not have done my part without the support of each and every one of these amazing and dedicated people!



Here are a few pics around the bourse floor after the show opened on Wednesday morning





My awesome booth neighbors (who coincidentally were my neighbors a year ago at the last show!):

Todd/PursuitOfLiberty stopped by my table for a visit

Wednesday was steadily busy, and I was able to buy a few more pieces for my inventory. I also sold several coins from my new purchases, in addition to quite a few pennies from my uncertified boxes.

Here are the new coins I acquired throughout the show


I posted in my last show report from Central States about the 1870 J-788 aluminum pattern cent I saw at the show, where there are only two known – one in PF66+ and one in PF65.

This is a spectacular pattern cent. It has deep mirrors and a beautiful cameo contrast. As only two are known, there are very few chances of acquiring one. The second example is the PR66+CAM from the Simpson collection, which came out of a nearly complete denomination set broken up around 2017-18. This (MS65) example comes from the Loye Lauder collection (Estee’s sister) which was sold in 1983. The coin surfaced in the Dickson collection in 2021, just after the Simpson collection sale where the PR66+Cam came on the market.”

I ended up purchasing the PF65 for my personal collection right after the CSNS show.

Well, the person who owned both coins also decided to part with the beautiful PF66+ piece as well and and I was honored that he gave it to me to sell for him. This is an absolutely stunning and rare piece and anyone who ends up with it will be very pleased to add it to their collection!

Soon it was time to take a breather and open one of the bottles of wine that my friend brought for me – Chappellet Cab. It was one I hadn’t had before and it was delicious! (He has very good taste!)

After the show on Wednesday, we headed to Carlucci’s for dinner. What a wonderful Italian restaurant, one of my favorites!






The wine and food was amazing!







Thursday morning when I got to the show I decided to take some time to view the competitive exhibits before the public was let in. They had some very diverse, fun and interesting exhibits and you could tell that all the creators put a lot of time and effort into creating them. My personal favorite weas the WWII exhibit entitled “Wartime Change.”





















After the show opened to the public, several more forum members stopped by to say hi. It was great seeing these folks, some of whom I hadn’t seen in quite a while!

Mark/ColoradoCoinGuy

Andy and Chris/Fishteeth

Doug Noblet who brought a bottle of wine from a mutual friend/customer of mine!

Roy Ash brought me this very cool antique hat pin made with Indian cents from the turn of the century

And Ben and Abe also stopped by!


After a flurry of business, soon things died down and I was able to have some of the other bottle my friend brought and which he knew was my very favorite wine – Rombauer Zinfandel!

Then 8 of us headed back to Gibson’s for another evening of favorite food, fantastic wine, and fabulous friends!










Since Gibson’s is a bit of a walk away from the Hyatt, I ran into this gentleman who was kind enough to walk me back to my hotel


Friday morning, I took time to explore the shipwreck exhibit and the ANA museum coins. Both displays were fascinating and amazing!

Central America exhibt
























The ANA Museum exhibit























Friday ended up being one of my business days at the show. I had a lot of customers who ended up buying quite a few pieces from my inventory.

Later in the afternoon, Jerry Bobbe stopped by for a brief chat

I also ran into my good friend Ron Guth!

Then it was time to head over to the ANA banquet.









Abe Lincoln gave the most impressive and dramatic recitation of the Gettysburg Address that I’ve ever heard!

Michael Shutterly won Best of Show and 1st Runner Up for his two exhibits

Saturday was on the slow side as usual, since many dealers have to pack up and catch their flights around the country. It was raining and thundering throughout the day and we were all hoping it wouldn’t affect our flights too much. Soon it was my time to pack up and head to the airport. I enjoyed a nice glass of wine before boarding my flight.

But soon, I found out my flight was delayed but only for an hour. My friend Greg Lyon was at the airport and I was able to join him at the Admiral’s Club while I waited for my flight. There were several other coin dealers waiting for their flights as well and I enjoyed chatting with them.

Soon I was on the plane heading home!



Soon I was home with my hubby and my sweet Penny!

I had a great time and a great show! Next up – this week is the Las Vegas Palace Station show, then the Buena Park show in a couple weeks, and Long Beach the end of September!

 

Charmy’s June 2022 LONG BEACH EXPOS SHOW REPORT w/tons of Pics!

As always, I really look forward the Long Beach show since it’s basically in my back yard and I can sleep in my own bed each night. And this show didn’t disappoint! I really enjoy the new hall, it’s easy to load/unload, easy and close to park, with lots of friendly familiar faces! (By the way, I finally upgraded my phone to the iPhone 13 and it’s fancy high quality camera did not disappoint, especially when it came time to take close up photos of people as you’ll see later in this report!)

The loading dock is large and spacious and you don’t have to wait in line to pull into the lot and unload. The only waiting is for the bourse to open for set up! While we were waiting, my friend Matt who had a room at the Hyatt right across from the convention center, stood at the balcony that overlooked the loading dock and waived to us!

That’s me waiving back to Matt!

Catching up with friends while waiting for the finishing touches on the bourse floor.



It didn’t take long to get everything all set up!

The lobby was all set and ready to greet the public on Thursday!



My booth buddy Rich and I found this new larger-than-life gumball machine that decorated the lobby

Curt Mease/PCGS had a booth near mine with some great PCGS memorabilia!







Curt even gave me one of PCGS’s 2022 sample slabs

The PCGS folks were cheerfully celebrating a birthday while setting up their tables

Soon it was time to take a moment, relax, and open one of the special wines I brought – this is Reserve Cab from my favorite Temecula winery, Wiens. I also posed the bottle with some of my Penny Lady swag!

For dinner that night, we headed over to a very popular locals-type place on Pacific Coast Highway in Seal Beach – Captain Jack’s. They have super fresh seafood and great steak. I had their prime rib and lobster while my friend Matt Chapman had prime rib and crab. A dealer friend from Visalia, Bob Holston and my booth buddy Rich Wogoman also joined us. We could have easily split our meals as they were huge! Since I drive home, I got to take the leftovers back to my hubby who was a very happy beneficiary of some great prime rib and lobster!

I meant to take photos of our dishes but I guess we were so hungry I forgot, but remembered afterwards when we got our “doggy bag”!






On Thursday, I arrived at the show about 9:15 and there already was a HUGE line of folks waiting to get in. It was hard to capture just how long the line stretched out because it curved around inside, then outside around the building and towards the loading zone, but here are several pics.











Our friendly security guards!

And the Legend table was right inside the front door and always busy when I walked by their table!

When the doors finally opened at 10am, a steady crowd quickly streamed in!

Thursday was so busy, I didn’t get around much to take photos of the crowd inside. I sold a lot of Pretty Pennies, but I also bought a quite a few new Pretty Pennies, both certified and raw, including a couple emerald green toned Lincolns!




I also found a neat 1906 Indian cent pocket mirror for my collection!

There was an amazing collection of half cents on display that will be featured in an upcoming August auction – the James R. McGuigan Collection.



Thursday afternoon we opened a bottle of Justin Isosceles – mmmmm it was really yummy!

For dinner on Thursday night we headed over to La Opera just up behind the convention center. It’s a fantastic Italian restaurant that we hadn’t been to in quite a while. We really enjoyed the atmosphere, the food was fantastic, and the service was top notch.


I enjoyed one of my favorite Chardonnays which was so refreshing and tasty on a warm summer evening!



After dinner, Matt was showing me some of the settings on my phone camera so he took some photos of me then changed the background and came up with these “portrait” type photos – it was fun and I’ve been playing with the settings for my grandbaby’s photos as well! Here are a couple of me and my little granddaughter – I’m really pleased with all the neat features of the iPhone 13!



Friday morning started off slowly but soon picked up. I had quite a few sales, then had some time to walk around the bourse and take more pics.

PCGS was busy as usual!


GreatCollections had a beautiful group of Lincoln cents and other coins on display before their upcoming auction.




Steve Feltner/PCGS was really busy at the “Meet the Expert” table

Randy Pollock with London Coin Galleries

The Pirate’s table is all set for the kids’ treasure hunt on Saturday

The sports section tables in the back of the room were quite busy, especially the Memory Lane and PSA tables!





BG Entertainment had a sports table out front in the lobby area with some amazing autographed sports memorabilia, including this autographed Mike Tyson boxing glove.

My friends Dave and Deanne at DJ’s Coins from Idaho are among the friendliest and nicest dealers I know!

This is Kerry Pieorpan – he’s very hard working and runs the Buena Park show, as well as a monthly show at the Embassy Suites in Anaheim.

Even the stamp section was active!

The PCGS Submission Lounge seemed to always have folks getting assistance with filling out PCGS forms

John Q. Little’s All Time Finest Standing Liberty Quarter Collection was on display next to the PCGS tables – all I can say is WOW!




I stopped by the Real American Treasure table to check out their amazing collection of old certified holders which included scarce PCGS Doily and rare Regency holders with their velvet bags, and even a couple of NGC’s very rare black holders. It was fun chatting with Christopher Bryan and his partner Jeff Oxman about these old holders. I saw a 1995 Lincoln Double Die in one of the regency holders, and was a bit surprised to find out the value of the holder was not just 2-3 times the value of the coin, but many multiples of the value of the coin!




They even had an original edition of David Hall’s book, “A Mercenary’s Guide to the Rare Coin Market.”

Before I left their table, Christopher gave me a copy of one of his books, “Real American Treasure,” which he autographed for me. I haven’t had a chance to read it all yet, but I’ve flipped through it and it loos fascinating, and I can’t wait to delve into it!


So for our last afternoon at the show, I opened my favorite “go-to” wine, Rombauer Zinfandel!

Over at the Witter Coin table they were having a fundraiser for Witter Coin University. This young man, Curt, agreed to have his head shaved at the show – and he had a full head of long thick hair so it took quite a while to get through it! They ended up raising $6,000!



Rich and I outside the convention center by the aquarium

Friday night we went to our usual Friday-night dinner place – King’s Fish House. Our usual dinner friends, Karl and Joanne, were on a cruise so they weren’t at the show, so it was just Rich and me. I had my usual macadamia nut crusted halibut and a glass of white wine. It was a very casual relaxing evening.



Then when we went to get our car at valet, I couldn’t help but notice and admire this bright metallic neon green Ferrari (with Texas plates) parked right out front – wow – what a car!



Sites around the convention center as the sun was setting


Saturday was actually quite busy for me – between all the kids stopping by our table for the treasure hunt and customers, the morning flew by. But by around 1pm, things quieted down again so I took more photos, many of the people around the show. Here are some of the kids (and their families) who stopped by my table for the treasure hunt

James Worthy made was signing autographs, including Taryn’s son (Taryn is in charge of the bourse floor).


These close up photos were taken in Portrait Mode with my phone:

They had a face-painting table and we saw lots of young and slightly older folks with beautiful designs on their faces!

This is Taryn, she (and her staff) run the Long Beach show

Several PCGS folks had their faces painted too!





Heather was a great sport dressed up as a shark – she was a huge hit, especially with the kids!



The whole PCGS group!

Soon it was time to pack up and head home to the hubby and Penny.

Rich and I both really enjoy doing the Long Beach show together and it seems to fly by. Rich has been attending the Long Beach show since he was a boy with his father who was one of the founding members of the Long Beach Coin Club, so the Long Beach show is sort of in his blood. He too had a good show, sold most of the things he brought to sell, and bought a few pieces for his collection. We both thought it was a good show and look forward to the next one in September.

Next up: San Diego Coinarama this weekend (July 9-10), the the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money Show in August!

Charmy’s 2022 CENTRAL STATES (CSNS) COIN SHOW REPORT w/tons of Pics!

Wow! this was such a busy show with lots of new coin purchases that I’m just now finally digging out from my post-show paperwork, coin inventorying, processing, and website updating, not to mention a long day trying to get home from Chicago during a huge thunder storm and tornado watch that occurred Saturday evening. The CSNS folks pulled out all the stops to make this a successful show, and in spite of some unforeseen helper issues, from all accounts, they greatly succeeded. There were even record lines of folks waiting to enter the show on the first day!

A few days before I left for Chicago, I had just returned from another show which followed a series of back-to-back shows. The CSNS show was the last one I would be attending for a while in that string of shows. While I was really tired, I still very much looked forward to being back in the Chicago area as I suspected from all the pre-show publicity, this CSNS show would be a very well-attended and active show.

I left bright and sunny OC for the show on Tuesday so I could attend the PNG dealer day on Wednesday. Coincidentally, there were several other coin dealers on my same flight!

I never get tired of viewing the OC shoreline from up in the air, it’s always beautiful and breathtaking.





Flying into the Chicago area is also equally breathtaking!





I rode to the Renaissance with a couple other coin friends, and checked into my room – I was happy to see I had a nice view.


I then went down to the restaurant for dinner with my friends.



After dinner, I stopped in at the bar. Of course, with the Renaissance being the host hotel and site of the show, I enjoyed seeing and catching up with several of my coin dealer friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a couple years. Then it was off to bed to rest up for (hopefully) a very busy week!

Dealer day began at 9am on Wednesday morning, so I went down early to register and get my new badge. All along the hallway from the hotel to the convention room, CSNS put up several great signage advertising the “new” CSNS show.





I also wanted to stop by PCGS to drop of some coins for show grading. The PCGS folks are always friendly and happy to indulge my photo-snaps!


When I got into the show, there were probably around 40 PNG dealers set up, so I made my way around hunting for coins for my customers and for general inventory, and was fortunate to find some really great pieces.

I ran into my dear friend Mitch Ernst who is President of CSNS and was still working very hard making sure everything was ready for general dealer set up at 2:30pm.

The day before, Mitch had sent me a photo of two familiar faces whom you may recognize from the FUN show. They were working hard helping set up the show – Dreama Hurst and Cindy Wibker! Mitch said they and a few other FUN volunteers were invaluable in helping prepare the show!

So all non-PNG folks had to exit the bourse by 1:30 so that some of the PNG dealers could move to their regular tables. Then at 2:30, the rest of the table holders were let in to set up.



After I set up my table, I walked around to see if I could find some more Pretty Pennies, which I did! I ended up buying more coins at this show than I ever have at a single show, and I also sold a ton of coins as well. These are the coins I acquired throughout the show (less of course the ones that went to new homes during the show!)


I gawked at the amazing “Big 4” coins at GreatCollections’ table.


I met Justin Waddell at the hotel bar earlier and we had a great time talking coins and in particular, he told me he had both of the only two known beautiful Indian cent proofs struck on white metal. Being a lover of Indian cent errors, I couldn’t wait to see them, so he stopped by my table and showed me the PF66+ Cam specimen (which was not for sale) – boy, was I was drooling over this amazing piece! He later showed me the PF65 piece he had for sale and I seriously considered figuring out a way to purchase it.


Soon, it was wine time – these are the two bottles I brought (Del Dotto Cave Blend and my go-to favorite Rombauer Zinfandel, along with a show staple box of Cheez-It crackers!

After the show ended on Wednesday, I was going to head over to the riverboat casino in Elgin, but my Uber driver suggested I check out the Rivers Casino in Rosemont near the airport since it was nicer and closer. I agreed it was very nice, good sized, and had several of my favorite games. I look forward to going back when I’m in Rosemont for the ANA!

Thursday morning the show opened to the public – and wow! no one could believe the amount of people who were waiting in line to get into the show! Yes, they had some backlog at the registration table, but it soon got worked out and things seemed to flow more smoothly and faster, and it didn’t take that long before everyone was through the doors!





When I got to the show, I ran into Ben Franklin!

A guy offered me this AMAZING Indian cent proof and I was thrilled to purchase it from him. it’s one of the most gorgeous “brown” proofs I’ve ever owned and is completely cameo in hand without even putting it under light. Needless to say, it didn’t last very long and was sold within an hour to one of my customers who was specifically looking for toned proofs!



I also bought a few coins from Justin (mentioned earlier), including this beautiful 1868 Indian cent proof with a rotated die “medal strike” – again, it didn’t last very long either!

Forum member BidAsk stopped by for a photo op

One of my favorite vest pocket dealers is this young man, Eric Lindholm. He is so smart and sharp, and one of the nicest people I know! I like to give him a list of coins I’m specifically looking for and he scavenges the entire bourse floor for me. He really is an amazing young man and so enjoyable to work with!

This is one of my most charming, sweet, kind, enthusiastic and gracious customers – Bob Radford. Every time he buys a coin from me, he lets me know how excited he is to add it to his collection. And to top it off, he showed up at my table with TWO bottles of very yummy wine – one from Paseo Robles and one from Columbia Valley in Washington – he even remembered to bring plastic wine glasses!!




And this is Bob with Mike Bureny/Morgandollar78

Heather Boyd (PCGS Director of Marketing and message board moderator) and Chris Demoray (Director of Sales) stopped by my table and introduced themselves – even though we all know who Heather is, I’d actually never met her in person. She and Chris are super nice, and were so very kind to let me know how much they appreciated my show reports.

Another one of my favorite people, Larry Sekulich (my exhibit instructor from Summer Seminar several years ago), stopped by to say hi and catch up. He also brought me this very appropriate wine coaster – which I promptly put to good use that later afternoon with one of Bob’s wines!

After the show, we stopped by the hotel bar for a cocktail before we headed off to dinner and ran into Andy Lustig/MrEureka and PCGS’s Curtis Mease

Then we had dinner at Chicago Prime Steakhouse – wow! it was fantastic!!


This is my happy place!


These are some of the appetizers we had


While we were having appetizers, one of the waiters brought me a glass of wine out of nowhere. Then he pointed to a couple across the room, and I understood. It was a fellow wine lover dealer friend, Jeff Wuller at Arrowhead Coin and Jewelry in Arizona, with whom I set up next to at the Tukwila show – he had sent a glass of wine over to me which was AMAZING! So when I went over to thank him, I couldn’t believe that it was a VERY DELICIOUS Caymus cab!


So I shared a taste of the Caymus with a couple people at my table taste it, including Matt Chapman who usually prefers beer, and he loved it so much that he bought a bottle for the table (the restaurant price was $200/bottle!). But I have to say, it was one of the most yummiest wines I’ve had in a long time!

Then, when we had finished that bottle, because it was so very amazing, Ron and I decided to go in together and buy ANOTHER bottle of Caymus for the table! It’s kind of like drinking good wine begats drinking more good wine!

By the way, and perhaps due to the great wine, I forgot to take photos of the delicious steak we had. I wish I had taken a photo of the huge tomahawk steak that 3 people split – everyone said it was delicious!

On Friday, I walked around and took a few photos before the public was let in.

PCGS folks hard at work

When my lightbulb burnt out, CSNS David Harper was very kind enough to retrieve a new one and even install it for me!

Two very hard-working ladies, Billie Blattel and her daughter Amanda Blattel with CDN Exchange

Isaiah Hagerman/Vamsplus stopped by and showed me an interesting medal in a huge PCGS holder

Tony/Earlyaurum also stopped by

Robert/Rob41281

This enthusiastic young man and his very supportive mom bought a couple Indian cents from me

My dealer friend David of DJ’s Coins in Idaho

Jack Smith

Carol, Bob Campbell’s wife, from All About Coins in Utah

Ben and me signing the Declaration of Independence

CSNS Message Center helpers, Cliff Mishler and David Harper

Mitch Ernst and his son Sam, without whom the show wouldn’t go on!

A few pics around the bourse



As many of you know, this show had to famous Large Cent collections that were “dueling” each other. They were amazing to see side by side and it was had to tell and a very close call as to which one was “better” but I understand the Walter Husak collection won out by a mere 4 votes! (Thank you Curtis Mease for providing some of these photos)






I also found some more very fun penny exonumia for my personal collection, including a set of interesting repousse/pop out pennies, and more prisoner-made penny teapots, another bracelet with prisoner-made penny charms, and a really neat small buffalo pan from the Pan Am Expo (to go along with my encased penny frying pans from the same Expo)




I also bought a really neat scarce Conder token (Warwickshire D&H 128) with a buckled die and large die cracks for my personal collection – messed up planchets are one of my favorite types of Conder tokens to collect!


On our way out to dinner Friday night, we came upon a wedding party who was apparently having their reception at the hotel.


Then we took the hotel shuttle to a highly recommended Greek restaurant, Meze, which was not far from the hotel

They had this huge octopus on ice right when you enter the restaurant!

This is the same group of folks from Daniel Frank Sedwick Coins (who specialize in shipwreck coins) with whom we dine with a the Black Olive Greek restaurant in Baltimore. We tried to find a suitable substitute Greek restaurant at this show, and while the wine and atmosphere was nowhere near that of the Black Olive, I can say that the food was equally as good!




After we arrived back at the hotel, a few of us stopped by the old bar that they had just opened for “one last hurrah” and we found it hopping with lots of folks from the show!






Saturday morning was relatively quiet at the show, though it is always refreshing to see a lot of families bring their children to the show!

Even though we weren’t able to get together for dinner at this show, my very favorite (not to mention beautiful) couple stopped by my table – Dino and Lisa Koromvokis!


Soon, once again, it was time to pack up and head to the airport. We had all been hearing about lots of flight cancellations due to the impending severe storm (and nearby tornado) that was predicted to arrive that evening. I was travelling with Karl and Joanne and we all had our fingers crossed that it would pass before our flight, but alas, it didn’t. Our flight to OC was delayed, delayed, delayed, then the ugly red CANCELLED appeared on our app! So we scrambled for new flights and while I’m on the phone trying to get a new flight later that night, the representative said there were several middle row seats available on a flight to OC, so I booked a seat and just in the time it took to do that and then pull up my friends’ account, all those seats were taken! So we went to the Admirals Club and where the reception reps there can help with rebooking flights. We eventually found a new flight that would leave later than night to LAX with enough seats for us and decided to take a chance that it wouldn’t get cancelled and booked it. I then called my son and asked if he would pick us up, even though we wouldn’t be getting in until almost 1am. LA is an hour from OC and he was such a trooper and said he didn’t mind at all coming to get us.

Here are some pics of the storm I took at the airport while waiting for our flight




It was a very long and stressful day dealing with our flight situation, and we were all pretty wiped out!

But we know we are very fortunate that we were able to get a flight that night as I know there were several other dealers who weren’t quite as lucky as us and had to take flights the next day. Personally, for me, this is the most difficult part about attending coin shows, but thank goodness it doesn’t happen very often!

And with my hubby in Mexico at the NORRA 1000 race (no, he’s not driving the race car, just helping out!), at least I had my chubby Penny waiting for me!

So all’s well that ends well! And after a slew of back-to-back shows over the past few months, I have a 6-week respite until my next show, which will be here locally – the Buena Park show in mid June, followed by the Long Beach show.~~~~

Charmy’s Mini April 2022 PNNA Tukwila Coin Show Report w/few Pics

I actually had not intended to do a show report for this show as I had just prepared my Baltimore report before leaving for this show, and needed some time to take care of several business and other items. However, while at the Tukwila show, I happened to pick up a few interesting items, including a low-grade complete Lincoln cent set from a fascinating 11-year old boy. Even though I did enjoy some great food and wine, I didn’t take any photos so, sorry, but there won’t be the usual photos of people, places and wine for this brief show report. 😉 However, I did want to share the story of the 11-year old and the other interesting items I picked up at the show.

First, another dealer brought me this old ANACS cert card and coin to take a look at. Of course, these old ANACS certification grading cards are collectible by themselves, but what was interesting about this one was that it came with the actual envelope that the coin and card were shipped back to the customer in dated 1982. I can say I’ve never seen one of these old original postmarked envelopes from ANACS, so I thought that was very cool. However, when I opened the envelope, out popped a 1909-s vdb coin and certification card! That was the icing on the cake!

The other interesting thing I picked up at this show was a penny “prison art” bracelet with 6 penny charms attached. I already have a few of these, but they are one of my favorite penny exonumia items to collect and hard to find intact. This one has a teapot, bell, pot, pan, iron, and a heart all made from Lincoln cents, probably in the late 1930’s- early 1940’s by a penitentiary inmate. I have previously done articles, presentations, and exhibits on these fascinating pieces.

Then on the last day of the show this 11-year old young man walked up to my neighbor looking to sell a complete Lincoln cent set, so my neighbor referred him to me. After speaking with this young man, I became very impressed because he was so interesting, charming, knowledgeable and very savvy for his tender age (his grandfather was also with him). The set included an authentic 1909-s vdb and an authentic 1922 No D, both in VG. I graded most of the better dates in that grade range. I asked him how much he wanted for the set and he gave me a price. So I looked up the value of a complete set in VG grade (added extra for the 1922 No D which is not usually included in a complete set), and countered with my figure and explained how I came up with my number. He considered it, then countered again. I countered with a slightly higher number than my first. He talked to his grandfather for a minute, then again countered with a number a little lower than his last. I smiled since he was so serious, yet polite, but said that I had to stick with my last offer. He again spoke to his grandfather who told his grandson it was up to him. The young man nodded his head and asked if my offer was for cash. I said sure, and we made a deal.

After I paid him, I asked him how long it took him to put this set together. He surprised me by saying about 3 weeks! I then asked him about the 1909-s vdb and the 1922 No D and he said he bought those from a reputable dealer and told me what he paid for them (he lost a little on the 1922 No D but made money on the 1909-s vdb). I asked him how much he made overall on the album and he said about $80 which wasn’t bad for a 3-week endeavor for an 11-year old! The grandfather and I started chatting about how impressive this young man was, while the young man was off and running looking at another table for another deal!

By the way, it was a really great show, very busy and successful, and I especially enjoyed spending time with my brother. And of course, I always enjoy seeing all the Pacific Northwest forum members: @airplanenut , @Bochiman , and @Lakesammman and @PonyExpress8!

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Charmy’s March 2022 Baltimore COIN SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

I’m so glad coin shows are back up and running! And the Baltimore show has always been a busy and fun show for me to attend and they do a great job organizing and making sure everyone has what they need. As many of you know, quality coins are going crazy right now, so it has been very difficult finding nice pieces at reasonable prices. I managed to buy several pieces, some at good prices, others not so much! I even bought a very tough rare 1888/7 S-1 Indian cent which I was very pleased to acquire for my inventory. I also found a couple very cool Indian cent errors for my personal collection. And of course, in addition to buying and selling coins, as usual, I enjoyed seeing my good friends, having some great food and wine and even playing at the Horseshoe casino!

So, I left Orange County’s sunny skies on Tuesday – for noise abatement purposes, they take off west and fly over the ocean, then turn around and head back east. Viewing the coastline from the air is always a beautiful site!




After a long day, changing planes in Dallas, I finally got to Baltimore late Tuesday night, grabbed my bags, and my awesome regular driver was already there waiting to take me to my hotel.

The next morning I headed over to the convention center to do some business at the two dealer trading rooms where I spent a couple hours and ended up buying quite a few nice coins.


These are the coins I bought a the dealer trading rooms and throughout the show


I was also very excited to add two really neat error cents for my personal collection!



Stacks was also open for auction lot viewing

So after doing business in the trading rooms, I took my bags to security and headed to the Horseshoe Casino for a few hours.

I was playing this new poker game called Criss Cross

And the guy sitting right next to me got a Royal Flush and won over $30,000! Everyone was shocked since the odds are pretty low of that happening!

Then about an hour later, I got quads – that was very sweet (though not nearly as profitable as a Royal Flush), but I definitely was equally thrilled!

Later that evening I got together with my usual crew – Mark, Ron and Neil (and one newbie, John) for dinner at La Tavola in Little Italy





The food there is excellent, and so is the wine!







You know the food is good when you see other groups of dealers at the restaurant as well.

I stayed at the Sheraton which is attached to the convention center, so it’s a short walk to the convention center.






I arrived for the 8 am dealer set up. There were lots of other dealers already waiting to get in.



I noticed my ad in the show program!


The doors opened to the public at noon and there was quite a group of folks who streamed in, and soon there was the welcomed buzz in the room.





In between customers, David stopped by my table to show me these interesting old certified coin cards for a 1922 Weak D



I always check with John Krajelvich to see if he found any interesting penny exonumia for me as he often has an envelope of goodies set aside for me, but unfortunately he said “not this time.”

Curtis Mease of PCGS stopped by and gave me this beautiful commemorative medal

I stopped by the Stacks Bowers table and Wayne Berkeley, Brian Kendrella, and Vicken Yegparianto showed me some amazing coins they had on display that will appear in upcoming auctions.








Soon it was time to open up one of the bottles of wine I had brought – one of my favorites, Rombauer Zinfandel!

For dinner Thursday night we headed over to the Capitol Grille – another place that has amazing food. We had another new face in our crew – meet Anna, a relatively new female coin dealer who, like me, sets up on her own!

Their lobster bisque was one of the best I’ve had, as was their filet with oscar-style topping. And the wine we chose went perfectly with everyone’s dinner!





I arrived at 9 when the show opened to the dealers – registration was ready to go and there was already a small group of collectors waiting to for the show to open to the public.


I took a few minutes before the public came in to take some photos around the bourse floor.

Jacob from Coin World

Guys working hard at PMG

NGC Crew

PCGS Folks!

Whitman Ladies

Doug/1Buffan stopped by to say hi

My longtime dealer friend Gary Galbo stopped by to say hi

A young man came by with a few Indian cent varieties he had cherry picked, including this super scarce 1888/7 Indian cent (S-1) in VG that I was very happed to buy from him!


Friday night of every Baltimore show is our “Black Olive” night. This time, part of our group (the folks from Sedgwick) could not be at the show so we had some new faces. Tom Reynolds and Brian Alty from Northeast Numismatics were able to join us.

We start with white wine upstairs, taking our time chatting and enjoying the wine while our host Dimitri tells us about the wines we’ll be having.


He is the son of the owners and pretty much grew up in the restaurant business. We found some interesting articles about Dimitri and the restaurant on the wall.




Then we head down to the wine cellar where one large table is set up for us.


For someone like me who is not a seafood lover, their gilled octopus is outstanding! They even had a stuffed octopus that everyone said was amazing, though I wasn’t quite up to giving that a try!






And for dessert, there is nothing better than the homemade walnut ice cream, accompanied by some amazing dessert wine!


Dimitri was once again a wonderful host and treated us like we were extra special. As usual, the food was great, the wine even better, and the company the best!

Saturday was the usual wind-down day, though I had a few decent sales. Then it was time to pack up and head to the airport. I flew through Dallas on the way to Baltimore, but flew through Denver on my way home. I always love flying over the Rockies, they are so majestic and beautiful.


I was exhausted when I arrived home, but so glad to be home with my hubby and of course Penny who seems to enjoy making my suitcase her cuddling spot!


Next up: the PNNA show in Seattle/Tukwila tomorrow, then Central States in a couple weeks!

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Charmy’s February 2022 LONG BEACH SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

WOW! What a show! Every dealer I spoke with said this was one of their best Long Beach shows ever, and it was one of mine too! Thursday was especially busy, so busy that we never stopped to grab a snack and my boothmate ended up passing out – more on that later! Any way, this show was a really fantastic show all the way around.

This is our second time at the new hall, and I think now that folks are getting used to its location which is right next to the aquarium, they’re liking it better than the old hall.


And the loading area is right behind the aquarium and is exclusive to our event.


Most everyone I talked to said they are liking this location because the parking is right across the front entrance and there are no stairs to navigate up/down to get to the bourse floor.


Also, the bourse floor is rectangular rather than triangular which seems easier for everyone to navigate.

PCGS set up a lounge area to give people some space to organize and prepare their submissions before they get in line so it speeds up submissions.

Set up went quickly and smoothly, then I took some time to shop around the bourse for customer want list items. I also had just acquired a complete set of Indian cents in MS63/64 RB and an almost complete set of Lincoln cents in MS64 RD. Unfortunately, except for the 1877, all of the Indian cents were broken out of PCGS/NGC holders and put into a Dansco album. And the same was true for most of the Lincoln cents, though there were about 10 that remained in their original holders. While the sets looked beautiful side by side in an album, of course it is hard to get your money back out of raw coins compared to what was paid for certified coins. I sold the Indian set pretty quickly, but it took more time for the raw Lincoln cent to sell, but it finally did, including half of the certified Lincoln cents. Here are photos of some of the Lincoln cents.








A customer also gave me a nice little group of Indian cents to sell on consignment

After things slowed down it was time to open up a bottle of wine. This is my super duper boothmate Rich Wogoman and I having some wine in my new special customized Penny Lady Yeti cups!


Our usual Wednesday night dinner place, Cafe Piccolos, was closed so we found another Italian restaurant, Michaels, just off 3rd Street. It wasn’t quite as good as Piccolos, but it still had some tasty dishes and we enjoyed the wine we brought. Ron Guth and Karl and Joanne Stephens joined Rich and me.





We all agreed their Tiramisu was amazing!

Thursday morning we got to the show just after 9am when it opened for dealers, and there were already several folks lined up to get into the show.


I walked around before the public was let in and took a few photos. PCGS was busy as usual!



Paul at ANACS

Wayne at Stacks Bowers stopped by to say hi

So did Jerry Bobbe

When the show opened, there was a very long line of folks waiting to get in. And a line quickly formed for the PCGS table. These photos were taken by the LB Expo folks.



I mentioned earlier that Thursday was extremely busy for everyone, including Rich and me. We were both dealing with customers, and I was trying to sell my Lincoln cent set, while Rich had a lot of silver and other items he was walking around the bourse selling. And my booth was really hopping with more customers than usual. By early afternoon Rich came back to the booth after running around the bourse and said he had a headache. I gave him some aspirin and he sat down to rest while I was helping some customers. Within a couple minutes I turned around and saw Rich slumped over on the back table. I immediately yelled for someone to call 911 while I tried to wake him up (I thought he had an aneurism or stroke since he complained of a headache just before he passed out – thank goodness it wasn’t that serious!). Our neighbor called 911 and gave me the phone to to explain what was going on. Within a couple minutes Rich began to wake up and, although he was pale, he recognized me and sat up. By then, security and the on-site EMT was at our booth assessing him. And within a few more minutes the fire department EMT’s were at our booth as well. They gave him all kinds of tests, ekg, tested his blood sugar, etc. and determined that because Rich hadn’t eaten anything all day and hadn’t drank much water either, he had become dehydrated. They gave him a couple bottles of water to drink slowly, His color began to brighten and he was returning back to normal. The 911 folks were there about half an hour. At the end, they advised that he should go to the hospital but Rich declined since he was feeling much better after drinking the water. We had also ordered a pizza that had just arrived so he had some of that too. Soon the EMTs gathered up their gear and gurney and took off.

I have to say that everyone that worked on Rich was extremely calm and professional, including the security guards who first arrived and the onsite EMT. And even later that day and the next, the security folks stopped by to see how he was doing. I was very impressed and grateful that help came so quickly. And we both learned a good lesson not to neglect ourselves even though we were busy and preoccupied at the show! So Rich took it easy the rest of the day, and even though it stayed busy for a while longer, I kept an eye on him.

After the show closed on Thursday, we met up with Ron Guth again at Captain Jack’s in Seal Beach. They are located right on the harbor off PCH and Broadway and have some of the best seafood around, as well as amazing prime rib! It was packed and even though it’s about 30-40 minutes away from the convention center, there were several groups of other dealers having dinner there as well. They also have a couple of beautiful aquariums along the wall inside.




Friday morning I had some PCGS business to attend to and went by their table. They were swamped as usual!

I took a few other photos around the bourse








I saw a separate thread about the “smash and grab” that occurred overnight at the show. I spoke to one of the security guards and he said they are looking at all cameras both inside and outside, and looking into all possibilities as to how it could have happened With all the years of shows I’ve been doing, I’ve never heard of something like this occurring. Security said they are considering if someone may have stowed away under a table, or possibly a janitorial worker, or other avenues that someone was able to gain access. But he said they are are a bit perplexed that someone could smash a case after everyone had left, and not one of the security guards heard it (meaning that perhaps it was done during the show but covered up and hidden until later). The security guards are all retired 20+ year police veterans who have been doing security for this show for a long time. They are pretty sure they will get to the bottom of how this happened.

Friday wasn’t as busy as Thursday but it was still steady and I found a few more coins to add to my inventory. Overall I was very successful in finding some nice coins at this show.

I also found quite a few raw coins to help fill my raw coin customer want lists!

I also bought a set of 1930 repousse “pop out” pins for my penny exonumia collection.


An old friend, Ryan Moretti (used to work at Stacks and now has his own shop in Arizona), stopped by to say hi

I was really glad Todd/BluCC Photos was at this show, so later on Friday afternoon I gathered all my latest purchases for Todd to photograph. He’s been photographing my coins for over 15 years, mostly during shows, but over the past two years, I’ve had to ship all my coins to him to photograph, so it was nice to have them photographed at a show again!

Friday night we went to our usual King’s Fish House just up Pine street right behind the convention center.

Rich and I arrived a little early so we had a couple very refreshing Henricks and Tonic with lime at the bar while we waited for Karl and Joanne.


We love this place as the food is really great and they offer free corkage for our wine. – I definitely recommend King’s Fish House!


My favorite entre is their macadamia nut crusted halibut but this time I tried their Miso Sea Bass and it was delicious!

Saturday morning I took time to finally view the amazing Tyrant Collection. I have seen it displayed at other shows, but this time I took more time to look closer at some of the coins, especially the early copper. Wow, if you ever get a chance to see this collection on display, I highly recommend taking time to look closely at these treasures!
























Curtis Mease who now works at PCGS had a really great display of his PCGS sample slabs and PCGS memorabilia.




Also on Saturday, the Expo staff was all decked out for the kids’ Pirate Treasure Trivia hunt.

Once again, there was a nice steady stream of folks entering the bourse floor when it opened!


I was one of the stops on the Treasure Trivia trail so I had tons of kids stop by to make their guess of the answer to the trivia question I was given. We had so many kids stop by that I ran out of penny goodies to give them! This especially cute little girl and her dad let me take their picture for my show report. She was very good at reading the question and the entire correct answer!

We stayed most of the day until there was very little public left. Then it was time to pack up and head home. After such a busy week, I was exhausted when I finally got home so after unpacking, I put my feet up, had a glass of wine and just relaxed. The next day I got out my new purchases and all my paperwork, and got to work. And there was my cutie-pie Penny right there cuddled up next wo me squished inside my coin box!


As I said, this was an exceptionally busy and successful show – and I look forward to the next one in June. The Long Beach Expo folks really do work hard to put this show together and make sure everyone has what they need – they do a great job!

Next up I have a very busy March – The Las Vegas Palace Station show, the Buena Park show, McIntosh Sacramento show, then Baltimore!

 

Charmy’s 2022 FUN COIN SHOW REPORT w/tons of Pics!

Sorry this is a bit late, it’s been a very busy week trying to dig out since I returned from the FUN show. IT was a really great show, and I was very busy with both sales and purchases. I worked hard trying to find coins for my customers as well as to fill holes in my inventory. The market is still quite strong, especially the penny market which remains very popular. Nice quality better dates have been harder and harder to find and are getting very strong prices. In some cases, I’ve been having to pay over the PCGS guide prices just to acquire quality key and semi-key dates. In any event, it was a very active show and from all accounts, very successful!

As with every FUN show I’ve attended, I was very excited to be once again participating in this show as it’s always the best show of the year!

I left beautiful sunny Orange County for Orlando on Sunday since I had some pre-show business to take care of. For those of you who are interested in the aerial photos, planes take off from the John Wayne airport and fly up very fast to help with noise abatement, then they level off and (depending on winds) usually head west over the ocean before they turn around and head back east (or north or south), again to minimize noise over very expensive houses. There’s also a curfew so no planes can take off or land before 7am or after 11pm.



I flew over the Rockies, and changed planes in Dallas – they still had their Christmas decorations up at the airport. I was very pleased that I had no flight delays or cancellations and my trip was smooth sailing!




Then it was on to warm 80 degree Orlando, even at 8:30pm when I landed! I stayed at the Hilton which was connected to the convention center and was supposedly the closest hotel to the North Concourse. The hotel was beautiful and not very busy when I arrived.

So Monday morning I took my bags across the connecting walkway to the convention center. It was a gorgeous day!


When I entered the convention center, I was told the North Concourse was on the complete opposite side from where the walkway connected to the convention center and that you had to go down the elevator, outside and walk all the way around the entire convention center (there was no way to get to the North Concourse through the convention center). Boy, I wasn’t expected to have to drag those bags that far – I’m guessing it was about a mile all together – but I did and was so glad when I finally arrived at the security room and could stow those heavy bags! Had I known how far it was, I definitely would have taken an Uber! Now I was free to do my business, go out to dinner, etc., without worrying about my bags. I also spent some time on Tuesday at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa since I basically had that day all to myself.

Set up for the dealers was Wednesday at 2pm so I again walked the mile or so over the convention center, but this time I didn’t have to lug my heavy bags with me. I checked in at registration, got my bags and waited along with a throng of other dealers for the doors to open!

Before many dealers arrived!

It didn’t take long for all the dealers to crowd around the escalators and the elevators!

Set up was quick for me, then I wondered around the bourse floor to start buying coins. It was great to see many folks I hadn’t seen in two years! I found quite a few Pretty Pennies to fill in gaps in my inventory, as well as some for my customers. These are all the coins I bought throughout the show!


I brought a nice bottle of my favorite Rombauer which I had up in my room, as well as two wonderful bottles of Del Dotto – a Sangiovese and a Cab – that I shared throughout the show. The Del Dotto was amazing, and me and my customers and dealer friends really enjoyed both bottles!

That night a group of us went to Maggiano’s for dinner and enjoyed some more scrumptious wine! Maggiano’s is right across from the Crooked House tourist attraction.


Ron Mirr, Greg Allan, Me, Neil Ulrich



The show opened to the public on Thursday morning at 10 am, so I arrived early to take some photos and also to process the coins that I had purchased the day before.

Me and by buddy Abe!



Not long after the show opened, a loud buzz filled the room – it was really great to hear that buzz because it meant there was a lot of business going on!


I soon became very busy, and forgot to take photos of some of the folks who stopped by. However, I did get these two:

Phil/Habaraca

Gabriel Green/Quality Rare Coins

This is Stewart Bley’s amazing collection!



PCGS was set up right across from Stewart’s booth – they had a “lounge” set up so customers could fill out their forms without taking away from others who were all ready with their submissions.


The day seemed to just fly by, but of course I did manage to have some of my Del Dotto wine, and shared it with a couple of folks who stopped by. Then it was time to head out to dinner. This time we went over to Delmonico’s with my good friends Karl and Joanne Stephens and Al Boulanger (foreign coin dealers).


We started off with a really nice Cakebread Chardonnay, then had a tasty bottle of Prisoner Cab that went well with my scrumptious Marsala steak and pasta! Delmonico’s was very popular among the dealers as there were a few other tables filled with dealers from the show. And I can see why it was popular, the food was delicious and so was the wine!



The restaurant had some great cartoon drawings on all the walls


Friday morning I again arrived early so I could take some more photos around the bourse and get some more work done before the public was let in.

The PCGS table (that’s Tom Reynolds submitting coins)

David Lange and the NGC folks


ANACS folks

Tony at Northern Nevada Coins

Wizard had a huge area full of supplies in the back of the room!

There were a lot of great exhibits this year – here are some that I found interesting:














This is a plaque showing the past People’s Choice winners (you’ll note lil’ ol’ me is on the list under 2014!)

David Lawrence Rare Coins had an amazing display of coins from the D.L. Hansen collection



When 10am rolled around, there was once again quite a crowd of folks who streamed in!



Once again, the bourse floor became very active very quickly!


Steve Feiertag/Winesteven stopped by to say hi

Me and my copper weenie bff Greg Hannigan/Coin Cube Trading

Greg and his beautiful wife Cecelia

Greg also brought over a great bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle cab from the Washington area – Greg is such a generous sweetheart!

Speaking of sweethearts – here’s one of the BIGGEST sweethearts in the world – Dino Koromvokis

And this is one of the hardest working women in numismatics – Mary Lynn Garrett

My foreign coin dealer friend Al Boulanger brought over a nice bottle of 2014 Syrah to share with me

It happened to be my friend Karl Stephens’ birthday so his boothmates got him a cake and champagne to celebrate!

That night a bunch of folks from Coin Cube Trading got together at Spencer’s Steakhouse for dinner – left front going back and back RT to the front: Cecelia Hannigan RC, Greg Hannigan RC, Mark Borckardt, Pierre Fricke, David Huang’s friend Eric Lindholm, David Huang, Joyce Fricke, Dino Koromvokis, me, Isaiah Hageman.

I splurged and had this very yummy steak and lobster tail, though I could only eat not even half of it.

And I shared this tasty dessert with Dino

Suddenly, it was Saturday, my last day! I had an 8am meeting so I had to pack up and get to the convention center early. After the meeting, I “manned” my table and worked on a few things before the public was let in. I was surprised by how many people were at the show, and there seemed to be more families than usual which was great! I ended up doing quite a bit of business, but soon it was time to pack up and head to the airport. I was entertained by a beautiful sunset as we headed out of Orlando!



I was very tired but very happy to be headed home after a long busy week!

As always, I was very glad to be home with my hubby and my chubby Penny!

That’s about it – next up – the San Jose Coin Show, the Long Beach Show, and the Vegas Show!

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Charmy’s November 2021 BALTIMORE SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

It’s been two years since the last Baltimore show was held so there was lots of excitement and anticipation before this show – and the show did not disappoint! Lori and her team did an amazing job promoting the show, making sure things ran smoothly and the dealers had what they needed. As many of you know, quality coins have been hard to find and buy “reasonably” this past year so I didn’t buy as much as I usually do at the large shows. Some coins I really liked were selling for quite a bit more than usual retail prices which isn’t surprising right now. I did most of my buying before the show at the dealer trading room and found some very nice pieces to add to my inventory. I also found a few neat pennies during the show, including a gorgeous 25% red 1955/55 DDO PCGS MS64+ BN and a beautiful tough to find 1877 PCGS AU58. I was busy for most of each day and overall sales were really good. The best part for me was that I got to see some of my dealer buddies who I haven’t seen in two years, especially the group that attended our Black Olive dinner event on Friday night!


So that’s the “market” side of my show report and, as Laura put it a while back, here’s the “fluffy pancake” part of my Baltimore show report! You’ll see pics of some coins, but mostly pics of coin people, local food and great wine. So if this bothers you – no biggie – simply close this link and move on. 😉

This is me on the plane very happy to be going to another coin show and looking forward to seeing all my friends!

On Tuesday, when I left Orange County, it was a beautiful sunny morning, and I finally got to Baltimore late Tuesday night. The airport was quite deserted, but luckily I have a regular driver that picks me up/drops me off whenever I’m in Baltimore.

Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous in Baltimore, surprisingly warm and sunny! Several dealers set up in a room in the convention center on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of the Baltimore show for dealer-to-dealer business. So first thing Wednesday I headed over to the convention center to do some pre-show business and found several nice pennies – and sold a few pieces as well.

I also stopped by Stacks lot viewing

Some dealers not set up in the dealer room like to do a little trading outside the dealer room.

Security opened up at noon so after I was finished with my business, I dropped my bags off and headed over to the Horseshoe Casino for a few hours before table holder set up which was at 5pm.

At 5pm, there was quite a crowd of dealers waiting in the lobby to set up their booths and start the wheeling and dealing!

After I finished setting up, I walked around the floor hunting for coins to fill in my inventory and for customer want lists. I was pleased to find a few more coins. These are the Pretty Pennies I picked up at the dealer trading room, as well as some pieces I bought throughout the show

That evening, a group of us went to LP Steamers for dinner. In case you’re not familiar with this super casual seafood restaurant, they are known for their crab legs, shrimp, and other fresh seafood platters. They serve you a platter of crab legs with a hammer and a bucket and you go from there. When you’re through and it comes time to clean up the table, they just pick up the plastic table cloth along with all the crab shells, etc. and throw it in the trash, then lay down a new table cloth for the next customers. Here are pics of some of the dishes we had.






In the morning, the show opened up to dealers and early birds only until noon. Many dealers who had arrived late Wednesday began their set up that morning. These are some pics from around the bourse floor before the public was let in at noon.







Here are pics of a couple of very friendly guys who dropped by to say hi.

Jeff Shumar

John Feigenbaum

Thursday was really busy and it was great to see some of my regular Baltimore customers at the show. Sales were pretty steady throughout the day, and I even managed to pick up that 1955/55 DDO PCGS MS64+ BN that I mentioned earlier. Also, one of my favorite exonumia dealer friends stopped by and showed me this beautiful encased penny pocket mirror he found and knew I would like for my personal collection, which of course I did! I currently have about 40 various Indian and Lincoln cent pocket mirrors in my collection. In addition to my penny teapots, they are one of my favorite types of penny exonumia to collect. I was very pleased to add this quite scarce Illinois penny pocket mirror to my collection.

Later in the afternoon, I opened this super delicious bottle of Justin Isosceles that I brought with me. It is an especially delicious wine from Paso Robles and, in my humble opinion, probably the best wine in that area of Central Coastal California vineyards.

After the show ended, we tried a new Italian restaurant, La Tavola, which was recommended to us by some other dealer friends.

Even though I am not an oyster fan, the folks I was with very much enjoyed them!

And of course we enjoyed this nice bottles of chianti

Friday morning I arrived pretty early at the show – these are some folks waiting in the lobby.

Before the show opened to the public I took a few minutes to walk the floor and took more pics

The very friendly and helpful folks at NGC

And the PCGS folks who are just as friendly and helpful


Lori (from Whitman) who never stopped running around taking care of whatever needed to be taken care of throughout the entire show!

Another very hard-worker and a heck of a nice dealer – Gary Adkins

Brian Alty (Northeast Numismatics and fellow wine enthusiast) and Allie Byers (Scofield Auctions and fellow ANA Summer Seminar buddy)


Dino Koromvokis, my bff birthday twin, and his beautiful wife Lisa


Random pics around the bourse on Friday





A few other coin forum folks stopped by to say hi

Jaelus and Joe

Mike

Another guy stopped by my table and showed me another piece of penny exonumia he thought I would like for my collection – which I did! I have several different types of pop-out (repousse) pennies, including pins, cufflinks, watch fobs, buttons, etc. This stick pin is made out of a Lincoln cent (with a patent tag on the back). I was very happy to add it to my collection!


Friday afternoon I opened the other bottle of wine I brought to the show, a Doffo Zinfandel from Temecula. This vineyard is owned by a motorcycle enthusiast who displays his motorcycles at his vineyard. My hubby (who is NOT a wine guy) and I and some friends went to this vineyard and of course, he and my friend’s hubby went straight for the motorcycles while my friend and I tasted their delicious wines. I gave tastes of this wine to my table neighbors, Brian, and a couple other dealer friends and they all agreed it was an excellent Zinfandel.

And in case you’re interested, here is the Doffo story about his motorcycle venture from their website: https://doffowines.com/our-story/

“The Doffo family’s passion for motorcycles can be traced back to Marcelo’s childhood in Argentina, where he first fell in love with the imported European motorcycles that were becoming popular at the time. Marcelo moved to the United States in the mid 1970s and eventually opened an auto body shop, Doffo Auto Body, with his brother, Jorge Doffo. Here his eye for perfection was put to good use and he developed his skills as a restorer. After establishing Doffo Winery, Marcelo set out on a quest to find and restore those very motorcycles that mesmerized him as a child. In the years since, the MotoDoffo Vintage Motorcycle Collection has grown to include nearly 200 motorcycles and scooters from around the world and attracts moto enthusiasts and wine lovers alike to the MotoDoffo Barrel Room housed on the winery grounds.”

And as I mentioned above, for me the highlight of every Baltimore show is our dinner event at the Black Olive in Fells Point with my foreign coin dealer friends! In case you’re interested, here is the story of this wonderful Greek restaurant: https://theblackolive.com/history

This time, however, was even more special as one member of our group (Charlie) had recently suffered a cardiac arrest where his heart had stopped, and he was celebrating his “new lease on life” as well as his 70th birthday. More on this later.

Me and Charlie

We always start the evening upstairs at the bar area with white wine that the owners have chosen for us. This time it was a couple bottles of wonderful Santorini.


Then we head down to the cellar where they have one large table surrounded by hundreds of bottles of wine from various vintages.

This is Dimitris, the youngest son of the owners. He chose the wines for us, told us stories about the wine and his family, and generally assisted us throughout the evening.

He chose these delicious wines for us, including a bottle of Champagne (which Charlie bought for us to celebrate with), to have with dinner



We all signed the bottle of Champagne for Charlie.

These are some of the dishes we had, including the very popular and very delicious octopus! My pasta with lobster tail was absolutely delicious!




After we had finished dinner, we asked Dimitris what was one of the oldest wines they had in the cellar and he told us about their1953 Chateau Canon Grand Cru from France which cost about $800. So Charlie, wanting to celebrate his second chance at life, as well as his birthday, decided to buy that bottle and share it with all of us!





In 2005 they decided to recork this bottle, probably due to the original cork deteriorating



I was truly honored to be able to taste this almost 70-year old bottle of wine and can truly attest that it was delicious, even after all these years!

After dinner, we walked over to one of the many pubs in Fells Point to continue our celebration.





What a truly fun and memorable evening it was being able to spend time with such wonderful people!

So not long after the public was let in on Saturday morning, something occurred that I hadn’t seen before at a big show like this one. The dealers who usually set up behind me hadn’t shown up so that table was vacant the entire show – except on Saturday. I notice someone had set up at that table. The guy didn’t have a case, but had spread a bunch of numismatic items, not all coins, on the table for sale, and he was sitting in the chair behind the table. Since I didn’t recognize him, I thought maybe Whitman had decided to rent out vacant tables for the day. However, I then noticed this guy didn’t have a dealer badge, which really concerned me because, even though I keep my new coins, money bag, purse, etc. in a case on my back table, it is usually unlocked when I’m at my table, but my back table backs up to that booth’s back table and I had no idea who this guy was. So I asked Lori about it and she said no, they definitely were not renting out unused tables and said she would go see what was going on. Apparently, this guy was a “squatter” and had just decided to move in and take over that table. Well, he was immediately told to pack up and leave. I don’t know whether he had to leave the show, but I was relieved they took care of it so quickly. I just shook my head at the “gall” of some folks.

So I usually head home on Saturday afternoons of the Baltimore show but I could not get an afternoon flight back to Orange County County this time so I got a flight out on Sunday morning, which meant I could stay at the show all day Saturday. Now you collectors may think that’s a good thing, but if any of you were at the show on Saturday afternoon, you would know what a ghost town a large 4-day show is on the last day. I understand that it doesn’t seem right, but most of the dealers come to these shows early in the week, and by the last day, they are exhausted and can’t wait to get home. In my case, I have always tried to get the latest flight I could on Saturday so I can stay at the show as long as possible but still get home to my family but the airlines have cut back on a lot of flights, so I stayed until the “bitter” end. The show didn’t close until 5pm, and this is what it looked like around 3pm.


Luckily, a couple of my Black Olive dealer friends were staying Saturday night as well – Karl even had the same flight back to OC as I did, so after we dropped our coins off at security, we headed out to dinner together. We went to a Lebanese restaurant that I hadn’t been to before. The food was really tasty and the wine was good as well. It was a nice way to end the week!


Sunday morning I packed up, picked up my bags at security, and headed to the airport. All went smoothly, no delays, and it was nice to be able to hang out with Karl while we waited for our flights (through Dallas) back home! Bye-bye Baltimore until next time….


Hello my beloved OC!


And my cutey-pie Penny!

Look forward to seeing those of you who can make it to the FUN show in January! Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone one of you!

Charmy’s September 2021 LONG BEACH SHOW REPORT w/lots of Pics!

Charmy’s BIG 2021 Chicago ANA Show Report w/tons of Pics!

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